As the trade rumors swirl and big names get tossed about, I thought I’d do a little piece on one of our favorite subjects here at FBB: point guards.  Below are three rookie point guards who, if the cards fall just so, could be seeing major minutes over the second half of the season.  Even if not, it’s important to keep an eye on these youngsters so that you know what to expect if and when they ever DO get some minutes.  With that in mind, here’s a primer on them:

Marcus Williams, NJ

Williams is one of those guys who slid in the draft because of off-the-court issues and conditioning questions, but make no mistake – he’s a kid with lottery-level talent.  He’s also the most likely of the three of these guys to suddenly find himself with a major role over the last few months of the season.  If either Jason Kidd or Vince Carter get dealt – or injured – look for Williams – who can fill in at the 2 in a pinch – to get some serious burn.

We got a preview of what Marcus could do last week when he filled in for an injured Kidd.  While his FG% was atrocious (11 for 32 from the field), he had 10 assists in one game and knocked down a three both nights.  Williams wasn’t a very big scorer in college and it looks like he shouldn’t be counted on for major points in the NBA either.  He was drafted as a pure point guard and his 42% shooting from the field – including a cringe-worthy 29% from the arc – haven’t done much to quell the doubts about his scoring ability.  Still, he’s got potential as a sneaky-value, Jarrett Jack type.  When you shoot 85% fromt he line and can chip in somewhere around 7 assists, a steal and a three, you don’t need to score much to have nice fantasy value.

Williams may be already owned in most leagues but should be snatched up for the garbage bench spot if at all possible until the end of the week.

Rajon Rondo, BOS

Speaking of poor-shooting rookie point guards, how about Rondo?  Not only is Rondo a disaster from the field, but he’s an embarrassment from the line as well – his 65% right now is actually an improvement over his struggles at Kentucky, where he shot 57% in his sophomore year.

Rondo is a difficult guy to get a hold on because there’s not really a fantasy match for him elsewhere.  He stinks percentage-wise and as a result won’t score much, but he’s a spectacular rebounder for a point guard.  His 7.5 boards per 48 minutes are second best among point guards, behind only Jason Kidd.  He’s also a steals monster – his 3.42 steals per 48 minutes are tops in the LEAGUE, well ahead of Ron Artest’s 2.88.  Finally, his 8.5 assists per 48 minutes are 17th in the league, right in between Steve Blake and Allen Iverson.

Needless to say, this kinda guy is a rarity in FBB.  A guy whose three biggest assets are assists, steals … and rebounds?  Plus, he’s absolutely useless in all of the other categories.  For the right team, though – H2H teams who need boards, assists and steals, for example – he’s got the chance to be a huge assset.

Jordan Farmar, LAL

Farmar seems to be another prototypical point guard, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  His assists aren’t partiularly good – at 5 per 40 minutes that’s not too great.  You’d like to think that part of the issue there is that he’s got to share the ball with Kobe Bryant, but according to 82games.com most of the time he’s on the court, Kobe’s on the bench.

The good thing to see with Farmar is that he’s improving, and at just 20 years old,  he should be.  His percentages have gone up across the board form his time at UCLA, and his 45 and 36 from the field/arc are pretty respectable already.  The FT%, stuck at just 73%, still needs work, but keep in mind he’s only shot 34 foul shots all year long.

Farmar is unlikely to have any value this year, but at least is showing signs of improvement and we’ll have to keep an eye on him over the next year or two to see how this develops.