Tip-In Points: Chris Army Knife
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 Paul, NO This is not the post where TiPs tries to convince you that Chris Paul is not a good basketball player. He is. This is also not the post where TiPs addresses the point guard’s two first names. He has them. Rather, this is the post in which TiPs makes a connection between Paul’s month-by-month drop in FG%, his struggle from the arc, his mid-November injury and his assists-per-game average. There. The connection was just made, didja catch it? Connect four! I win!
In October-November (10 games) Paul shot .594 from the floor and .655 from the arc while dishing out 9.2 assists per game. Then he got hurt and missed three weeks. When he returned, he spent the remaining 12 December games shooting poorer from the floor (.460) and the arc (.270) while his assists-per-game rose to 11.8.
Just as Paul does his lovin’ with the lights on (probably), he does his scoring in the paint. It’s likely the injury made him a bit skittish penetrating the paint. And the threes? An aberration. He’s never shot better than 36 percent from downtown. Paul started the season white-hot (13 3ptm in his first six games), the rest has simply been reverting to the median (15 3ptm in his last 19).
That being said, Paul owners should wonder how much revertin’ is left. In his first three January games, Paul has shot 37 percent from the floor and 13 percent from the arc. His assists? Down to 10.3 apg. The rust from his injury should be shaken by now.
Here are a few athletes who don’t have any worries about Chris Paul’s game.
Josh Smith, ATL Get over the 11 points. A least that 11 points came on only 5-for-7 shooting. Nine reebs, 7 assists and 3 steals+blocks is more than your team deserves.
Jamal Crawford, ATL He’s just been choppin’ down fools this season. He had 29 points in only 24 minutes last night. That’s 24 bench minutes. That’s 24 bench minutes in Atlanta, where it’s hot ‘n’ sticky in January and the hometown fans don’t even like the team. He’s got the Sixth Man of the Year award wrapped up already, right?
Carl Landry, HOU Wrong! Career-high 31 points with 10 rebounds to boot … from the bench. Your move, Jamal.
Trevor Ariza, HOU Awful, awful shot selection last night. And the day before. And all season. He’s just 49 field-goal attempts away from tying his total from last year. He played all 82 games last year and shot .460. He’s shooting .377 so far. Ya think the pressure of being the team stud is getting to him? ‘Cause I think it is and I crave validation.
Aaron Brooks, HOU Went. Off. Speaking of team stud: Career-high 34 points, which included six threes.
Randy Foye, Nick Young, Earl Boykins, WAS This will be the trio picking up the pieces left by Gilbert Arenas’ gun-fingers. Young and Boykins will get the bulk of it, while Foye will be your deep-league option. Look for Young first, then the other two.
Fabricio Oberto, WAS Eleven minutes, four fouls, nothing else. Nothing. Not one rebound. Not one block. Nothin’. If your fantasy league is competing to see who can cobble together the worst team, here’s your starting C right here.
Caron Butler, WAS Eight points (again) in a team-high 38 minutes. Until he shapes up, I’m calling him Rutler.
LeBron James, CLE 23 pts/ 7 rbds/ 8 asts/ 1 3ptm/ 58 FG%/ 73 FT%/ 2 stls/ 1 blk. Until he starts making balloon animals for the kids at halftime, I refuse to be impressed.
Shaquille O’Neal, CLE 17 points in 17 minutes. Golf clap.
Delonte West, CLE About as good of a game as you can expect from West. Unfortunately, you can only expect such a game about one in every five.
Jose Calderon, TOR Returned after missing the last 12 games. Eight assists. Jarrett Jack had seven assists. Do they say tht Canadians don’t know how to share. ‘Cause if they say that, they should stop.
Rashard Lewis, ORL Good things come in fives. Five threes, 5-for-5 from the line, five rebounds, five steals. Lotsa high-fives.
Dwight Howard, ORL 20/12 but also nine turnovers. He and Shaq are the only two active centers to have nine turnovers in three different games throughout their careers. Fun fact!
J.J. Redick, ORL 10-for-11 from the line. 22 points in 29 minutes from the bench. That’s good, but not quite Jamal Crawford good.
Paul Pierce, BOS Returned, was okay. Slightly clunky. 17 pts/ 6 rbds/ 5 asts/ .333 FG%. He looked like he was playing in shoes that hadn’t been broken in yet.
Quentin Richardson, MIA 1-for-6. Read ‘em and weep: October: .750 FG%, November: .441 FG%, December: .451 FG%, January: .321 FG%
Ben Gordon, DET On par with the rest of his team. Meaning he played rather poorly.
Channing Frye, PHO Six of his eight field-goals were threes. This is normal in Channing Frye’s world. No one on Phoenix is under the basket on the offensive glass.
Marc Gasol, MEM Foul problems led to stat problems. 2-for-4 from the field.
Andrei Kirilenko, UTA Blah scoring, but killed everywhere else. 6 rbds/ 4 asts/ 4 stls/ 3 blks.
Deron Williams, UTA Out. Day-to-day. Ronnie Brewer got four steals and 10 dimes instead. It’s like D-Will never left.
Lamar Odom, LAL If Pau Gasol suddenly began scoring an average of five fewer points, but made an additional trey and an extra assist and steal each game, would you keep him on your roster? Sure you would. Or, at least, sure you should. As long as Gasol remains sidelined with hammy issues, this is what Lamar Odom has become. He had 9 pts/ 16 rbds/ 5 asts, a steal and a stomach bug on Wednesday. He’s started in each of the last seven games and double-doubled in five of them.
Kobe Bryant, LAL Shot 10-for-30 from the floor. The last time Mamba made 10-or-fewer buckets on 30+ attempts was April 9, 2007 (9-for-30). Enjoy his 33 points, eight assists and freaky, outlier-ish shot selection. It shouldn’t happen for another 32 months or so.
Baron Davis, LAC From RealBaronDavis’ tweet: “#Beard Tip of the Day – Always line up your beard at your chin line. It gives your beard a sharper look.” If that doesn’t explain his 25/5/10 against the Lakers I don’t know what does.
L I N E O F T H E N I G H T
43 min / .441 FG% / .688 FT% / 3 3ptm / 44 pts / 5 rbd / 7 asts / 3 stls / 1 blk / 2 tos
Dwyane Wade, MIA Wade’s been among the top 10 in scoring this year, led the league in scoring last season and has averaged 33.7 ppg over his last three. But there’s something about him that still – after all that – allows other players and fans completely underestimate him. Then he pops off one of these games, and everyone is all, “of course!”
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Photos courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
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