You may have blinked this week and missed the quasi-blockbuster trade between the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks. It involved many big-time Fantasy names.
The biggest winners in the trade? Those owners who have been grinding their teeth with Harrington sitting on his butt in Golden State now have the No. 2 Fantasy forward – or better – that they drafted.
Harrington was miserable in California and the switch to the East Coast has already heightened his spirits. In fact, the 27-year-old called the trade for Crawford a “dream come true.” Funny, last year nobody in their right mind would welcome a trade to the Knicks. Now they're the stuff dreams are made of. Playing for Golden State must be like a root canal.
On the other side of the trade, we don't expect the values of Crawford or Randolph to change much in their new surroundings. The Warriors are the closest thing to Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni's offensive scheme so they still figure to put up the points. Perhaps the biggest losers are already playing for the Warriors and will now have to take a backseat to the new guys.
Al Harrington, PF, N.Y. Knicks Harrington will make his Broadway debut on Tuesday against LeBron James and Cleveland. He's still very young by NBA standards though he's already 10 full seasons with a career average of 13 points and 5.8 boards. Harrington was averaging slightly lower numbers this season for the Warriors but hasn't played in a game since Nov. 7 and was content to sit on the bench for the remainder of his days in Golden State. Well, he'll play Tuesday and we expect he'll do great in D'Antoni's system. He could be in line to break out, even, as he'll definitely score above his career average. Check the Knicks box scores, just about every player who gets minutes scores in double figures and Harrington will start right away. He's owned in just 80 percent of Fantasy leagues right now so buy, buy, buy.
Anthony Morrow, SG, Golden State Morrow went from being owned in precisely zero Fantasy leagues over the year's first three weeks to being owned in 73 percent of CBSSports.com leagues right now. A 37-point, 11-rebound game followed by another game with 25 points tends to create that kind of frantic waiver wire rush. Well, Morrow only scored seven points and grabbed one rebound in 34 minutes against Chicago Friday and that comes before Jamal Crawford joins his new teammates and complicates the backcourt situation. Crawford will start for the Warriors meaning either Kelenna Azubuike or Morrow will be removed from the starting lineup. It really doesn't matter who will be removed because Morrow's numbers will take a hit in either case. We didn't expect him to really keep playing like an All-Star and now the Warriors don't need that kind of production from him. He's an obvious choice to lose stock in Fantasy.
Steve Blake, PG, Portland Portland has always been Blake's third home -- after Miami and College Park, Md. -- as he's had his best seasons as a Trail Blazer. This season is no different as Blake is having his best season to date after 14 games as the starting point guard in Portland. The guard, ranked fifth on the NCAA's all-time assists list, is averaging over 11 points and four assists per game and is doing even better lately. In his last two contests, Blake has averaged 21 points and five assists. He's 10-of-18 on three-point attempts over those two games and shooting 50 percent from the field. His numbers will never blow you away but he brings the kind of consistency that Portland and Fantasy owners look for out of a point guard. He's still a lower-end option in Fantasy but he's definitely playing better than names like teammate Jerryd Bayless and Jordan Farmar, two players drafted above him in most Fantasy leagues.
Luis Scola, PF, Houston The Rockets backup power forward Carl Landry could easily have been designated as a stock up player but listing Scola as a down is essentially the same thing. The two seem interchangeable in Houston. Scola has been the starter and he's got the better averages at 11.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per. But over the past two games, Landry has come off the bench to out-play Scola both in production and in minutes. Scola is averaging eight points and three rebounds over 18 minutes in those contests while Landry chipped in 26.5 minutes per those two games with 15 points and five boards. Both players are in their second year in the league and Scola probably has more upside, at least as far as the Rockets are concerned, but for the time being, Scola is getting less minutes and giving way to the former Purdue Boilermaker.
Andrew Bogut, C, Milwaukee Going two straight games with fewer than 10 rebounds did not sit well with the Australian center in his fourth NBA season. So Bogut went out against Utah and scored 16 points with 20 boards. He hasn't stopped rebounding since. Bogut is averaging 18 rebounds over his last three games, which is a ridiculous number. He wouldn't have to score at all with that kind of glass production but he's been dropping 14 points over those contests as well, which comes in well above his season's average. He's been the best rebounder in basketball over the past week or so and his stock is definitely soaring right now for the Bucks.
Tayshaun Prince, SF, Detroit Prince is averaging 15.2 points and 7.4 rebounds for Detroit this season after 12 games, by far the best numbers of his career. He's down, though, because he's stopped producing at those rates, at least over the last three games. In those contests he's getting just 7.7 points and five rebounds and that was compounded by the four points he scored over 33 minutes against Boston in Detroit's last loss. What could be the reason for his hot start and recent cool down? How about Allen Iverson. With the added scoring A.I. brings to the table, it makes sense that Prince's points have gone down. He's got a career scoring average of over 12 points per game, so we still expect him to finish this season around those numbers. He just needs to learn to score with Iverson on the court.
Andrea Bargnani, PF, Toronto Bargnani is pretty much as hot as you can get right now. The Italian power forward, who also has Fantasy eligibility at center, is about to gain another position in leagues that allow it. The Raptors have been starting him at small forward over Jamario Moon for the past four games and one more makes him triple-eligible. Add in the fact that the change in position has catapulted his stats to All-Star heights and Bargnani deserves to be picked up in all of the 26 percent of Fantasy leagues in which he's still available. The seven-footer is averaging 27 points and seven boards in the last two games and is adding 1.5 blocks. As a triple-eligible player with stats like these, Bargnani becomes one of the most versatile Fantasy big men in the game.
Rodney Stuckey, PG, Detroit Allen Iverson was supposed to cure what ailed the Pistons with Chauncey Billups running the show. If A.I. has been any kind of medical treatment it would be that of a leech. He sucks the scoring out of every other player on the team. To a lesser extent than Prince above, Stuckey was doing a lot better with Billups at the point. He was always supposed to be a back up this season with the hope that he'd be the leader of the future for the Pistons but he was already becoming viable in Fantasy, until Iverson arrived, that is. In his last four games, his minutes have dropped to 19.5, two under his season average, and his scoring is coming in at 6.5 points in those contests with a zero-point effort in 15 minutes against Boston in his last game. He added five turnovers in that game and is obviously out of sync in his new role. It looks like the bottom line is that with Iverson playing, Stuckey will continue to have very limited Fantasy appeal.
Jameer Nelson, PG, Orlando People, pick Nelson up off the waiver wire. Now. What are you waiting for? He's playing the best basketball of his entire career and he's the ninth best scoring point guard over the last week and change of action. So why is he only owned in 86 percent of leagues? Nelson is averaging 20 points, four rebounds and 4.8 assists per game over his last six contests and that makes him one of the hottest point guards in the NBA right now. And he's doing that while still shooting his worst career percentage from three-point range. Once he starts connecting from deep, watch out. Nelson should stay among the top point guards in Fantasy all season. He's currently dealing with a groin injury, but it shouldn't keep him out of action for long.
Adam Morrison, SF, Charlotte He was the third overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft after being named NCAA Player of the Year at Gonzaga during his third and final season in college. As a rookie for the Bobcats he was a bit disappointing but still showed off that scoring penchant by averaging 11.8 points per game. Morrison tore his ACL in his next season and missed the entire year. He's back for Charlotte but he doesn't seem to be in coach Larry Brown's plans. Brown loves a defensive player and Morrison might actually be allergic to putting his hands up and stopping those with the ball. That has caused Morrison to play just an average of 13 minutes per game over his last three contests and his production is plummeting from already low numbers. Morrison played 21 minutes in the Bobcats last game and failed to score on 0-for-6 shooting. He had a total of four points in the two games before that. He doesn't do anything other than score for Fantasy purposes and since he's been doing that poorly lately as well, Morrison is not someone to consider using and can officially be labeled a bust draft pick for the NBA's newest team.
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