Welcome Razzball Nation to another Underperformer of the Week, as we have found another player who can be valuable for the GMs with the guts to make an offer for a potentially season-altering move
As always, you need to determine, based on your roster construction, if this player makes sense for your build.
What do we look for here? A player who is not living up to their expected value with a conceivable path to return to form.
This week is no exception.
We are more than a quarter of the way through the season and some values have certainly begun to crystalize. That being said, it allows for a large enough sample size where a frustrated owner may have reached their peak on patience mountain and may be willing to off-load a player they have grown frustrated with.
So, we head to the Valley, the desert, where the cactus is the succulence of choice. Father time remains undefeated but perhaps we can hold him off for a round or two.
Chris Paul
Let me be clear, I think the years of Chris Paul defying all odds and returning top 20 value on the season are firmly in the rear-view mirror. However, I firmly believe that this version of the Point God has room to improve, and the goal is for that to happen while a member of your squad.
Since his return from a heel injury, Paul has been the 114th ranked player on Yahoo in 9-cat leagues. Yuck. Compare that to his top 35 finish last season and it leaves me with the impression that there is a medium for him to settle into.
The question is how do we realistically arrive to that level? Well, let us look at the shooting.
Paul has historically been a near 50% shooter for his career, which is elite for a point guard. This season, Paul is shooting 37.7% from the field, far below his 49.3 from just one season ago.
Paul was already playing below expectations on the season prior to his injury but his value plummeted even more since his return, which may be further evidence to his current GM that it is time to move on. 11 points, 7.3 assists and 0.7 steals are all way down from his last season averages to go along with the poor shooting. It is safe to say that his value is the lowest it has been in his career as a dominant point guard.
A top 60 finish on the season is well within reach for the future first ballot Hall of Famer and, because of that, you should be readying offers to fire out before he strings together some vintage CP3 lines.
His scoring is down to 10 points on the season and, while that may not change, there is certainly scope for the assists and steals to improve and boost his value in the process. Assists are one of the most difficult categories to find on the wire of any league so the ability to secure a double-digit assist upside player in a trade is paramount.
It may not take much to get this type of deal done. If you are secure in points and threes, I would send out a player who does well in those categories to secure Paul. Any top 80 player I would be willing to exchange for Paul so long as it fits your particular build.
Temper expectations, as we are long past seeing the best version of Chris Paul. However, he still possesses the ability to be one of the best floor generals in the league and it should not cost you much to secure his services and make a run in your league.
As always, hit me up in the comments with your questions and thoughts and we can chop it up.
Good luck out there my people.
Peace.
