Fantasy news but good info........
SBT: There's No Crying
Doctor A graciously gave me a weekly column with little to no parameters, and while he'll probably live to regret it, the time has come to unleash it onto the public with a trumpet-laden intro scored by John Tesh. Can't hear the music? Just hum a heroic tune in your head and picture me dodging explosions, saving princesses, and fixing the occasional paper jam as I race to meet the deadline.
The Step-back Three is a place where Aaron Bruski takes a look at three issues in the world of both fantasy and reality basketball. Focusing less on daily events, the idea is to take a step back from the daily whirlwind and try to make sense of things.
1. Playoff Push
I just had my playoff dreams dashed in the fabled 9-cat, head-to-head 30 Deep competition, including fantasy basketball writers from all of the major companies, as my team entered the week with the best record in the league and finished with a big fat loss.
The interesting decision that may have haunted me if a few more things broke my way was whether or not to start D.J. Augustin or Shaun Livingston at PG. First things first, this league is deep, as in 30 teams deep (hence the name), so while we start just six guys -- the bottom of the lineup card is an adventure. I had decided that my opponent, Corey Guerrera of CBS Sports, had me beat in points and rebounds with Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony, Brook Lopez, and Wesley Matthews going for him, so I needed to maximize my team's ability to produce across the board. My four must-start players due to positional needs and common sense were Al Horford, Dorell Wright, Gerald Wallace, and Hedo Turkoglu. The three that I had to ponder were D.J. Augustin (PG/SG eligible), Thabo Sefolosha (SG), and Shaun Livingston (PG eligible) for a PG and SG slot.
Depending on your format, you stand a great chance of facing a decision just like this during your playoffs. Focusing on categories other than scoring and rebounding, I had decided that Thabo was my best bet for steals and blocks, and that he wouldn't hurt me anywhere too badly and had a chance to hit a couple of threes. That left me with the decision to go with D.J. Augustin or his backup, Shaun Livingston. The decision boiled down to the tradeoff between Augustin's superior playing time, potential for 3-pointers, and the hope that being on the court more would lead to more steals and blocks. On the flip side, Livingston shoots the ball at a better rate, turns the ball over less because he's on the court less, and on a per-minute basis gets more steals and blocks.
My gut was telling me to go with Livingston, regardless of the playing time discrepancy, but I ended up choosing Augustin because I figured if I couldn't win 3-pointers made that I didn't have a chance. As it turned out, the better play would have been Livingston. Augustin brought only two extra treys and hit just 17-of-44 shots from the field, while Livingston shot a more palatable 12-of-26 FGs on the week. Livingston also handed out two more assists, had one more block, and five less turnovers. The decision to go with Livingston would have brought me a tie in a category instead of a loss, but I still would have had my hat handed to me by the score of 3-5-1.
So as I go about breaking fantasy sports' cardinal sin, which is to talk about one's team anywhere (even on a fantasy sports site), the takeaway here is that now is the time to break out the spreadsheets, honestly assess yours and your opponent's team, and be ready to make the bold call, if necessary. There is this axiom in fantasy sports of 'don't sit your studs,' which frankly to me, is lazy. There is always a correct decision based on the circumstances, and if it means starting your least productive player-to-date, then it's your job to do it.
2. For your perusal
To assist you with all of the matchup and projection work, we've already taken a look at the big four playoff weeks here. Here I'll be taking a look at the last two weeks in particular, as some leagues go right down to those two weeks with a four-team format. And while some trade deadlines haven't passed yet, I'm going to avoid looking at guys that will be starting in most formats. If you have the opportunity to use this list as a tie-breaker in trade decisions for any of your players, you know what to do. And if you're in a league that uses average scores or other format that games played does not matter, than you can skip this section all together.
It's worth noting that the only 2-game weeks for the rest of the year belong to the Nuggets, Nets, and Wizards in this upcoming week, and then the Rockets have one in critical Week 22.
8 Games: Bobcats, Cavs, Nets, Wizards, Celtics, Bulls, Bucks, Thunder, Suns, Kings
This adds value to guys like Boris Diaw, Gerald Henderson, Tyrus Thomas, Baron Davis, Ramon Sessions, Samardo Samuels, Anthony Parker, JaVale McGee, Glen Davis, Carlos Delfino, John Salmons, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Vince Carter, Mickael Pietrus, Jared Dudley, Jason Thompson, and Samuel Dalembert. A few players could fall in and out of this list, but these are a few names you may want to target in trades, add/drop selections, or in your start/sit decisions.
7 Games: Nuggets, Pistons, Rockets, Lakers, Heat, Magic, Spurs, Raptors, Mavs, Clippers, Sixers, Blazers, Pacers, Knicks
This is the average number of games in the final two weeks, so guys from these squads can be evaluated as you normally would (game-by-game matchups aside).
6 Games: Hornets, Grizzlies, Wolves, Hawks, Jazz, Warriors
Trevor Ariza, Tony Allen and the rest of the Memphis wings, Wesley Johnson, Darko Milicic, Luke Ridnour, Michael Beasley, Jamal Crawford, Kirk Hinrich, Andrei Kirilenko, C.J. Miles, and Ekpe Udoh are the borderline players whose schedule works against them in the final two weeks. Again, looking at borderline guys, this list is comparably short.
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3. There's no crying in basketball
It's easy to pile on the train-wreck Miami Heat, and I do my fair share of it, so I thought long and hard about whether or not to go there after some of them reportedly cried following their most recent national embarrassment. If I was going to go there, I felt like I owed it to you guys to have a fresh take – something that others haven't said. That last part is hard because the situation is quite clear, as most NBA insiders and fans without a rooting (or financial) interest will agree – it is a failure of leadership on all levels, but mostly a failure of LeBron James. Sure, the Heat have a chance in the playoffs just as all teams do, but they look more like a better-qualified version of the Allen Iverson-Carmelo Anthony Nuggets from a few years back than a championship squad, and nobody in their right mind would pick them over the Celtics, Lakers, or Spurs (to name a few) right now.
And while most of their struggles can be traced back to LeBron James' inability to be coached, his inability to accept responsibility for the sideshow he has put his teammates through, and at the end of the day – his inability to develop a go-to move other than a contested jumper – the media has yet to really lay down the gauntlet for the Heat.
Rather than grab at the low-hanging fruit, I'm going to head into 'don't go there' territory. I'm not going to blame the eight-year old for lighting the drapes on fire when the 18-year old is the one doing the babysitting.
I'm going to blame big brother Dwayne Wade.
Wade knew what he was getting into when he got into the LeBron business, and admittedly, with Wade's championship pedigree beyond reproach in most circles – I have to admit that I've been caught watching the emergency vehicles speed by with sirens screaming toward The Kings' castle.
But why blame Wade? He didn't have a one-hour show to take his talents anywhere. He doesn't have diarrhea of the Twitter account. And after all, who wouldn't have done what he did as long as a plan was in place to deal with all the drama? Wade, along with Heat management and powerbrokers at Creative Artists Agency, brought in two max-contract players and made the Heat instant contenders. Short of the worst PR effort in the history of professional sports, there was nothing wrong with the choice to play together.
What I've had a hard time wrapping my head around, however, has been watching Wade take up for the disgraced deity, James, every time he has a public faux pas. Yes, you take up for your teammates when the going is bad, but you kick their ass in the locker room or tell them where the door is, too. And as every piece of added negative publicity is a distraction unto the team, another layer of pressure for them to deal with, has James offered up an apology to his teammates for that?
I doubt it. After all, the best thing he could do for his 'Q rating' would be to apologize to the city of Cleveland and the fans of the NBA for treating them like two-buck idiots. After all, we're a forgiving bunch (just ask Kobe, Big Ben, and Mike Vick). So it stands to reason that if he can't bring himself to help his career in an immeasurable way, why would anyone believe he's done it behind closed doors? And while James insists that everybody should just move on, and that 'he doesn't want to talk about the past,' where do the Heat think that all of this negative vibe comes from?
Let me guess – we're all out to get them, right?
So if James can't apologize to teammates for the crap he's brought onto them, what else can't he apologize for? What about an ill-conceived, perhaps selfish game-deciding shot? What about a defensive rotation that didn't happen? In the locker room, what about a media leak designed to undermine his head coach? Do they just pretend it didn't happen? What about implicitly and explicitly forbidding his coach to treat everybody equally without superstar favor? What about all the tweets? What about guilt by association? Would 'Like a Bosh' have happened anywhere else other than in LeBron James' Miami?
None of them signed up for this, but it's theirs now. LeBron is their hand-picked leader, while Wade is the one whose hand has a ring.
And therein lays the problem. The Miami Heat can't get down to business when their leaders are infallible and ranked out of order. When Kobe Bryant acts up, Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher are there to call him out. When the Celtics' Big Four aren't on the same page, they have no problem giving each other a piece of their minds.
Not in Miami.
James' inability to be criticized sets the stage for the rationalization that ultimately destroys them. That contradiction plays itself out every night for all of us to see. If defense is about trust, the Heat have none. If taking the last shot is an exercise in who is open for the Celtics and Spurs, for the Heat it is an exercise in ego. If Wade takes it, LeBron has been marginalized, and a marginalized LeBron starts to miss free throws and take ill-advised jumpers.
If LeBron takes it, he misses, and like the pink goo from Ghostbusters 2 the spectacle grows.
Can Pat Riley tell LeBron to get with the program? Probably, but how much does he lose by clashing with the NBA's preeminent power brokers, and will owner Mickey Arison sign off on that? Can Spo' tell LeBron to get on the line for suicides when he preens in practice, or refuses to set screens off the ball? C'mon, man. Chris Bosh has a better chance of being invited to James' next big party than Spo does of laying the hammer down.
And that leaves Wade.
He can slap the crown off James' head and leave an indelible mark should he choose, because he has the ring. He is also the better basketball player, has more experience, and is the mayor of Wade County for crying out loud. James can't send his cronies after Wade to do his bidding, he can't smear Wade in the media, he can't leverage him, and James can't ignore Wade if he tells him that 'now is the time to do the right thing.' There is a pecking order in this league, and right now LeBron James would lose that fight.
So while LeBron apologized to "his team" for "failing them" at the end of games, he still won't acknowledge why we're talking about them, the way that we're talking about them. The bottom line is that all the negative attention has brought them down, distracted them, and emboldened the rest of the league much like the PGA Tour took notice when Tiger was declawed.
Wade is the only one with the power to say, 'this ends now.' Hanging in the balance is a season filled with each of their hopes, dreams, efforts, and futures to boot. Whether or not he decides he wants to exercise that political capital for the good of them all remains to be seen. And while we all take aim at the witless child without any guidance, who doesn't have anybody there to hold him responsible for his mistakes – or to remind him that a real man apologizes for what he does – there is another, more responsible party for the Miami Heat. And until Dwyane Wade stands up and demands an end to all this nonsense, I'm going to assume that his last stand was in 2006.
