Well a week of basketball is in the books and even though it's early it looks like we can pick a few things out of the rubble.
Yes Studs like LeBron, Kobe and DWade have lived up to their first round production while some others are playing well but haven't really turned it on yet. Let's take a quick rundown of players to target, dangle, grab off waivers and leave alone. Today we will talk about the highrisers of the week.
Come to Papa
- Danilo Gallinari of the Knicks had himself quite the coming out party. Building projects with all the bricks he was throwing up during the preseason he has come out blazing with 18 3 pointers in 3 games. D'Antoni was quoted in the preseason saying Galinari is the best shooter he has ever seen. Now that's high praise. He will make Wilson Chandler an afterthought and have a similar season as Al Harrington did last year.
- Channing Frye is really seeing his career come back to life with the Suns. After a strong rookie campaign he has been a non factor for much of the past few seasons. Now he's the starting center in Phoenix and hoisting up 3's like his life is depending on it. He's putting a slight crink in my Amare pick this year but he seems to have found his nitche.
- Carmelo Anthony was a consensus 2nd rounder this year and so far seems determined to lead the league in scoring. Now JR Smith is out right now but other than Mr. Big Shot I don't see anyone else on that roster who is going to take shots away. The 7 boards and high %'s are quite loveley too. Keep firing Melo, we here at the Hoops Bar salute you and love you.
- Brandon Jennings spent a year minding his P's & Q's on the other side of the pond last year and everyone forgot that at the McDonald's All American game back in 2008 EVERYONE said he was a lock for the top 5 and the best PG in the country. Oh how stingy Euro coaches with cigarettes on their breath make us forget. I argued the Knicks should have taken him #8 this year, thanks for making me look good (anyone who emerges from the back on draft night and poses and points to the crowd before he shakes the Don Stern's hand is ok with me). He has the spot, the minutes and the swagger to push Blake Griffin for ROY.
- Andrea Bargnani is building on his strong season last year and is beocming the perfect compliment to Chris Bosh (and to tell you the truth, he might turn out be better). The big Italian is averaging 22ppg on almost 3 3's per game as well at 56/100 in FG/FT %'s. I wish he would board a bit more but that should go up once Bosh stops boarding at a 14.7 clip and his almost 1 block per game should settle around 1 for the season. Go target him and don't be afraid to trade the likes of Josh Smith or David West to get him.
Coming Tomorrow ... Players to be left alone
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Love the blog guys, this is obviously long over due. Let me know when we can get spell check on this thing or my posts could get ugly. Anyway, glad to see I'm the first one to comment. Who else would it be.
ReplyDeleteOn the fantasy post talking about sleepers, have you seen Carl Landry. I picked him up off waivers and he has been a double double machine. He even gave me a few 20/12 games so far coming off the bench in Houston.
Hey, one love to Brandon Jennings. I watched the end of that game and dude is nasty. The NCAA could be in trouble when this trend picks up, because it will. Mid terms or make a million dollars playing ball??? Let me think about that for a minute. They need to change the rule back and let ballers be ballers. Let the GMs get fired if they can't see the difference between KG and Kwame Brown. Four every sure thing 4 year player like Timmy D there is still a "sure thing" 4 year player like Trajon Langton (sorry Mark). So it works both ways. I'm all in favor for going pro when you can. Why do we all go to college? (Besides cheep beer). It's to get a job. If they have one waiting for them, they should go.
Also, one more thing. I think it's nice and all for LeBron to give up his jersey number as a tribute for respect for MJ. But come on. What he is really saying is he wants to sell more jerseys than Kobe and he can only do that by A. changing teams, or B. getting a new number. He is staying in Cleveland. MJ is obviously the greatest, but his jersey retired league wide? What Jackie Robinson did for baseball was for a lot more than just the game itself. So I agree with StanVan on this one.