Pacers Stephenson Breaking Out

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Indiana was already considered by all NBA experts to be in the running to bump off the Heat in the postseason. But the way they’ve ran out to an 8-0 start has to be making GM’s and front office management a bit worried. Their entire roster seems to have gotten better in the offseason as they are playing as a complete team. They have the Chicago Bulls defense of a year ago with an offense that is potent for 2-3 runs a game.

You would expect to see improvement from Roy Hibbert and Paul George with the way they performed in the postseason. A guy that I did not see making the leap he has is Lance Stephenson. Stephenson just had a triple double Monday against the Grizzlies, and is becoming a staple to the Pacers offense. Based on the shots he took a year ago and his field goal percentage you would of never expected an offensive categorical improvement from Stephenson.

Lance is one of the reasons retired NBA players and others moan about the one and done college rule. Stephenson left after an unimpressive year at Cincinnati and seemed willing to take on stints in the D-League or overseas if he went undrafted. Luckily for him the Indiana Pacers drafted him in the late second round of 2010.

If he had played four years at Cincinnati this would have been his rookie season. Maturity seems to be the biggest difference in Stephenson’s play. Now his coaching staff and teammates believe in him more on the offensive end. Although it’s only an eight game sample Stephenson is shooting over 50% from three on 18 out of 35 attempts. On top of that he is taking near twelve field goal attempts a game from right under eight a year ago.

Indiana will have a bit of a conundrum when Danny Granger is able to return. By the way the Pacers are playing it may be wise for Indiana to bring Granger off the bench to not mess with the current starting five chemistry.

I wouldn’t think that Stephenson’s current numbers are an aberration for fantasy basketball owners. He is playing like a first round pick, which he would of assuredly been this offseason if he were a senior at Cincinnati.

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During Isiah Thomas’s tenure with the Knicks he made several awful impactful decisions. Personnel moves by Thomas left the Knicks as a down and out franchise for several years. The signing of Carmelo Anthony was a move expected to bolster their prospects as a team on a year to year basis. After strong signs last year the regression has taken its course in a drastic fashion.

The season is hardly two weeks old and the Knicks have lost at home to the Bobcats, Timberwolves, and the San Antonio Spurs. The losses to the Timberwolves and Spurs were horrible blowout losses. Mike Woodson who is a defensive coach has to be burning with frustration. His team may be the worst in basketball currently at playing defense.

They gave up 120 points to a Spurs team Sunday that played their second unit in preparation of their back to back matchup. Rotation defensively on pick and rolls and cuts to the hoop by the Spurs were an embarrassment. It looks as if the Knicks were not prepared if Tyson Chandler would miss any time this season.

Bench depth at the power forward and center position is non-existent. Amare Stoudemire is attempting to perform on his bad knees, but clearly is at the end point of his solid career. Mistakes with the Knicks boil down to their offseason signings, it’s as if they want to make Carmelo Anthony have an easy decision to leave the New York Knicks.

Andrea Bargnani could be a complimentary offensive asset but with Chandler out he is the biggest defensive liability in basketball. He can’t rebound at all and is too flat footed to control the paint. Woodson has to rethink his lineup to get a big man in the middle that can disrupt penetration somewhat. If not teams will continue to score over 100 points a game against the Knicks.

The other poor acquisition was the signing of Ron Artest. Has Ron Artest aka Metta World Peace ever taken a shot on the offensive end that makes sense? His strong skill is still defensively but even that isn’t near what it was five years ago or even two years ago.

There just isn’t enough balance offensively to offset this team’s horrific defense. For fantasy basketball teams Carmelo Anthony is shooting the basketball at just 41 percent, far below his career average. In rotisserie leagues you may want to pick your spots at inserting Melo and hold off on any other Knick until they develop a win streak above two games.

Frye Offers Value

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The NBA season is still very young. Most teams have only played three games total. Early in any sports season you’ll see a few teams off to a better start than most would have anticipated. One of those teams is the Phoenix Suns. Before the season even started they traded away Marcin Gortat, an emerging center that figured to be the low post presence to guard Eric Bledsoe.

With four first round picks next season it looked like the Suns had already waived the white towel on the 2013-2014 season. Aspirations are low for positive results. But with a 2-1 start to the season the Suns are showing they have some pieces in place. Next year’s draft and a key free agent should put them in prime position.

A forgotten current roster player on the Suns is Channing Frye. With the departures of Jason Richardson, Steve Nash, Vince Carter, Leandro Barbosa, Robin Lopez, Gortat, Grant Hill, and Jared Dudley it’s shocking to see a holdover remain from the last few Phoenix Suns seasons. Frye is a local product hailing from Phoenix Saint Mary’s high school that sat out the entire 2012-2013 season after undergoing a heart procedure.

In all likelihood he’ll be in the running and have a strong chance to win the award of comeback player of the year.

Go around the NBA and you’ll be hard pressed to find too many big men that have the skillset of Frye. His defensive skills have grown during his tenure in the NBA, adding to his deadly outside shot. His ability to knock down three pointers is an asset to have on your rotisserie fantasy basketball team.
Don’t worry about his current three point percentage off of a small sample. He did score 19 points against Oklahoma City and already has four blocks on the young season. Jeff Hornacek is going to utilize Frye to draw centers out of the defensive lane and guard Frye from the perimeter. It’s the perfect scheme to get point guard Eric Bledsoe more lanes to attack the hoop.

Minutes will continue to be on Frye’s side. Add him to your fantasy team before he has a string of solid games.

Fantasy Niche for Reggie Jackson

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The time span for Russell Westbrook’s return to the court is up in the air. In all likelihood Oklahoma City or Westbrook would jeopardize an early return to the court. The NBA season is a five and a half month regular season. Oklahoma City has enough talent without Westbrook to compete at a high level in the Western Conference.

On the roster still remains ageless 39 year old Derek Fisher. At best he is a twelve to fifteen minute a night player these days and is mainly an offensive threat from long range. Defensively he has become too much of a liability to guard the young point guards in the NBA. Fisher knows his role on the team and will aid Russ Westbrook’s backup, Reggie Jackson, in the process.

Jackson was not a highly talked about player a few seasons ago out of Boston College, but landed to the Thunder as a 24th pick. The organization believed in his capabilities and Jackson showed last year filling in the playoffs that he can play at a high level. Sustaining that top play is always a worry with a young guard. Especially of Jackson’s variety, who is a score first type of point guard at a smaller size.

It looks like Jackson has prepared well for the possibility of having an increased role to start the season. In October preseason games he has scored over ten points in all but one game, including a dazzling 29 point performance. A year ago the Thunder clearly did not have that third scorer in Kevin Martin that they hoped he would be when they traded away James Harden.

Younger players such as Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones just weren’t and don’t appear to be ready for the NBA game just yet. They’ll likely need some fine tuning in the development league.

The guy that will fill that role even when Russ Westbrook returns is Jackson. That non grey area has to make fantasy basketball owners pleased. You can get Jackson as a bargain in most drafts now as the idea of Westbrook returning has cast a shadow of doubt on Jackson’s overall fantasy value.

Don’t let it sway you from grabbing a solid prospect. Scoring is what Oklahoma City does. Kevin Durant is a volume shooter that scores in high percentages. Jackson will assuredly get a big amount of automatic assists on Kevin Durant catch and shoot shots.

Jackson isn’t afraid to take it to the hoop himself either and draw fouls. Overall in rotisserie style fantasy basketball leagues I’d look to add Jackson. He will help you out in the crucial categories of assists, steals, high percentage free throws, and even scoring. The one area you’ll have to take a hit on with Jackson is his three point percentage and makes.

Not every prospect can be well rounded. Know the talent of the players you plan on drafting, and draft accordingly.

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The downtrend for Dwayne Wade has been an easy link to discover over the past few seasons. He has games where his offensive skillset of even four to five years ago is missing. Ailments have plagued Dwayne Wade to the point that the Heat sit him out an X amount of games to preserve his health for the playoffs. Incoming news on Wade’s health is that he is ready to commit to a full season. After the past few seasons you have to be in complete disbelief. The “I’ll believe it when I see it” approach has to be taken here.

An NBA season is demanding on the healthiest of players. Wade’s teammate, Lebron James, is a nightly target by NBA teams, and should be. With the tight defense the Heat play and aggressive transition offense there are going to be hard fouls that occur. The fouls that occur take their physical toll on the body but the process of running in transition is also a huge factor. Wade’s had knee issues for multiple years. Those hard cuts and quick transition runs are worrisome for Heat fans and Wade fantasy basketball owners for the course of a season.

So where do you take the hit and avoid the disclaimer on Wade’s health in your fantasy basketball drafts?

Currently, according to Yahoo’s Draft Analyzer, Wade is being picked near the beginning of the second round (2.3). Is it because of his name that he is getting drafted that high or does he have that type of fantasy value? I’d say it’s a mix of both but still a bit high in my estimation.
His stats have been great over his career, and even last year he did average 20, 5, and 5. The key for me still circles around his health. If I’m drafting a top tier player in the first four rounds I want to know that they’re going to be on the court. In weekly fantasy basketball leagues dependability for a player to start is key. In a rotisserie style league you may be able to get away with Wade missing a handful of games.

Two years ago he only played in 49 games and last year he missed thirteen starts with 69 total. The 69 games started is a bit of an aberration as there were games that Wade started that he appeared only 70-75 percent. Results in the statbox reflected that.

Knee issues just don’t go away. Miami has done a great job at monitoring Wade, and Wade has been great at picking his spots with Coach Spoelstra to rest. After all he does have Lebron and Chris Bosh to carry the load. Miami’s destination is to three peat and they want Dwayne Wade healthy for that journey.

Unfortunately fantasy basketball is a regular season sport void of a post season involving a lineage with NBA playoff basketball. Therefore drafting Wade at the top portion of the second round is a huge risk. I’d have to be in a league that he slipped a bit (likely round three) before I even considered drafting him.

Keep in mind Wade was already 21 when he entered the league, and will be 32 in January.

By Vidur Malik

notjustagame23@gmail.com

Caron Butler – The most talked-about free agent acquisition for the Clippers has been Chris Paul, but Butler has been a solid scorer for his new team. He’s averaging 16.1 points per game and has scored 20 points in his past three games. In addition to his scoring, Butler also adds a few rebounds a game and can contribute some steals, so pick him up if he’s available and you’re looking for a starter or key contributor.

Klay Thompson – The Warriors rookie is a great shooter who can get hot, as he did in Golden State’s loss to Orlando on Thursday. He scored 14 points and went 4-of-5 from behind the arc during that game. He’s scored in double digits a total of three times this season, so he’s been erratic, but he doesn’t need many shots or minutes to score points. He’s not a well-rounded player yet, but he can give you two to three rebounds and assists per game in addition to his shooting.

Steve Blake – Blake does have some ugly three-point shooting nights (0-5 against Denver on Dec. 31 and 0-5 against Portland on Jan. 5) but when he’s feeling it, he can drain several threes a game. If you need a shooter, consider him.

Nicolas Batum – His name is a familiar one around NBA circles, but from a fantasy perspective, Batum’s value might not be appreciated as much as it should. He’s a solid role player, averaging 10.6 points and 4.5 rebounds this season. He hasn’t exceeded 15 points in a game so far this season, but he can get you double-digit points a game and a good amount of rebounds, so if you’re looking for an all-around guy and better known players like Lamar Odom and Gerald Wallace are already on teams, pick up Batum.

Vince Carter – Gone are the days when Carter’s claim to fame were his gravity-defying dunks. He’s been criticized for a lack of production the past few seasons, but he’s been a good role player for the Mavericks so far this season. He’s averaging 8.6 points a game, but he has gotten into double-digits several times and can sprinkle in a few assists and rebounds.