This week’s Buy/Sell (or Buy Seal, if you’re anyone but Heidi Klum) comes from James [Redacted]. As I’m not sure if James [Redacted] wants his entire name out there for people to know, we’ll just call him James [Redacted], or if you’re feeling particularly saucy, let’s see if we can’t get RedJam to stick. Anywhoodle, thanks James.
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First off, let me just give a shout out to Adam for letting me contribute to this site. HEY, ADAM…THANKS DUDE! OK, cool. I hope you fellow Razzballers enjoy my buy/sell and I look forward to discussing it further with you in the comments section. If you don’t enjoy it, well then I blame LeBron.
Zoinks! We forgot sumpthin’! It’s Friday and you know what that means. That I want to strangle Rebecca Black? No. Well, what then? I don’t have all day. Daily Joust is having another Free Entry $100 Prize NBA Contest going tonight and I don’t want to miss it! Well, um, okay Captain Italics. It just so happens that THAT is what Friday means. You beat me to it. If you’re a new user to Daily Joust and haven’t won anything over at the site, you’re eligible. Go check it out. And Captain Italics, you get out of my head. No promises. I didn’t earn my captain’s stripes by staying out of people’s heads. Now … on to Buy/Sell!
81% FT, 1 3PM, 22/6/4/1. Sounds like a pretty good line to have on your fantasy team, doesn’t it? (Where’s the FG% you say? Shh I’ll get to that in a minute). Critics have been killing Carmelo Anthony all season and once linsanity happened, people have been wondering, “how does Melo fit in?” Since coming back from injury, as fellow contributer Jash has pointed out, Melo has been trying hard to get back into game shape. The result: a steady increase in points each game. In fact, his season hasn’t been too bad; that is, until you look at his career-low 39% FG shooting (told you). Injuries to both his wrist and ankle have contributed to that low % (46% career shooter), but look for it to rebound with Lin feeding him the ball. Melo has played with a PG who can score before (he averaged 46% FG, 87% FT, 2 3PM, 26/7/3/1 on the Knicks last year with Chauncey Billups), so take advantage of all the negative press and buy him now. I don’t expect Melo to make two 3’s a game, but look for the points and FG% to creep up. Once the fantasy playoffs roll around, you’ll be able to put away your opponent for good with some sweet chin music (or if you’re in a roto league just pretend you’re playing whack-a-mole. Although, try and keep the creepy carnie out of the picture; it totally ruins it.)
Buy
Brandon Bass – Mr. Homonym started off with a bang, withered a little bit, and then landed himself an injury. With his recent return, coupled with Jermaine O’Neal’s (double apostrophe!) shocking injury, he’s going to get a lot of burn. Though the past two games he has averaged 36 MPG, 48% FG, 57% FT (Boo), 14/7/2/1/1, he’ll help mostly in points, boards, and some in blocks. Oh yeah, I should also mention that the Celtics are really old. Therefore, look for the younger guys to get more minutes down the stretch.
Rajon Rondo – Well, I guess this Celtic isn’t old. He’s had an underwhelming stretch capped with a solid ending over the past 14 games, including 3 DNP’s due to injury. The assists have always been there (10 per game), but he’s shooting only 44%, while averaging 13 ppg and 1.4 steals. This is a guy, in the past couple seasons, that has averaged over 47% shooting, 10 ppg, and 2 steals a game. Pretty soon, you’ll see these numbers rebound. There’s also that whole “the Celtics are aggressively trying to trade Rondo” thing. I have a feeling it’s going to light a fire under Rondo and he’s going to go off. See if you can pry him from an owner who is looking to sell after the triple-double he put up the other night.
Young Spurs – Don’t go Metta World Peace crazy (do you think the reason MWP changed his name is because Ron Artest is autocorrected to Ron Arrest? No, he’s just insane? Yeah, you’re probably right.) Try to get these guys, but if you’re looking for some upside, then DeJuan Blair, Gary Neal, and Danny Green could see some serious minutes. Seriously. More on this in the sell portion; pinky swear.
Amir Johnson – Regained a spot in the starting lineup for the Raptors and should continue to do so until Andrea Bargnani comes back (and probably thereafter). Averaging 64% FG, 8/7/1.7/.5/2 he can provide a boost to your team if he’s still available. A high upside play that can make a difference in boards and blocks as long as you can take a slight hit in points and FT% (67% this season).
D.J. Augustin – After being a bright spot in the Charlotte “I can’t believe someone is worse than the Wizards” Bobcats early in the season, he has recently returned from injury and has started off s-l-o-w. See if you can catch an owner who is down on him; be quick though because it probably won’t last too much longer. I mean, someone on the Bobcats has to be good, right?!?!!
Boris Diaw – Gotcha!
Sell
JaVale McGee – Averaging four capital letters in his first and last names and 12/9/.5/.7/2.6 this season, McGee has been a great source of boards and blocks. Unfortunately for him, he’s in Randy Wittman’s dog house and has played a total of 33 minutes the past two games. Why is he in the dog house, you ask? Well it’s either Wittman got frustrated with McGee trying to explain what the “Blunt Amendment” actually represents, or he is tired of seeing McGee making dumb play after dumb play. This includes, but is not limited to, the infamous running back on defense when his team still had the ball or when he fouled on a 3-point shot with 1 second left on the clock. It’s the latter, but would it have surprised you if it was the former? I want guys I can trust in my lineup down the stretch, and I don’t trust McGee.
Gustavo Ayon – OK, so I originally didn’t like Ayon as a long-term option. However, rotoworld reported yesterday that Emeka Okafor is not even close to returning. Now, I like him. So technically, it’s not a “sell” and has no place here. Just kinda forget I mentioned it. Unless you own Okafor (sorry, dude).
Tim Duncan/Old Spurs – Popovich is one of the best coaches of all time. You know what happened the last time there was a shortened season? Pop rested some of his older guys down the stretch and saved up for a playoff run. Guess who won the title that year? Yeah that’s right, the Spurs. He knows what he’s doing and doesn’t care if he takes flak for it. Look for Duncan and some of the injured players (read: Manu Ginobili) to have a more rest. See if you can sell them for even-money before it happens. Ha, now you can’t break my pinky!
Arron Afflalo – I know fellow razzballer, Jash, wrote about him last week as a buy, but I disrespectfully disagree (OK, fine not really… about disrespectfully disagreeing part, not just disagreeing… is that confusing? Probably. Let’s just move on). Not only does this dude have one of the most misspelled names in the league…(side note: Dwyane Wade doesn’t count anymore since he has the nickname d-wade. Hmmm, maybe Afflalo should have a nickname too. How about waffles? For whatever reason, I think of waffles when I hear his name or see it. Mmmm, waffles. Can you imagine the crowd chanting “We Want Waffles!”??? It even keeps the whole alliteration thing he’s got going on) …. but Danilo Gallinari and Nene come back from injury soon, not to mention Ty Lawson has been going through some injury trouble in the past week and a half. Recently, Afflalo has been going nuts, scoring 20 ppg in the last 5 and taking 16 shots per game. With Gallo healthy the entire month of January, Afflalo only once took more than 11 shots in a game. Averaging roughly 1.5 3PM 13/3/2/.5/.5 this season and last, Afflalo’s recent value is coming mostly from his scoring (or Denver’s lack of scoring options). He will probably remain rosterable, but expect his fantasy value to take a serious hit very soon. Trade him for an upgrade before Denver gets healthy.
