We haven’t been paying as much attention to point guards around here as we once did, but that’s because we figure you know the drill by now. They are good to have around, and if someone’s starting he’s quite likely worth adding. Sometimes tomorrow’s starters are today’s backups, so it’s good to know what they offer so you can tell if they will indeed be worthwhile should the get the opportunity. Today we’ll take a look at three of the more exciting backups, foreign imports each of them.
Sergio Rodriguez
Here’s your league leader in assists per minute, beating out even Steve Nash and showing his stuff by racking up 11 of ‘em in just 25 minutes last night. He’s played at least 20 minutes three times and he’s averaging 9.7 apg in those games. His PT has been incredibly inconsistent, but he’s now had at least 18 minutes in three of four games, his best stretch yet. He’s doing more to hurt Jarrett Jack’s value than to have any of his own, but he seems to have made Dan Dickau irrelevant and has positioned himself as Jack’s fill-in should he get hurt. Like the other Euro PGs listed below, he hasn’t shown much interest in shooting from the outside. He also has just four steals on the season and hasn’t made it to the line even once.
But those assist numbers can’t ignored. Portland had a nice little start but the Blazers are now sitting at 6-12 and you can expect things to be in a state of flux for most of the season. I don’t expect Jarrett Jack to lose his job, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities that Rodriguez join him in the starting lineup at some point. Nate McMillian started some combination of Jack, Steve Blake and Sebastian Telfair in the backcourt on a few occasions last season, so we know he’s not completely averse to putting two PGs in the starting backcourt. Brandon Roy’s return – if that ever comes – would certainly make that plan less likely, but as Roy’s injury seems like one that’s likely to bother him again at some point during the season. Think of Rodriguez of the Reggie Evans of assists. Or something like that.
Jose Calderon
The numbers don’t show it because his PT has decreased, but Calderon is playing some fantastic ball this year. T.J. Ford’s also playing damn well, so it’s limited Calderon to just 16.6 mpg after he saw 23+ in his rookie season. But he’s shown a new-found aggressiveness and is proving that he shouldn’t be looked at as just a one-dimensional passer for fantasy purposes. Last year in those 23.2 mpg he averaged 5.5 ppg on 4.9 FGA. This year he’s taking 5.7 shots in those 16.6 minutes, and is hitting 54%, compared to 42% last year. Calderon wasn’t as much of a pure point in Europe as he was last year in Toronto, so perhaps we’re seeing more of the real Jose this season. He’s still not much of an outside threat, but gets enough steals that if he got regular PT he’d be as much an asset there as your average PG.
Ford has proven to be more durable than most people thought since returning from his year off, but that specter of fragility still hangs over him. It’s reasonable to expect Calderon to run wild if Ford were to miss time, especially because Calderon would be counted on to replace his scoring as well. Double his numbers to give him around 33 mpg and you’ve got 15.8/3.0/5.8 with 1.4 steals. Those are numbers just about any team would take. It rarely makes much sense to use the handcuff strategy in fantasy basketball, but Calderon may be one of the few players for whom it makes sense, depending on how many bench spots are available. Calderon had a nine-game starting stint last season, and the numbers were fine, except for the scoring inspiring – 8.4/4.7/7.4 with 1.4 steals in 37.4 minutes. If he gets the chance again, expect him to put the ball in the hoop.
Carlos Arroyo
Arroyo was a popular pickup early in the season when it looked like he might supplant Jameer Nelson as the starter, but now he’s in that tough situation where he’s playing extremely well off the bench – better than Nelson – but the team is winning with the current arrangement, so why make a change? It’s bad news for Nelson, too, who isn’t even averaging 30 mpg in what many suspected would be a breakout campaign, and Keyon Dooling’s presence really isn’t helping matters at all. Arroyo’s shooting 47% this season and he shot 50% in his brief time with the Magic last year after a few years of miserable shooting in Utah and Detroit. But before you get too excited, if you take out Arroyo’s impossibly hot two-game stretch in which he made 18-of-22 shots, he’s shooting just 40% otherwise. The three-point shot is certainly becoming a bigger part of his arsenal, as he’s taken at least 2 in 6 of his last 9 games. Still not a ton, but with backups it’s sometimes hard to get a good feel for numbers like this. It’s true that Arroyo has never been much of a threat from long range, but I think that if a player gets a starting job and is more in the flow of the offense from the beginning of the game, his attempts would go up. Still, no starting spot is imminent and Orlando’s one of those deep teams where players have a tendency to cancel out each other’s value.