Jermaine O’Neal was a rebounding machine in the month of February, averaging 8.5 boards per in just 21 minutes of action per game.
Analysis: Yes, 8.5 rebounds per game is nice but O’Neal is playing even better as of late. He’s averaging 10.4 RPG in his last seven contests. O’Neal is also averaging 2.2 BPG in that seven game span while shooting over fifty percent from the field. He has not done fantasy owners any favors in the last two years but his numbers cannot be ignored right now. His minutes are up in the mid-twenties recently and he can handle those minutes, he’s still only thirty-four years old.
O’Neal is still available in 80% of fantasy leagues and we all know there isn’t much depth at center in fantasy basketball. For a big man he isn’t bad at the line either. He’s shooting 81% from the free throw line this year and is 71% for his career. He outperformed Roy Hibbert, Robin Lopez, Tristan Thompson and Nene in the month of February. The great part is that he’s playing his best ball entering this month and he’s widely available.
Gerald Henderson is averaging 33 minutes per game in his four games since the All-Star break.
Analysis: With his increased playing time Henderson is putting up some solid numbers. He is averaging 16.25 PPG and 6.25 RPG since the All-Star break. For the month of February Henderson is averaging 15.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 0.9 SPG and is shooting 82% from the stripe in over 30 minutes per game. For a shooting guard his five plus boards per game this month really is a strength considering he’s only hitting 0.5 threes per game this season.
Henderson makes a solid deep league addition as he is available in 40-60% of fantasy leagues. His field goal percentage is pedestrian but as a shooting guard he’s only going to hurt you a bit in the three point department. Henderson is a two guard but he does have small forward position eligibility in most leagues which is always a bonus. At the moment he is a better fantasy option than more heavily owned guys like Ray Allen and Kyle Korver.
Up next for Gerald is the Clippers Tuesday night followed by the Jazz on Friday.
There have been a few minor changes to the fantasy assistant that are worth noting. Injury icons are now shown for injured players so you are aware they are listed on the injury report. This should help alleviate confused users as to why some guys are recommended who have no shot of coming back anytime soon.
Additionally I added the faceoffs won category for NHL fantasy leagues in the Fantasy Assistant. It has been requested by users and I am glad to oblige. 🙂
Ales Hemsky isn’t a household name but he continues to quietly produce on a mediocre team.
Analysis: The oft-injured Czech native has stayed healthy thus far this year yet he still isn’t getting much love from fantasy owners. Hemsky has 10 points in 16 games this year while averaging 16 minutes of ice time per game. While those aren’t especially great numbers he is among the top thirty in scoring and fourth in goals among right wingers. He also has 6 power play points this year which is elite no doubt but he does have some negative aspects to his fantasy game. Hemsky doesn’t quite shoot as much as he should, his plus/minus will not be great and he has never been one to take tons of penalties although he is respectable in that area.
Hemsky ranks ahead of Nail Yakupov and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in terms of fantasy production this year yet he is available in 50-70% of fantasy leagues. If he remains healthy he is a viable source of points on the right wing who will continue to get tons of minutes on the power play.
Setting your fantasy lineup is one of the toughest decisions to make on a daily or weekly basis. I recently released a suite of start/sit tools to help with deciding one of two players to start or sit. These tools are available for the MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL. Each start/sit decision is broken down into different categories such as Own/Sit percentage analysis, performance analysis, FantasySP player rating, expert consensus, and more.
The tools are good, but I want them to be great. The next evolutionary step with the start/sit tool is to include scheduled match-ups for the fantasy week.
For the NFL, it showcases the defensive match-up for the week and shows where the defense ranks for points per game and how well they do against the run or pass. This way if you were on the fence between two players, the one with the easier defensive match-up might be the deciding factor.
But what about hockey, basketball, and baseball match-ups? All of these start/sit decisions involve playing multiple opponents each week. A lot of thought went into how match-ups work for these sports and I wanted to share how it works.
Overview
Scheduled match-ups
The scheduled match-up section shows you the current fantasy week’s schedule, along with any final scores for games that have been completed.
Underneath the schedule are 4 buttons: Week, Today, Home, and Away. By clicking on “Week” it is showing you his stats based on all games played this season against these specific opponents. The same is true for Today, Home, or Away.
It is critical to understand various match-up scenarios before setting your lineup. This tool finally allows you to see that match-up data in real-time without having to do the research. This tool is great for both weekly fantasy leagues or a daily leagues.
A Real World Example
For this particular example we will be looking at a weekly match-up between Roy Hibbert and Nikola Pekovic. (If you would like to follow along with up to the minute data, then sign up for the site to get a free weekly trial. You will have full access to ALL of the tools during the trial).
According to this week’s schedule, Nikola Pekovic has played against the Sixers, Thunder, and Warriors a total of 5 times and has posted slightly above average numbers compared to his season totals. Right off the bat we can expect Pekovic to post average or possibly better numbers this week based on his opponents.
On the other hand, Roy Hibbert has played 4 times with terrible numbers this season against the Knicks and Pistons. Right away we can see that starting Hibbert is a very risky play by just looking at the match-ups.
Let’s take this a step further and look at home away breakdown. Pekovic is the better play regardless of whether he is on the road or at home. His tends to post similar stats whether he is on the road or at home. Bottom line? He’s a safe start across the board.
However, what’s interesting is that Hibbert tends to play slightly better at home, so if you were to start him, your best bet would be for home games. This particular week he is on the road for two of those games. There are no games scheduled for today, but you can get a feel for why this tool can be extremely useful.
The start/sit tool rates Pekovic as a Start with 80% certainty. Sounds about right to me?
The Future
There are more enhancements coming for scheduled match-ups. With baseball quickly approaching expect to see VERY useful match-up analysis. Baseball, more than any other sport, is all about stats.
Let’s say you are deciding between two different hitters. Wouldn’t it be great if you could see this week’s probable starters right inside the tool? Even better, how about the combined ERA, WHIP, and W-L record of this week’s probable starters? All of these stats, which are hard to research, will be presented to you without any effort on your end.
I am extremely excited to release this new addition to the start/sit tools and hope that you guys find it useful. Expect to see these features and more down the road for the entire suite of Start Sit Tools. These tools will also be available in the CBSSports Fantasy App store for easy access. For everyone else, use them right here on FantasySP.
As always, any comments or questions be sure and let me know. After all, this tool was developed because you wanted it.
