Tip-In Points: Chief Justice Amar’e Stoudemayor
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.
________________________
Amar’e Stoudemire, PHO The Suns may have lost Thursday’s game and kept their TNT losing streak going, but the fantasy story from last night should be Stoudemire – or more specifically, Stoudemire’s legs and eyes. Luckily for you, my attention deficient reader, this is a short story. His legs are stronger now than they were most of last year and his eyes are back to normal. After averaging slightly under six rebounds a game through his first 17 contests, STAT has increased his board numbers by over 3.5 rebounds per game in December. He’s also staying in games longer. He’s double-doubled in five of the last eight games and played at least 40 minutes in four of his last seven games. All this suggests the NBA’s most explosive player will be explosive again and soon. Last night, he went after it, and although he got tired in the waning minutes of a game in which he played over 44 minutes, there was a fire. Twenty-seven points and 11 rebounds against a Portland team that bangs and plays at a slow place. This was not Amar’e's gaudiest game stat-wise (STAT-wise?), but it was a solid sign of things to come … unless someone on the Clippers pops one of his eyes out again. Then nevermind.
Danilo Gallinari, NY Which way should I go here? Do I mention how many threes The Rooster attempted in just 27 minutes of burn or should I play nice and focus on the six threes he swished? I’ll play nice. Because Al Harrington is up next.
Al Harrington, NY This fool, on the other hand, attempted a career-high 13 threes. Why? Because he started out the game making four in the first quarter. He went on to miss every other attempt after those and helped the Knicks shoot themselves right out of a win against the Bulls. Thirteen!?! What makes a man, standing at the arc, knowing he’s 4-for-8 or 4-for-9, think, “naw, I got this.” He didn’t have that.
Luol Deng, CHI 24 pts/13 rbds/5 asts and it’s safe to say Deng is all healed and is very sorry about last season.
Taj Gibson, CHI Taj Gibson, the best blues trumpeter in Chicagoland, earned his third career double-double, all coming in December. In fact, he averaged 6/4 in October, then 7.3/5.6 in November. This month he’s pulled those averages up to 10.7/7.8. My calculations indicate he’ll be averaging 60/35 per game by May. Pick him up now before others crunch the numbers!
Matt Barnes, ORL Cold. 0-for-8. Blech.
Jason Richardson, PHO Missed his second straight game with a hand injury. He didn’t miss it, I guess. He was there. He just sorta let it pass him by. I guess, he let the second straight game pass him by due to a hand injury. Accuracy is comforting.
Channing Frye, PHO Large Frye dropped four 3-pointers in the first half of last night’s game and had 14 at the half. Sadly, he only dropped one more three in the second and ended the game with 17 points. Which is why I’ve decided to start a league that only counts first-half stats. Also, I get first pick. And with my first pick, I will choose Channing Frye … and lose to whoever chooses LeBron James. D’oh!
Brandon Roy, POR 27 points on Thursday. Now he’s scored at least 20 in eight straight. If you’re into trends, look for this one to continue.
L I N E O F T H E N I G H T
Jerryd Bayless, POR .600 FG% / .750 FT% / 29 pts / 2 3ptm / 3 rbds / 4 asts / 2 to. Played more than 25 minutes (from the bench) for the first time all season and lookit wha’ happened. A career-high 29 points answered a lot of questions about his usefulness as a starter (if the Blazers decided to go that way), but did nothing to clarify why his name is spelled like that. Is he Jared? Is he Jair-eed? Is he Jerry-D? This is the worst misuse of a “y” since Dwayne Dwyane Wade.
__________________________
Photos courtesy of Yahoo! via Getty Images
Comments are closed
