Pickup: Speedy Claxton
Drop: Peja Stojakovic
Claxton probably has at least one very solid stretch left in him. He’s proven that he’s simply not healthy enough to be counted on for the long-term, but it’s likely he’ll have a two week stretch where he’s a top assists and steals man. In a three-game stretch from Dec. 15 to 20 he averaged 13.7 points, 10 assists and 3.7 steals. The problem, of course, is that it’s tough to know when that effective play will happen. Perhaps with a little rest from the all-star break he’ll be able to rejoin the starting lineup next week and reel off a few good games. Maybe not. If Tyronn Lue’s around, it won’t be as easy. He’s still a better use of a spot than Peja.
Pickup: Matt Carroll
Drop: Brendan Haywood
This was a move I made. Antawn Jamison’s injury actually hurt Haywood, as it has led to Eddie Jordan using more of his bench, and Haywood’s losing minutes to Michael Ruffin and Darius Songaila, even with Etan Thomas on the sidelines. Carroll’s still putting up some solid numbers, but basically I just need his 3s, and I don’t mind his FT%. Right now I have 423 3s, giving me 6 points in that category, one 4 ahead of the person with 5 points. The team with 9 points has 436 3s, only 13 ahead of me. Carroll can singlehandedly – I hope – make a difference there. I’m also holding on for dear life in FT%. I’m at .790, then it goes .788, .787, .782, .782. I need all those points, and Carroll’s a top 25 in FT% value this year.
Pickup: Sasha Pavlovic
Drop: Jorge Garbajosa
This is a good example of a pickup I don’t like it, similar to Bostjan Nachbar a few weeks ago. A bench player who is a historically bad shooter has a few hot games, nails a bunch of 3s, and gets picked up. So what did he do in his first game in this guy’s lineup? He put up 4/0/0 with a 3 in 17 minutes. Last night’s 11/3/2 wasn’t too much better. It was pretty clear he wasn’t going to get a starting job, which made it pretty clear that his hot streak wasn’t going to last. I expect him to hit the waiver wire pretty soon. Garbajosa’s been a TR regular lately, as that center eligibility and those 3s make him look good for a while. He’s #93 on the 15 day rater, so he’s got some value and will probably be picked up soon.
Pickup: Channing Frye
Drop: Sarunas Jasikevicius
Frye’s been picked up a bunch of times this year, which means that he was dropped a bunch of times. He’s been one of the bigger mid-round disappointments this year, honestly. He showed plenty of ability in his rookie season but has regressed across the board. His PT has been inconsistent, but he’s actually seeing nearly 2 more mpg this year. Most numbers are slightly below last year’s totals, with the biggest drop in points and FG%. The occasional big game and his center eligibility makes him an intriguing option, but the Knicks have actually established an offensive hierarchy, and Frye isn’t near the top of the list. Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford are clearly the top two options on this time, Stephon Marbury is the guy with the ball in his hands the most, David Lee is the cleanup man and Quentin Richardson has some big games. That puts Frye way down on the list. Last year he thrived when he got to shoot as much as possible, and that’s just not happening this year. It seems wrong that Jasikevicius saw just 6 minutes on Wednesday with Baron Davis out, but so is life with Don Nelson. His rate numbers during his brief stay in Golden State have been fine, but the PT just doesn’t seem to be there.
Pickup: Ruben Patterson
Drop: Speedy Claxton
We keep waiting for Ruben’s run to end, and it just keeps stretching on. He went four straight games of 16 points or less, but then had a two-game stretch of 27.5/11.5/4.5 with 4 steals. Sad thing was he probably got dropped a few days earlier and was on the free agent list when they happened. In his last three it’s been 14.3/4.3/3.7 with 1.3 steals on 62% shooting, the same numbers that made him a playable utility guy for almost the entire season. He’s the #81 rated player on the season in non-turnover leagues, which by the numbers is 7th round production in 12-teamers. It’s been a good season for Ruben, so don’t count him out yet, even with Michael Redd scheduled to return within a week.
Pickup: Anderson Varejao
Drop: Ryan Gomes
This was a move I made. Gomes is one of those guys that gets lots of minutes and puts up good enough box scores you make you not want to drop him. But he’s simply not that valuable of a player since he has to always be efficient with his scoring to make up for his lack of peripherals. Anderson Varejao was scheduled for two starts in place of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, I’m in a super tight race for rebounds, so I made the move. Two games and 28 rebounds later I’m happy with my move. If you have the roster spot to play with, I’m a big fan of taking sure thing productive games when you can. It was clear with Big Z gone that Varejao would log heavy minutes and put up numbers. He saw around 37 minutes in both games and was good for 12/14/1 with 2 steals and 1.5 blocks on 50/67 shooting. He played exactly like he should have. Good for him.
Pickup: Jason Williams
Drop: Matt Carroll
Not so sure about this one. Williams is in the same league as Claxton, likely to be very useable for a very short span, but a bad bet long term. Williams has less upside than Claxton because he doesn’t have the ability to dominate a single category, but can be a fine source of assists and especially 3s when things are going right. He might be back after the all-star break, but who knows how long for.
Pickup: Derek Fisher
Drop: Ike Diogu
There are some extra points to go around with Carlos Boozer out, but Fisher doesn’t seem to be much of a beneficiary. Another one of those guys with too small a window. He had games of 37-37-42 minutes, gets picked up, then goes down to 31-25. Fisher hasn’t his 3 3s in a single game this year and has only three games with a pair.
Pickup: Andray Blatche
Drop: Mickael Pietrus
We’ve talked enough about Andray lately.
Pickup: Chris Duhon
Drop: Earl Watson
Another move to pick up of a hot shooting bench player, so you know I’m not in love with it. Watson’s back on the bench in favor of Luke Ridnour, as it ought to be, and Duhon is certainly back in the mix for Chicago, but he’s still not worth it except in very deep leagues. In eight February games he’s averaging nearly 29 mpg and is putting up 12.5/2.4/4.5 with 1.5 steals and 1.9 3s. It’s good enough for #65 in the past 15 days, but it’s very hard to see it lasting. Plug him in the lineup and what happens? Wednesday’s 6/3/5 games. Duhon does seem to be consistent with his 3s, but as we’ve discovered over time in TR, guys who hit 3s are readily available.
Pickup: Randy Foye
Drop: Marcus Banks
I was sitting at the computer waiting to pick up Foye, but I didn’t pull the trigger and BV did about an hour later. He’s got the starting job, but that doesn’t mean Mike James and Marko Jaric have disappeared. It’s only been two games, but Foye has averaged just 29.5 mpg in his first two starts, good for 9/5.5/5.5 with just one total steal and block, no 3s. I expect Foye to have some huge games as long as he keeps his starting spot – which looks likely – but he won’t be consistently great. With some regular playing time it will be interesting to see if his steals numbers get any better, because that’s one aspect of his games that’s really been lacking so far. Banks has actually been surprisingly effective in Steve Nash’s absence, mainly because of hot shooting. His 20-of-32 from the field over the last three is obviously an anomaly and he hasn’t done much else to give him any value.