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I love, love stats.
I mean, what fantasy writer doesn’t? Stats allow me to view certain players in various different ways, and with the fantasy basketball season almost seven weeks in, something is beginning to make me very, very happy.
These stats mean something.
Like I said, we are six weeks into the season, and now is a good time to see which players are trending upward, and which are guys are seeing their value plummeting. It’s essentially like the stock market, if you will.
Trending Up
John Wall, PG, Washington Wizards
An obvious name here, but I felt the need to highlight the very quiet MVP caliber season Wall has been putting together. Averaging 19 points, 9.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds and a whopping 2.8 steals per game, Wall is the number nine overall player on ESPN’s Player Rater. He has a healthy seven double doubles this season, which is the second-most among point guards. I placed him here because coming into the season, Wall was being drafted towards the back end of the second round, a top-20 option. Now, however, Wall is a consensus top-10 guy. Opportunity and volume have been major components to Wall’s success, other than the fact that he’s really good. Wall is currently 11th in minutes per game (37.4), second in touches per game (97.6), second in total touches (1,757) and third in passes per game (73.8). With Bradley Beal sidelined for the next few weeks at the minimum, Wall will continue to log as many minutes as possible, and will be the focal point of the Wizards offense. And when Beal, one of the emerging scorers in the league, does return, Wall’s fantasy value will skyrocket even more. Love ‘em.
Ryan Anderson, PF, New Orleans Pelicans
For some reason, he doesn’t get attention, but Ryan Anderson may very well be the purest shooter in the NBA. Not named Stephen Curry, of course. Anderson has been fantasy gold since making his season debut. In the nine games he’s played this year, Anderson has failed to score at least 20 points just four times. During that span, he’s averaging 22.1 points, 6.3 rebounds, and, of course, an awesome four three-pointers per game, attempting 7.6 per contest. Fantasy gold, I tell you. Anderson is also shooting 16 times per game, and with Anthony Davis sidelined for the next 4-6 weeks (sigh), Anderson will see the court religiously for the Pelicans. Already logging 35.2 minutes per game, Anderson is going to continue taking more shots than he ever has during his career. He can light up the stat sheets, and is a must-start option with Davis out of the lineup.
Steve Blake, PG, Los Angeles Lakers
Blake has been very serviceable for fantasy owners lately. Averaging 10 points, 7.7 assists and two three-pointers per game, Blake has been a consistent source for assists. Blake has posted seven games with double-digit assists, and with Steve Nash being old and dealing with discomfort and Jordan Farmar (hamstring) out for the next four weeks, Blake is going to be the guy at point guard going forward, possibly for the rest of the season. However, the most appealing aspect of Blake’s fantasy value has nothing to do with him. The Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant is expected to make his season debut this Sunday. Kobe is going to be determined to show everyone that he is still a force in this league. Obviously, playing alongside Kobe will result in a decrease in shots for Blake, but you weren’t rostering him for points anyway. The assist numbers should climb with a capable scorer in the lineup. Blake should still be able to produce for fantasy owners who need assists.
Trending Down
Isaiah Thomas, PG, Sacramento Kings
It pains me to do this, as I’m a big fan of Thomas’ game. But apparently the Kings aren’t. Thomas was looking at a starting job heading into this season, but the team traded for Greivis Vasquez, who is currently in the starting lineup. I hate it. Thomas has been better, averaging 17.6 points, 4.5 assists, 2.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.5 three-pointer per game. Strangely enough, Thomas is logging more minutes per game than Vasquez this season, but it seems that the Kings are intent on keeping Vasquez in the starting lineup. I do think Thomas is the superior talent, and that talent will win out eventually. But until that happens, his fantasy value isn’t going up.
Chris Bosh, PF/C, Miami Heat
Bosh has been an inconsistent scorer all season long for both the Heat and fantasy owners. He’s averaging a respectable 14.5 points per game, but if you look at his scoring totals over the last five games, you can get a glimpse of some of his inconsistency. 6, 4, 22, 14, 6. Logging less than 30 minutes per game isn’t very appealing to me, and combined the fact that Michael Beasley is all of a sudden seeing an uptick in playing time (19 minutes per game over last five), and Bosh is beginning to become less of an intriguing fantasy asset. And for a 6’11″ big man, 5.8 rebounds per game isn’t something I’m looking for on my fantasy teams. Bosh is only seeing 9.6 rebound chances per contest, which ranks 79th in basketball. I’m not a fan of Bosh, and I think his value is slowly sinking.
Adam Pfeifer is a featured fantasy sports columnist for Rant Sports.
You can follow him on Twitter @aPfeiferRS.
