The Cheat Sheet: Marcus Thornton a fantasy playoff All Star?

By Eric Yearian

Recent News/Revelations: With the NCAA Tournament underway, the NBA has fallen by the wayside in the eyes of most fans. More attention has been paid to the Kentucky Wildcats, Duke Blue Devils, and even the Morehead St. Eagles than the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and even the Miami HEAT. With so much emphasis on the realm of college basketball there was even more chatter about Kyrie Irving of Duke than Kobe Bryant, and I never thought I’d type that sentence. Yet, the NBA season kept churning and is quickly approaching its own postseason. The only thing consistent in the NBA right now is inconsistency. The Nuggets had been playing very well, then lose back-to-back games on a road trip into Florida, while Miami went from losing seemingly every game to looking unstoppable at times, The Spurs, who have been the (underrated) gold standard all year long suddenly looked helpless, getting thumped, and I do mean thumped, against the Lakers and a HEAT team they recently beat by 30 points.  Then there’s Atlanta who people seem to forget about in the Eastern conference because of the big four in the conference. Atlanta lost four straight before solving the new look Blazers and the Bucks. With the fantasy season so close to being over, The Cheat Sheet will change a bit here, as it will be condensed to possible waiver wire selections, omitting the “Sell high/Buy low” sections. I think everybody agrees that it’s despicable for fantasy players to make late season trades once their team is out of consideration to help another owner. Collusion is not cool, so let’s focus on ways to improve your team for the fantasy “second season”.

Players you should avoid:

Tyrus Thomas: The thing with Thomas is that he’s seen for some reason as a former #4 overall pick instead of what he is. Thomas has been an inconsistent scorer with a career rebounding average of 5.3 rebounds per game. That simply isn’t enough production for anyone to justify using him in fantasy. Add in to that the fact that he’s coming off of an injury as well. Thomas will block some shots, so if you’re desperate for blocks in a rotisserie league, then he might be worth a shot, but even then it’s pretty doubtful.  Thomas’ hasn’t even had one week all season long that would make you think “wow, I have to have that guy on my team.” He is a case of a player making fantasy rosters simply because of his name. He’s a classic case of a player that helps his real team more than a fantasy team. Some people have begun dropping him from their rosters, but I don’t advise picking him up.

Players you should be looking to pick up:

Marcus ThorntonMarcus Thornton: Thornton was virtually invisible while in New Orleans. Luckily for fantasy owners like me who picked him up just in case Sacramento utilized his skills better than Monty Williams, he has exploded on to the scene. Tyreke Evans has succumbed to his lingering foot injury, providing Thornton with an opportunity to shine, and shine he has. While Thornton will occasionally have a stinker as evidenced by his seven point, six turnover performance against Philadelphia, he has shown an acute ability to put the ball in the basket. He has scored upwards of 20 points in seven of the 11 games he has played in a Kings uniform, with less than 10 points in exactly one of those 11 games. Thornton even went for a career high 42 points against Golden State a few nights ago. If and when Evans comes back Thornton will see a reduced role, but with the way he has been playing, he should have no problem helping your fantasy team anyway, especially with teams focusing more on his backcourt mate than him.

Samardo Samuels: It’s common knowledge that rooting for a player to get injured is considered poor sportsmanship. However, I’m sure there were a lot of fantasy owners who couldn’t be happier that Antawn Jamison has been ruled out for the balance of the season. With the Cavaliers wallowing in the filth of their own horrible season, coach Byron Scott will be looking for young guys to step up and show what they are capable of so the organization knows who to keep and who to get rid of in what is sure to be an off-season purge (pending league CBA status) to help revitalize the franchise. Samuels has stepped up in a big way on a team devoid of big bodies thanks to injuries. Samuels has stepped in at center playing alongside J.J. Hickson. Samuels isn’t going to blow you away with his numbers, but that isn’t what you should be looking for off the waiver wire, that would be unreasonable, the waiver wire should be viewed as a place to find contributors and fill roster holes. If you have a hole at center, he can help as he is consistently scoring in the double digits while chipping in a handful of rebounds as well.

Jordan Crawford: When talking about the big winners of the trade deadline, everybody mentioned the Thunder, Knicks, Nets, Carmelo, etc. However, the biggest winner might have ended up being Jordan Crawford. Ironically, Crawford wasn’t even the biggest name in his deal (that belongs to the since bought out Mike Bibby). The Wizards can’t win a game to save their life recently, but it’s not because of the former Xavier standout. Crawford is playing over 40 minutes a game recently and putting up some fantastic numbers. Given an opportunity, Crawford has become a 20 point threat every single night while picking up solid assist numbers and collecting enough rebounds to help out a bit in that category as well. If I had to make one suggestion on who to pick up, it would be Jordan Crawford. This might become even more important if you own Deron Williams and he is indeed going to be sidelined the rest of the year.  There is nothing final on Williams, but if he is, pick up Crawford to replace him.

Full Disclosure from last column: How did the players mentioned in the last column fare in the last column?

Sell High:

Anthony Randolph: Randolph has been the definition of inconsistency, he even came down with an illness and hasn’t been able to even practice on a consistent basis. He’s had games where he has produced nicely, and other games in which he struggled to even get enough playing time for fans to realize he was on the court at all. He’s not somebody you want to be counting on moving forward this season. Final Verdict: Correct

Buy Low:

Mo Williams: Williams has fit in nicely with his new team, even helping to send his former team out of town with a loss. He’s scoring and racking up the assists at a rate that would allow him to be a low end number three or high end number four guard for most teams. Final Verdict: Correct
 
Player you should avoid:

Mike Bibby: Bibby will occasionally have a good game for Miami, and will have even more opportunity if Mario Chalmers misses significant time with a knee injury. With that being said, he will not be able to put up numbers often enough to be counted on in fantasy. Bibby will put up some good point totals on good nights, but with LeBron, Wade, and Bosh hoarding the stats, there just won’t be enough stats to go around for the veteran point guard to help you. Final Verdict: Correct

Player you should be looking to pick up:

Kris Humphries: Wow, simply wow. Humphries is a total monster out there as of late. If he is still available in your league it would truly shock me. He’s recorded double-doubles in nine straight games and is also blocking shots. As somebody who’s never been a big believer in Humphries, I must admit this caught me off guard, but the stats don’t lie, he is a man on a mission to prove himself and he should be owned in every league out there. Final Verdict: Correct