If you have been living under rock for the last few days, or paying attention to the upcoming fantasy hockey season finally looking to get underway, two big-time fantasy basketball redwoods won’t be seeing the hardwood for awhile. Anderson Varejao, who has been playing at an All-NBA pace so far (14.1, 14.4, and 3.4) split his right quadriceps and won’t be playing until early March. The main recipients of his minutes will likely be Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller. Kevin Love, the Minnesota double-double machine, will undergo surgery on his hand and will be out 8-10 weeks as well. Their ownership rates are falling rapidly as we speak. For optimists, these players still may not be worth stashing on your bench; it will be necessary to grab some double-double firepower off the wire.
- Henson: Regime Change = Double-Doubles?
Not stuck being a muppet on Scott Skiles bench, John Henson (PF, Bucks) has shown flashes of double-double dependability averaging 10.8 points and 10.8 rebounds in 22.6 minutes per game. He also has shot 55% and chipped in 1.4 blocks in those same five contests which are big-man categories. It will be interesting to see how new Bucks leadership divides time between him, Larry Sanders, Ekpe Udoh and Sam Dalembert. The Bucks at 18-16, fired coach Scott Skiles anyway, so they clearly think they can do better with an identity change, perhaps, on offense. If Kevin Love was holding your squad down in big man categories, he may be worth a roster add. Henson has an outrageous wingspan at 6’11” and can shoot 10-15 feet out pretty reliably. He can help you with rebounds right now.
- No Love; Williams's Time to Shine?
Of course, the biggest fantasy benefactor to Kevin Love’s injury may be on the Minnesota Timberwolves team and is owned in, like ten percent of leagues; that being Derrick Williams (PF, T-Wolves) who put together 14 and 11 Wednesday night against the Thunder in 28 minutes. Williams, at 6’8” and 241 is a different type of “4” then Love is; he won’t clean glass as consistently but is a better shooter from downtown (.393) in 2012. The former number two pick is more offensively-minded as the threes suggest which makes him attractive for fantasy squads lacking at that category.
Interestingly, enough Kevin Love’s replacement at power forward as a starter is Dante Cunningham (PF, T-Wolves) not Derrick Williams. Cunningham is the more defensive-minded of the two Love replacements but will need to score more eventually. In the last five games, he’s actually logged the lionshare of minutes averaging 29.4. In those nearly 30 minutes of run, he’s averaged 6.6 boards and 6.0 blocks. He may be just scratching the surface of his talent; he has had two or three games where he contributed healthily to multiple categories.
The Houston Rockets Patrick Patterson is back from injury so if he’s waving on waiver wire, be advised he’s back getting decent run. This particular blurb is more about his teammate, Carlos Delfino (SG/SF, Rockets) who is thriving in the Rockets quick strike attack. Delfino is as streaky as they get; but he is shooting a career high from downtown this year, and again, plays small forward in fantasy basketball. The position is a revolving door for most fantasy owners in terms of bench depth. Since New Year’s Eve, Delfino has averaged 13.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game while going 21 for 37 (.568) from downtown. In fact Delfino, can get hot in a hurry and is averaging 26.5 minutes since 12/31. If your team needs “3” help, both from downtown and small forward, Delfino is a definite add.
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