It's Not All Smiles

So let’s flip things around this week and talk about the dudes you DON’T want on your team. Some of the following opinions may be colored by my own personal feelings about these guys, but I’ll try to keep it civil and at least somewhat related to fantasy basketball.

Rashard Lewis- Not only do I hate Rashard Lewis as a player, but in this case he actually sucks in fantasy basketball too! The funny thing is the Magic also have Ryan Anderson, who plays the same position, plays the exact same game, doesn’t defend either, but makes about $100 million less than Rashard. Everyone laughed when the Magic gave Lewis a max deal but he was able to at least partially live up to it for the first couple years, but the Magic are still just the 3^rd best team in the East (like they always are) and Rashard looks worse and worse every day. If you own him I’d doubt you could trade him for anything valuable at this point, my advice would be to wait until he strings together 3 or 4 good games (which may or may not happen) and then try to pawn him off for another guy’s 6^th or 7^th best guy. Good luck with that.

Tim Duncan- His fantasy game is about as bland as his personality and the name just doesn’t live up to expectations anymore. I have nothing but respect for Duncan (other than the fact that he is the biggest whiner in the NBA) but he’s just too old to consistently put up big numbers, and there really isn’t any incentive for him to try. The Spurs will make the playoffs and that is when Duncan will step his game up, until then he will coast, and that is just about the last thing you are looking for from a high round pick in fantasy basketball.

Blake Griffin- Ok so maybe it is surprising to see him on this list, but it is for an entirely different reason than the other players I’m talking about. I actually happen to love Blake Griffin, as does everyone else, the dude can jump out of the gym and he rebounds like a rabid beast, but the bottom line is that his fantasy value really isn’t particularly high. 16 points and 10 rebounds a game is nice, but aside from that Griffin brings absolutely nothing to the table and he’s a total liability at the free throw line. If you own him you were probably ecstatic after the first week of the season, but it is time to sell high while you still can. Give another Blake Griffin lover a whiff of his manly pheromones and rob that owner of one of his elite guys. Do it now, add in another one of your fringe starters and you might still be able to get a big name player that contributes in more categories.

An extra word of advice about injured players- Drop them! If you are currently holding on to a dude like Greg Oden or Andrew Bynum then shame on you for drafting their crippled rear-ends, it is time to cut your losses. Never draft injured guys with the plan to stash them for the long haul, it simply doesn’t pay off. In the meantime other owners are using those bench spots to pick up legit players that actually make it onto the court and you are missing out on the waiver wire gold.