Tip-In Points: Gerald and Awed
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.
________________________
Gerald Wallace, CHA Eight dudes scored at least 30 points last night. But none of ‘em get the top spot in today’s T-IPs. No, that distinction goes to Gerald Wallace. Yeah, he shot just 69 percent from the line and his team lost to the very bad Indiana Pacers, but this is about fantasy stats. And as far as fantasy stats go, the fact that Multiplicity - a swing man – has grabbed the third most rebounds of anyone in the league is outstanding and kinda unbelievable a third of the way into the season. He’s rebounding an extra four boards a game this year as comapred to last year, is tied for the lead in minutes played and ninth in steals per game. He had 20 double-doubles all last season, he’s got 15 already in 2009. Why bother telling you all this? You’re a smart reader. You’re hip to Crash’s greatness.
My reasoining is two-pronged. First prong is that I wanted a reason to link to this Gerald Wallace Facts blog, which has useful information such as “Coaches, announcers and commentators have been using the term ‘Crash the Boards’ for 30 years in anticipation of Gerald Wallace.” and “Adam Morrison wasn’t upset when he cried as Gonzaga was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. They were tears of joy that he might get to play with Gerald Wallace.” Honestly, I did not know these things about our boy. Did you? The second prong is because Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson are beating Wallace in votes for the All-Star game. Some of you are scoffing right along with me. But some of you took Crash’s vote and gave it to one of ‘dem bums. Consider this long paragraph my wagging finger to those of you guilty of such a crime.
Here are some other guys taking votes away from Wallace (and some who aren’t).
Delonte West, CLE Returned after taking off a few mental health days. His 1-for-6 shooting didn’t impress me much. His two steals and a block were a bit more my style.
Mo Williams, CLE Mo ain’t shootin’ well as of late (2-for-8 last night). He’s only shot better than 45 percent twice in the last nine games. And because he’s only had 7+ assists four times this season, when he doesn’t shoot well, he ain’t worth much.
Mareese Speights, PHI The Ace of Speights returned after being laid-low since November 14 with an injured knee. The youngster was just starting to build traction with the team, before the injury. He’s not a bad pick-up if you’ve got the room on your bench. If not, keep an eye out for Speights’ increased minutes that will come from the inevitable season-ending injury for which Elton Brand is scheduled any day now.
Allen Iverson, PHI He’s averaging 18.7 pts / 4 rbds / 4 asts in his last three games. Field-goal percentage remains very A.I.-like. And ay, I don’t like.
Sam Young, MEM Some guy wearing an authentic Grizzlies jersey grifted his way onto the court and led the team in scoring Wednesday night. Only on the Grizz.
Zach Randolph, MEM Turns out, I have nothing bad to say about Zach Randolph. I know. I know. It’s weird for me too. But what can I do? My hands are tied here. He’s had 13 double-doubles in 25 games. Not only that, but he’s averaging the highest FT% of his career and the highest FG% since his second season in the league.
Jeff Teague, ATL Rookie Jeff Teague hasn’t played more than 25 minutes in any game this season, but he went from averaging nine mpg in his first 18 to almost 21 minutes in his last four. He’s also averaging 6 asts / 1.8 stls / 1.3 3ptm during that time. If any of Atlanta’s shooters go down with an injury, this is the guy you grab.
Maurice Evans, ATL After filling in dutifully for Marvin Williams, Evans went back to the bench upon Williams’ return. He scored 13 points in 24:34 with 2 rbds, 5 asts and 2 stls.
T.J. Ford, IND Ford asploded last night, man! 15 points and 13 assists. His previous high in assists this season was seven, which he handed out on Monday.
Troy Murphy, IND Speaking of asploding! … This Chipotle burrito isn’t sitting right. Also, Troy Murphy went off for 26 / 15 while shooting .769 from the field.
Dwight Howard, ORL Dwight had 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks. Which brings up a good question: was he close to a triple-double? Eight blocks is pretty outstanding, but getting two more would have been the equivalent of scoring about 10-15 more points. We wouldn’t say Howard was so close to scoring 30 last night, just because he had 18, right? Going from three blocks to eight was the leap, not eight to 10. Does that jive? Does it at least cha-cha? T-IP NOTE: Howard also shot 86 percent from the free throw line.
Devin Harris, NJ Besides playing for New Jersey, what’s wrong with Devin Harris? His stats are down across the board. The entire friggin’ board. Wait … no, I’m incorrect. He’s fouling more. So his stats are down across most of the board.
Marcus Camby, LAC Easily having the quietest great season of all the quiet players having great seasons. Wait. Did I say that right? After dropping 10 points, picking up 18 rebounds and blocking five shots, Camby bumped up his average over the last 10 games to 10 / 15 / 4 / 3 blks.
Vladimir Radmanovic, GSW Just taking up space now.
Kobe Bryant, LAL 42 points and 39 points on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Do we care that he’s turned over the ball eight and seven times respectively? We don’t? Fine. Just checking. Don’t get snippy.
Michael Redd, MIL In his second game back after his season’s second return from injury, Michael Redd was Redd-like again, with a 25/7/4 line.
Ersan Ilyasova, MIL Scored 20+ points for the third time this season and surprise! This time it was a career-high (24). Threes 3s, five rebounds. Not enough penetration.
Rodney Stuckey, DET 26 points on Wednesday and the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week has scored 25 points in five of his last six games. The Pistons have a few dozen shooting guards returning from injury any day now. Ride this pony until it happens.
Richard Hamilton, DET Hamilton sat out with a sore hammy just two games after returning from a long injury. Stuckey was cool with it.
Kevin Durant, OKC Kid Dynamite imploded on Wednesday and is giving Trevor Ariza a run for his money as the Week’s Worst Line By A Good Player™. 12 points on 4-18 (.222) shooting. Four turnovers to cancel out the four rebounds he grabbed. Two assists.
J.R. Smith, DEN If I told you Earl scored 21 points last night, you’d assume he had six or seven threes, right? Try two. In the 49 career games in which Smith scored at least 21 points, an even dozen of those times have seen him make fewer than three 3-pointers.
Carmelo Anthony, DEN Video game Carmelo was in full effect scoring another 38 last night. Half of those points came from free-throws. He made 19-of-20, which is the best percentage by any Nugget ever to have taken 20 free-throws in one game. Anthony has scored in 25 games what it took him 37 games last season to score (797 points).
Gilbert Arenas, WAS Gil had 33 points and made 83 percent of his free-throws. It’s quiet. A little too quiet.
L I N E O F T H E N I G H T
Pau Gasol, LAL 49 min. / .600 FG% / .889 FT% / 26 pts / 22 rbds (career-best) / 4 asts / 3 to / 1 stl / 4 blks.When someone drops a line like this, it’s only fitting that his name sound like “POW!” His 70 rebounds in his last four games is the most in any quartet of games since Marcus Camby grabbed 79 in a four-game stretch last season.
_______________________
Photos courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
Comments are closed
