Sits and Starts
Point Guard
Sit Jameer Nelson: He is battling a hip injury and missed his last game. His value lies in his volume not his efficiency and with Hedo Turkoglu back, we have to wonder if Nelson will get the ball as much, especially if he is not at 100%. The Magic are also limited to 3 games this week and they are not fantasy friendly opponents in MIA, CHI and NYK.
Start Mario Chalmers: Four games against the softest possible competition. Ish Smith, Darren Collison (if he stays out of Rick Carlisle’s dog house), Kirk Hinrich and Garrett Temple are the projected starters for the Heat’s opponents this week.
Shooting Guard
Sit Dion Waiters: He never took advantage of his opportunity when Kyrie Irving went down. The reason why is that he misses too many shots. Defences have learned to take away his penetration and let him shoot. Lately, he hasn’t even been making his foul shots – a woeful 57% over his last 7 games. Now, he has to fight off C.J. Miles for playing time.
Start Alexey Shved: With Brandon Roy suffering yet another setback and Ricky Rubio needing to rest his knee, playing time is no longer an issue for Shved who has been very productive when he plays. Minnesota also faces some of the highest paced teams this week in @UTA, @DEN and POR. There should be plenty of scoring and passing opportunities for Shved, especially now that Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic seem to be finding their groove.
Small Forward
Sit Evan Turner: He teased us for a while there but never really changed. Now the friendly schedule is gone and this week he faces a murderer’s row. It looks like he will never be the scorer, the 76ers hoped and the boards and assists just aren’t enough to overcome the missed field goals, lack of free throws and turnovers.
Start Landry Fields: Matt Barnes was the most added player last week, so I have to pick someone else for this spot. I went with Fields because he is coming off his season high in scoring with 6 points (sarcasm). The Raptors have been spinning their wheels at small forward all season. Current starter Mikael Pietrus is worse than Fields and fan favorite Alan Anderson does nothing but shoot and his shots don’t fall enough to warrant any longer term consideration. That leaves the door open for Fields, who did carve out a niche in that Orlando game with his ability to rebound even against bigger players from the power forward spot. With Andrea Bargnani and Linas Kleiza out and a week of home games against teams that play big, Fields should be hearing his name called out frequently.
Power Forward
Sit Ersan Ilyasova: Still owned in 69% of Yahoo! leagues, he has devolved into a tease. We all know the potential and once every two weeks, he shows it off. The problem is that he is doing nothing else the rest of the time. With only 3 games this week and the tough defences of SAS and @IND on the schedule, I am not expecting much.
Start Amir Johnson: He is playing the bulk of the Center minutes in Toronto with Jonas Valanciunas and Andrea Bargnani out and has been fantastic in their stead including a 65 FG%, 7.1 reb, 1 stl and 1.9 blk per game over his last 7. These numbers are not far off his career averages when you look at them on a per minute basis.
Center
Sit Kevin Garnett: He has slowed down after an excellent start, particularly with the rebounding (down to 6 per game in December), and may be suffering from overuse as he hasn’t missed any games so far and is averaging almost 30 minutes a game. With Boston battling just to make the playoffs, they don’t have the luxury of resting him this year. This week he goes against 3 of the league’s best defenses each anchored by a physical center. Marc Gasol, Roy Hibbert and Al Horford will work KG hard and the slow pace should cut back on his scoring opportunities.
Start Kosta Koufos: Denver is a much better team at home and they have 3 home games this week and all four opponents require a physical presence. Koufos has quietly been that guy for the Nuggets this year. He has a 59 FG% and is averaging 6.4 reb and 1.7 blk per game. Over his last 8, those numbers are up to 68 FG%, 7.6 reb and 2 blk.
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