A look back at Wednesday night’s NBA action in the fantasy basketball world.
The bearded one does it again: Houston Rockets guard James Harden
- Not going to go to in depth here because I’ve touched on Harden very recently. He was once again the man with the line of the night. Harden went off for 41 points on 11-of-21 shooting with 10 assists and four rebounds. The former ASU product knocked down 18-of-21 from the free throw line. Best 2 guard in the game.
Another edition of sell high: Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade
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- There might not be a more perfect time to try to move the man formerly known as Flash. All of his teammates are down and people will think he’s due for a bunch of monsterous stat lines over and over again. If he stays healthy he’s most definitely capable, but I prefer to limit my risk. Wade earned a co-line of the night with Harden, scoring 42 of the Heat’s 87 points in their loss to the Jazz. The only other player in double figures was Mario Chalmers with 11. Wade has played in Miami’s last 11 games and seems healthy. If I could get a top-30 player for Wade, I would move on and let another owner deal with risky injury history.
Bouncing on back: Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier
- From Nov. 24-Dec. 10 it looked Evan Fourner was falling off. He reached double figures in only five of Orlando’s nine games and without the points Fournier doesn’t have a ton of fantasy value. The owners who stuck with him are in luck — Fournier has regained his scoring touch. In the Magic’s last four games Fournier has averaged 15.3 points with 3.3 assists, and four rebounds. His shooting splits are 48%/28%/88%. If he can bump that three-point shooting back up Fournier will continue to have the solid value he’s had throughout the majority of the season.
He’s definitely not your plumber: Brooklyn Nets center Mason Plumlee (I’m sorry, I’ll go home now)
- Plumlee’s value is connected strongly to the health of Brook Lopez. Lopez is set to be re-evaluated with his back injury on Saturday. Brooklyn plays again on Friday and Sunday. Playing more than 30 minutes in each of the last four games, Plumlee has averaged 18.3 points, 10 rebounds and one block. He’s also making 66 percent of his shots. If Lionel Hollins can find a way to get Plumlee 25 minutes even when Lopez is back he should have value. We don’t know if Hollins has any interest in doing that. Play Plumlee until Lopez gets back and then monitor the situation going forward. He’s a good stash even while Lopez is healthy because of his propensity to get hurt.
I sure as hell wasn’t expecting that: Portland Trail Blazers forward Thomas Robinson
- When Robin Lopez went down I assumed Chris Kaman would be the main beneficiary. Well, Blazers head coach Terry Stotts, who happens to be more important in their decision-making process than me, had other ideas. Thomas Robinson got the start in the frontcourt next to LaMarcus Aldridge and put up 15 points and 16 rebounds in 29 minutes. On the positive, he hit 5-of-8 shots and added in one steal plus a block. On the negative, Robinson missed 10-of-15 free throw attempts and turned the ball over four times. Robinson is a career 54 percent free throw shooter so that’s not just a one night issue and he’s averaged 2.7 turnovers per 36 minutes for his career. That’s a high number for someone with only a 19.4 percent career usage rate. Robinson has his flaws, but if he continues to get significant minutes will have some value for you in fantasy hoops.