Martell Webster is coming off of a 34 point game against the Suns and his stock seems to be on the rise.
Analysis: There are plenty of positives when it comes to Martell Webster’s fantasy value. He’s averaging 35 minutes per game, 3.4 threes made per game and 16.7 points per game in the month of March. Those are great numbers from the twenty-six year old but there are causes for concern. Webster is averaging a combined 0.8 blocks plus steals per game this year in 29 minutes. That simply won’t cut it especially from a guy with his type of athleticism playing tons of minutes. Webster is also averaging 3.8 rebounds per game this year which is awful from a 6’7″ small forward in again… 29 minutes per game this season.
You have to know what you are getting yourself into with Webster. He hits threes and scores while shooting a respectable percentage from the field but he hurts you in the blocks, steals and rebounds department as a small forward. If he’s the right fit for you he may still be on the wire, he’s available in 50% of fantasy leagues.
Tobias Enstrom is nearing a return to action after missing one month from injury.
Analysis: Tobias Enstrom is still probably about a week away if not more from returning to action from a shoulder injury. Enstrom is available in 10-50% of fantasy leagues but he is going fast. At the time of his injury he was having a career year averaging 24 minutes of ice time per game and an elite mark of .84 assists per game. He’s also put up 6 power play points in just 13 games played which is still a team high. For his career Enstrom is averaging .46 assists per game which is in the top ten among active defensemen.
Enstrom may not score tons of goals and his plus/minus may be pedestrian but he is one elite defensemen. His assists, ice time and power play points make him a top twenty defensemen going forward this year. The only reason he remains available in so many leagues is because he plays in Winnipeg and he’s not from North America. Holding out for an exact date for his return will cost you if you choose to wait in this situation.
A major update just went live on the Fantasy Assistant involving position based analysis. I wanted to take a minute to talk about why it’s important and what it means down the line.
NBA position based analysis
As of today, version 1.0 of position based analysis is live on the site. Expect lots of improvements moving forward, but for now your screen should look similar to the screenshot to the right.
To see position based on analysis in the fantasy assistant, simply select any fantasy team. (the green button)
The picture you see on the right is based off my fantasy basketball team as of March 13th 2013. My team is broken down into Guards, Forwards, and Centers.
Each sport will have their own unique positional breakdowns. Baseball and football will show six total categories. Hockey will show four.
Position Colors
Each position is associated with a color: green, orange, or red. Ideally it would be great to see that I am strong in all of my positions and all of them in green. However, there are no green colors shown because there is no position that my team is performing exceptionally well in. In fact, my team is performing terribly in the forwards position and I rank dead last. (I suppose that’s what happens when Kevin Love goes down with an injury.)
Blue Graph
The second thing you’ll notice is the blue line underneath each ranking. The blue line shows how that position rating has changed over time. Each day we calculate position based analysis for your team and every other synced team in your league.
Ideally you would like to see the graph trending upwards. A graph trending upwards means that your ratings are increasing. In my particular case it looks as though all of my position ratings are going down. Needless to say I am in some serious trouble here.
As you may or may not know, we already provide team by team analysis based on starting lineup and full roster. With the addition of position based analysis we are now able to show you key areas on your team that need improvement. You can also browse to other teams in your league to see their strong and weak spots.
The Future
This new feature is ONLY available to paying members of the site (or our CBSSports app). If you are interested in trying out the fantasy assistant then sign up now for a free 7 day trial.
Position based analysis is an important step towards a new feature that is coming later this month. I can’t reveal what it is quite yet, but I will say that it is the most requested feature by our users. I decided to break things down into two separate updates because position based analysis is awesome in its own right.
Jiri Hudler hasn’t been playing his best hockey in the past week but he remains a valuable fantasy forward as the injuries pile up around the league.
Analysis: Hudler has posted 16 points in 20 games this season and is a minus-1 on a team with a negative 16 goal differential. He has plenty of fantasy strengths. His ice time is in the 17-18 minutes per game range and he gets plenty of time on the Calgary power play. He doesn’t take many penalties but he does shoot enough and maintains a respectable plus/minus on an awful team.
Hudler is available in 50% of fantasy leagues which does not come as a surprise even though he ranks 63rd among all NHL forwards averaging .80 points per game. Remember that last year he did post 50 points in Detroit in limited ice time.
If guys like Milan Michalek or Clarke MacArthur are available you’ll definitely want to pick them up. Keep in mind that Michalek is going through some knee issues so you will want to monitor his status. The twenty-eight year old Michalek has scored 53 goals in 143 games over the last two years which is .37 goals per game.
