Paul George Looks to be a Fantasy Star

Paul George had a great season in which he contributed in many stats.  However next year, he could rise to the top 5 as he will continue to increase his scoring, add more 3's, improve his free throw percentage and add assists.  Be on the lookout early in the draft as he tries to mirror Lebron James type numbers.

NBA Star Fantasy Performances for Friday Nov. 30th

Dwight Howard - 25 points, 20 boards, and even a 3 pointer
Anderson Varejao - 20 points and 18 boards
George Hill - 25 points, 6 boards and 8 assists with no turnovers
Kevin Durant - 25 points and 4 blocks with a couple boards and assists
Russel Westbrook - 23 points, 13 boards, 8 assists and 7 steals.  Wow
Josh Smith - 25 points, 8 boards, 3 blocks and 2 steals

Kevin Love's Fantasy Impact

Kevin Love is going to put up superb numbers as he looked awesome in his first 2 games back.  I obviously think that AK-47 and Nikola take some point and rebound hits but I also think that Minnesota is a decent team who is going to win a decent amount of games with everyone contributing.  Kevin Love is still going to average 25 points and 14 boards with 2 treys and hopefully a steal and half a block per game.

Fantasy Basketball News for November 17th 2012

It was a mild day of action in Fantasy Basketball today, with 16 teams playing.  There weren't many standout performances as Lebron James had a mediocre game for his standards - 21 points, 7 boards, 1 trey and 2 steals.

Here are the notable performances for the day

Good Fantasy Performances

• Stud - Anthony Davis - The New Orleans power forward 28 points and 11 boards on stellar percentages.
• Brandon Jennings had 22 points, 9 assists and 4 steals with 4 treys and helped a lot of teams.
• Carlos Boozer had a nice night with 22 and 12
• Al Jefferson had 21 and 13 with 2 blocks
• Trevor Ariza had a solid outing with 16 points, 9 boards, 3 steals and a trey with 50% Shooting.
• Kyle Irving had 26 points with no assists which is not what you want from your number 1 point guard

Poor Performances

• Chris Paul - he did have 10 assists but the 8 points were disappointing
• Anderson Varejao put up a dud with 4 points and 7 rebounds
• Andre Igualdala only had 9 points and 3 rebounds
• Dud - Luis Scola only put up 3 points and 1 board in the most horrific performance of the night.  This coming from a guy I am in the middle of a trade for George Hill in one of my fantasy leagues.  Hopefully it gets vetoed.

Today I won $50 in the Daily Fantasy Basketball Pickem

On one of the recent sites I have been playing at Draft Street I just got my biggest victory yet with a $50 win for coming in 5th place.  I like the Pick Em games that I have only found at Draft Street.  Basically they provide you with a selection of 6 players in 9 different tiers when building your team.  Every person in the cash league you enter gets the same set of players to select from which levels the playing field a bit.

Playing daily fantasy games for cash is tough but if you do your research on matchups and defenses you should be able to compete and get your money back at the very least.  Make sure you check sites like Rotoworld for injuries.  Also, remember that players just have bad games and you are gonna lose here and there.

BTW, the daily league I was in cost $11 for that one day and had 75 entries.  My 5th place finish got me 50 bucks.

2012 Fantasy Basketball Duds

While there are many fantasy sleepers and guys outperforming their average draft position.

Fantasy Duds

Ersan Ilyasova - The guy was expected to have a breakout year and return top 4 round value.  To date however, he is only averaging 7 points, 5 rebounds and an assist per game.  This has fantasy dud written all over it unless he gets it turned around.  His percentage of 28% from the field just have to improve or they will move him to the bench.

Carmelo Anthony - His ADP was 2nd to 3rd round yet he is providing 6-7th round value.  The problem he does not do much but score.  If he rebounded at about 8 per game and dished out 4 assists, he would definitely be a stud instead of a dud in fantasy.  We will see if he turns it around.

Brook Lopez - a center that was most often taken in the 3rd round is only providing 6th round value.  He is blocking shots, but only averages 6.6 boards per game.  He needs to crash the boards to be worth is average draft position.

Demarcus Cousins - I personally drafted this dud in the second round as the ESPN and Rotoworld were high on him, but this guy is returning only 8 or 9th round value due to the lack of points and horrible percentages from the line and the field.  I hope he turns it around

Fantasy Basketball Sleepers

Winning any fantasy league is all about the sleepers/unexpected players who break out due to injury or opportunity in playing time.  We already have some breakout candidates this year in basketball.  Now I could be dead wrong which is what sleepers are all about.  You can either strike it rich or end up in the poorhouse, but here is a sample list of Fantasy Basketball Sleepers

1. Greivis Vasquez - Not sure if he is considered a sleeper, but he is the pure starting point guard with no competition.  He went relatively late in drafts, yet he is averaging over 8 assists per game, rebounds well for a guard and is averaging 15 points and 1.5 treys per game.  If the team around him including superstar rookie Anthony Davis and Al-Farouq Aminu (another sleeper) play well for him, he could end up being a borderline top 50 player.
2. Kyle Singler - A lengthy small forward playing for the hopeless Detroit Pistons.  Singler got his first start last night and didn't disappoint with 16 points, 4 boards, 1 block and a trey.  If he sticks in the starting lineup and puts up across the board stats, he could be a pickup that helps you win your league.
3. Luke Ridnour - At least until Ricky Rubio returns from injury, Luke will give you 15 points, 6 assists, 1 trey and 1 steal per game.  Not great numbers but can be a nice addition to your team.