Now that the rust is coming off the season (except for you Steve Nash), we’ll be splitting the Wednesday posts into morning (for recaps) and afternoon (for the tiers). Check out the previous Centers, Forwards, and Guards tiers. This week we’ll jump right into the guards.
There’s been some movement on the PG front mainly because I had to move Kyrie Irving down due to his injury (also Ty Lawson because his shot just has NOT been falling and Isaiah Thomas because he’s been sent to the bench). However I’d like to take this time to address a certain topic. I’m sure people will riot at Rajon Rondo’s ranking being that low but there are certain qualities I like my PG to have. The qualities: High FT%, 3PM, AST, STL, and Low TO (for 9 Cat). Rondo is the best PG in the league for AST and one of the best for STL. However his putrid FT% (61%), non-existent 3’s (0.5 per game), and high TO’s (3.3 per game, which is tied for 4th most in the league for PG) make him a bad fantasy PG candidate. Conversely, Rondo makes a great PG candidate if you have a team that is punting FT% and 3PM (usually teams that have guys like Dwight Howard and Josh Smith). The point is that Rondo helps your team in two PG categories while hurting it in the other three. That’s someone I’d rather leave to another team.
Point Guards:
Top 3 overall, idiot: Chris Paul
Nom nom nom: Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams
Nom nom: Kyle Lowry, Goran Dragic, Brandon Jennings
Nom: Mike Conley, Stephen Curry, Ty Lawson, Rajon Rondo
Wow there are a lot of sweet PGs this year: Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Tony Parker, Jrue Holiday
Boom or Bust: Raymond Felton, Jeremy Lin, Steve Nash, John Wall
Upside!!!!: Jeff Teague, Kemba Walker, George Hill, Darren Collison
Upside: Mo Williams, Greivis Vasquez
Upside down: Brandon Knight, Luke Ridnour, Jameer Nelson, Aaron Brooks, Jason Kidd, Mario Chalmers
Downside: Ricky Rubio, Andre Miller, A.J. Price, Kirk Hinrich, E’Twaun Moore, Isaiah Thomas, Eric Bledsoe, Steve Blake, J.J. Barea
By the wayside: Nate Robinson, Devin Harris, D.J. Augustin, Jarrett Jack, Ramon Sessions, Jose Calderon
You’ll notice that the SG section consists of a top heavy list with many tiers involving 1 or two players and then a bunch of guys lumped together. This is because SG stinks. Yeah, they smell worse than a paper mill in the early morning. Therefore, I put a premium on the top SG’s because they’ll give you an advantage over other teams that don’t have them. There’s about 8-9 guys I’d be happy about owning and then after that it’s a bunch of guys that’ll give you the same crap every night. Mainly a low FG% while jacking 3’s. That is, unless they’re smoking hot like Jamal Crawford is right now. As you can see by my ranking I don’t believe the current 46% FG, 94% FT, and 41% 3P% will hold up to his career 41/85/35 % numbers. I mentioned him in my buy/sell column but I think it’s good to mention again because you can probably get a pretty good player for him at this point.
Shooting Guards:
People may murder me again for this: James Harden, Kobe Bryant
The Dwyane Wade Tier: Dwyane Wade
Middling: Monta Ellis, Joe Johnson
Oh Hell Yeah: Kevin Martin, Wesley Matthews, O.J. Mayo, Klay Thompson
Biting my toenails: Tyreke Evans, Ray Allen, Marcus Thornton, Dion Waiters, Manu Ginobili
Potential Teases: Jamal Crawford, J.R. Smith, Jason Richardson, Gordon Hayward, Alonzo Gee, Bradley Beal, Lou Williams
Will probably get burned: Randy Foye, Arron Afflalo, Jason Terry, Eric Gordon, Rodney Stuckey
Your icepack for the previous tier: Jordan Crawford, Daniel Green, Courtney Lee
Frostbitten: DeMar DeRozan, Vince Carter, MarShon Brooks, Tony Allen, Ben Gordon, Gerald Henderson, Chauncey Billups
Marcus Thornton or Dion Waiters? 8 team h2h 9cat
@Jeff, I have Thornton and Waiters right next to each other in the tiers above. I have a slight lean towards Thornton because he is more established.
Damn, Kyle Singler can’t even break into the frostbitten category?
@Pete, Honestly I consider Singler a SF. He’ll be in next week’s post. If I had to slot him somewhere in the Guards I would put him right before Randy Foye. It looks like he’s going to keep his starting job.
Hey James, I need to know quickly. Would you give away KD & Lawson for Love & Chris Paul.
My backup SF is Westey Mathews who would alternate with Metta. My main SG would be Singler when Metta isn’t playing.
@Pete, Wow. Yes.
Does anybody know of a site that has matchup ranks based on positions? i.e. which teams give up the most pts/rebs vs. C, which teams give up the most pts/asts vs. PG, etc etc…
I think this would be nice when I have a full roster of games and need to do decide something like whether I should play Valanciunas or Big Baby
I’m doing well in my 16- team league. I have the first waiver and someone dropped Bynum (this is h2h daily league, standard cats). Do I use the waiver wire top pick to scoop him up?
@Pavel, If you have room on the bench. Yes.
@James Redacted, I’d be dropping either terrence ross or matt barnes (which one?). You think he’s coming back this season though. What are your legitimate thoughts about Bynum?
@Pavel, Barnes. He’s a wild card but I think he’ll play at some point this season. He’ll want to prove that he can get a contract. If you have a good H2H team, then you can just stash bynum at the end of your bench until near playoff time. He’ll be tons better than anybody lurking around in a 16 teamer.
J. Jack or R. Stuckey?
@PK, Yuck. If you need assists and/or 3′s go with Jack. Otherwise, Stuckey.
James – I have Ricky Rubio and am being offered Mo Williams for him straight up. Would you make that trade even with Ricky expected to be back soon?
@Ryan, If your team can handle 0 production for a couple weeks. Yes.
Joe Johnson is way overrated. Doesn’t get steals, doesn’t score that much, and shoots poor FG.
Rondo should be in the top tier because he gets the assists of TWO regular PGs. So what he doesn’t shoot 3s, it’s not a problem when you have Jason Richardson, Kyle Korver, Chandler Parsons, Carmelo Anthony, and Damian Lillard like I do
@Eric: You are underrating JJ’s assists and im expecting the FG% to bounce back with Wallace in the lineup.
Your comment about Rondo supports what Im saying… you have to overcompensate to make up for his deficiencies. You also left out TO’s and FT %. Also points if you are comparing with a top tier guard.