So this was an interesting week. I would like to point out some injuries again that may affect your fantasy team before we get to our weekly awards. Anthony Davis: Injured again. While the injury seems to be day to day. I expect these injuries from him all season as we have had many of them in the past.
Bradley Beal: Hopefully he will be back soon. He provides great numbers for his team and he is really useful. Don't get too worried with Beal, because he should be back strong.
J.J. Redick: He is likely to comeback soon and it won't be long before he is putting up 3-pointers.
Derrick Rose: I would be worried about him because this always seems to repeat each year. Derrick Rose is at all time lows over his career, so if you have him, you might want to look to trade him if you can.
Over-Performers Of The Week
Nicolas Batum: He did pretty good this last week. While he only had 4 points one night, the other 3 he had 24, 33, and 28 points. Not only that but he has shot over 50% from the 3-point line and from the field as well as averaging 5 rebounds and 4 assists this week.
Brandon Knight: This week he has averaged 21 PPG, 6.3 APG, 4.7 RPG, and 2 steals. However, he has averaged over 3 turnovers so be sure to watch out for that.
Kristaps Porzingis: If I didn't include this guy, people would be screaming at me. He had 2 average games, then he had a 29 point, 11 rebounds game with a block thrown in there. Porzingis is over-performing this week, and New York hopes it continues.
Under-Performers Of The Week
Ty Lawson: This week he has averaged 4 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.3 rebounds. Not only that but he has averaged 25% from the field, 50% from FT, and 11% from 3-point range as well as averaging 2.3 turnovers. Pretty bad huh?
Markieff Moris: He has a 6 point game and a 5 point game this week. He is also not doing so hot in the rebounding category.
Pick-Ups Of The Week
Mario Chalmers: Ever since being traded, this guy has been playing great, averaging 18.7 points, 1.7 steals, and 3.2 threes this week. Chalmers is only owned by 29% on Yahoo, and 20.5 on ESPN.
Nikola Jokic: He wasn't the best this week, but he did have a great game. Last game he had 23 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Pretty impressive. He is only owned by 19% on Yahoo and 4.7% on ESPN!
Jameer Nelson: This man hardly ever commits turnovers and he will get you assists and rebounds. This week he has brought in some scoring too averaging 10.5 points and 3 assists and I do expect these numbers to rise as long as Mudiay continues to struggle. He is owned by 2% on Yahoo and 2.5% on ESPN.
Keep your eyes on Chris Paul guys. He had a great game after coming back from his injury last night against the Warriors. See you next week.
As you have probably heard, there has been a trade in the NBA. Take a look at the players that were involved below:
Memphis Traded: Beno Udrih, Jarnell Stokes, a future second round pick Miami Traded: Mario Chalmers, James Ennis
This is a big trade for both teams, especially for the Grizzlies, who are currently 4-6. With the Grizzlies struggling with defense and offense right now, Mario Chalmers should be able to help improve it for sure.
Mario Chalmers has such a big impact when he is on the floor. The team's defensive rating is so much better with Chalmers on the court. In fact, the Miami Heat's defensive rating was 81.7 with Chalmers on the court, and 98.1 when Chalmers isn't on the court. Big difference right.
He also will bring shooting and passing. When Mario is on the court, the Miami Heat shoot 42.9% from 3-point range, and when he is off the court, the Heat shoot only 27.8% from 3-point range. However, this isn't because of Chalmers shooting the ball well. He has only shot 15.4% from deep this season. I think the main reason why is that Chalmers knows how to move the ball. When Chalmers is on the court, the Heat average 22 APG, but when he isn't, they only average 17.8.
One of the best things that the Grizzlies are going to get from Chalmers is offense. The Memphis Grizzlies are 29th in the league in offense, which is pretty bad considering there are 30 teams. They have an offensive rating of 94.8. Chalmers will really help on the floor and here is why. Chalmers had the best offensive rating on the Heat. It was 107.8. When he wasn't on the floor, the Miami Heat had an offensive rating of 99.7. Big difference! If he brought the Miami offense up like that, he can hopefully do the same to the Grizzlies offense.
The other main players involved in the trade is Beno Udrih. Now, I honestly don't see why the Miami Heat made this trade because Mario Chalmers had such a big impact offensively and defensively on this Miami Heat team. I don't see what Beno Udrih brings to this team that Chalmers didn't. Beno Udrih is a good overall defensive player, but he hardly affects his team on the offensive end like Chalmers does. He improves the Memphis offense by only 1.5. The assisting isn't affected that much when Beno is on the floor. There is not drastic change in the 3-point% when Beno is on the floor. I don't see why you would make a trade for Beno when you are giving up someone who is worth more. Then Jarnell Stokes has done nothing in his career. Last season he averaged 3 PPG, and he has done nothing this season but grab 2 rebounds. James Ennis on the other hand has actually done somethings, such as show off his athleticism with some amazing dunks, show us he could play defense, and gave us some points off the bench last season as he averaged 5. The Heat also received a second round pick, but how often do those turnout to actually be worth something. I don't know what the Miami Heat were thinking, but the Grizzlies clearly won this trade.
You can't forget the Mario Chalmers won 2 NBA championships as a starting point guard. This man is going to be a big impact on this Grizzlies team and I expect him to solve some of their problems.
After I saw the Heat vs Wizards preseason game broadcasted on ESPN, I decided to ask Adam Spinella from www.bballbreakdown.com 5 questions on the Miami Heat and their key role players for the upcoming regular season. Here they are:
Me: To you, does Gerald Green look like he is in the running for 6th man of the year?
AS: "No he isn't; the Heat have such a strong starting 5. They will play a
lot of minutes as a unit, and they are all strong scorers. If Green logs
major minutes, he won't be the primary or even secondary scoring
option. His stats simply won't be in the conversation."
Honestly, I have to agree with him. If you look at last years winner, Louis Williams, and his team, you will see that besides Lowry and DeRozan, there isn't a lot of strong scorers on the team. Valanciunasonly scored about 12 PPG, Ross only scored about 8 PPG, and don't even get me started with Amir Johnson. So they needed another scorer, and that just happened to be Louis Williams. Also take a look at Jamal Crawford. We all know that the Clippers in past years have had very few people to rely on. Green on the other hand, is on a very strong team. Dragic probably won't get as much scoring as he was used to with the Suns. This is a very strong team. I do expect Green to average around 9 PPG though.
Me: Do you see any improvements in Gerald Green's game?
AS: "He's become a much more consistent outside shooter over the last several seasons."
Yeah, he has. You can see the shooting improvements from his D-league days til now with the Heat. He looks like he has improved on that from even last year. He was always a good athlete, but he is sort of adding on to that. You can also see that he is willing to take the end of game shots too. You look at his mid-range game, it is amazing. The game against the Wizards was just simply an amazing shooting performance from Gerald Green.
Me: If Dwayne Wade gets injured during the season, would Gerald Green be able
to start at the shooting guard position, or do you think it would have
to be Mario Chalmers?
AS: "Green could start instead of Chalmers, though it hurts their depth
behind Deng, the weakest member of the current starting rotation. If I
were the coach, I'd start Chalmers on nights when Wade isn't in the
game."
What you want is Green to fill in for Deng, because, like Adam said, he is the weakest man in the rotation. The good thing is, both Chalmers and Green have starting experience. I do think that Chalmers would be better to come in and start because the Heat have won championships with him starting. Also, Chalmers would be more likely to play more of that team player role if he was in the starting line-up and Green could just come off the bench looking to score. It really depends on the match-ups too. You probably don't want to put Chalmers on Klay Thompson or Green on Eric Bledsoe. But like Adam is saying, either one would work, but it would be smarter to probably start Chalmers so you have more depth at the wing position.
Me: If you remember McRoberts from the 2014 playoffs, what role do you think
he will play with the Heat and do you think he can get back to the way
he was with the Cats?
AS: "McBob has a valuable role because he's going to be asked to facilitate
for others and provide spacing. He's a very dynamic offensive presence
on a team that has a lot of scorers but very few shooters. He's capable
of spacing to the corners and being a spot-up option, but is a great
playmaker at the top of the key. He is a fantastic backup to Bosh."
McRoberts is kind of like the forgotten child of the Miami Heat and he has such a great skill set that he brings to the floor. He has a great shot from the corner and he is indeed a great playmakers, as we saw he was with the Cats. He will definitely be used for transition and to attack the basket and space the floor. One of the big things though, is that he will be used in many defensive situations. Back in the 2014 playoffs, he was guarding LeBron James. He is very skilled and if you look at the video below, you will see that Josh McRoberts is able to run the offense and has a very great skill set.
Me: What is the difference with the role that Dragic will play with the Heat vs the role he played with the Suns?
AS: "Dragic will obviously be slowed down in Miami, and he'll cede the
ball more frequently to Wade as the primary option. Don't expect him to
score at the prolific rate he did in Phoenix, but his assist numbers
should rise as he finally has a bonafide PNR man in Hassan Whiteside."
What Dragic will see is a lot of Pick and Roll with Hassan Whiteside, and pick and pop with Chris Bosh. This is something that Dragic will strive off of and expect him to really get into the paint and finish. What it will also do is create lots of spacing for guys like Bosh and Wade and they will be left
wide open on the outside. Also, Whiteside will be driving strong to the hoop and he will be able to get great rebounding position just in case Dragic were to miss the layup. Dragic obviously won't be isolated and getting the ball as much as he was in Phoenix because there are so many other options on this talented Heat team, but do expect Dragic to excel in the PNR.
Well, this Miami Heat team looks like they have a really deep bench that has many talents and Erik Spoelstra will many different line-up combinations to mess around with. The Heat even look like they have shot at the Finals so don't count them out.
