If you’ve ever had the chance to read any of my articles here on Razzball, you may have gathered that I’m irreverent, satirical, and basically a ham, bumbling through jokes while trying to deliver the highest mid-range quality fantasy advice to anyone who will read it, but I have to say this without any underlaying humour whatsoever: Martin Luther King is an absolute hero to me, full stop.
That said, I still am a ham, so while Dr. King had a dream, I have a fantasy: and that is that one day a Steve Nash and Goran Dragic can stand next to a Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry in fantasy basketball terms. That we finally realize that white men can jump, although a good example is escaping me at the moment, and anyways, it really doesn’t matter in fantasy. That a JJ Redick is as valuable as a Khris Middleton on the fantasy basketball stage. And finally, we let the fantasy talent speak for itself, regardless of creed, colour or gender, even though it’s a men’s league, so that last one is more platitude than anything, really. In saying that, we will take a look at the best in the league, regardless of anything other than talent and value:
BUY:
Donald Sloan PG, SG
So the Nets are a disaster, they will finish bottom 5, and they don’t even own their pick (Celts do, in case you forgot. And they can swap 1st rounders next year. Yeesh.), and to compound that, Jarrett Jack is done for the season. Out of all of this is an opportunity, and Sloan has beaten out Shane Larkin for the gig, it seems. Larkin has played less minutes than Sloan for the last 3 games, and if you need cheap dimes and boards from your guard position, he fits the bill (10.3/7/9/0/0 over the last 3 games). He’s only 21% owned in yahoo, so snatch him up for free if you can. If you’re buying, nothing more than late round talent, as he doesn’t contribute defensive stats.
Paul George SG, SF
George has been amazing this season, and we all love to see that he’s back to some semblance of his former greatness, but he has shot miserably this season, swishing a paltry 36%. If your FG percentage can take the hit, he has been straight murder in the swipe category averaging 3.2 over the last 7 games. This is by no means a classic buy low, but I’m hoping that he can improve that shot selection, and make a few more per game.
Nikola Mirotic SF, PF
With Joakim Noah out, all the bigs, including Mitotic, should see a chance for more minutes. Nikola has been inconsistent all year, up and down like a toilet seat. In his last 5 games, however, someone has been peeing in this toilet, because the seat is definitely in the upright position: 14.6/7.6/1/.8/1.6 with 2.4 treys over his last 5 games. That analogy was (wait for it…) piss poor! Ba dum dum tissss!
SELL:
JJ Redick SG, SF
20.4/2.4/2/.2/0 with 4 treys per game over his last 5 games. He is a long range assassin at the moment, and you will never sell higher. Dude dropped 9 longballs and 40 points on Monday. Clearly, this will not keep up at this pace, so capitalize on this hot streak.
Marc Gasol C
Marc has been his former all star self this year, and has been di-no-mite, averaging 23/7/4/1.5/2.5 over his last 4 games, and never been hotter. Why get rid of a dynamic contributor in virtually all stats, you ask? Well, 1) the return will be equally fantastic, for starters, and B), I’m concerned with all the minutes he’s been logging this year, he is a candidate for a fatigue injury or slump.
Dwight Howard C
D12 dropped 36/26/4/1/1, shooting .688 from the field. He has had back injuries this month, worked through them, but I worry, and you should too. If Marc had you concerned, Dwight should have you downright nervous. This kind of play will fetch you a dynamic player in return, and let them worry about the injury. If you stick it out, and it works in your favour, you are a braver cat than I, and I will tip my hat to you. Not sayin, just sayin, his back has been a chronic concern for the last 4 years.
I hope that everyone enjoyed all the basketball yesterday. This is all I have to offer at the moment, good reader, so until next week, may all your shots be nothing but net.
