One player I was all in on for fantasy basketball this year based on where he was going in most of the drafts I was doing was New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson. It hasn’t gone as planned. Anderson’s minutes have dropped from 36 last season to 29 because of the addition of Omer Asik. I expected some drop, but not necessarily that much.
His shooting percentages have also taken a dip. Anderson is a career .425 shooter from the field overall and .380 from three, but this season is at .410 and .341. In the month of January it’s been even worse with Anderson scoring only 12 points per game with four rebounds on 36/36/72 shooting.
He’s still hitting 2.1 threes per game so it’s not all lost and I do expect Anderson to get things going before the season ends — he’s too good to keep playing this poorly.
Other notes from a packed Wednesday schedule:
- More Pelicans news: Anthony Davis returned from a three-game absence and did Anthony Davis things. Brow posted 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting with eight rebounds, four blocks and three steals. In bad news, Jrue Holiday is out for two to four weeks with a leg injury. Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon are the main beneficiaries. Nate Wolters saw the bench run last night, but that could fluctuate with Jimmer Fredette around.
- Phoenix Suns Three-Headed Monster: All three Suns “point” guards have found their groove and are having a strong impact on a nightly basis. Isaiah Thomas came off the bench in Phoenix’s win versus the Blazers to put up a season-high 27 points. Eric Bledsoe had a career-high 33 points and added 10 rebounds and six assists. Goran Dragic on a down night still compiled 16 points and four assists. All three are great assets and should continue to be going forward.
- Orlando Magic forward Tobias Harris: Harris returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games with an ankle injury. He came off the bench, but got 25 minutes and 15 shots. Harris tallied 19 points, five rebounds, hit all four of his free throws and made a three. Good return and he’s right back to having top 50 value.
- Detroit Pistons guard Brandon Jennings: I’ve written about Jennings way too much this season, but the dude had 21 assists last night. Twenty-one ASSISTS!!!!!! According to basketball-reference.com since 1985-86, there’s only been 123 games with a player recording 20 assists or more. One of those now belongs to Jennings. Stan Van Gundy probably deserves an entire temple built in his honor in downtown Detroit.
- Toronto Raptors forward DeMar DeRozan: This falls under the don’t panic he will be fine category, but it’s been so ugly I have to point it out. Over DeRozan’s last two games he’s shooting 2-for-20 from the field and averaging three points. When DeRozan doesn’t score he loses almost all of his fantasy value because he doesn’t produce greatly in other areas besides volume free throws. He’s also only taken three shots from the charity stripe during this stretch. It wouldn’t seem the recent return from injury is the reason for the struggles since he scored plus-20 points in the first three games back. Chalk it up to a random occurrence while also keeping tabs.