Tip-In Points: 60 Smiles Per Allen
Anyone can suggest adds and drops for the NBA fantasy fans out there, but few make those suggestions from the gut. We’ve also sprinkled in tons of helpful stats for all fantasy formats too. Because that’s the kind of fantasy help you deserve.
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Allen Iverson, PHI The story for the Sixers is nice. Ross and Rachel got together in the end, after all. The story doesn’t end with Iverson’s 11 / 5 /6 with only 1 turnover. It doesn’t end with Iverson finally getting to wear a Philly jersey that doesn’t look like a 15-yer-old camp counselor designed it. It doesn’t end with Iverson making awkward small talk with Denver and Detroit because Philly invited them to a party long before they decided to get back together. This story ends with ticket sales. Louis Williams didn’t bring in fans. Andre Iguodala didn’t bring in fans. Iverson does. The sold-out crowd stood for 4:59 until Iverson scored his first bucket. And that’s bad for Williams and Iguodala owners. It’s bad for Elton Brand owners too. Iverson makes all three of those fantasy players weaker because the Sixers are going to give Iverson whatever he wants as long as fans keep a-coming.
Want proof? Start reading about a quarter-inch below this sentence.
Andre Iguodala, PHI Iggy has played with Iverson for nearly 38 percent of his career (161 out of 425 games) and the argument can be made that AI 2 isn’t a better player when AI 1 is around. That’s not the point being made on Monday when Iguodala rode the Iverson bluster to 31 pts / 4 rbds / 2 asts / 3 stls, but that’s because bluster is a powerful thing. Lucky for you and for me and all those weirdos reading over your shoulder, stats are also a powerful thing. In 161 games alongside Iverson, Iguodala has averaged 10.7 pts / 5.7 rbds / 3 asts / 1.7 stls. Without Iverson? 18.9 pts / 7.4 rbds / 5.3 asts / 1.9 stls. Which Iggy would you have. “I’d rather have the Iggy that wasn’t a rookie or a sophomore when he played with Iverson, tough guy.” Yeah. I thought you’d point that out. So let’s look at 2006-07, Iguodala’s third year in the league. He played 13 of his 76 games with Iverson before Allen became Denver’s Answer.
With Iverson: 13 games / 13.4 pts / 6.2 rbds / 3.9 asts / 1.9 stls
W/o Iverson: 63 games / 19.2 pts / 5.6 rbds / 6.0 asts / 2 stls
What I’m saying to Iguodala owners is this: you better hope the “old Allen Iverson” isn’t back in Philadelphia, because with him comes the “old Iguodala.” Which would technically be a “young Iguodala.”
Samuel Dalembert, PHI Samuel L. Dalembert grabbed 15 boards and blocked six shots. Sure he only scored four times, but he usually only scores three. Are you gonna poo-poo overachievement?
Carmelo Anthony, DEN 5-21 FG / 14 points. First game all season ‘Melo scored fewer than 20 points. You know he’s having a great year because George Karl redirected all his angry homicidal glares away from Anthony and aimed them at J.R. Smith, even while Smith was on the bench.
David Lee, NYY Double-double number nine. Lee averaged four dub-dubs every five games last season. This year he’s closer to two such games out of every five. So that’s significantly fewer.
Brandon Roy, POR Just two seconds shy of playing the fourth 40 minute game out of his last five. Still, with Oden gone, 39 minutes of play, 25+ ppg seems to be the new norm. Also the new Norm? Steve.
LaMarcus Aldridge, POR Missed a game due to knee injury last week. Then Greg Oden showed him how knee injuries should be done. He’s double-doubled in two straight games since his sissyass knee boo-boo.
Joel Przybilla, POR The Vanilla Gorilla was on the court for 32 minutes and what he did besides grabbing eight boards and turning the ball over thrice is beyond me.
Larry Hughes, NY That’s 62 points in three games since being moved to the bench. The fun part will be watching Coach D’Antoni promote Hughes to the starting lineup every 10 days just so he can demote him again. I’m making popcorn for it.
Monta Ellis, GSW Another full 48 minutes for Ellis. Another 31 points. Another nine turnovers. If you don’t have turnovers in your league, this guy is as valuable now as LeBron James. If you do count turnovers, this guy is as valuable as Monta Ellis.
Stephen Curry, GSW Monday saw Curry at his best. Or best so far. He shot an efficient 9-of-14 with 22 points and four thefts. Five turnovers hurts. So does playing for Don Nelson.
Anthony Morrow, GSW Morrow missed his second straight game due to a death in his family.
Kevin Durant, OKC The OKC star was, in a fake word, “Durantine.” Many points (28), many turnovers (6), many missed shots (15) after starting the game on ice. Kid Dynamite has scored 25+ points in six straight games and a league-leading 17 times this season. Basketball fans in Seattle just swallowed a little of their own vomit.
Jeff Green, OKC They tell me Green played 39 minutes and had 21 points and 13 Rebas. His career-high in boards is 14. Shoulda played him 40 minutes.
James Harden, OKC Well lookit Jim in his big boy pants. He scored 26 points in a little over 29 minutes of play. He’s not worth picking up on a day-to-day basis until his minutes increase. Right now he’s averaging 21 minutes per game. His averages per 36 minutes are 16.5 / 5.5 / 4.3 / 1.9 stls / .4 blks / 2 to. Keep an eye on him. Your good eye. Keeping your foggy eye on him won’t do much good.
Manu Ginobili, SAS 5 pts / 2 rbds / 3 asts in 15 minutes for Ginobili. Most of his per-minute averages are right there, it’s the minutes. The minutes, man.
Matt Bonner, SAS The Red Rocket must be a hoarder. He hadn’t scored more than 23 points all season and hadn’t even amassed more than 26 points over his his last five games. Then, BOOM, 28 points on 10-for-14 shooting. You see, he was saving this performance for a weekday loss to the Jazz. That’s called strategy.
Tim Duncan, SAS 23/ 11 / 2 / 7-7 FT. True fact: the greatest power forward in league history played greatly on Monday.
Paul Millsap, UTA Carlos Boozer’s awesomeness this season is millsapping the effectiveness of Millsap off the bench. Nevermind P.M.’s barrage of double-doubles last year while Boozer was out. His work as a reserve from this year to last is way down.
38 games as a reserve in 2008-09: 25.9 mpg / 11.1 ppg / 6.9 rpg / 1.2 apg
20 games as a reserve in 2009-10: 26.0 mpg / 10.1 ppg / 5.9 rpg / 0.8 apg
Clearly Millsap hasn’t found a way to take advantage of the extra six seconds per game he’s played in this year.
Carlos Boozer, UTA The reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, led Utah with 27 points and 7 rebounds, the eighth straight game in which he’s had at least 20 and 7.
Ronnie Brewer, UTA 17 / 10 / 3 / 2 stls in nearly 43 minutes. Don’t you go gettin’ used to those minutes, Ronnie Brewer.
Andrei Kirilenko, UTA Kirilenko and his bird-like features (back) are still too frail to participate in any reindeer games. Maybe next time.
L I N E O F T H E N I G H T
Chauncey Billups, DEN 31 pts / 8 rebs / 8 asts / 1 stl / 2 to / 4 3ptm / 8-15 FG / 11-11 FT. This is what happens when you’re guarded by Allen Iverson. Or not guarded, as the case may be.
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Top photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
Bottom photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Reuters
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