Top 10 H2H Fantasy Basketball Disappointments of 2009-2010

The NBA Playoffs are well underway, and all the 2009-2010 season awards have been handed out.  Congratulations to LeBron James and Dwight Howard for repeating as League MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively.  A special shout out goes to Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks as well for earning the well-deserved Coach of the Year honor.

James, Howard and Brooks should all feel very proud of their hard-earned accomplishments this season, but those being recognized in this article should take no pride in their dubious accomplishment this season.  They came into the 2009-2010 NBA Season with high hopes but ultimately fell short of the lofty expectations bestowed upon them. Injuries derailed some while others just flat didn’t get the job done for their H2H Fantasy Basketball owners.

1. Jose Calderon, Guard, Toronto Raptors - Calderon’s name value may not rival those to follow, but when you consider he was drafted an average of 24th in Yahoo Fantasy Leagues this season, it becomes clear why he heads this list.  Calderon was coming off career highs in points, assists, steals, rebounds, minutes played and FT% (shooting an unheard of 98.1% from the line!).  Expectations were high heading into this season, with many forecasting a Nash-like ascension into the point guard elite.  Calderon saw his games started go from 68 to 39 as Jarrett Jack spent most of the season as Toronto’s starter at point, and that ridiculous FT% dropped nearly 20 percentage points to 79.8%.
2. Hedo Turkoglu, Forward, Toronto Raptors – After helping lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals
   

   Many Fantasy owners had high hopes for Anthony Randolph in the 2009-2010 NBA season.

   last season, Turkoglu signed a highly-publicized 5-year $53 million deal with the expectation of leading Toronto to a nice little playoff run of its own.  Unfortunately for Hedo and Raptors fans, he never quite fit in and eventually found himself in the doghouse after sitting out a game due to illness but later that night being spotted at a local Toronto night spot living lavida loca.  Turkoglu’s scoring average dropped 5.5 points from last season.  His rebounds, assists, FG%, FT% and minutes per game were all down as well.

3. Devin Harris, Guard, New Jersey Nets – Coming off a career year in 2008-2009, Harris was taken an average of 26th in Yahoo leagues. As has been the case in most of his six years in the league, Harris’ performance this season was greatly affected by injuries.  Playing on an almost historically bad Nets team didn’t help either.  When healthy, the ultra-quick point guard can provide scoring, assists, and steals at an elite level, but counting on him to be in the lineup with any certainty has proven to be a problem.
4. Elton Brand, Forward, Philadelphia 76ers – Philly fans finally got to see Brand in uniform for most of a season, but might now be asking themselves what exactly did they pay $80 million for?  Brand posted career lows in points, rebounds and blocks this season after working his way back from injury in the previous two seasons.
5. Andris Biedrins, Center, Golden State Warriors – Biedrins put up 11.9 ppg and 11.2 rpg to go with 1.5 blocks in 2008-2009.  He had put together two very solid seasons back-to-back and had many Fantasy owners believing they had a potential steal as he went near the end of the 4^th round in Yahoo leagues.  Abdominal surgery ended a nightmarish season in which he saw his ppg  slide by more than half and his rpg drop by more than three.  He also made only 4 of 25 free throws for a mind-boggling 16%.
6. Ben Gordon, Guard, Detroit Pistons – Gordon suffered a precipitous drop in almost all Head to Head Fantasy Basketball offensive categories.  Points per game were down nearly seven, assists were down 0.7, FG% was down 4%, and 3P% was down nearly 9%.  The Piston’s current version of the “Microwave” never managed to heat up in 2009-2010.
7. Anthony Randolph, Forward, Golden State Warriors – Randolph seemed to be this season’s in vogue “sleeper”, but Coach Don Nelson must have missed the memo.  The second year forward was apparently in Nellie’s doghouse from the start as Randolph managed only 22 minutes a game before having his season cut short by an ankle injury.  It will be interesting to see where Fantasy owners draft Randolph next season after such high hopes went unfulfilled this season.
8. Nate Robinson, Guard, Boston Celtics – Nate can sometimes be hard to find at 5’9” amongst the tall “trees” of the NBA, but his current disappearing act seems to be courtesy of Celtics head magician Doc Rivers.  The three-time NBA Slam Dunk Champion actually began his “now you see me, now you don’t” ways with the Knicks prior to arriving in Beantown.  What has to make his lack of minutes and contribution even more galling to Celtics fans is the fact that he was traded for fan favorite Eddie House who was a valuable piece to the rotation.
9. Tony Parker, Guard, San Antonio Spurs – Parker was arguably the best point guard in the Association last season when he posted career highs in points (22) and assists (6.9) while shooting a robust 50.6% from the floor.  This season injuries limited him to just 56 games, 16 ppg, and 5.7 apg.
10. Rasheed Wallace, Forward, Boston Celtics – Wallace had his worst statistical season to date putting up career lows in points (9), rebounds (4.1) and FG% (40.9).  He also had his lowest blocks per game total since his rookie season and only shot 28.3% from three to boot.

Honorable mention: Ron Artest – Forward Los Angeles Lakers, Leandro Barbosa – Guard Phoenix Suns, Josh Howard – Guard Washington Wizards

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