Mid-January approaches. I am about to be snowed in up in Toronto, so I am acutely aware that we are in the thick of winter. If you follow an NBA team’s social media, you likely have been getting the email prompts to vote in your potential All Stars. If you didn’t know, I am a long-suffering Raptors fan, and I’m finally getting rewarded for all those dark days with a team that is finally relevant. I got the prompt to vote in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, both deserving of the honour, and I should expect they will make the Eastern All Star team, either through fan voting, or by coach appointment. But all that glitters ain’t gold, and there are several players that are on the voting ballot that aren’t skilled enough for that lofty appointment, both in real life, as well as from a fantasy perspective. So lets take a gander at which All Star hopefuls are made of gold, and who’s just made out of tin:
BUY:
Eric Gordon SG
Gordon has been playing his best ball since his Clipper days, freed up in the “any shot is a good shot” Mike D’Antoni system. 17.8/2.7/2.9/.6/.5 hitting over 3 treys a game. He is leading the league in threes made, for your information. All that said, I think he can at worst keep up the pace, and at best improve on his output, with no scientific predictive data to back that up whatsoever. Deductively, the touches will be there, and his shot is falling. He is injured on a minor day-to-day toe thing, so there’s a small chance you can use that to keep the price down a touch, as injury is always a concern with this faberge player.
Hassan Whiteside C
Whiteside has just returned from injury, which sidelined him for 4 games. Hi numbers have tangibly dropped, but he is still a fantastic asset. His 72K votes thus far for the All Star break pull him well short of making the squad, and the shine has come off this pearl of a player a bit, which makes him a great buy low target. He’s still listed at 39 overall in Yahoo, so he’s not going to be cheap, but his pre-season ranking was 12, for perspective.
Blake Griffin PF, C
If you can stash him, the price will never be better. Just know that he won’t be playing for about 6 weeks. Official prognosis is 3-6 weeks, for whatever that is worth, but I can’t see the Clippers rushing him back on a new knee. 21.2/8.8/4.7/1/.5 can be yours at a discount if you can be patient. His 100K votes are valueless, as he won’t be able to play whether he was picked or not.
SELL:
Kemba Walker PG
Kemba has been ballin, no doubt. The Charlotte fanbase should be ashamed that he only has 52K votes so far, which will likely leave him off the All Star squad, with Dwyane Wade second in guard voting with 278K, getting the legacy vote-in that Kobe Bryant received last year. I love what Kemba brings, but for such a high ranked, I’d love a bit more other than scoring. 23.1/4.2/5.4/1.2/.2. I’d love to see what package it would take to get a John Wall, currently ranked 2 positions after Walker(19) at 21 overall on Yahoo. Just sayin’…
ZaZa Pachulia C
439K votes. More than Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, or Chris Paul. The political juggernaut that is the Georgian government has begun a twitter campaign to get ol’ Zaza in as a starter and he has risen to be the second highest vote recipient amongst forwards in the West behind Kevin Durant. I mean, if you ever could sell this cat, now would be a good time to try. Love his grit, but it does expose how silly the fan voting system is. That’s more than DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns, and LaMarcus Aldridge have received put together. Enjoy it, Zaz.
Ok, cool cats, I’m off to warmer weather for the next 2 weeks. Until I return, may all your shots be nothing but net!
