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Fantasy Thoughts - November 5th
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Fastbreak dunks have been few and far between for King James this year
There were only two games on last night’s schedule – Chicago/Cleveland and San Antonio/Utah. I don’t know about you but Cleveland is becoming hard to watch but they seem to be playing a nationally televised game every night. They play again tonight on ESPN against the New York Knicks – hopefully that will be a better game to watch (fingers crossed).
Low Minutes, High Production – DeJuan Blair posted 14 points and 9 rebounds last night in 21 minutes of action for the San Antonio Spurs. For the season, Blair is averaging 9.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in about 21 minutes per game. That is solid output considering the amount of minutes he is playing. If his numbers were projected over a full 48 minute game, he would average 22.6 points and 19.6 rebounds. I normally find the per-48 minute stats to be useless, but I used it simply to show that Blair is making the most of the minutes that he is currently playing. With the depth that the Spurs have, I would not consider him a wise fantasy decision at this point, but if the Spurs suffer injuries in their frontcourt or his minutes begin to increase, Blair may be a player to keep in mind.
Two for One – This offseason the Jazz resigned restricted free agent PF Paul Millsap by matching the Portland Trailblazers’ $32 million contract offer. The Jazz already have PF Carlos Boozer who is making over $12 million this year while Millsap will be making over $7 million this year. So, the Jazz have over $20 million tied up in two players who play the same position, which leaves them with an interesting decision – which player stays and which player goes? Millsap is currently playing only 24 minutes per game and averaging 9.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Boozer is averaging 15.6 points and 10 rebounds in the 34 minutes per game that he is playing. While Boozer broke out of an early season slump last night with 27 points and 14 rebounds, Millsap only produced 9 points and 6 rebounds. With Millsap signed the big contract, many people expected him to play more minutes than he has been so far this season, but as the season moves forward this will be an interesting situation for fantasy owners to keep their eye on.
Not Necessarily a Fantasy Topic – The Cleveland Cavaliers are 3-3 so far this season after being projected as one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference prior to the season. Their early struggles could be attributed to adding the new players and the adjustment time necessary when changes of that type have been made. However, I am beginning to see some problems that need to be addressed as the Cavaliers move forward. This is simply my opinion and I do not claim to be an expert, but hear me out . . .
In the past with Ilgauskas playing the center position, the Cavaliers would run their halfcourt offense and try to establish Ilgauskas on the low block while LeBron did his thing. When Ilgauskas went out of the game, the Cavaliers became more of an uptempo team, scoring more points in the open court than in the halfcourt offense. There were times where LeBron would even play the PF to create offensive mismatches which lead to easier points for himself and his teammates.
This year with Shaquille O’Neal, the Cavaliers use the same formula – get Shaq established early in the game. However, when Shaq leaves the game, he is replaced by Ilgauskas and again the Cavaliers try to establish him on the low block. The uptempo element of their team has virtually disappeared. I have not looked at any concrete numbers from past years but this year the Cavaliers are averaging only 93 points per game and only 11 fastbreak points per game. I haven’t watched every minute of Cleveland’s games this year, but I also have not seen LeBron at the PF position any this year – Shaq or Ilgauskas are on the floor with Varejao or sometimes on the floor together.
In my opinion, if the Cavalier team is going to compete for an Eastern Conference championship and eventually an NBA title, they need to find a way to play a more uptempo style. LeBron and some of the other guards need to get some easy fastbreak points in the open court so that the jump shots in the halfcourt offense are easier to hit. But like I said, it’s just my opinion – you can pick it apart if you like.
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