I’ve never liked Jamal Crawford‘s game. A sharpshooter with a .409 career FG% has always seemed like a headache I don’t need. I’ve never owned him in any league during any season, so perhaps I’m just not used to his charm. Maybe he’s the Danny McBride of the NBA. I keep hearing he’s awesome and he’s certainly well-received by plenty of others, but I’m just not sold. Atlanta still hasn’t signed him, but there haven’t been any rumors that other teams are particularly interested in a sixth man averaging 14 ppg on .429 shooting in almost 30 minutes a game. He doesn’t rebound, doesn’t steal and his 1.1 3pt is the lowest it’s been since Donyell Marshall and Jalen Rose were the Bulls’ two best players. He’s bound to stay in the East for now and his minutes have dwindled to 1.5 fewer a game, making him Eastbound and down, fo’ sho. There’s hope for Crawford if he can add an extra three each game from here on out, but I wouldn’t count on it. Not after seeing the new motion offense that generally helps the team’s bigs more than the team’s backcourt. The 2010 Crawford has made the 2009 Crawford look like a fluke, like a player playing well over his head. Indeed, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year earned the highest per-minute scoring average of his career in addition to the second-highest FG% and 3ptm averages of his career in ought-nine. It’s all going down with little hope of comin’ back up.
Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball:
Josh Smith – He’s attempted 14 threes in 11 games so far this season and every single one of them looked like bad ideas. Turns out 43 percent of those bad ideas went in and his .508 FG% is a career-high. I don’t know what to make of it. Up is down. Black is white. The new Taylor Swift album is mildly charming. My head hurts. I thought it was because my weave is too tight. Now, I’m not so sure that’s it.
Marvin Williams – Averaging 7/6.5 in 29 minutes over the two games since returning from knee injury. Treat Marv the way you’d treat the guy hunched over in his car in the office parking lot who may be dead: leave him alone for now and if he wakes up in a bit, you’re all good.
Kevin Love – Averaged 26.5/24 in about 40 mpg over the weekend. I went from about six to midnight faster than Love went from a top 50 player to a top 20 one.
Sebastian Telfair – Has averaged 11.8/6.5 in 39 minutes taking over for Luke Ridnour four games ago. You’ve got one, maybe two more games before Jonny Flynn mucks up this nice thing you’ve got going. Actually, it hasn’t been that nice. He’s playing 18 more minutes a game and averaging just three more points and assists. Say goodbye without tears in your eye.
John Wall – Left Chicago on Saturday wearing a walking boot. I didn’t see it, but if it keeps him out past his next game on Tuesday, I’m guessing it was an Ugh boot.
Austin Daye – He’s healthy, but sat out the entire game and was replaced in the lineup by someone not averaging a sad 9/4.2/0.7 as a starter.
Tyreke Evans – He’s been pressing in his last three games, shooting .386 over that time, which is more ‘Reek than ‘Reke. Despite this, his averages are shockingly on par with where he finished last season.
Jeff Adrien – Played a season-high 19 minutes on Saturday and ended with a line of 6/8 and two blocks. I didn’t see the performance and I’m glad I didn’t. Instead, I spent the entire game refreshing the box score on my phone imagining Jeff Lynne, the lead singer of Boston, filling in for David Lee, whom I occasionally picture as being Van Halen’s lead singer. You really haven’t played fantasy basketball until you replace all the athletes on your team with musicians.
Jeff Green – Let the Jeff news continue as Green returned after missing the previous three games. He didn’t play so hot (12/3/2), but it was hotter than he played in the last three games. What? Technically, it’s true.
Kyle Lowry – His shot has been as stanky as a used Shaq shoe since his return from injury three games ago. He’s shooting only .296 and averaging 3.7 tovs in that time, but he’s also averaging 5.7 ast/1.7 stl in a little under 31 mpgs. Give his shot a few games and expect Lowry to be a 13/7 guy for the next month.
Toney Douglas – Remember how proud you were for grabbing Douglas? You took a half-day off from work, treated yourself with a mani/pedi (New York orange on the fingers, Knicks blue on the toes), and finished all the en & Jerry’s left in your freezer. … No? C’mon, I can’t be the only one to have done that. Well anyway, after a hot start to the season in which Tone+Tony=Toney averaged .508/2.2 3pt/16.4 pts/2.4 stls in 28 minutes in his first five games, dude’s gone from Knick to brick in his last five averaging .327/0.8 3pt/8.8 pts/1.6 stls in 24 minutes. Anyway, he’ll go in hot ‘n’ cold streaks all season. Let him pre-heat again before he cooks your team.
Robin Lopez – Left in the first half of Sunday’s contest in L.A. with an injured shin (shinjury?). I trust you wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t told you because RoPez owners dropped him a week ago.
Jason Richardson – Dude sank seven tres on his way to 35 points on Sunday. Most ESPN owners drafted him with the 59th pick. Most Yahoo! users drafted him with their 49th pick. I had him ranked 27th – exactly where the ESPN Player Rater has him ranked today. Damn. I should really start giving fantasy basketball advice!
Channing Frye – Dropped 20 points on the strength of four threes on Sunday. In the previous four games, Frye had a total of 20 points and five threes. Let’s see where he goes from here.
Shannon Brown – 12/2/2 including two shots from behind the arc. Steve Blake missed the game with a case of the flu, so Brown played an extra couple minutes, but still produced a line that only slightly exceeds his season average. I’m as anxious as you are for him to put three solid games together so I can recommend him. He hasn’t yet, so I haven’t yet.
Matt Bonner – Shot 7-for-10 on Sunday, all seven shots were threes (a career-high). And while he’s an okay source for threes, you should focus less on the seven bombs and more on the fact that he’s never hit that many in a game before.
Tim Duncan – 6/4 with three blocks in 23 minutes on Sunday. His 13.4 scoring average this season is 3.5 points lower than last season, which isn’t good. Neither is his career-low 30.3 mpg, a stat that has been in steady decline since 2005. The good news is that nothing else has seen as drastic a dip. This, combined with his career-low 22.3 USG%, suggests more that the ball just isn’t finding Duncan as often as he’s used to, as opposed to Duncan being unable to put down the same stats as before. The bad news is that there’s no reason to see this trend stop anytime soon, as the Spurs have started the season 8-1. I hate ending on bad news, so consider this: if human bodies varied in size as much as dog bodies do, some of us would be no taller than a Barbie doll. See? Things could be worse.
