Tip-In Points: Chew On Duhon
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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Chris Duhon, NY The starting PG – the man with the ball in his hand most often – of the pro basketball team in the largest market in the country is owned in about 2/3 of fantasy leagues. Should I blame the 33 percent of leagues that have taken a poo on Duhon? Nah. Dude’s averaging only 36 percent from the field and 75 percent from the line. That’s low. Way low. Too low to stay competitive in leagues that are … y’know … competitive.
That being said, I don’t blame the 66 percent of leagues that went through on Duhon. There are only nine guys in the league handing out more assists than Chris. Most competitve leagues aren’t in the business of ignoring top 10 guys in any of the major stat categories. Duhon is seen as a lame duck player and no doubt that mentality has boiled over to fantasy managers.
You owe it to yourselves, dear readers (both of you), to consider Duhon more closely. He hasn’t missed a game all season, he averages 35 minutes in each of them and turns the ball over fewer than twice a game from the PG position. There are signs that Duhon is injecting a pulse into his season in addition to all that. After shooting only 28 percent from the field through November, Duhon shot 43 percent in December. He sank 5.2 more points per game in December than in the previous month and even improved his assist average last month to 6.9 (up from 6.1). In deeper leagues, he really ought to be owned and even in shallow leagues, the right team could actually benefit.
Here are a few other notes to stew on (besides Duhon).
Roy Hibbert, IND Hibbert had a career-high seven assists last night. But calling it a career-high doesn’t really do it justice. He’s never had more than four assists and he’s only had that many three times in his short career. There really is no one left on the Pacers who can do anything.
Earl Watson, IND Exhibit A. Earl Watson is on the Pacers and could not do anything yesterday. He shot 33 percent from the field, accumulated only nine points in the process and handed out only one assist from the PG position while his team’s center handed out seven. T.J. Ford is a better option at guard despite being demoted. That being said, if you have a Pacers gaurd on your fantasy team, you’re not winning anything this year.
Nate Robinson, NY After the 41-point performance in his first game in a month, one had to assume Robinson would either score 60 or fall flat on his face. Two guesses which is was.
Mo Williams, CLE Williams has averaged 22.3 points and 51 percent shooting in his last eight games. The problem here is that he plays right next to LeBron James. This is unfortunate for Williams because a lot of people are missing what he’s contributing to that team. This is the same problem “Back to the Future 2″ has when compared to the original. One is clearly superior, but that shouldn’t imply that the other is inferior overall. What I’m trying to say is, let’s affix a Mr. Fusion onto Williams’ back.
Gerald Wallace, CHA His 20th double-digit rebound game of the season yesterday in his 31st game of the season. He had 21 such games in the entirety of last season. Nevertheless, he won’t sniff this year’s all-star game. C’mon Charlotte-ans!
Boris Diaw, CHA Played just shy of 38 minutes, didn’t score a single point. If he’s not still out of shape, he at least looks like he is. He can’t bang down low anymore … or won’t. Either way he’s taking nearly two more three-point shots per game than he ever did in Phoenix and missing most of them (29 percent from the arc). And because he’s content to shoot from afar, his rebounds are lower than they’ve been since he was averaging 18 minutes with the Hawks.
Tim Duncan, SA Started behind Theo Ratliff despite being uninjured, went 21/ 12 anyway. Coach Pop didn’t give a reason for the switcheroo. We’re gonna go with “lost a bet.”
Tony Parker, SA Monsieur Parker made a zhot from zee arc. Eet was ees first seence zee eeleventh of Deecembere. Ees made only three zis entire year.
Andrea Bargnani, TOR 15/ 8 despite shooting 31 percent from the floor. Sunday marked the 12th game this season Bargnani couldn’t sink more than 40 percent of his shots. Also had a season-high five blocks. So there’s a nice little feather in your cap for you to put in your pipe and smoke.
Chris Bosh, TOR 22 pts/ 15 rbds/ 2 blks and surpassed Vince Carter as Toronto’s all-time highest scorer.
Ty Lawson, DEN The fastest player in the league had the best game of his pro career Sunday as he again started in place of the injured Chauncey Billups. He scored 23 points, assisted nine and never turned the ball over in almost 31 minutes of play. He’s a solid pick-up in any league while Chauncey and ‘Melo remain shelved.
Kenyon Martin, DEN Played a season-high 41 minutes. He also had three steals, three blocks and played like an all-defensive foward instead of a medicore defensive forward who thinks he’s an all-defensive forward.
J.R. Smith, DEN Two-thirds of Denver’s backcourt is out with injury and he still can’t make it into the starting lineup. Why? Perhaps 0-for-4 from the arc and 33 percent from the field will lead to more clues.
Chris Andersen, DEN Left in the second quarter with an ankle sprain. Put a pillowcase over his cage until he’s better.
Andre Iguodala, PHI The worst game of his season. He shot 22 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the line. If Samuel Dalembert were alive today, he’d be so ashamed.
Pau Gasol, LAL The good news is he scored six points and grabbed a pair of boards in the game’s first seven minutes. The bad news is that that’s all he played. The rest of the game was spent on the sidelines with a strained hamstring.
Lamar Odom, LAL 15/15/6 That’s only gonna get better if Artest and Gasol remain sidelined for additional games.
Jason Kidd, DAL Decided that higher percentage shots weren’t for him and shot only threes instead, six of ‘em to be exact. He missed each of ‘em. Five assists don’t make up for that.
L I N E O F T H E N I G H T
LeBron James, CLE 43 min/ .619 FG%/ .500 FT%/ 2 3ptm/ 29 pts/ 7 rbds/ 6 asts/ 1 stl/ 1 blk/ 1 to. In James’ 36 games this season, you know where this one ranks? 16th. This doesn’t even crack the upper 40th percentile. If he were in your fourth grade math class he’d be working on algorithms in front of you. Then he’d dunk on you at recess.
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Photos courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
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