In case you have been living under a rock, or already lost your playoff matchup and moved on to baseball, LaMarcus Aldridge is undergoing season-ending surgery for a labral tear in his hip. Labral tear? I thought only women could have those. And I also thought the hip was a bone, and that bones can’t tear. Hm, I guess that’s why I am a sports writer and not a doctor. Regardless of my prognosis, LMA will be MIA with no apparent ETA, which will make his owners sign up for AA. You can add Aldridge to the list of superstar players who have let you down during the most crucial point of the fantasy season: Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, and Andray Blatche; oh wait, that last one wasn’t right. Hopefully you grabbed J.J. Hickson who has put together four-straight double-doubles (including Sunday’s 10/13/2/1/2 showing) since LMA tore his hip. Joel Przybilla will also see a bump in playing time, but is only useful for some boards, blocks, and a last name to mock. Here is what else went down in the Association on Sunday:
Dwight Howard – I was thinking of making Howard the headliner for this post because he is kind of a big deal. I decided not to because I lead off last week’s post with him, and I like to keep things phresh for ya, slim. Anyways, what originally seemed like a minor back ailment has turned into a 10-14 day kind of affair. Those in redraft leagues can go ahead drop him, or attempt to trade him to the Nets for a couple of tickets to Jay-Z’s next show.
Glen Davis – Big Baby knew he would have big shoes to fill with Howard done for the season; unfortunately, he thought he had to actually wear Howard’s shoes, which were a size too big and caused him to land awkwardly and injure his knee. It was reported that it was only a sprained knee, but he will likely miss the Magic’s next few – if not all – games.
Daniel Orton – The fill-in for Howard’s fill-in had 11 points, four boards, three blocks, and a whopping five steals in 28 minutes. I could lie and say that I have a detailed scouting report on the 21-year-old big man, so I will. Based on the small sample size I can conclude that Orton will average four blocks and five steals for the rest of the season. Okay, he obviously won’t, but he will log big minutes for as long as Howard and that big ole’ baby are out, which could be the rest of the season. Do with that what you will.
Wesley Matthews – Dropped a game-high 31 points to go along with a career-high eight treys. Wowoweewah!
Kobe Bryant – Missed his fifth-straight game, but I could have sworn I saw him take a couple shot attempts from the bench. After the game, Bryant said he would “definitely” be back before the season ends. Normally I would advise you to drop a player who isn’t helping you in the right now, but Kobe-B may be one of the few exceptions where one or two games from him may be worth waiting for.
Pau Gasol – Hit two three-pointers as he is clearly on Team Bynum and not Team Brown.
Matt Barnes – Finished with 11/11/8/2/1 and has been quietly playing well recently. Maybe he just tiptoes when he is on the court. He is one of those players that you put at the end of your lineups that gives you a little bit of everything over the course of the week.
Marc Gasol – Just in case you weren’t satisfied with all these big-name injuries, Gasol went down with a hyper-extended knee in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game. He will undergo MRI tests Monday and you have to wait it out to see if he will return this season.
Zach Randolph – Scored just two points but grabbed 13 rebounds as he continues to come off the bench in favor of Marreese Speights. Why? I don’t know. But Z-Bo should FINALLY earn starter’s minutes now that Gasol is injured.
Delonte West – Put up a combined line of 41/9/8/3/1 over the weekend; still hasn’t returned LeBron’s mom’s phone calls.
Paul Pierce/Ray Allen/Kevin Garnett – The Big Three got to rest their old bones Sunday night. They were spotted at the local senior center playing bingo with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker while singing a remix of Naughty Nature’s O.P.P. “You down with DNP? Yeah you know me!”
Derrick Brown – The Bobcats realized that Byron Mullens sucks, and have been starting Brown in his stead. He has been averaging 34 minutes, 16 points, and 7 boards over his last three. In deep leagues, I’d grab him immediately. In standard leagues, I would pick him up if you need to catch up in points n’ boards.
Jeff Teague – Scored a combined five points and five assists in two games over the weekend. Sunday’s poor showing was due to the fact that the Hawks played the lowly Raptors and didn’t need their starters in the fourth. Usually when a player is given rest, it is after they had a strong game, not a crappy one. If I was Atlanta’s coach, I would have made Teague stay in and also run baseline sprints after the game was over.
Joakim Noah – Dropped a 20-point, 17-rebound dub-dub despite receiving a flagrant foul for being too ugly.
Derrick Rose – Got his mug rearranged on a hard foul courtesy of the hairless wonder, Charlie Villanueva. After the game Villanueva was heard saying that he was just jealous of Rose’s facial hair.
Rodney Stuckey – No longer stuck in a rutney after his 32-point outburst Sunday. He was dropped in over 10 percent of ESPN league’s (which is equivalent to 50 percent at this point of the fantasy year) after his recent three-game slump, so pick him up if he is out there.
Anthony Parker – Unfortunately returned earlier this week, which has dampened the rising star that was Lester Hudson. I just don’t get this. Why would a team with absolutely no shot at the playoffs be starting a veteran guard, who we all know isn’t very good, over an unproven player who has shown some upside? I guess that is why they are where they are in the standings.
Jason Smith – Had himself a 14-point, 10-board dub-dub against the Grizzles Sunday. He is only owned in 4.4 percent of leagues, which is about 95.6 percent below where he should be. This is a guy that I am going to excited about going into next season. This is assuming that the Hornets don’t bring back the albatrosses that are Chris Kaman and Emeka Okafor. I’m thinking Smith could be a poor man’s Kris Humphries come draft day. Now he just needs to find a poor woman’s Kim Kardashian.
Aaron Gray – Still sucks.
