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Wesley Matthews is averaging 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.3 threes in his last three games. He’s also shooting 33 percent from the field during this forgettable stretch. Stepping back and looking at the picture will show fantasy owners that Matthews is shooting 41 percent from the floor this season, notably below his career average of 45 percent. His game log shows that he’s only cracked 50 percent from the field three times in his 12 games since Jan. 14. Before that night, Matthews was hitting 48 percent of his shot from the field. Chalk his recent struggles up to a slump. He’s still starting and getting 32+ minutes a night and remains a solid source of threes and all-around production. Read More »
Last night, Denver ran away from L.A. in the Staples Center because they dominated at points in the second and late in the third quarter. George Karl trusts his bench, almost too much in fact. His goal this year might be to coach this team like its intramurals. That’s just speculation, but with the way he hands out minutes, 11 guys all average double figures, we wouldn’t be surprised. Having a decent bench is always important, but it’s never been stressed like this. Five games in six nights will leave your team playing more up and down than a seesaw if the second unit can’t hoop. Read More »
All things being equal, the NBA’s best sixth men would rather be starting, of course. On other teams, there’s a chance they certainly would be. You don’t have to look much further than Jason Terry. He’s been the second-best player on a championship team and one of the fourth quarter shoulders the Dallas Mavericks have leaned on for the past eight seasons. Is he good enough to start? Of course. Even though his numbers are down this year (13.9 points, 41 percent shooting), Terry’s been hitting big jumpers and spot up threes for the past decade. As a starter, he’d be a nice player. As a bench player, he became a staple of what it means to be a great sixth man. Read More »
Back again for the third time, NBA TV is presenting another season of The Association, starting this Wednesday. The cast and characters this year: one of the league’s most consistently successful organizations, the Denver Nuggets. Whereas in past seasons with Boston and the Lakers, we knew what we were getting, which was a story about a team trying to win a championship. But with the Nuggets, the show should take on a different feel, not because they aren’t trying to win it all but because episode one (trailer after the jump) goes behind-the-scenes with a team that had only seven players at the start of training camp. Read More »
It wasn’t like we were the only ones to say the Sixers were for real this year. Everyone was saying that, and the numbers backed it up. They were No. 1 in offense and defense – at the same time – for a while this season, and were dominating people at home. But last night, they ran into a real title contender, the Miami Heat, and the Sixers got blitzed worse than anything we’ve seen all year from the Ravens. Even without Dwyane Wade, the Heat won because they dominated on the glass and LeBron (28 points) was an absolute savage on the pick-n-roll. Whenever he got into the lane, it was an automatic bucket. Read More »
What made Mike D’Antoni and the Phoenix Suns such a threat in the Western Conference was the fact that he had an arsenal of shooters at his disposal. But when D’Antoni first arrived in New York, his best three-point threat was Al Harrington. That’s not good. Last year, Toney Douglas was the only player on the Knicks to hit more than 100 three-pointers, finishing the season with 143. They also had sharpshooter Andy Rautins on the roster, but never used him. Finally, it appears D’Antoni has found his man. Read More »
So they think they need a committee to study this stuff huh? It shouldn’t take a genius or even a formulation of a number of basketball minds to figure this one out, but as Yahoo! Sports is reporting, the NBA and the Player’s Association are discussing whether to form a committee to study the age minimum for the NBA draft with “the possibility that no immediate changes to the ‘one-and-done’ rule will come in the finalization of the new collective bargaining agreement.”
Good. Maybe they’ll finally discover what I’ve been saying all along. Read More »
People always say guys play better in a contract year. Check out this video of Al Harrington competing in a Spartan Race from last weekend on Staten Island, New York. For most of the race, he’s running like Big Z. Send a few gladiators to chase after him and boom, he’s Usain Bolt. What’s a Spartan Race? It’s billed as an ultimate obstacle course designed by insane ultra athletes and a Royal Marine. I’m assuming that’s why Harrington looked completely drained by the end.
With three contributing players inked to overseas deals that may prevent them from rejoining the NBA in the 2011-12 regular season (should it exist) and with at least two significant free agents to re-sign, the Denver Nuggets make for an intriguing study from a fantasy basketball perspective. While all that means the Nuggets will likely have fewer fantasy assets than they did last season, it might open things up for other players on the team. Let’s take a glance at the potential fallout. Read More »
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