As the fantasy basketball season drifts deep into January, a lot of fantasy owners are starting to take a detailed look at weekly head-to-head stats in an attempt to figure out just which weak categories have kept them mired in fifth- or sixth-place. Some teams might be great in most offensive categories – points, assists, field goals, free throws – but they keep getting beat in three-pointers. Meanwhile, maybe they have plenty of rebounds, but are hurting specifically for steals and blocks. Can such problems be solved with one waiver wire pick-up, rather than rebuilding half your team?
Maybe not, but while three-pointers and blocks are hard to find in the same player, there are a few – Spencer Hawes, Travis Outlaw, Rasual Butler, Lamar Odom – who deliver both stats, albeit at modest levels. If it’s steals and three-pointers you are looking for, rookie Mario Chalmers could be worth a look. Steals and blocks is surprisingly not an easy combination to come by, but Tyrus Thomas, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Anderson Varejao deliver, again modestly, if you are losing closely in these categories on a regular basis.
So, what’s wandering over the fantasy basketball expert wire this week?
* Bleacher Report eyes some big-name players like Caron Butler and Rudy Gay who have not lived up to their promise this year, but may be on the comeback trail. Gay is sort of a one-trick pony, a high scorer who hasn’t managed to develop more of a game.
But, it’s true that Butler, who’s been called a mini-LeBron, has not even been a micro-LeBron, or a nano-LeBron or – you get the idea.
* ESPN’s Eric Karabell explores the eternal argument of whether your fantasy team really needs an assists-rich point guard.
* Roto Arcade highlights the rise of Andrea Bargnani – but how long could that possibly last? The Italian has many gifts, but consistency has not been one of them.
Fantasy Football Round-Up
Is Kurt Warner ticketing himself for the first round in next year’s fantasy football draft?
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but going to the Super Bowl can only improve your stock, even if you’re a QB in your late 30s who wasn’t even supposed to start this year.
Where to take Warner, assuming he doesn’t retire after proving to the world he could still play, will be an interesting dilemma next year.
I would still rank him no higher than about sixth among QBs, after Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tony Romo, Philip Rivers and maybe Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler.
That being said, if he does the impossible and picks apart the Pittsburgh defense in the Big Game, I’ll push him higher.
Fantasy Baseball Preview
The start of baseball season is still more than two months away, but fantasy baseball mock drafts and position reviews have already begun. In the coming weeks, we’ll plan our attack.
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Dan O’Shea’s Fantasy Fix appears every Wednesday. Tips, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
Posted on January 21, 2009