Rotation Updates
Dallas Point Guard
The Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors have revealed their exasperation by signing Derek Fisher and Mikael Pietrus respectively and handing them their starting PG and SF spots. The Mavericks are hoping that Fisher will fill the void left by Jason Kidd. Unfortunately, leadership isn’t a category in fantasy. He is basically a spot shooter at this point in his career, so I can only guess that Dallas is planning on O.J. Mayo becoming the primary ball handler, who should be the biggest beneficiary of the change. Fisher is a carbon copy of Billups and so I will be looking elsewhere to fill out my teams. Aside from Troy Murphy who was cut, the other losers are Darren Collison, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones. Collison is easily the best of the group and likely to play at least 24 minutes as the only pure point guard on the roster. It shouldn’t take Rick Carlisle long to realize that he is still the best option on the team. He is a nice buy low candidate. Beaubois and Jones are likely seeing the end of their times in Dallas.
Toronto Small Forward
Pietrus will become the sixth player to become the solution at small forward for the Raptors this season. Landry Fields, Alan Anderson, Linas Kleiza, Dominic McGuire and Terrence Ross have all been given keys for at least one game. Pietrus is more talented, especially at defence, than any of the previous options but like them is a not real solution. He is very limited offensively. He hasn’t shot above 40% since 09-10 and is a career 66.5% on free throws but can make the odd the 3PM. He also has a reputation for drifting in and out of games, which will infuriate Dwayne Casey. McGuire was cut but I am avoiding the whole lot.
Brooklyn Bench
Another couple of forgotten men were dusted off last week and surprised fantasy owners with a couple of quality outings and earning a rotation place. Jerry Stackhouse probably hasn’t been fantasy relevant since 04-05. Throughout his career he has been a high volume, low success shooter especially from beyond the arc but suddenly at the age of 38 has found a shooting stroke. Stack played 22 minutes in consecutive games last week going for a combined 9 for 12, with all 9 makes from deep for a combined 31 points. I shouldn’t have to point out that this is about as fluky as it gets and he is not worth an add. More significantly though, the fact that he got this chance is pretty damning for Marshon Brooks.
Detroit Bench
Charlie Villanueva on the other hand is worth a speculative add. He has now put 3 quality games together in a row, scoring 17, 10 and 19 in less than 20 minutes a contest. He has shot 18 for 29 including 9 for 16 from three during that stretch while adding 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Unlike the other shooters we have discussed, Villanueva has a career FG% of 45, so his points won’t come at the expense of another category. The loser is Jonas Jerebko, who was averaging 11.5 minutes per game but hasn’t seen the floor during Charlie V’s rejuvenation.
Jeff, it’s great that you’re writing twice as many columns each week.
I could have argued about the John Henson omission but am happy just to own him in Roto Elim. Let’s give Ersan Ilyasova one more week as the #1 PF, hoping that Scott Skiles stops playing head games with him. Next Saturday could see Sanders at PF1 and Henson at PF2. Only Skiles could completely “forget” Drew Gooden this long while playing two inferior centers; he’s coaching like a man who can’t wait to get fired.