Giving Thanks for the Little Things
This feature is normally nationally driven, but it is a local stud who's making national waves in fantasyland. Nick Collison should be picked up in all leagues. It is not out of the limits of positive thinking to predict 13 and 10 for the rest of the year. Nick's teammates are used to being outrebounded by someone wearing the same jersey. Reggie did it all last year. Even Vlade, Rashard, some of the other big guys, if Reggie was around the ball, they would let him have it. I saw Nick do that a couple of times against the Celtics -- he was going after the ball like Evans used to, and his teammates were moving out of his way for loose balls late in that game.
Elsewhere, can someone tell me what Mike James is eating in Toronto? This guy was supposed to be a temporary solution at point guard until Jose Calderon got ready, but he's starting to tear it up. You can't expect 38 and 36 all year long, but it seems he's locked up the position for a while, at least.
Keep an eye on DeSagana Diop. He is taking minutes away from Jerome -er- Erick Dampier, and while he won't start this year, he'll see more minutes than the 2nd best center in the WNBA. Speaking of the Mavs, might be worth a flyer to pick up Keith Van Horn -- I watched this guy the other night, he looked absolutely lost, and I thought he finished the game with 6 points and 4 boards... The boxscore read 14 and 6, I thought to myself, was the official scorer watching the same game I was? (I know I called him worthless a couple weeks ago, and I still believe that, but he backs his way into decent fantasy points -- I wish I knew how).
The Charlotte Bobcats are an interesting team. (They'll be coming to Key pretty soon, might be worth it to come out and see this team play). They have a ton of guys on the verge of being fantasy studs. I have a love/hate relationship with Kareem Rush. Sometimes he looks like Michael Redd, other times he looks like Michael Bolton. He shoots the ball, open or not, if he's in the game (sometimes when he's not) ... if he gets hot, expect the 36 point output he put up the other day. If not, expect a 3-21 type night. Unlike 99 percent of the league (or any NBA player not named Kobe or McGrady) Kareem will not stop shooting if he's cold. It's unbelievable to watch. Other guys on Bob's Cats to watch (and if you watch them, you'll love them, believe me) are Sean May and Keith Bogans. These guys do the little things, and as long as Melvin Ely and Gerald Wallace are out with nagging injuries, these guys are good spot starters in deep leagues. (By the way, I adore Gerald Wallace -- I traded for him at the start of the year, and beamed when I saw the 18-plus he was putting up, along with all the other stat stuffing things he did -- his injury is the main reason I'm stumbling along in my league right now).
Might be time to give up on Delonte West and Rafer Alston. I've watched these guys, and they take the ball across half court, pass it to the superstar and run and hide. I don't mind having PG's who are PG's in name only on my team. They're ATO is usually pretty good. But I would like them to be more a part of the offense... I swear I saw West miss a couple shots early against the Supes, and his team froze him out after that.
Speaking of point guards who can't shoot, I'm thinking about picking up Earl Watson in my league, and you should do the same. Either he or Miller will be traded on or around December 15th. If your league allows you to pick a guy up as a reserve only, I would do so -- what do you have to lose, besides a roster spot that's probably being filled with a bunch of crap, right?
Finally, back to the Sonics to finish off -- see if you can trade for Luke in your league. Bobby Weiss said he was planning on running some plays for Nick -- Luke and Nick have ESP on pick and rolls ... Luke's assists will rise, mark my words.
See you next week,
Chris Schneider