Fantasy Basketball News, Notes and Rumors (7/15/10)
Jul 15, 2010 Blog
The trading activity is slowing a bit, but there are still some interesting fantasy players changing teams. The trading and signing activity should continue through the end of summer league which completes it season this weekend. August is usually pretty slow, but I’ll try to stay on top of the fantasy player movement for you guys.
Al Harrington – Signed with Denver, 5 years, $34 million. Harrington ends up in a good fantasy situation in Denver. Kenyon Martin might not be ready to open the season and even if he is, he’ll need a lot of rest. Harrington is a good shooting big man who can play SF, PF and some C if needed. He can help you in the three point, scoring, rebounding and percentage categories. The loser in this move might be the BirdMan, Chris Andersen, who is dealing with a finger surgery of his own. He could lose minutes to the Harrington, Nene, Martin trio.
Luke Ridnour – Signed with Minnesota, 4 years, $16 million. Jonny Flynn still has a hold on the starting PG spot in Minnesota so I’m not sure what kind of minutes Ridnour is looking at. The Wolves also have Ramon Sessions, but the Ridnour signing seems to indicate that Sessions might be on his way out, maybe to Charlotte. Ridnour seems to be capped out around 20-25 minutes a night.
Tony Allen – Signed with Memphis, 3 years, $10 million. He’ll assume the same defensive type role for Memphis that he had with Boston. Playing behind Mayo and Gay will probably limit his fantasy production and relegate him to the waiver wire. The signing may also hurt what little fantasy value Sam Young might have had this season.
Kyle Lowery – Lowery signed with the Cavs, but the offer was quickly matched by Houston indicating that the Rockets have no intention of letting Lowery go anywhere. He’ll retain the same fantasy value as last season backing up Aaron Brooks and occasionally Kevin Martin. Lowery is a solid player though and deserves a shot at starting for an NBA team.
Raja Bell – Signed with Utah, 3 years, $10 million. Bell should slide right into the spot vacated by Wesley Matthews. I have some concern about Bell since he only played 6 games in the 2009-2010 season and has missed quite a bit of time recovering from wrist surgery. He’s 34 and things just don’t heal as well at that age. His two strengths are defense and long range shooting. A wrist injury is a tricky thing for a shooter and if that wrist hasn’t fully healed, or if it gets reinjured, his fantasy value craters to waiver wire level. Keep an eye on how Bell is shooting the ball before targeting him in your draft. He is a draft day gamble. The Bell signing also indicates that Ronnie Brewer probably won’t be joining the Jazz.
Shaun Livingston – Signed with Charlotte, 2years, $7 million. I’m not sure about this signing. Livingston probably isn’t going to start and the Bobcats already have D.J. Augustin as a backup. As always, the knee will be an issue with Livingston. I still think Charlotte brings in an experienced PG, so see what develops and re-evaluate.
Rodrigue Beaubois – The hype machine is in full force on Roddy and he will definitely be overpriced on draft day. I’ve seen reports of him starting, sending Shawn Marion to the bench. Seriously? I don’t see that happening, they already have Jason Terry coming off the bench. I’m not buying the hype just yet.
Luther Head – He had his contract rescinded by the Hornets because they claim he failed his physical. Actually, Bower made the signing, but he’s no longer there and the physical was just the excuse New Orleans used to weasel out of the deal.
Chris Paul – I’m starting to worry about Chris Paul for the upcoming fantasy season. He isn’t happy in New Orleans right now and the team is just a mess. Darren Collison is also making a push for some of Paul’s minutes. I get the feeling Paul wants out of New Orleans and if he doesn’t get his way, he might not be fully committed this season. I’m not saying that he won’t be one of the best PG’s on draft day, but rather he might not be fully worth what you have to pay to get him.
Ekpe Udoh – He had his wrist surgery and will miss six months. Might be worth a grab if you are in a keeper league that lets you reserve injured players.
Joe Johnson – Interesting quote from AJC.com: “Despite the summer team’s issues with Drew’s offense, it’s already clear that the Hawks’ new coach is determined to move the team away from an isolation-heavy attack by getting everything moving.” The concern with this quote is that isolation is Johnson’s primary game and taking the ball out of his hands and removing him from his comfort zone won’t help his fantasy value. Currently, the ball stops moving when it reaches Johnson, which is the exact opposite of what a Princeton type offense is designed to do. Forcing Joe to keep it moving might disrupt his game. Philadelphia tried to move toward this type of offense last season and it was a miserable failure which killed the fantasy values of several 76’ers. I think Johnson might be a little too hyped after his big free agent signing and you will probably have to reach higher to get him that what he will likely produce.
Rumors:
Tracy McGrady to the Clippers.
Shaquille O’Neal to the Knicks.
Marvin Williams to the Cavs.
Matt Barnes to the Heat, Celtics.
Ronnie Brewer to the Celtics.
Brad Miller to the Rockets.
Shannon Brown to the Lakers.
Tags: fantasy basketball