Through the first half of the season, any Clipper talk has centered almost primarily around Blake Griffin‘s phatness or Baron Davis‘ fatness. Little respect has been paid to one of the surprise top 10 scorers in the league, Eric Gordon. In one season, Gordon has increased his Player Efficiency Rating from 14.1 to 21.1. My, my! That’s a huge growth. And speaking of things I hope my doctor never says, but my girlfriend says more often, Gordon’s got a fracture in his small bone chip (Hehe, small bone fracture – I don’t know why I’d want my girlfriend to say that more often). I also don’t know what a small bone chip fracture means either, except that it sounds as if there might be one too many adjectives in that diagnosis. Hey, if you want a fantasy basketball blog written by a guy with a medical degree, you’re gonna have to buy me a shizzton more screwdrivers to pay for the student loans. Anyway, Gordon’s out 3-4 weeks. Randy Foye started last night and scored 15 points. He’s your first grab. Then Eric Bledsoe. But, really, there isn’t a replacement for Gordon. Griffin, Davis and Gomes will do the bulk of the heavy lifting with Gordon out and if those guys are still available in your league, you don’t need my help.
Here’s what else I saw in fantasy basketball yesterday:
Kendrick Perkins – Made his 7/6/3 (no blocks) season debut in 17 minutes of steamy Cleveland action last night. He wasn’t supposed to return until February, so you should assume he’ll be on restricted minutes until, at least, then. Having said that, Perkins is the Boston big I’d most want to own for the rest of the season. So if you’re considering picking him up for one of the other shmoos on your roster, do it. He won’t average 30+ mpg for another few weeks, but when he does, 9/11/2 blocks won’t be out of the question.
Arron Afflalo – 18/3/4 as Afflalo is back! Actually, Afflalo never left. He just threatened to leave. He’s like the neighbor that crashes all my house parties and threatens to leave if we don’t start including him in our conversations. But he won’t leave. There’s free beer here.
Chris Andersen – Missed his seventh straight game with a knee and back injury, both of which are unrelated. Only can-can dancers and guys who tangle with Chuck Norris suffer related knee-back injuries. Birdman won’t be back tonight, but will likely return this weekend. It’s both sad and colorful when players substitute Tattoos Inked for Games Played.
Kirk Hinrich – Was schedule to have an MRI yesterday, but didn’t go through with it and therefore didn’t play. In this case, MRI stands for Might Remain Inactive. At least through the weekend.
Christian Eyenga – 15/3 in 28 minutes. I wouldn’t trust it. Then again, I don’t trust any fantasy options that sound like they should be an anchor for a news magazine program on MSNBC.
J.J. Hickson – Earned his sixth double-double of the season, and fifth in his last nine. The 17 boards weren’t a season-high, but the four blocks were. So that’s nice. Or niece if you’re in France. Or nièce if you’re standing in Paris with your sister’s kid.
J.J. Barea – In other J.J. news, JoeJohn dropped 25 points and three three-pointers, both season-highs. The secret? He played in heelys.
DeShawn Stevenson – 7/3/2 with just one three in 18 minutes. After hitting 24 treys in the first six games of the month, he’s hit seven in his last seven. As Jason Terry and Billy Batts might say, “now go get your shinebox, Stevie.”
DeMarcus Cousins – Are there groups of moms out there under the assumption that adding ‘De’ to the front of common names somehow classes them up? Makes ’em sound French? What’s wrong with Shawn or Andre or Marcus? Why the ‘De’, or more pointedly, why not D’Shawn or D’Marcus? Now that’s French. Also French? Eleven fouls in two games. Gardez vos mains à vous-même, DeMarcus!
Carl Landry – Dropped 19 points and has scored in double-digits off the bench in each of his last four games. Fun fact: Carl Landry enjoys moped rides. Fun fact2: That’s not a euphemism.
C.J. Miles – 14/4/5/3 stl/4 tov should probably be considered a win under the circumstances of Jerry Sloan’s SF Shuffle.
Kwame Brown – Eighteen rebounds last night to go along with a dozen points. He’s averaging 9/9 in 13 games as a starter. He could stop playing now and already this would be considered his best season.
