There’s really not much better than Sunday NBA action. We get some of the best teams and usually some of the best performances. Yesterday was no different as we saw Kobe showing again that he hasn’t lost much of a step at all.

Here is the breakdown of all yesterday’s action:

1. Kobe Bryant – SG, Los Angeles Lakers: The man who has become a master distributor as of late, with 44 assists in his previous five games, returned to his roots and lit the scoreboard up yesterday. Kobe finished the game with 40 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. What you think of the Lakers and Kobe Bryant isn’t that important. What matters is that you know Kobe Bryant is not going to pack it in this season. He honestly believes that if the Lakers make the playoffs they can make something happen. He will do everything in his power to get them to the playoffs. I fully expect Kobe to be a surefire top ten player the rest of this season.
2. Derrick Williams – PF, Minnesota Timberwolves: Let’s all take a moment and realize just how good Derrick Williams has been as of late. Yesterday Williams went 9 – 15 from the field for 23 points to go with 12 rebounds and a blocked shot. Williams is averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and a three pointer per game over his last five games. The Timberwolves have no go to guy on offense and Williams isn’t afraid to step up and be that guy is he’s given the chance. At this point in time considering Williams tremendous upside and place in the T’Wolves offense he has to be owned in every league. Read the rest of this entry »

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by Ray Kuhn

Now that the trading deadline has past, the speculation associated with it has past as well.  This impacts not only the players that were traded, but those that were not.  Rumors were swirling around some players that ended up not being moved which does change their value going forward.  The players traded with see both positive and negative spikes in performance.  Let’s take a look at some players whose value has changed since Thursday’s deadline.

• Ben Gordon, Charlotte Bobcats, 36.9%.  Acquiring Gordon has not worked out like the Bobcats thought it would.  They offered Gordon to the Nets in exchange for Kris Humphries and were rebuffed.  This is despite the fact that Humphries has fallen out of favor in Brooklyn.  That goes to show how far Gordon’s value has dropped.  Perhaps if he were traded to the Nets, his playing time would increase and being on a better team would lead to an increase in points scored.  Instead Gordon stays in Charlotte and his playing time has been falling to less than 20 minutes a game.  For the rest of the season, I can see Gordon remaining on the bench as the Bobcats give younger players a chance therefore decreasing his value for the rest of this season.  He may have the name recognition, but stay away.  Read the rest of this entry »

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What an anti-climactic trade deadline. We heard rumor after rumor and without fail an hour later we’d see a report claiming the previous rumor to be dead. Another rumor would pop up and we’d go through the same thing all over again, all day long.

Despite the lack of excitement there were still deals made and in the end there was still fantasy value impacted. Nothing happened to the level we expected, but sometimes the smaller deals have the most fantasy impact in the end.

I’m not going to break down the winners and losers as far as teams go, in some cases it’s pretty obvious (looking at you Sacramento, shameful). This is a fantasy basketball site and so my winners and losers are strictly in terms of fantasy value alone. Here is the way I see it shaking out after the uneventful day:

Fantasy Value Winners

Thomas Robinson – PF, Houston Rockets: Here is the day’s big winner. The number five pick in last year’s draft traded from Sacramento to Houston for not much of anything in return. I don’t know what Sacramento was thinking, but this was a no-brainer for Houston. As for Robinson, not only is he leaving a team in which he was barely playing, he’s joining a team that just traded away their two power forwards and Robinson should start right away. Read the rest of this entry »

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On the eve of the trade deadline things were much quieter than expected and much quieter than in years past. There were lots of rumors and killed rumors throughout the night and I expect something to go down today, but last night only two deals got done. Much to no one’s surprise I am sure it was Daryl Morey and the Rockets at the center of both deals.

In one deal the Rockets sent Marcus Morris to Phoenix to play with his brother for a 2^nd Round pick. In a subsequent trade they landed last season’s number five overall pick Thomas Robinson as well as Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt in exchange for Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas.

There was a lot of on court action last night too, but we are going to start today’s roundup by looking at those trades and then discuss the on court news:

Thomas Robinson Headed to Houston

Of the names being shipped in and out of Houston last night the biggest one has to be Thomas Robinson, the number five overall pick last year, who leaves Sacramento and heads to Houston. Robinson has been far from what the Kings expected of him this season, averaging just 15.9 minutes and 4.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG and shooting 42% from the field. Clearly those numbers were underwhelming enough for them to give up on him for a package that isn’t too enticing. Read the rest of this entry »

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by Joel Gibson

The trade deadline is right around the corner. Right now is your last chance to grab game changing players for fantasy at a low price. There are many players being involved in trade rumors this year, by keeping up with the rumors you can be a smart buyer this year as opposed to someone who gives up a high quality upside player for below their improved value.

Buy: Al Horford: PF/C, Atlanta Hawks: Josh Smith is reportedly heading out of town (where to remains to be seen). Horford may very well be moving back to his natural power forward position where only a handful of players can come close to competing with his versatile skills.

Horford is not only a talented player, but he is a true competitor. He loves the underdog role and with Smith gone, the offense will most likely go through him from here on.  Horford by most accounts is already a top 50 player this year, grab him before he becomes a top 20 player for the remainder of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

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Right now all the buzz in the league is centered around the trade deadline and names such as Josh Smith and Al Jefferson. However there was a full slate of games last night coming out of the all-star break and some pretty notable performances as well.

Here’s the rundown of all of that, and make sure to stay with RotoProfessor for any and all trade analysis over the next 36 hours:

1. Nikola Vucevic – C, Orlando Magic: The Orlando Magic and their fans have to cling to whatever pieces of hope that they can. One of the things they are clinging to at the moment is the hope that they got a legit future top ten center back for Dwight Howard in Nikola Vucevic. The still learning big man has his ups and downs, but he has had some really bright spots this season that fantasy owners and Magic fans alike should be excited about. Last night Vucevic had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in a game that’s almost typical for him anymore. Vucevic has seven double-double’s in his last nine games. In eight February games he’s averaging 15.5 points and 13 rebounds, this coming off of 14.4 points and 12.9 rebounds in January. There’s not much to be hopeful for in Orlando, but Vucevic is one bright spot in the darkness. Read the rest of this entry »

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For the most part everyone played their last game before the all-star break last night. And we got some really strong performances from a mix of players, established fantasy stars to waiver wire projects. One of the themes of the night seemed to be the next wave of fantasy star showing off their stuff with big games from Paul George, Greg Monroe, Anthony Davis and Greg Monroe among others.

Here’s all the news and notes you need to know from last night’s big slate of games:

1. Paul George – SG/SF, Indiana Pacers: This guy has to be considered one of the better surprises of the first half. A lot was expected from him before the season, but he has exceeded expectations in my opinion and become a top shooting guard and a top 25 player. Last night he did what he does best and that’s contribute across the board with a 23 point, 12 rebound, 12 assist triple-double, adding in a pair of steals as well. Coming into the season we knew George was capable of being one of the better multi-category contributors, but what wasn’t clear was whether he could elevate his scoring. He’s done just that though averaging 17.5 points per game and picking up a lot of slack in Danny Granger’s absence. He may lose a point or so with Granger coming back, but he’s going to continue to be solid across the board. Read the rest of this entry »

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by Joel Gibson

This time of the season could not be more exciting.  Several teams are looking to make both big and small moves for a variety of reasons.  Without question, the moves made at the NBA deadline will affect your fantasy teams, for better or worse.

BUY: Kris Humphries – PF, Brooklyn Nets:  Last season Humphries came on in a big way and was an automatic double double. As a result, Humphries value sky-rocketed and he was drafted in nearly every league earlier this year. To the dismay of his owners, Humphries has struggled to find a place in the Nets’ rotation this season as Reggie Evans, Andray Blatche and Brook Lopez have all played admirably.

Word is that Charlotte and Brooklyn are discussing a trade to send Ben Gordon to the Nets (giving them outside shooting and Gordon a chance to return to basketball relevancy) and Kris Humphries to the Bobcats.  Talks have come to a standstill for the moment as the Nets are trying to pry Josh Smith away from Atlanta (will not happen, they do not have assets the Hawks want).  I fully expect Atlanta to look elsewhere to dump Smith and for Humphries-Gordon talks to resume very quickly as it is a very favorable deal for both parties. Read the rest of this entry »

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There were a few guys last night coming back from recent injuries making a splash for their team. Not only did Chris Paul look great on his knee, but we also saw Bryon Mullens and Bradley Beal coming back from recent injuries and having huge games last night.

All of that and a lot more in this roundup of last nights action:

1. Chris Paul – PG, Los Angeles Clippers: Those nine games that Chris Paul missed were a long nine games, especially if you are a Paul owner or a Clippers fan. In that those three weeks it might have been easy to forget just how amazing this guy has been this season, but you’re being reminded now. Before going down with an injury Chris Paul was an MVP candidate, almost on par with LeBron and Durant. He’s getting back to that same guy now, even in less minutes. On Sunday Paul had 25 points, seven assists, six rebounds, four steals and three three-pointers. Last night he followed it up with 21 points, 11 assists and five steals. Paul remains the premier steals guy in the league, an incredible assists guy and a whole lot more. His knee looks fine to me and I wouldn’t worry about his minutes either. If last night wasn’t the back end of a back-to-back I expect he would’ve been playing another ten minutes or more. Read the rest of this entry »

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by Ray Kuhn

As we embark on the All-Star break it is a good time to evaluate your team.  We are a little past the actual midpoint of the season, but this is a nice break in the action.  That break will allow you to see where your team stands and set yourself up for a playoff run or a push to the title.  Let’s take a look to see some players that could potentially be available, and able to help you finish the season strong.

• Randy Foye, Utah Jazz, 41%:  On the season Foye is averaging 11.9 points per game, but lately he has been a very good source of scoring.  He has reached double figures in each of his last 11 games and in 3 of those games Foye was over 20 points.  That is very helpful production, but what makes Foye more valuable is that he is averaging 2.3 three pointers per game.  It is nice to that level of production from behind the arc from a consistent scorer.  There is not much other production of note from Foye, but if you need help from long distance, he is one of the better options out there thanks to his consistency.  Since he is more of a scorer that is proficient at three-pointers, than just a specialist, there is more value to be had. Read the rest of this entry »

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