Bobman's NBA compendium: Week 6

The NBA is a grind.

Rookies hit the rookie wall, players get tired, fans stop watching.

Then everybody wakes up again at the All-Star break.

The Fantasy Basketball season is LONG. Managers start to drop out at the first sign of danger, but it's not too late to turn your squad around... Success is the culmination of small increases in your status. Even if you're winning, you may be able to win by a LARGER MARGIN - simply by paying attention...

So pay attention.

That's the lesson for the day.

Let's get started.

Injuries:

DeMarcus Cousins

Tony Parker

Brook Lopez

Dwight Howard

Mo Williams

I thought I'd note a few of the significant ones. Nothing too lengthy here, but Howard's health could be a problem for awhile. I'm a little spooked by Cousins' viral meningitis (doesn't sound good), but that's mostly because viral meningitis is probably what created all the zombies in The Walking Dead.

Sixers:

Tony Wroten is apparently coming back Wednesday, so it'll be interesting to see if his return affects Robert Covington's touches (who has been beasting in Wroten's absence). They play different positions, but I have no idea how the usage plays out in Philly. Sometimes Shved is great, sometimes he's injured. Sometimes K.J. McDaniels is the best rookie in the league, other times he disappears. Sometimes Nerlens Noel is a beast, sometimes he barely plays. It's probably safest to just avoid this team entirely for Fantasy purposes, but Michael Carter-Williams is pretty awesome if you are punting %s. Pretty amazing that MCW's counting stats have gotten even BETTER, but his FG% has fallen all the way down to 38% for the year. Actually, I guess that's not very surprising for the 2-18 Sixers. Yeah, just avoid this team entirely...

Advanced stats:

A few gems that stood out to me...

1. Marreese Speights (31.6) has a higher usage than Carmelo Anthony (31.4) this year. Anyone see that coming?

2. For all players playing significant rotation minutes this season, Jose Juan Barrea leads the NBA at 122.2 in Offensive Rating.

3. Brandan Wright leads the NBA in both effective field goal % and true shooting %. This is what happens when you dunk every chance you get the ball.

4. DeMarcus Cousins leads all NBA players with a 22.9 total rebounding %. Of course, that's for NBA guys who play heavy minutes. If we include NBA rotation players, Reggie Evans is at 23.7 - and they play on the same team...

5. T-Wolves rookie Zach LaVine leads all NBA players (with at least 20 minutes/game of PT) at a 118.4 Defensive Rating.

6. Dewayne Dedman on Orlando has an offensive rebounding % of 18.4 - and it's not a fluke. I just picked him up in a 20-team dynasty. There is upside here in deep leagues...

7. Anthony Davis' PER of 33.2 is more than FIVE POINTS higher than Chris Paul's 28.1... Anthony Davis leads the entire NBA in PER, and nobody is even close... In case you forgot, he's 21 years old.

8. Brandan Wright (there's that name again) leads the NBA with a 7.3 block %.

9. Lou Williams comes off the bench for the Raptors, and is #17 in the NBA in USG % (27.5) and #5 in the NBA in steal % (3.3). Can you say 6th man of the year?

10. Michael Jordan finished with 150 Offensive Win Shares during the course of his career. He led the NBA in this category on 8 separate occasions. Playing the same number of years, Kobe has amassed 123.6 Offensive Win Shares. Kobe has never led the league in this category.

Anyway, no better way to end the compendium.

A little MJ love, a little Kobe hate.

Oh yeah. I've been holding the #1 seed in the Yahoo friends and family league for 3 weeks straight now. Yahoo's Dalton Del Don is coming on strong, but he hasn't caught me yet.

See what happens when you pay attention?

Bobman