Fantasy Basketball: Ban Injuries Al Jefferson And Alec Burks Edition
I think it’s time we turn off the injuries for the 2014-15 NBA season. We can only do that in video games? Damn it. Added to the long list of banged up guys are Charlotte Hornets center Al Jefferson and Utah Jazz guard Alec Burks.
Let’s start with Jefferson. He is expected to miss at least four weeks with a groin injury. If he sticks to that timeline, Big Al will be out for 13 games. Jefferson’s play has dipped this year with him only averaging 18 points and 8.2 rebounds compared to 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds last season.
That’s a pretty big deal for someone you were probably expecting to perform at a top-15 level. The field goal percentage is down from 51 percent to 49 percent and the minutes have dropped from 35 to 32.2. Overall, it’s been a disappointing year for Big Al from a fantasy basketball view and real-life with the Hornets struggling.
More from Hoops Habit
- The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
Charlotte head coach has said he plans to start Bismack Biyombo in his place. If Biyombo plays enough minutes he’s an interesting pick up target, but he has such bad hands he’s almost useless on the offensive end. Per 36 minutes this season the former first round pick is averaging 8.9 points, 13.5 rebounds and 3.3 blocks.
Biyombo is a miserable free throw shooter and brings nothing in assists or steals. Cody Zeller could also end up seeing more minutes at center plus some more time at the 4 could open up for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marvin Williams.
The news was even worse for the Jazz with it being announced Alec Burks will miss the rest of the season needing surgery on his injured shoulder. As Utah’s starting shooting guard Burks was producing 13.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and three assists per game with 40/38/82 splits.
Without Burks on Tuesday, Rodney Hood started playing 19 minutes, Dante Exum saw 15 off the bench and Patrick Christopher also played 13. Hood and Exum are the two guys to watch. I like both of their games and think next year you could actually see them as the starting backcourt with Burke and Burks coming off the bench.
That’s for another time. Exum has shot threes at a solid 35 percent rate this season and it will be interesting to see if that stays in that range with a higher volume of minutes. H’e putting up 4.9 points, two assists and 1.6 boards in 18 minutes. He has the more upside of the two rookies with the potential to fill it up across the board.
I’d guess Hood has the potential for higher volume scoring and threes based on his skill set coming into the league. He’s shot miserably so far this season, but that should perk up in time. The assists and rebounds are actually around what Exum averaged in the same amount of minutes — I don’t think those will hold up.
In other news, ignore what I said about Brook Lopez yesterday and remember rule No. 1 of reading this column is assume I’m an idiot. With Kevin Garnett out, Lopez went off for 29 points in 33 minutes and Mason Plumlee only played 17 minutes.
Trying to read Lionel Hollins‘ brain is really hard to do. I need some sort of special powers I don’t currently have.