fBasketballBlog

Dragic is the Rocket of the hour. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Beast of the Night: Goran Dragic finished with 22 points, two rebounds, seven assists, three steals and four three-pointers. He shot 57 percent (8-14) from the floor and 67 percent (2-3) from the free-throw line, and had two turnovers. Since becoming a starter exactly a month ago, Dragic has averaged 18.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 8.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.1 threes per game, while shooting 52 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free-throw line. Those are top five numbers. Kyle Lowry‘s return shouldn’t damage Dragic’s fantasy value too much the rest of the way.

Lines for Discussion:
Kemba Walker: 5-14 FG (36%), 4-4 FT (100%), 2 threes, 16 Pts, 7 Reb, 7 Ast, 1 Stl, 3 TO; his field-goal percentage is a downer, but he’s averaging 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.5 threes per game as a starter this season

Zach Randolph: 4-11 FG (36%), 2-4 FT (50%), 10 Pts, 12 Reb, 1 Ast, 4 TO; he’s hit double-double territory in three consecutive games

Danilo Gallinari: 4-11 FG (36%), 5-6 FT (83%), 2 threes, 15 Pts, 5 Reb, 6 Ast, 1 Blk, 2 TO; Gallo has averaged top 30 numbers this season, but has only played in 54 percent of the Nuggets’ games (continue reading…)

CP3 feasted on opponents this past weekend. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

Weekend Wonder: Chris Paul averaged 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 4.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.0 three in two games over the weekend. He shot 50 percent from the field and 100 percent from the free-throw line, and turned the ball over once per game in that stretch. CP3′s scoring and threes made per game are up, though his rebounding and assists are down from their marks last season. If his owners are complaining, they should really get help.

Lines for Discussion:
Zach Randolph (3/16): 9-14 FG (64%), 7-14 FT (50%), 25 Pts, 9 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl; it’s obvious that his owners should feel free to start him right away

Marcus Thornton (3/16): 13-24 FG (54%), 5-6 FT (83%), 5 threes, 36 Pts, 4 Reb, 4 Ast, 5 Stl, 1 TO; Thornton is the most valuable fantasy asset on that Kings roster, which isn’t that big of a surprise

Joe Johnson (3/16): 12-19 FG (63%), 4-4 FT (100%), 6 threes, 34 Pts, 6 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 TO; in his six games this month, Johnson is averaging 25.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.3 threes, while shooting 54 percent from the floor and 93 percent from the free-throw line — top five numbers for that stretch (continue reading…)

The one in the front might look awesome in this photo, but he should be sold high; the one in the back should be bought low. (AP Photo/Bahram Mark Sobhani)

We’re going back to the tried-and-true “Buy Low, Sell High” posts for Fridays. Cheers!

Buy Low:
Dirk Nowitzki

Paul Pierce

Serge Ibaka

DeMar DeRozan

Carlos Delfino

Zach Randolph, Marcus Thornton, Jason Kidd and any other productive fantasy players who are injured should be considered buy-low candidates. (continue reading…)

Youngsters might not remember, but back in Minnesota, KG was one B.A.M.F. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Reddit is a wonderful thing. Reddit’s r/NBA subreddit just makes it even wonderfuller.

User Browsing_From_Work recently posted a spreadsheet including all NBA player stats from 2004-2011, scraped from NBA.com. Go have fun with it. (The best way to play with the data is to go to “File” –> “Download as” –> “Excel,” then sort and fiddle to your heart’s content.)

Using that data, here are the 10 most efficient individual player seasons from 2004-2011:

1. LeBron James, 2009-10 (CLE): 32.42
2. Kevin Garnett, 2004-05 (MIN): 31.96
3. LeBron James, 2008-09 (CLE): 30.88
4. Chris Paul, 2008-09 (NOH): 30.46
5. LeBron James, 2007-08 (CLE): 30.33
6. LeBron James, 2005-06 (CLE): 29.42
7. Dwyane Wade, 2008-09 (MIA): 29.29
8. Kevin Garnett, 2006-07 (MIN): 29.17
9. Shawn Marion, 2005-06 (PHX): 28.85

Here are the 10 most efficient players in 2010-11:

1. LeBron James (MIA): 28.58
2. Kevin Love (MIN): 28.37
3. Dwight Howard (ORL): 28.31
4. Blake Griffin (LAC): 25.63
5. Pau Gasol (LAL): 25.40
6. Kevin Durant (OKC): 24.95
7. Dwyane Wade (MIA): 24.78
8. Amar’e Stoudemire (NYK): 24.59
9. Zach Randolph (MEM): 24.43
10. Dirk Nowitzki (DAL): 23.49

Do you notice any big names missing from these lists? What other interesting tidbits do you find in this data?

How will Gay fit in next season? (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)

Depth chart:
PG: Mike Conley, Greivis Vasquez, Ishmael Smith, Josh Selby
SG: Tony Allen, O.J. Mayo, Xavier Henry
SF: Rudy Gay, Sam Young, Shane Battier*
PF: Zach Randolph, Darrell Arthur, Leon Powe*
C: Marc Gasol**, Hamed Haddadi**

* unrestricted free agent
** restricted free agent (continue reading…)