There have been some reports that Kobe Bryant may not play in this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game to catch up on some injury rest – not that you’ll be watching. You’ll be out with your honey for a Valentine’s Day dinner, won’t you?
In any case, if Kobe doesn’t play, that probably will drop the Over/Under on this game to about 270 points. Bor-ring . . .
It might also be the best possible thing for Kobe’s fantasy owners, who have seen inconsistent play from him in recent weeks after a finger fracture and a foot injury. He averaged only 19 points per game last week and missed his first game in about three years.
If Kobe is absent from the All-Star Game, he also may cost the West a victory. My pick is East over West 133-129. In other words, a low-scoring affair.
My other picks to click for All-Star Weekend: Sophomores will embarrass rookies; Damilo Gallinari will win the three-point contest; Derrick Rose will repeat in the skills challenge, Omri Casspi will shock the world at H-O-R-S-E; and little Nate Robinson will become the first three-time winner of the slam dunk contest, thereby officially killing what has become the weakest part of the weekend – other than the actual game, of course.
Meanwhile, good news if you’re sick of hearing me talk about basketball: Spring training starts soon, and I’ve got my top 20 picks coming up next week.
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It’s Week 16 of the NBA season. Do you think you can make it the rest of the way?
Fantasy Find of the Week: Peja Stojakovic, SG/SF, New Orleans. He was less than 70% owned at the start of the week, not so surprising given his drop-off the last few years from premiere three-point shooter to something more like a nifty but injury-plagued reserve jump shot specialist. Anyway, more playing time with injuries to the N.O. back court resulted in 21.3 PPG and 3.8 treys per game last week.
Fantasy Stud of the Week: Andrei Kirilenko, SF/PF. “AK-47” was once a multi-category stat threat, and over the last two weeks has rebuilt that rep with more playing time in Utah. Last week’s numbers: 22 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 5.5 APG, 3.5 SPG, 1.5 BPG. That’s just nice.
Fantasy Dud of the Week: Baron Davis, PG, LAC. Coming off a week in which he averaged 5.0 turnovers per game and shot only .378.
Fantasy Match-up of the Week: By the time you read this, the NBA will be just about to close its short week before the All-Star break, but if you have players from San Antonio, Denver, Orlando or Cleveland, you may luck out with a few extra points.
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Expert Wire
* Matt Buser at NBA Skinny weighs the options in regard to Chris Paul, who’s out until probably the start of the playoffs. Does that mean you should get rid of him? Read on . . .
* FanHouse has the latest on the resurgence – for one game at least – of Vince Carter, who had all but become a relic before reviving and scoring 48 points. Carter must have finally realized he was no longer relevant.
* RotoWorld has a report on Wilson Chandler, the multi-talented guard-forward who was great for most of last year, but started slowly this year. He has worked his way up to about 15 PPG and netted 35 points on Tuesday, showing signs of more good things to come.
* HoopsVibe features a list of Top 10 point guards in honor of the All-Star Game. Steve Nash finishes on top, and with Chris Paul injured, I’d have to agree. Though Deron Williams, at No. 2 on the list, has quietly had a great season.
* Sergio Gonzalez at CBSSports.com picks his most surprising players of the first half of the season, including Zach Randolph and Luol Deng. Both had slid down draft lists this year, though a lot of people probably bought the sleeper hype on Randolph.
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Dan O’Shea’s Fantasy Fix appears in this space every Wednesday. Comments welcome. You can also read his about his split sports fan personality at SwingsBothWays, which isn’t about what it sounds like It’s about.
Posted on February 10, 2010