Fantasy Fix

Drew highlights a few hoops players and fantasy trends based on this past week’s games.

Devin Harris – Not a shabby start to Harris’s career as a New Jersey Net. He has notched 42 pts, seven threes, seven assists, six rebounds in only 57 minutes in his first two games. The only red flag is the quantity of three pointers – he only averaged .6 threes per game in Dallas, and now all of the sudden he’s knocking down 3.5 per game. For the sake of my team (I was fortunate enough to pick him up a few days after he was traded from Dallas!) and yours, if you have him, I hope he continues to hit threes at this rate, though there is no reason to believe that he will. He is not starting yet, though it does not appear that that will affect his production. Also, that is not to say he will shortly take over starting PG duties from Marcus Williams.

Kobe Bryant – C’mon Kobe, only 52? How about 82? As Mark Jackson would say, “You’re better than that.” Raptors @ Lakers in four games, so get ready! Speaking of alotta points, I hope you all celebrated the 46^th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game on Sunday, the 2^nd.

Wally Szczerbiak –Props to Wally and his wife for naming his newborn son Maximus Jack Szczerbiak. That is all I will say about Wally Szczerbiak this week.

Erick Dampier – If there is one thing that Jason Kidd does well (not to say that there really is only one thing that the superstar does well), it is get wide open looks for his teammates. Seven-footers especially benefit from Kidd’s passes, often finding themselves with the ball in the paint and only having to jump with their arms up to flush it through for two. With Kidd manning the point for the Mavericks, expect Dampier's points and confidence to improve. Also, without Diop to steal away his minutes, he will be on the court more and inevitably get more rebounds and blocked shots.

Mike Dunleavy – The coach’s son tied his career high of 36 two straight nights (3/2 v. MIL, 2/29 @ TOR). Dunleavy, one of the guys I claimed would be a steal on draft night in my season preview issue, is enjoying the best season of his seven year career, with averages of 18 points, five rebs, 1.7 threes, 47.5% FG, 3.5 ast (see, I do get it right on occasion! Forgive me for the next entry).

Larry Hughes – So far I have been completely wrong about him. What the guys at heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com (yes, that is a real website) and I would like to know is, Why was it so difficult for you to put up these digits in Cleveland? Hughes is averaging about 19 points, four rebounds, four assists, and almost two threes per game through five games in Chicago. The Bulls’ backcourt is still very much in question; Ben Gordon has not started a single game since Hughes’s acquisition, and Kirk Hinrich has basically been downright bad… I can’t imagine that both will last.

Luis Scola – Who needs Yao Ming? The Rockets pushed their win streak to 15, the last three games of which they were without a large Chinese dude whom we like to refer to as Yao Ming. The logical progression of the Rockets’ frontcourt without Mr. Ming is that Luis Scola steps in and does the kind of magic he does for the Argentinean national team in the Olympics. He had not been playing poorly since his role-promotion, though his last game was somewhat of a coming out party: 18 pts, 14 rebs, 50% FG. Scola should continue to play at a level that makes him worth owning in most leagues.

Beno Udrih – It took the former Spur a little while, but he is finally back on track. Perhaps his feelings were hurt when he was essentially displaced from the starting lineup. After scoring a total of 6 points in two games, Udrih has strung together two 25 point efforts, and followed it up with a 23 point, nine assist, three steal masterpiece against the surging Miami Heat (winners of the last two of four!).

Manu Ginobili – Manu has been generally awesome over the past month. His February included games in which he scored 46 and 44 points, had 12 and 10, grabbed 15 rebounds, hit eight and six threes, and finally, stole the ball five times (no, not all in the same game, obviously). And this is what he had to say about the possibility of starting for the rest of the season, therefore making him ineligible to win the 6^th man award. "I don't care about that little trophy. All I care about is a championship ring."