RADIO
Leonard Francis II highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's December 11th slate. This recap focuses on Chris Paul, Bryn Forbes, and De'Anthony Melton from Tuesday's slate.
Imagine being so great at doing something that you could take away the main element which has led to your greatness and still be better than almost everyone else at doing whatever your great thing is. Example: Back in 1986, the Boston Celtics played a game against the Portland Trailblazers. In Portland. Larry Bird -- who's right-handed -- decided that the Blazers weren't good enough to see his right hand for the entire game so he'd utilize his left in order to save his dominant hand for a more worthy foe in the Lakers. Bird wound up hitting 10 of his 21 shots with his off-hand -- putting 47 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists on the board -- in what's now known as the "lefty game." His name is "Larry Legend" for a reason.
Non-prehistorically, the Toronto Raptors have been a good team for some years now, but it's the addition of Kawhi Leonard which has made them great. They gave us their own rendition of the "lefty game" last night in Los Angeles with Leonard (hip) sidelined. Minus the man who averages nearly 10 more points per game than their second-leading scorer. Minus the man who also leads the team in rebounds and steals. Minus the man who ranks in the Top-25 in the league in pretty much every one of those advanced statistics like win shares and VORP, the Raptors went into L.A. and handed the Clippers a 24-point drubbing - their worst loss of the season. Elsewhere in the association, the Rockets finally ended their three-game losing streak with a 111-104 victory over the Blazers, and the Suns are still ghastly - dropping to 4-24 after being bludgeoned by the Spurs... And there you have it. That's it for last night's light, three-game slate.
Even with the majority of the league taking the evening off, there were still quite a few notable performances on the individual level. Some of which may have a significant impact on fantasy rosters, so let's have a look at three such performances and break down what they could mean to you and your fantasy basketball teams, in the RotoBaller NBA Recap from Tuesday, December 11th.
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The Time to Trade Chris Paul is Upon Us
Chris Paul is one of my all-time favorite point guards, but I cringed when the Rockets inked him to the four-year, $160 million deal this summer. Houston is now paying a man in his 14th year, at age 33, an average of nearly $40 million per season, and when his player option hits in year four, he'll be 36 years old. This is the same man who has played the full 82-game schedule just once in his career and has a history of injuries that runs longer than the list Santa Claus finds himself making, and checking, twice. For my basketball viewing pleasure, I hope Paul connects with Tom Brady and receives the elixir which enables him to play productively passed 40. The only problem with that idea is, we're already witnessing the decline.
Paul notched his first triple-double of the season Tuesday night, putting up 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, and you should look to trade him now while the memories are warm and fuzzy. He shot a miserable 2-for-12 from the field -- while missing all four of his attempts from three-point range -- and saw seven of his 11 points come from the charity stripe. Ok, so he had an off night? Likely the case, but he's still shooting just 42-percent from the field on the season, and if that holds up, it would be good for the lowest percentage of his career.
Shooting aside -- let's give him a pass there -- Paul has averaged fewer than eight assists just twice over his 13-year career. The first? His rookie season. The second? Last year. And he's currently sitting right at eight assists per game. Now don't get me wrong, he can still play - his eight assists per have him tied for sixth and he remains one of the better rebounding guards the league has to offer. I'm just saying it might be wise to leverage those facts with last night's triple-double and parlay them into a potentially lucrative trade package. Or, I don't know, maybe a player who doesn't destroy your team's field goal percentage at the expense of 16.4 points per while also happening to be on the decline and posing an extremely high risk of injury.
Welcome Back, Bryn Forbes!
What better way to follow up that short novel persuading you to trade away one of the best guards the game has ever seen than to celebrate another who's averaging 12 points, two rebounds, and two assists on the season? None better that I can come up with. Comparisons aside -- Forbes is not, and never will be, CP3 -- he's likely available on waivers, and that alone justifies the segue as Paul was probably taken pretty early in fantasy drafts across the board. Let's level the playing field a bit.
No, this is not merely an overreaction to his 24-point (which came on 5-of-5 from deep, mind you), 11-rebound, three-assist performance Tuesday night. The Spurs played Phoenix. Everybody balls out on Phoenix. It is, however, an acknowledgment of a guy who has put up double-digit points in three-straight games and seems to have found his stroke after some recent struggles. Including the rough end to November which followed him into December, Forbes has scored in double-figures in 21 of the Spurs 28 contests and has a usage rate comparable to Kyle Lowry, equal to Gordon Hayward, and higher than Jeff Teague. Circumstances are the logical explanation here, and again, nowhere near the level of those guys, just offering up a small dose of perspective. He's definitely worth keeping an eye on, or even adding speculatively should your roster permit.
De'Anthony Melton Continues to Shine
If you missed last week's recap where I lauded Melton's 21-point, two-rebound, five-assist performance against the Kings, no worries, he's still balling.
It's only a matter of time before Devin Booker returns for the Suns, but until that time comes, Melton has proven to be a more than reliable fantasy option. Making his third-straight start, Melton contributed 17 points, seven rebounds, and six assists across 33 minutes of action, and now ranks second on the team in scoring, first in assists, and third in usage over their last five. It's hard to get too excited over a rookie, on the Suns, who is tied to the injury status of Booker. However, there's not much else to be said which can diminish his production, and while I can't speak to head coach Igor Kokoskov's thought process, one has to figure Melton has checked off all of the boxes and will be a factor in this rotation even after Booker returns.
