It’s a Jeff & Greg production on this week’s Damn Lies Fantasy Hoops Show. The two put on their thinking caps and immediately got cases of lice. It’s been a while. On the agenda is discussion of some possible “sell high” and “buy low” targets. The hot starts of Joe Johnson, Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, DJ Augustin and Mario Chalmers are debated, as well as the poor showings from Joakim Noah, DeMar DeRozan and Luis Scola. If you can get past these two Kobe haters gloating over a LeBron-led Heat win over the Lakers, you’ll find a show chock-full of knowledge. Bug free! Continue reading
Here are the Week 4 lineup rankings, posted before Sunday’s games finish for folks setting their weekly-league lineups early. Remember, on MLK Day the NBA schedules games throughout the day. Don’t forget!
The format for these rankings: Standard 9-cat leagues of 12 teams or less. Players ranked are solid weekly starts, while players unranked are not ideal, and should only be monitored.
Games in bold are the second of back-to-backs, while games in bold and italics are the third of back-to-back-t0-backs.
Rankings take into account schedule strength and injury issues.
From the Damn Lies & Statistics 2011 annual report compiled by WordPress:
Some visitors came searching, mostly for rajon rondo, matt bonner, damn lies and statistics, damned lies and statistics, and carmelo anthony.
We didn’t know the thirst for Matt Bonner information would extend so far into our little corner of the internet, but we are certainly happy that we gained so many new readers in 2011. It was a great year for us, despite the lockout, and 2012 is off to an overwhelming start. We thank you for your continued support, and want to wish you a happy belated new year. We’re continuing efforts to improve this blog and give you guys a great place to keep visiting.
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Join the Damn Lies bloggers and friends tonight at 8 pm ET for a live fantasy basketball chat during the Knicks-Grizzlies TNT game. We’ll discuss all the latest NBA news from a fantasy perspective, and, as is our guarantee, answer EVERY question you submit. So stop on by if you are a hardcore NBA fan and fantasy player. We’ll go for as long as you want.
"Parsonsing" is taking longer to catch on, but if he keeps playing like this...
Welcome to Outrageous Claims, where the Damn Lies writers examine players that fantasy basketball owners might want to add to their teams. If you agree or disagree, or just want to vent, leave a message in the comments.
Chandler Parsons (F, HOU)
About the last guy you’d expect from last year’s draft to make an impact in fantasy, Rockets forward Chandler Parsons is starting to do just that. The 2nd-round pick has started the last three games for Houston and we’re starting to see a little of what he can contribute in a box score. His first start was nothing to write home about – 2 points in 30 minutes – but he did have eight boards and three steals. He then went for 20 & 7 on Tuesday in 31 minutes and followed that up with eight points, six boards, four assists, three steals and a block last night vs. San Antonio. He’s also attempted 11 threes in the last three games, and only made two, but it’s a good sign that Parsons is capable of producing in multiple categories. He’s apparently a favorite of Kevin McHale, whose rotations have been a little wacky, but we could be looking at a poor man’s Hedo Turkoglu with some potential value.
Jeff’s Claim: I need to see a little more from Parsons before I cannonball in, but a starting forward anywhere is worth monitoring, at least in deep leagues. Pick up Parsons if you have some dead weight you need to get rid of – like Chase Budinger for starters. He won’t blow you away most nights, but if he keeps getting 30+ minutes there is sneaky value here.
Jeff and Tom manned the controls for the latest Damn Lies Fantasy Hoops Show. For some reason, they spent the first seven minutes on the Wizards. Perhaps they like an underdog story! Mostly it was just amazement at how bad they are, how Andray Blatche’s shoulder injury might be more of a head injury, and how Trevor Booker might not be that bad of a pickup. Derrick Rose’s injury is another topic of discussion, and the guys touch upon Serge Ibaka’s struggles, Chris Kaman’s rejuvenation and the future of the Minnesota backcourt. Thanks for listening! Continue reading
Welcome to the first Damn Lies & Statistics Monday live blog, where Jeff Andriesse, Greg Fox and Tom Lorenzo will post late-breaking news and analysis leading up to the first game of the week. Many fantasy owners play in weekly leagues where lineups lock on Mondays. You have to make the most informed and difficult decisions with your lineups, and we’ll be here to help you through that process.
We’ll be posting your lineup questions here as well. You can fire off your questions to us on Twitter. Follow us at @JeffAndriesse, @TomLorenzo and @gregfoxy5. We’ll post all relevant questions here with answers from the group.
You can read Jeff’s Week 3 Lineup Rankings here. Greg’s Start, Drop & Roll weekly preparation column is here.
Check back throughout the day for updates to this post. Continue reading
I figure I should make myself useful around here, so every Sunday night I’ll present weekly lineup rankings by position. With the following charts, broken down by PG, SG, SF, PF and C, fantasy owners can check out the upcoming schedules for every meaningful fantasy player. Within each list, I rank the players I feel are worthy of starting in a weekly 9-category H2H league consisting of 12 teams. Players listed but not ranked are for consideration in deeper leagues and not ideal starts in shallow ones.
With teams playing such a condensed 66-game schedule, I’ve coded games that are the second of back-to-back nights (bold) and third of back-to-back-to-back nights (bold italics). A player with five games played but two back-to-backs might not be as enticing an option as it appears on the surface, especially early in the season when coaches are resting starters more, players are still rounding into game shape, and where there is a greater potential for a game to turn into a blowout, limiting everyone’s minutes.
The weekly lineup format is my favorite fantasy format. It levels the playing field and kills streaming and daily transactions, which help owners who have no life and are on line all the time rather than owners who have skill and savor making tough choices. Weekly leagues can be frustrating, but gathering as much info on Sundays and Mondays as you can only helps. Good luck, and let me know if you think this is useful stuff! Continue reading
Last week’s Thursday night chat was a success… we had a good group of basketball fans and fantasy owners discussing the issues of the day. Let’s do it again! We’ll be live here on the site at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 5, chatting while watching the Miami-Atlanta game. We guarantee we will answer all of your fantasy questions. Stop on by!
Time for another Damn Lies Fantasy Hoops Show, and with the news that Zach Randolph is out eight weeks, who better to discuss it than the resident Grizzlies expert, Tom Lorenzo? Only Tom was late, leaving Jeff and Greg to flail around without a net until about the 22-minute mark. Okay, so it wasn’t that bad – we hope. You get your traditional Knicks rant from Greg, detailed reaction to all the latest injuries, and suggestions on who might be worth picking up in the wake of Wednesday night’s action. It’s a very special show when all three guys are on, so download and savor it! Continue reading
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