Happy Veterans’ Day everyone. I’d like to express my personal gratitude to NBA veterans Gary Payton, Sam Cassell, Alonzo Mourning, and Eddie Jones for their dedicated service and for playing way too long past their prime. God Bless America and the NBA (excluding the Toronto Raptors of course).
Let’s take a look at next week:
Four games: Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New Jersey, New York, Portland, San Antonio, Seattle.
Three Games: Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Orleans, Orlando, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Toronto, Utah, Washington.
Two Games: Atlanta, LA Clippers, LA Lakers, Phoenix.
Plug ‘em in, Plug ‘em in:
Ryan Gomes, F: Al Jefferson was off to a decent start this season, but he decided to pull a “Ben Roethlisberger” and have an emergency appendectomy, sidelining him for 2-3 weeks. Let’s just hope Jefferson doesn’t like to cruise at high speeds on his motorcycle in his free time. Gomes’ value jumps up in the short term, as he will see the bulk of the minutes at PF. It’s fair to expect averages of 12/8/2 as long as Big Al is out. Gomes is a smart play with four good matchups next week (ORL, IND, POR, @NY)
Monta Ellis, G: The Warriors second leading scorer (16.8ppg), Ellis was inserted into Don Nelson’s starting lineup last night in place of Jason Richardson. J-Rich’s surgically repaired right knee is apparently not holding up too well. Even if he returns soon, Richardson will likely be limited and Ellis will pick up the slack. The second-year guard is a good call with the Warriors hitting the hardwood four times next week.
Brevin Knight, PG: It seems like I count him out every year and then he manages to prove me wrong by remaining a starter and dishing the assists (7.0) and racking up steals (2.5). Knight and second-year man Ray Felton have both been starting in Charlotte’s backcourt. Although Felton is supposed to be the one putting up points, BK has actually been outperforming the former Tar Heel on offense (16.3 vs. 13.8 ppg). As long as Brevin is in the Bobcat’s starting lineup, he needs to be in yours.
Jamal Crawford, SG: When a player goes down, a teammate must step up. That’s just one of the fundamental laws of fantasy basketball. DM discussed Crawford’s breakout game (35/6/7 w/ 4 treys) the other night starting in place of injured Stevie Francis. Crawford is one of fantasy hoops best players without a starting gig. When given the minutes he simply produces. As a bona fide scorer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Crawford average 18/3/5 with 2 threes as a starter. Those are 4th round-type numbers coming from someone who may be available in your league’s free agent pool. You should scoop him up immediately and plug him in for four tilts next week.
Jamaal Magloire, C: Big and scrappy, not too flashy. In fantasy we don’t care about flash we just need some solid contributions in certain categories from the big man. Jam Master Mags, as I like to call him, has seen an increase in playing time since replacing starter Joel Przybilla (abdominal strain) at center the last three games. With starter’s minutes, he should approach a double-double and a blocked shot per night. If you’re in need of a second center, Jam is not a bad option with four games next week.
Donyell Marshall, F: We’re definitely past the days when Donyell would fill up the statsheet and be a monster on the boards, but in 2006 he’s still got some value coming off the bench in Cleveland. Currently averaging 12/4/1 with 2 threes, Donyell is an asset from long range and could always get hot and drop 20 and 10 one night. Take a shot with Marshmallow… the Cavs have four nice matchups coming up (@NY, POR, MIN, @WAS).
Earl Watson, PG: I’ve never been one to recommend backup PGs, but you could do worse than Watson this week. He’s averaging 8/3/5 with a three and 1.6 steals thus far. He’s one of those guys that if he gets a hot hand, coach Bob Hill won’t hesitate keeping him in the game for extended minutes. He’ll forever be referred to as the team’s proverbial “spark-plug,” but he might just jumpstart your fantasy squad this week. With four games on tap, you gotta give him the nod over guys like Shaun Livingston (2 games), Smush Parker (2), and Speedy Claxton (2).
Finally, with only two games on the schedule, you probably want to bench any Lakers not named Kobe and any Suns not named Nash or the Matrix.
