Fantasy Basketball News and Notes for 10/27

Here are some of the fantasy relevant news stories from around the league, as well as some reflections on the opening night games that were played last night.

News

• Gilbert Arenas is questionable for the Wizards opener tomorrow night with a sore right ankle that has kept him out of practice for the last three days. From the sound of it, Flip Saunders is preparing to play without him and doesn’t expect him to be available. If Arenas is out, then you can expect an increase in playing time for Al Thorton, Kirk HInrich and Nick Young. Of this group, Nick Young might be the most appealing because he showed late last year that he has the ability to score when he gets the minutes.
• It’s not clear how much time Anthony Randolph will miss, but he won’t be available tonight for the Knicks for sure. If he misses significant time, it will boost the minutes Ronny Turiaf sees, but unless you are desperate for blocks I wouldn’t sweat it.
• Reports are that Spencer Hawes will be making the start tonight for the 76ers at the Center position, despite his back issues. I would still expect a somewhat limited number of minutes, which could benefit Mareesse Speights.
• Troy Murphy is still in the recovery process to heal his bad back. He practiced Monday for the first time since these back issues and once he can practice on a daily basis for a few days running, he should see game time.
• Jason Kapono is set to start at small forward for the 76ers over Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young. Kapono is essentially only worth a spot on your team if you need a three-point specialist, as he could average up to 2 three pointers per game. However with Turner, Young and Andres Nocioni on the bench, his playing time will be limited.
• Shelden Williams is going to start at Power Forward tonight for the Denver Nuggets. Al Harrington is apparently healthy enough to play and should log plenty of minutes, but until he gets into “game shape,” Williams will start. Shelden is a guy to watch in deep leagues as the Nuggets frontcourt has been ravaged by injuries to Kenyon Martin and Chris Anderson, and neither Harrington nor Nene Hilario are 100% though they will both play. With consistent minutes, Williams has the ability to average something around eight points and eight boards.

Game Notes

• Lebron James is playing with better players than ever before, but it’s clear that he is still the best player on the team and will take over offensively when he needs to. Wade and Bosh looked bad last night and that won’t be the norm, I am sure, but Lebron is still the King.
• Udonis Haslem might should register on some radars, particularly in deep leagues. He isn’t starting, but he logged 31 minutes and led the team with 11 rebounds, including four offensive ones.
• The Boston Celtics frontcourt is going to be interesting. Shaq looked good when he was on the floor, but it’s clear his minutes will be limited and they have no interest in having him on the floor late in close games because of his free throw shooting liability. Glen Davis looked good in his 29 minutes of action, but as Jermaine O’Neal gets healthy he’s going to play more than 13 minutes a game and likely cut into that time somewhat. How much time is what remains to be seen.
• Nicolas Batum looked like a force last night against the Phoenix Suns, getting 19 points and 11 rebounds, five of them being offensive ones. He showed his ability to score in a variety of ways (three, three-pointers), but the rebounds might be a little inflated. Phoenix’s lack of a post presence was glaring last night.
• Wesley Matthews is going to see plenty of playing time it would seem, especially with Jarrod Bayless out of town now. Matthews got 30 minutes last night and contributed 13 points, six boards and three assists. If he is going to get close to this in minutes on a nightly basis, he’s worth owning.
• Yao Ming looked pretty good in his first night with limited minutes. He played only 23, which we all knew would be the case, but he still got nine points, 11 boards and two blocks. The points will probably increase as he finds his shooting touch again, he was only 4–11 from the field last night, but the fact that he got off 11 shots is a good sign.
• Aaron Brooks looks like a real point guard as he netted 24 points, including four three-pointers, but he still managed to find his teammates for nine assists as well. A good sign of things to come hopefully.
• There wasn’t much discussion about value off of the Lakers bench coming into this season, but Shannon Brown looked good last night and might be worth a look in deep leagues. The Lakers have talked about somewhat lowering Kobe’s minutes, but he played 37 last night and Brown still got in there for 21 minutes, and in that time he was able to score 16 points with four three-pointers and get four steals as well.

What jumped out at you last night? Anyone make a big first impression on you? How about the injury buzz—any of those guys on your team?

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