Category: NBA

The Terrific Rebounding of Reggie Evans is Back

After missing a big part of this current season Reggie Evans is back in action for the Toronto Raptors.

Analysis: Reggie has always been a great rebounder, always in the top when it came to rebounds per minute statistics, but that didn’t exactly help his case for fantasy basketball. That is because per minute boards doesn’t mean a thing for fantasy stats. This season he has had a bit of a resurgence actually getting a significant amount of minutes for the Raptors.  Now his rebounding stats are actually worthwhile, and if you need boards he is a great option. Reggie is averaging over 12 boards a game this season, which actually ties him for fourth in the NBA in rebounding (he’s tied with Blake Griffin). Pretty impressive numbers for a undersized power forward with a career average of 19 minutes a game. He’s back with the Raptors after missing a big part of the season and looks like he hasn’t missed a beat, when it comes to rebounding anyways. Today against Charlotte Reggie ripped down 17 boards. Despite his amazing rebounding Reggie doesn’t do much else. His shooting percentages are awful, he can’t block to save his life, and he can’t put up points very well either. The only other redeeming quality that Reggie possesses is getting the occasional steal.

Projection: With Reggie Evans you get a guaranteed bunch of rebounds, but he hurts you in almost every other category. If you need to catch up in rebounding and can take a hit everywhere else than take a chance on Reggie. Otherwise his hustle doesn’t really translate into the fantasy realm.

Jeff Green As A Celtic

Just five games in to his stint with the Celtics, Jeff Green has been a fantasy disappointment.

Analysis: Jeff Green has played five games now with Boston and has yet to tally an assist, it’s mind boggling. Not that he was much help in the assist department in Oklahoma City but anything helps. Green’s minutes are down but he’s still getting over twenty minutes a game. He’s averaging a miserable ten points per game as a Celtic, down about five points from his season average. Green’s rebounds are extremely low as well. He’s averaging just 1.6 boards per game while his season average sits at 5.2 boards per game. His three pointers made are down one from his season average. These numbers don’t come as a huge surprise but slightly shocking nonetheless. To put in directly, Jeff Green has become an average fantasy forward. There really is only one positive in his move to Boston- his field goal percentage is over fifty-five percent in his five games as a Celtic but it means little when he’s not taking many shots.

Projection: Jeff Green isn’t at the point where you just drop him. He’s on an aging team and some more minutes down the stretch may be in order. Patience is key in this situation, you don’t want to drop Green only for him to land on a rival fantasy squad to kill you in the last few weeks of the season. Green won’t produce like he did in Oklahoma City but he’s not this bad either.

LeBron James is Terrible!

While my title might be the overstatement of the century, it emphasizes a very real issue: LeBron James is having a far worse fantasy season than his previous few.

Analysis: First of all, we all knew that a slight dip in points was going to result from the whole Taking My Talents… debacle, but nobody predicted James to not produce as well in other categories. Sports writers’ such as Bill Simmons thought he might even approach triple double status for the season. This has not been the case. LeBron is shooting a slightly worse FG%, a slightly worse FT%, and averaging 3 less points a game. With Dwayne Wade as his co-superstar and Chris Bosh as another star, I really thought that LeBron’s percentages would have gone up significantly, certainly not down. He should be getting easier looks resulting in higher percentages but this hasn’t been the case. More importantly are LeBron’s drop-off in assists, blocks, and steals. He is averaging 1.5 less assists, .4 blocks less, and a .1 decrease in steals. With LeBron finally having some decent help, I expected him to focus more on piling up his assist and block stats, but this has not happened.

Projection: For anybody else LeBron’s stats would look absolutely gorgeous, but coming after his MVP season they look pedestrian. Expect more of the same from LeBron as Miami struggles to find itself.

Ray Allen and His Beautiful Percentages

Ray Ray is aging like a fine bordeaux, he truly is getting better with age.

Analysis: This season Ray passed Reggie Miller as the NBA’s all time leader in three pointers made, but that is just the tip of the iceberg for him. Ray is putting up career percentages with his stellar shooting this season. For a shooting guard who is a career 45% Field Goal shooter his over 50% this season is a revelation. Even more spectacular has been his increased 3 point percentage at 47%, also a career high. In fact he is shooting 3s at a 4% better rate than his best season. What this means for fantasy stats is a bunch more made threes than last season, exactly a 1/2 3 more this season compared to last. These increased percentages alone make Ray a solid producer, but when you examine his other stats he is even more impressive. He’s averaging more boards, assists, points, and steals than last season. The increases in those categories aren’t huge but when you put in it perspective it is pretty significant. Not many expected a 35 year old shooting guard to actually improve upon his previous season, but that is exactly what happened this season. Ray Allen is one dangerous shooter, arguably the best in the game.

Projection: As the Boston Celtics secure their position at the top of the East expect to see a lot less of Ray. Coach Doc Rivers will save his key players for the playoffs, thus you should expect to see a noticeable drop off in Ray’s production due to declining minutes. What he’s done this season is still something to take note of. A historic year for Ray Allen.

James Harden Is Producing

Still available in fifty percent of fantasy leagues, Oklahoma City shooting guard James Harden is producing in five fantasy categories.

Analysis: Over Harden’s last five games his fantasy line looks like this- 18.6 PPG, 1.4 3PM, 91 FT%, 1.4 SPG with a field goal percentage of 48%. His minutes are up above the thirty minute mark, up about five minutes from his season average. It is becoming more and more apparent that with the departure of Jeff Green to Boston, James Harden is the Thunder’s third option on offense. Over the last two weeks in standard fantasy basketball leagues Harden has been a top 20 player and the fact that he is still available in about half of leagues is just ridiculous.

Projection: Don’t expect Harden’s minutes to drop below thirty a game from here on out due to the importance of the Thunder’s playoff push in the western conference. What you can expect is about 15 PPG, more than a steal and a three made per game with solid free throw and field goal percentages. Pick him up now.