RADIO
As the NBA increasingly moves towards being a league where people fight on the court and then sneak through secret tunnels in Staples Center, the greatness of the NBA rises as well. You aren't getting "Chris Paul leads team of Rockets through back door into Clippers locker room" in any other professional sport. (Also, you aren't getting it in the NBA since that story was apparently all wrong. Did Woj inaccurately report something? My wife was saying yesterday that we've reached a point where we trust Woj reports so much that we can actually no longer trust him, because he could say anything and it would be believed. "Report: Chris Paul has hidden inside a locker." "Report: P.J. Tucker has left the building on foot and is wandering around the Staples Center parking lot looking for a third entrance to the locker room." I'd believe those things if Woj said them!)
Anyway, that whole fun story aside, let's take a look at some potential risers and fallers heading into Week 15 of the NBA season. What players are climbing the ladder and which have fallen into a bottomless hole and will probably not learn to fly at the last second?
Note: All statistics are from games played before Friday, January 19.
Week 15 Fantasy Basketball Risers
RISER - T.J. McConnell (G, PHI)
Three straight games with double-digit scoring and three straight games with three steals makes McConnell an intriguing option. His rebounding and assists numbers aren't consistent, but he's capable of giving fantasy owners five rebounds and five assists some nights. It's that steals number that really intrigues me, though, and makes McConnell a strong play right now in category-based formats. The third-year guard has at least one steal in 10 consecutive games and multiple steals in seven of those. His shot attempts are up and he's starting to take more threes. McConnell would be a good addition to most fantasy teams.
RISER - Isaiah Thomas (G, CLE)
There isn't much to say there. IT is back. He's playing real minutes now. The rust seems to have been knocked off after a 19 point, four assist performance against Golden State and then a 21 point, four assists, two steal outing against the Magic on Thursday. Minus the fact that Thomas could still see the occasional DNP if the team wants to make sure he's fully ready to go, he should be able to contribute to fantasy lineups and to the real life Cavaliers lineup moving forward.
RISER - Anthony Davis (F/C, NOP)
I try to avoid some of the obvious players, but I want to touch on Davis for a couple of reasons. First is that, obviously, he's a good player--he had three games in a row last week that included the following point totals: 36, 48, 45. He had multiple blocks in all those games and at least nine rebounds. He then followed that up with a bit of a stinker against the Hawks, finishing with just eight points and seven rebounds. I'm just here to say: don't worry. Yes, the hot streak that Davis was on was a VERY hot streak, but even a cooled-off Davis isn't going to put up numbers like he did in the Hawks game. He's still a top tier fantasy option and he's becoming an even bigger piece of the New Orleans offense.
RISER - Jrue Holiday (G, NOP)
I'll stick with the Pelicans again here. Jrue Holiday is playing like someone who actually belongs in the conversation for "is part of a big three." He's averaging 18.6 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, and 4.4 rebounds per game on the season, but his scoring output has topped that mark in four consecutive games. He's had multiple steals in seven of his past eight outings. And, even though this isn't really a...great stat-based observation, he looks the part. The Pelicans might finally look like a competitive team if they get, well, some players outside of those top three guys.
RISER - Willie Cauley-Stein (F/C, SAC)
Quick bonus shout out to Cauley-Stein, who I regret having dropped earlier this year in one of my leagues. He's had a great week for the Kings, topping twenty points in two of the last three games and grabbing ten or more rebounds in those two games. He's seen an increase in his minutes and it's been working.
Week 15 Fantasy Basketball Fallers
FALLER - Gerald Green (G/F, HOU)
Suspension aside, I don't feel confident about the future for Green. With injuries ravishing the team, he'd been playing heavy minutes off the bench for the Rockets, but with the team healthy again it's possible that Green falls behind Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute for minutes off the bench--Gordon brings playmaking and shooting and the other two are able to contribute defensively at a much higher rate than Green. Houston, with a healthy Chris Paul and James Harden in the starting lineup, won't need Green's bench scoring as much as they'll need the other players to play a stabilizing defensive role with bench units. This could be wrong, but I'd be wary of trusting Green until we see how the team works him back into the lineup after he returns from his suspension.
FALLER - Ricky Rubio (G, UTA)
I don't watch enough Jazz games to be able to give you a full account of what's wrong with Ricky Rubio, but the guard has been shooting poorly for the most part lately, with three consecutive games in which he's shot under 30 percent from the field. You likely don't own Rubio for the scoring though--you picked him up in the draft because he's Ricky Rubio and you know he's going to give you a lot of assists. Okay! Let's look at assists numbers over the last ten games: 7, 0, 4, 3, 6, 2, 7, 8, 2, 7. I like the sevens, but I don't like that Rubio has four or fewer assists in half of those games. Rubio's a tough one to trust right now.
FALLER - Brook Lopez (C, LAL)
Lopez is still technically the starting center for the Los Angeles Lakers, but he's seen his role decrease as the team continues to play the youngsters more. Lopez didn't top eight points or three rebounds last week, while the rest of the Lakers front court--Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma, and Larry Nance Jr.--all played more minutes and contributed more to the team. Lopez's role on the team should continue to be about what it is now or decrease slightly more, making him a difficult player to use in fantasy lineups.
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