Up:
Ryan Anderson is owning opponents this season, posting averages of 19.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.6 threes per game. He’s also shooting 48 percent from the field and 94 percent from the free-throw line. Many fantasy owners expected Anderson to be good this season, but I’m not sure anyone thought he’d be this good. If you drafted him, two thumbs up; if you somehow nabbed him out of your league’s free-agent pool, bragging on your league’s message board is in order. [Hold]
Jose Calderon is like that girl who peaked in high school and somehow lost her good looks in college. But she – I mean, he looks to be making a late comeback. After falling out of the good graces of fantasy owners the past two seasons, the 30-year-old Calderon is averaging 12.2 points, 1.7 threes, 4.2 rebounds, 10.0 assists and just 1.7 turnovers through the first six games of the season, while also playing a career-high 34:53 per contest. Odds are he cools off eventually and opens the door ever so slightly for a soon-to-be-healthy Jerryd Bayless to get steady minutes. Until that happens, owners should resolve to hold steady or sell high on Calderon – neither option is a bad one. [Sell]
Andrea Bargnani is another Raptor having himself a carnivorous feast so far in the 2011-12 NBA season. Not only has he improved his scoring (24.0 points per game, up from 21.4 last season), rebounding (6.0 rebounds per game, up from 5.2 last season) and assists (2.5 assists per game, up from 1.8 last season), but the 26-year-old Bargnani is also shooting a vastly improved 54.6 percent from the field through the first six games of the young season. There’s not much reason to think he’ll regress too much going forward. [Hold]
Andrew Bynum roared out of the gates after missing the first four games of the season due to a suspension. The kid is averaging a powerful double-double while shooting a blistering percentage from the field. Sure, his free-throw shooting needs help, but that’s a forgivable sin from a center who’s doing this much. It’s still impossible to fully trust his body to hold up for the entire season, so his owners have to decide on whether to keep him and endure a season of sweaty, clenched palms, or sell high while his game log is free of injury-related DNPs. [Sell]
JaVale McGee is quietly having a solid season, improving his scoring (12.5), rebounding (9.8), stealing (1.3) and blocking (2.8) averages from their marks last season. His team might be pathetic, but McGee is holding things down for his fantasy owners. If he figures out how to stay out of foul trouble, his value will soar even higher. [Hold]
Down:
Gerald Wallace started the season with two studly lines – then he fell off a cliff. In his three games heading into Friday night, Wallace was averaging 8.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 1.0 steal and 0.3 blocks, while shooting 34.6 percent from the field. He’s too good to remain this bad for long. [Buy]
Dorell Wright has been downright disappointing this season, fulfilling the fears of skeptical fantasy owners. He’s averaging 5.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 threes, while shooting 29.3 percent from the floor in his first six games of the season. Wright is definitely in danger of losing his starting job, but his owners should try to give him another week or so before making drastic decisions. [Hold]
John Wall has taken steps back in the points, rebounds, assists, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage and three-pointers-made columns this season. It’s early, but fantasy owners can probably scrap all those expectations of a sophomore leap for Wall. Still, he’ll be better than this later in the season. [Buy]
Jodie Meeks is dead to me. After his quiet-but-deadly season in 2010-11, and after he won the starting SG job for the Sixers, his sleeper status seemed all but guaranteed this season. Then he started things off by averaging 4.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.6 threes per game, while shooting a painful 33.3 percent from the field and 60 percent from the free-throw line. Another game or two of this and Meeks is safe to drop. [Sell]
Kevin Durant is putting up strong averages this season, but his last three games have been surprisingly human. During that stretch, he’s averaging 19.3 points, 2.0 threes, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.0 steal, 1.7 blocks and 3.7 turnovers per game, while shooting 38.3 percent from the field and 69.0 percent from the free-throw line. If you can somehow pull off the feat of buying low on a stud like Durant, go for it. Otherwise, there’s not much to read into here – just a brief streak of human-like lines from a human. [Hold]
Throughout the season, be sure to leave your questions, comments, concerns, trade offers, roster problems and more in the comments below.
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