At this point, any news involving anyone on the Nuggets can be considered Carmelo news. It’s ‘Melo’s galaxy, everyone else is just orbiting in it, baby! That includes Al Harrington, who left in the first quarter with what was described as a dislocated thumb. Not by Harrington, of course. He described it as, “My Xbox thumb is jacked, man!” This thumb injury, if bad enough, will likely open the door for Chris Andersen to get more burn. The success of that burn, however, largely depends upon Birdman’s willingness to spend less time walking around Denver malls in sweatpants and sunglasses. The injury might also speed up Kenyon Martin‘s re-acclimation into the lineup, which is good, unless taking it slow for the next 10 days is the difference between an 18/8 K-Mart and a “should I be able to taste my kneecap like that?” K-Mart. But aside from playing time, Harrington has been one of the Nuggets up for departure if another team should put up the appropriate pieces to get a Carmelo deal done. The frontrunning New Jersey Nets are likely to part with either Troy Murphy or Derrick Favors in any deal that nets them (see what I did there?) Anthony. It’s hard to guess just how close a deal is to actually being done, but if it’s close at all, perhaps an injury to Harrington tips the scales either into a deal being pushed through or abandoned altogether. As of this posting, definitive answers on Harrington’s thumb aren’t yet available. If he misses significant time, Martin, Andersen, and Shelden Williams all become as relevant as Murphy and Favors, but for very different reasons.
Here’s what else I noticed in fantasy basketball last night:
J.R. Smith – Earl threejerked the Nuggets (eww!) by going 1-for-9 from the arc. He had 11 boards and thought he was going for the first double-double of the season because no one told him three-point attempts don’t count toward double-doubles.
Andre Iguodala – 3-of-12 from the field, 3-of-10 from the line. He’s playing as if he wants to be traded … to the Wizards.
Daniel Gibson – Boobie be saggin’ with a case of the flu and missed Sunday’s contest. I would be afraid of the flu spreading to other fantasy-relevant players on Cleveland’s roster, but there aren’t any others.
Antawn Jamison – He’s averaging 18.4 ppg as a starter, yet has completely forgotten how to shoot free throws as a member of the Cavaliers (.732 career free throw shooter before moving to Ohio, .584 since).
Anthony Parker – Finally had a “Parker-type game” (21/7/7 with three treys). I’m speaking, of course, of Candace Parker-type game as he distributed a series of fundamentally-sound bounce-passes to Jamario Moon, wore a Lulu Lemon sports bra and isn’t speaking to Shelden Williams right now.
Jonny Flynn – Played the second-best game of the season with 11/4 and he’s still lookin’ rusty. Also, New York’s Ronny Turiaf pronounces his name “roan-ey,” and I’m pulling for Flynn pronounce ‘Jonny’ in a similar fashion. Mostly because I like the idea of there being someone in the NBA with a name that sounds like it belongs to a girl Fonzie dated to get over Leather Tuscadero.
Luke Ridnour – 23/5/6 and a career-high five treys. Clearly the Pinky Tuscadero to Flynn’s Leather.
Darko Milicic – He put up a 4/1/0/2/1 line in 19 minutes and seems as if he’s still suffering from that sore quad, or as the healthy Timberwolves call it, “a gravy train with biscuit wheels.”
Mickael Pietrus – 25 points and five threes in 27 minutes as he was excited to be in L.A., first mistaking Donald Sterling for Jack Nicholson and then mistaking Sterling’s taunts for encouragement. The French are a kind, simple folk. There was no Vince Carter in this game, and Jared Dudley went quiet. I’d stay cold on Pietrus until he heats up a few more times.
Vince Carter – Out for the next week with a case of I’m not leaving Orlando without my Addams Family pinball machine. ETA is New Years Day.
Robin Lopez – Played fewer than 10 minutes due to foul trouble (2/2 with a steal), while Marcin Gortat earned 11/5 and has learned to handhug Steve Nash instead of just high-fiving him.
Luol Deng – Shooting .350 from the field (14-for-40) in his last three games. Numero Nueve sprayed stray Js in 44 minutes of gameplay. Doing worse than Tracy McGray-day.
Tracy McGrady – Played almost 28 minutes and scored almost 28 points … if you consider 15 points close to 28.
Ben Gordon – Err Gordon has scored 11 points in his last two games, while T-Mac has scored three times that. It’s like “Freaky Friday,” but instead of crappy actors, we’ve got crappy basketball players.
Roy Hibbert – Started 1-for-12 on Sunday (finished 5-for-17) and is now 6-for-27 in his last two games. Look at it this way, it can’t get worse than Hibbert scoring on only one of his first 12 shots … unless Hibbert also scored on all but one of your first 12 girlfriends. That would be an example of “it” getting “worse.”
Blake Griffin – Blake Superior averaged 2.6 apg through November, but has averaged 4.1 assists so far in December. I’m loading my shotguns in preparation of the impending apocalypse as I type this.
Baron Davis – Davis’ FG% is very Baronese (.432), but his assists are right where they should be since re-taking his starting spot (7 apg).
Marvin Williams – 16.2/5.8 over the last 10 days. Led the Atlanta frontcourt in minutes last night. Which tells you about how well the rest of the Hawks did.
O.J. Mayo – He’s scored 27, 17, and 17 in his last three games. If he scores anywhere near this in his next game, you’re screwed from plucking him off waivers because he was gone after the third game!
Elton Brand – Eleventh double-double in 29 games after grabbing 17 rebounds and scoring 16 points. He hasn’t grabbed 17 rebounds since Bush was in office. No, the younger Bush. It was three Februarys ago.
Thaddeus Young – 20/7 with a dab of everything else. A little dab’ll do ya. A whoopin’ cough’ll cool ya. But poison ivy, Lord, will make you itch!
Rashard Lewis – 21/12 with four threes in 43 minutes. Hiya ceiling. Have you met expectations? No? Well, it’s just as well, you won’t likely see each other again anytime soon. Blatche and McGee were suspended for the game.
Hilton Armstrong – Grabbed 13 rebounds in over 23 minutes in place of JaVale McGee. He also exploded for six points. Exploded!
John Wall – Returned and looked as silent and awkward as the rookie point guard of a last-place team has every reason to look like. Stash him until he has a hot flash or two. Like, until he’s 60? No, until he gives you a solid outing, or at least is starting over Hinrich.
George Hill – Back to limited minutes (16 on Sunday). But he was 3-f0r-3 from the field (two threes) totaling 11 points. I’d put him back in your lineups deep leaguers. Standard leaguers, give it another game to make sure this wasn’t a fluke.
Tim Duncan – Scored a season-low five points on Sunday and missed double-digits for the 11th time in 30 games this season. Wait until his next big game and see if you can trade him for someone with actual fourth-round value.
Tony Parker – Tied his season-high with 14 assists. He also got a haircut along with Duncan. I love when they do this at the same time because when they stand next to one another, they look like two different sized versions of the same person like Russian nesting dolls. I especially like the idea that Duncan is the medium-sized nesting doll in a set of three.
