It’s a Fantasy Thanksgiving: Turkeys and Gratitude
Here’s a nod to the wonderful celebration of gluttony affectionately known as Thanksgiving. In view of this holiday, let’s take a moment to list this season’s fantasy turkeys (i.e. failures).
The 2009-10 All-Turkey Fantasy Team (So Far)
PG: Derrick Rose
SG: Caron Butler
SF: Gerald Wallace
PF: Kevin Garnett
C: Dwight Howard
Bench: Allen Iverson, Leandro Barbosa, Andre Miller, David West, Rasheed Wallace, Spencer Hawes
It’d be too bleak if we stopped here, so let’s finish things off with a quick look at some players that fantasy owners should be very thankful for so far in this young 2009-10 NBA season, in no particular order.
- Marc Gasol: He’s off to an incredible start and is giving his owners top-12 overall value right now, which is remarkable given that he was drafted in the last round of many drafts. With the lack of frontcourt depth in Memphis, there’s very little standing in the way of him finishing with a better fantasy season than his older brother.
- Brandon Jennings: Young Money has cooled off a bit lately, but he’s still a fantasy stud who has a shot at finishing 2009-10 with top-30 value. Rookies are usually unreliable in the realm of fantasy ball, but Jennings is making it very hard to be skeptical about his long-term value this season.
- Carmelo Anthony: He’s feasting on his opponents this year as his scoring, shooting percentages and steals are all up compared to his subpar 2008-09 campaign. ‘Melo could end the season as a top-10 fantasy player, which would be a big surprise to skeptics like yours truly.
- Lou Williams: He’s far exceeding the sleeper tag he earned coming into this season and is an absolute stud so far. Concerns about his field goal percentage, low assists and turnovers have been addressed as Williams is shooting 49.7 percent from the floor, handing out 5.1 assists and turning the ball over just 1.8 times per game so far this season. The turnovers are impressive given that he averaged 1.9 last season, when he played 11 fewer minutes per game.
- Joakim Noah: It looks like he’s picking up right where he left off during last season’s playoffs. Noah’s playing nine more minutes per game and is averaging 11.5/12 and 1.8 blocks per game and is giving his owners top-30 value so far.
Others to be thankful for: Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Channing Frye, Greg Oden, Danilo Gallinari, Carl Landry, Ersan Ilyasova, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Ben Wallace, Will Bynum, Andrew Bynum, Al Horford, Josh Smith, Andrea Bargnani, Trevor Ariza, Jason Thompson
What do you think? Express your thanks for the players who have helped your fantasy teams so far this season.
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November 26th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
ProphetGK says:
Nash and Amare
November 26th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
thanksdoc says:
dahntay jones. picked him up in every team, good trade bait
hey doc what do you think about me dropping darren collison for will bynum?
November 26th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@thanksdoc: Not a bad idea, though Collison will rack up more assists. Both are good temporary assets, as you know. Just monitor news on Gordon’s ankle and how bad it is. If he only misses a game or two, Collison could still have more value.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
necromancer says:
Too bad but true about Garnett…watched him close last nite and he’s still ill from last year’s ouchin’,despite his numbers v. philly…downhill is now for KG.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Reno Hightower says:
Lou Williams is out for 8 weeks now. Bummer.
November 26th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@Reno Hightower: No joke. The dude was on a tear.
November 26th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Reno Hightower says:
Yup. He was killin it. Had to drop him unfortunately.
November 26th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
eric says:
Hey doc, thoughts on donta greene from the kings?
November 26th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Gary says:
Who should i drop lou for james harden? will bynum, collision? jrue holiday? duhon? i would add jameer nelson if he was back sooner and im desperate for 3s and steals
November 26th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Dodge Taylor says:
I’m thankful for Danny Granger who is a fantasy superstar despite his fg% being down this season.
Tim Duncan for still getting it done after all these years. Nene for powering up in the last week or two, Brendan Haywood for over-achieving and Anthony Morrow for being a great last round pick in the draft!
PS. F U Melo for not playing like this LAST season!
November 26th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
ERIC says:
Lou Williams out for 8 weeks with a broken jaw.
Opening the door for AI’s return to Philly??
November 26th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@eric: Greene will be solid on most nights, but once Udrih, Martin and Garcia eventually return, he’ll steadily lose value. Ride him till he drops if you can spare a roster spot for him.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@Gary: I’d consider all of them besides Duhon. Holiday will have the longest stretch of value since he’s in sync with Lou’s return but Collison and Bynum could be more consistent while CP3 and Rip/Ben recover.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@ERIC: Very unlikely but an intriguing thought, for sure.
November 26th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
rocco says:
there should be at least three articles about craig sager’s outfit in the next 24 hours
November 26th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@rocco: Totally agreed. He’s quite a guy.
November 26th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Kobe says:
hey doc,
would an arenas for al jefferson or brook lopez be a good deal? any other bigmen i should consider? thanks in advance
November 26th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Dennis says:
Doc, someone offered me Amare and Marion for Bosh. What do you think?
November 26th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
sans says:
thankful for Lebron
November 26th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@Kobe: Sounds good to me. Also target Oden, Noah, Boozer, Stoudemire and Nene.
November 26th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
cdiz says:
Thankful for ma boys CDR and Brook Lopez
November 26th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Dagomar says:
In terms of turkeys:
yes, I completely agree with Howard. He’s been a huge disappointment for me. I expected him to at least work on something over the summer, but he hasn’t improved any facet of his game and he’s coasting through very long stretches of most games. I’m increasingly doubting that he’ll ever be named among the all-time great centres.
November 27th, 2009 at 12:04 am
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@Dennis: That sounds like a good deal.
November 27th, 2009 at 12:05 am
ahan says:
Hey Doc, first time commenting on this website. I’m dropping Marvin Williams for T.J. Ford or Chris Duhon, which one should I pick up? I badly need assist and Marvin Williams is sucking it up (except for 2 games this season). T.J. had a great game last night with 6 assist, while Duhon failed. You see T.J. re salvaging his season or should I pick up Duhon?
November 27th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Matt 'T2' Tuckett says:
Where’s Aaron McKie when you need him? Dude used to be good for a decent shooting clip, a few boards, steals, triples and dimes …. I could really use those right about now.
November 27th, 2009 at 2:18 am
ross says:
great job so far fantasy doc.
November 27th, 2009 at 2:35 am
penske1 says:
Yay, I have 3 all-turkey players on my team…Rose, Garnett and Howard. Hating life right now.
November 27th, 2009 at 3:25 am
GoJazzGo says:
Hey Doc, I was just offered Amare and Kevin Martin straight up for Monta Ellis. I already have Dwight Howard, Nene, and Kaman. Is it a fair trade? Am I stupid to trade Ellis after he has started to go off? He cant play like that forever right?
Please help!
November 27th, 2009 at 7:28 am
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@ahan: Welcome!
Tough choice there, since both are struggling this year. If you need assists, Duhon’s the better candidate, as he nearly doubles Ford in that area and gives you more threes and steals as well. Ford scores more and shoots better from the floor, but that’s about it.
November 27th, 2009 at 7:30 am
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@ross: Thanks for the kind words!
November 27th, 2009 at 7:33 am
The Fantasy Doctor says:
@GoJazzGo: Enticing deal. If you can wait another month or so for Martin to return, this deal is pretty solid for you. You’d have a stacked frontline, which would mean you could probably engineer a pretty sweet deal for yourself.
And yes, like you said, while he’ll be better than he was at the start of the season, it’s unlikely that Ellis can keep up the minutes and very high-level production.
So, if you’re willing to wait on Martin or take on Stoudemire and put the effort into making another deal to strengthen your backcourt, this seems pretty good.
November 27th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
srb says:
How can Iverson be only on the bench? He should be THE fantasy turkey.
November 27th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
GoJazzGo says:
Ok cool. I’m gonna do it. Thanks. Keep up the good work.