Its monday morning, and football talk is encompassing all the airwaves. But you know what? It is time to move on quickly to the sport of Basketball. LeBron James and the Cavs remain perfect at home, Stephen Jackson says he is “commited” to the Warriors, and talk is still swirling about Christmas Day’s match up between the rival Celtics and Lakers. Here is your Monday morning cup of fantasy basketball news.
- Bulls forward Luol Deng will miss upcoming action this week. Deng will miss anywhere from 3-7 games with an ankle injury that occurred Saturday against the Hawks. An MRI was negative, and after a week off, Deng should get back on the court quickly.
- The Most added players of last week, and into this week? IN ESPN leagues, it’s J.R. Smith and Rodney Stuckey. The most dropped: Monta Ellis, D.J. Augustin, Paul Milsap, Spencer Hawes, and Rudy Fernandez.
- It looks like ‘Melo is back strong in Denver. The same day the Broncos ultimately blew the chance of a playoff run, Anthony put up 32 points on 13-19 shooting in his first action since December 20th. Not only is this good for Carmelo Anthony owners, it should increase the assist numbers of point guard Chauncey Billups. It is hard to believe, but last night’s 32 points against the Knicks was his first 30+ performance all season.
The Weekend Winners:
Joe Johnson, Atlanta- 41 points, 8 assists and 2 steals later the Hawks ran away with a 129-117 win over the Bulls on Saturday. Johnson is averaging 23 points a game with nearly six assists. Johnson has been just as valuable to fantasy owners as he has the Hawks, who are 19-10 on the season.
Jameer Nelson, Orlando- 20 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds this Saturday against the Timberwolves was impressive, but what you got to love is only one turnover in that match up. Nelson has only turned the ball over more than twice four times in December. He has really started to develop into the secondary player the Magic need to go with Dwight Howard.
Josh Howard, Dallas- Howard had two great performances this weekend, including a 18 point performance on friday and a 29 point, 7 assist, nine rebound campaign yesterday. Howard stepped up for the missing Dirk Nowitski, who served a one game suspension.
The Weekend Weenies:
Yi Jianlian, New Jersey Nets- Jianlian has been a major dissapointment all season but defintely was an L-7 Weenie this weekend. Against a weak Charlotte team, Yi put up 9 points (four from the charity stripe) and a measly two rebounds in 23 minutes of play on Saturday.
Micheal Redd, Milwaukee- Oh Mr. Redd! Mr. Redd? Are you home? do you want to show up and shoot the ball? On Saturday, the Bucks guard had four points 2 rebounds and 2 assists against the Pistons. Before Redd’s horrific performance on saturday, he was already shooting a career low 41% from the field this season.
Russell Westbrook, OKC Thunder- The only Thunder worth keeping in your lineup (beyond Durant of course), Westbrook showed up pretty flat this weekend. Saturday, Westbrook put up only ten points on 3-10 shooting against a lowly Washington squad. Westbrook showed his rookie ways by turning the ball over five times, while only dishing out five times.
FanSided