Tag Archives: Deron Williams

Waiver Wire: All-Star Questions

My biggest questions for All-Star Weekend are simple:

“Is there an average NBA fan that can name – without prompting – more than one participant in the Slam Dunk Contest? And if so, does he or she win a prize?”

And …

“Will the notoriously long-winded Alicia Keys finish her halftime performance in less than 60 minutes? Because I sort of suspect that she’ll still be singing in the middle of the third quarter.”

My questions for the second half of the season are a bit more complex, starting with …

Which NBA superstar is fading fastest?

For years, I’ve been avoiding Dwyane Wade in the first round of fantasy drafts, reasoning that, given his injury history, his production will inevitably drop off a cliff. It seems I’ve been fading the wrong All-Star guard.It wasn’t long ago that Deron Williams was just a hair behind Chris Paul in the fantasy point guard rankings. But we haven’t seen him produce at that level for years now. There have been plenty of plausible reasons for his sub-par numbers. He was unhappy in Utah, and then he was playing for an awful Nets team. This year he’s surrounded by talent, but didn’t like Avery Johnson’s offense … and he has dealt with a variety of injuries.

The injuries are most concerning, as they’re really starting to add up. Williams received platelet-rich plasma treatments on both ankles last week, which could indicate that his leg problems are both worse than we thought and not really getting better.

It will be very interesting to see how he plays for the rest of this season and in the playoffs, but as things stand, I won’t be in any rush to draft Williams next year.

How long does an ACL take to heal fully?

Adrian Peterson’s remarkable season – just months removed from a torn ACL – may have given us some funny ideas about how long it takes to recover from that injury. Iman Shumpert’s unimpressive return, and Derrick Rose’s struggles in rehab – should be major reality checks.

As a rookie, Shumpert impressed NBA fans with his quickness, perimeter defense, and ability to get to the rack off the dribble. Since his return from injury, though, he’s been more tentative on both ends of the floor. I’d argue that Mike Woodson’s awkward three-guard lineup, which puts Shump on the floor with both Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd, is part of the problem, but that’s an argument for another column. Is he completely healthy? Is he having trouble trusting the knee? Or did we overrate him based on an impressive debut in a big media market?

I know, that never happens with Knicks players. Hang on, I have to go get my Landry Fields jersey out of the dryer.

Of course, Shump is a marginal fantasy prospect in most formats, unlike Derrick Rose.Like Shumpert, Rose tore an ACL during the first round of the playoffs, but the Bulls’ All-Star guard has yet to make an appearance this season, and recently told reporters that he isn’t close to a return.Rose has even suggested that he’ll sit out the entire season to get the knee back to full strength.

What does this tell us?

1. If you’re one of the players holding on to Rose in a non-keeper league – Rose is 83% owned, so there are a lot of you out there – you might want to consider the possibility of using that roster spot more productively.

2. You’ll also want to be very conservative when considering players like Rajon Rondo or likely lottery pick Nerlens Noel in next year’s drafts.

via Waiver Wire: All-Star Questions – RotoWire.com.

Working the Wire: Things Could Be Quiet at the Deadline

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The NBA trade deadline usually creates some “buy” opportunities for fantasy basketball players. Problem is, this year’s later-than-usual deadline and compressed schedule might make a lot of teams hesitant to deal.

From this week’s Working the Wire on Rotowire.com:

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith created a bit of a stir by suggesting that the Orlando Magic had made inquiries about sending Dwight Howard to the Knicks in exchange for Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. Sounds great – especially to Knicks fans – right? Problem is, Stoudemire has an enormous contract that can’t be insured due to his injury history and Chandler – as a free agent signed this year – can’t be dealt until March 1 at the earliest.

Over on SBNation, Mike Prada has suggested that two of the league’s most-improved teams – the Sixers and Pacers – should capitalize on their fast starts by making moves for Howard or Deron Williams. That’s an interesting concept – I thought the Sixers missed an opportunity by not making a big, splashy trade in the offseason. But after watching both teams this season, I’m of the opinion that continuity has played a major role on those teams’ successes.

The continuity factor could become a big issue as the trade deadline approaches. With compressed schedules and extremely limited practice time, getting new players integrated into teams will be even more difficult than usual. Last year’s Knicks are a pretty good example of how a mid-season roster makeover can hurt a team’s performance in the short term. And bear in mind, with the deadline pushed back to mid-March, teams will have even less time to integrate new pieces before the end of the regular season.

The entire article and this week’s waiver picks are at Working the Wire: Things Could Be Quiet at the Deadline – RotoWire.com. (Rotowire subscription required)

Hawks’ Al Horford Out for the Season

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About 12 hours ago, I was having a conversation with a Twitter buddy about the pros and cons of fantasy basketball vs. fantasy NFL or baseball games.

“The toughest part about fantasy NBA,” I told him, “is that when a top guy gets hurt or has a down season, there’s really no recovering. In the NFL, you can lose a top running back and pick up his replacement without missing a beat.”

At the time, we were talking about Deron Williams, who has been just awful this year. But we could have, just as easily, been referring to this news:

Breaking: per NBA league source #Hawks forward Al Horford "pretty much done for the year" w/ shoulder injury

January 12, 2012 4:00 pm via Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@ZachKleinWSB

Zach Klein

Ouch.

Yeah, there’s no replacing Al Horford.

The obvious pick-up is Zaza Pachulia. He’s one of the more capable backups in the league – had 11 points, 7 boards and a steal in 30 minutes after taking over for Horford on Wednesday night. But the Hawks have another intriguing option…

Vladimir Radmanovic has played pretty well in Marvin Williams’ place. Once Williams is back, the Hawks could look to go small at times, playing both Radmanovic and Williams in the frontcourt and either shifting Josh Smith to a nominal “center” spot or using third-stringer Jason Collins. Either way, I suspect both forwards will get a nice boost in fantasy production.

Not nice enough to make up for the loss of Horford… but we do the best we can.

Training Camp Notes: Grading the Nets

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We’re spending a lot of time talking about how weak the Knicks bench looks… but have you seen the Nets’ depth chart? Anyone else wondering what they’re up to?

The Nets could be attempting to put together a team based on some of the more successful Dwight Howard-centered Orlando Magic squads, with lots of floor-spacing three-point shooters like Williams and Anthony Morrow to work the perimeter. Of course, that might not be as effective if the Nets are unable to complete a trade for Howard. And that’s got to be a scary proposition for general manager Billy King… because I don’t think a starting frontcourt of Shawne Williams, Shelden Williams and Brook Lopez is going to be enough to convince Deron Williams to re-sign.

via RotoSynthesis >> NBA Training Camp Updates.

Things could get very ugly for the Nets in a hurry. Say they’re unable to acquire Howard during the season. Seems fair to suspect that no Howard would mean no Deron Williams… and that could mean a truly dreadful team opening the Barclays Center next fall.

Moves the Knicks Can’t Make

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The lockout is finally over… well, mostly. And though the NBA and group-formerly-known-as-the-NBPA have yet to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s on a new collective bargaining agreement, basketball discussion has shifted back to actual basketball.

Sort of.

It would be hard to term some of the rumors floating around of late as “actual basketball,” as they would seem to have very little basis in reality. Teams won’t be able to negotiate with free agents until December 9, but already we’re seeing reports that players like Sam Dalembert and Jamal Crawford are “interested” in signing with the Knicks. Frank Isola of the Daily News even suggested that Crawford’s switch to agent Andy Miller – based in New Jersey – makes him more likely to return to Madison Square Garden or with the Nets.

Riiiight.

(Allow me to submit a more likely scenario. Maybe… just maybe… Andy Miller’s New York-area roots allowed him to plant a story about a big-money team and his free agent client, in the hopes of driving up Crawford’s price tag a touch. Plausible, no?)

How to Screw Up the Summer of 2012

I realize it has been a long time since we’ve discussed anything but BRI splits, repeater taxes and mini-mid-levels; it’s possible some of you have forgotten where the Knicks stand with regard to salary caps and roster management. Let’s review.

The team is about two-thirds of the way through a three-step plan. Step one was to clear tons of cap space and and make a run at a superstar free agent. (Amar’e Stoudemire. Check.) Step two: package up remaining assets and acquire a second superstar without sacrificing long-term cap flexibility. (Carmelo Anthony. Check.) Step three is to complete the new “Big Three” by adding one of 2012′s marquee free agents, Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Dwight Howard. It appears the new collective bargaining agreement won’t hurt those plans near as much as it could have; once Chauncey Billups and others come off the books, Glen Grunwald (or whoever is calling the shots) will have enough cap space to make a legitimate run at those big names. But only if they don’t screw things up in the meantime.

That means any offers that go out for the 2011-12 season will be for this season alone. And that more or less rules out any players – like Dalembert, and like Crawford – who will command multi-year deals, and limits them to Kurt Thomas-types. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. (Personally, I think ol’ “Crazy Eyes” would be an ideal fit for this team, splitting time in the middle with oft-injured Ronny Turiaf and, possibly, 2010 second-rounder Jerome Jordan.)

Now, the Knicks could attempt to speed up the process a bit by making another big trade – the fact that “extend and trade” deals will still be allowed helps a little in that regard. Problem with that scenario is, the Knicks are short on tradeable commodities right now. I don’t see a Landry Fields/Iman Shumpert/Chauncey Billups’ expiring contract fetching much on the open market… and even if that was an option, inexpensive players like Fields and Shumpert will be needed to fill in around STAT and Melo and superstar-to-come. A big trade – likely at the deadline – would also mean yet another mid-season roster shakeup, which could seriously hurt the team’s chances of advancing a bit further in this year’s playoffs, and make it even more difficult to assess Mike D’Antoni’s work in the final year of his deal.