And you thought that the trade deadline was gonna be a dud. And to that, sir or madam, I give you two words: Byron Freakin’ Mullens. Bam! The Sixers have just dropped the mic on the NBA stage, a la Chris Rock.
Actually, all joking aside, Lord Byron might be worth watching in deeper leagues – if the Sixers stick with the free flowing offense they’ve been playing thus far, there’s a long shot he might actually produce. He started for the Bobcats for half a season, and wasn’t all that bad. Yeesh!, that’s a limp di*k endorsement if I’ve ever given one.
Bust of a trade deadline aside, though, one should consider the impact that the few trades that did occur have had on players coming in, or those that will fill a void with guys being shipped off. Admittedly, the “sell’ portion of this article will be meatier than the “buy”, as the trades were mostly duds, from a fantasy perspective in my opinion. So with that in mind, take a gander at a few cats I think are on the rise or fall:
BUY:
Kendall Marshall PG
His name is Kendall. Kendall, like Ken-doll? I don’t know how that slipped by his parents. But while Barbie’s love interest could never bend his legs, Marshall has been breaking ankles. And with the departure of Steve Blake, He will get even more minutes – which is good, because he’s averaged 12.2/2.6/12.2/1.6/.2 with 2 3pts per. Jordan Farmar and Steve Nash are of mild concern sharking some of the minutes up for grabs, but I would wager that trading Blake is a rounding endorsement for Marshall. For some reason, Marshall is only 60% owned, so you may not even need to trade for him.
Thaddeus Young PF
Thad was already playing well, averaging 17 points and 6.4 boards, but with the others gone, he will get all the dish he can handle. I would make an inquiry to see what it would take to get the big fella.
Andre Miller PG
First off: Dre is pure speculation, there are no substantive statistics to justify his being here. Currently he isn’t worth being owned in any fantasy format, but I felt that I couldn’t only have 2 players in the “buy” column. He’s barely played this year, due to him not seeing eye to eye with Brian Shaw, his former coach. But, consider this: the Wiz have been terrible with John Wall off the court, and for the stretch run, giving Wall less minutes to save him from injury/fatigue makes sense. Miller is a capable distributor, great at driving and running the pick and roll, but a bad shooter. Basically a really poor man’s Rajon Rondo. Or at least he was. But he’s only owned 4%, so keep an eye on him, and see if he can increase his value.
SELL:
Evan Turner SF
While he never lived up to the go-to guy moniker in Philly, he was a nice producer fantasy-wise He is a significant upgrade from a busted down Danny Granger, from the Pacers perspective, but from a fantasy value perspective, his value just plummeted. Get what you can get for Turner, his minutes will be slashed, and unless DeShawn Stevenson gets hurt, I can’t see him producing more than at a streaming player’s level.
Spencer Hawes PF, C
Hawes will have short term value while Anderson Varejao is out, and maybe he finds a spot in the Cavs offense. But it’s a risk, and more likely than not, his fantasy production will drop significantly.
Steve Blake PG, SG
Steve-o will be playing behind Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. He played just 18 minutes in his first game with the Warriors, with a “meh” stat line not worth mentioning. Ugg. Unless one of those cats get injured, Blake’s days of being fantasy relevant are over for this year.
I suppose we should come to expect the trade deadline to be underwhelming, but I for one am glad that we don’t need to be distracted by it anymore. Obviously more trades took place, but none that actually impact fantasy basketball. So now comes the stretch run, which is always entertaining. Sit back and relax. Have a chip or two, or a light beer of your choice, and enjoy.
That’s all for me this week, may all your shots be swishes.
