It takes a certain amount of cajones to win any fantasy league. Shouldn’t the amount be two? No more, no less? Uh, well, yeah. I guess I meant size. It takes more than one and fewer than three big ol’ cajones to win your league. Sometimes you need to reach for a top rookie prospect in your draft or take a flier on a emerging talent after only a game’s worth of promise. And sometimes all it takes is trading for the right player going through a turd period, polish that turd and dominate. Right now, Andre Iguodala is my top turd awaitin’ a polish. He’s hurt, his timetable isn’t clear and he wasn’t playing all that well before he started missing games. All of this makes it likely that his owners are open to taking offers for him for something other than a top 30 talent in return. Perhaps a top 50 talent, maybe two top 60 talents. Maybe there’s a guy who enjoys long division and is willing to accept five top 150 talents. He’s become overlooked already this season and is on a stinker of a team, he’s rarely anyone’s top player or even second-best player and yet, he’s among the most well-rounded players in the league; exactly the type of guy that wins fantasy leagues. It helps that Iggy paused his season with horrible shooting percentages and a 13/6/5 line, as owners with a certain player tend to panic more than the owners interested in acquiring that player. He started the season unhealthy and it didn’t improve. Luckily, it seems everyone involved with his recovery is happy to take things slow and ensure when Iguodala comes back, he comes back as the top 25 player he is. It’s worth the risk to send out feelers on a guy that is likely seen as being worth far less than he actually is.
Here’s who else you should add, drop, trade or bench from this week in fantasy basketball:
Add
Wesley Matthews – 4 3ptm/25/6.5/2.5/1.5/1.5/2 since taking over for Brandon Roy in the starting lineup. Why wouldn’t a fella?
Kris Humphries – Averaging 9.5/13/2 blks in the last four games. Switch the blocks with threes and this is what you were hoping Troy Murphy would do after his return from injury. What? You’re too good for Brunette Murphy? A ‘Murphy Brown’ if you will.
Drew Gooden – He’s unowned in 40 percent of fantasy leagues despite averaging 19/11.5 and a little bit of everything else in the last week (two games). He’s not fun, he’s not sexy, but dammit he’s in Milwaukee and that’s just how they do things up there!
Delonte West – There is a window in deep leagues for guys like West. He won’t play more than 26 minutes in most games; won’t ever drop 30 on a team; but he does a little of everything which is more than most teams can say about their end-of-the-bench guys who are mostly upside failures or one-trick ponies. After he plays a few more games, that window will be closed. Don’t be the guy stuck with Greg Monroe wishing for a better life.
Drop
J.R. Smith – He was averaging 9 points and one trey a game … and that was before he was bounced from the rotation and still, he’s owned in 70 percent of fantasy leagues
Beno Udrih – No, don’t drop Udrih for a bag of marbles and an instruction booklet on how to shoot marbles – use your Head, Udrih has more value than that. And no, don’t pick up Luther Head, that’s not what I meant. What I mean is that Paul Westphal hasn’t played the same starting rotation two days in a row yet this season and it’s had an effect on every fantasy option the Kings have to offer. But whereas you just have to put up with it if you own, say Tyreke Evans or Samuel Dalembert, you might want to ditch late-round guys like Beno and his 13/5 in 28 mpg line for whatever you can get for him.
Ishmael Smith – 5/2/4 in the three games since Kyle Lowry replaced him as the starter. Well, it was fun while it lasted (not really).
Reggie Williams – 12.5/3/1 in 27 minutes over his last two games. And really, they don’t improve much if you go back even farther. It just doesn’t look like it’s in the cards for Williams this season unless one of the starting guards goes down. Even then, probably not.
Taj Gibson – 4/6/2 blocks. If he’s gonna act like Boozer’s already back, you might as well do the same.
Brandon Roy – Don’t drop him. Set him down gently. Let him choose his favorite book and read it to him. Do all the funny voices like he likes. And kiss him on the forehead before you go. He likes that. And when you’re finished try to get, like, John Salmons or Mike Conley or whatever for him.
