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Court Report: Week 12 Dashboard, Part II

Justin Phan

Each Sunday, the Dashboard centralizes all the crucial information fantasy managers need to dominate their weekly head-to-head matchups or climb the standings in their rotisserie leagues. The Dashboard covers schedule analysis, status updates, adds, drops, watch list candidates, and deep league targets for managers of all skill levels. Quite simply, it is a comprehensive weekly cheat sheet that is packed with so much information that we’ve devoted two writers to producing it.

Add List - players currently owned in less than 40% of Yahoo! leagues

Jared Dudley(notes), SG, SF, PF, PHO (24% owned)
I must sound like an old record by now, having featured Dudley in the Watch List of the past two Dashboards, but he continues to produce and be grossly undervalued. While Mickael Pietrus(notes) stays cemented to his bench role and virtual irrelevance in the fantasy realm, Dudley has gone on to play at least 30 minutes in three of the Suns’ past four games. Sunday’s big 20-point, five-three, seven-rebound performance aside, he has posted top-80 value over the past two weeks. If Grant Hill’s(notes) right knee sprain goes on to cost him a couple games, then all the better for Dudley’s value.

DeShawn Stevenson(notes), SG, DAL (17% owned)
Though the season-ending injury to Caron Butler(notes) and DeShawn’s recent string of double-digit performances may indicate otherwise, I’d exercise a bit of caution here. Yes, he’ll step into an even more expanded role that should entail 30+ minutes a game, but he’s shooting well above his career percentages (47% FG, 42% career; 48% 3PT, 35% career; 80% FT, 70% career) and doing this all with Dirk Nowitzki(notes) (knee) sidelined. With that said he’s been stellar on a per-minute basis this year, coming in at 54th in per-minute value with plus-contributions in points, threes, and efficiency.

Cut List - players who should not be rostered in standard formats

Anderson Varejao(notes) (77% owned), Brandon Roy(notes) (77% owned), Richard Jefferson(notes) (73% owned), Darko Milicic(notes) (63% owned), Chris Kaman(notes) (62% owned), Thaddeus Young(notes) (57% owned), Corey Maggette(notes) (49% owned), Linas Kleiza(notes) (46% owned), Evan Turner(notes) (42% owned), Louis Williams(notes) (41% owned)

Additional notes: Upped the qualifier for the Cut List to at least 40% ownership this week … Varejao is out for the season with a torn tendon in his right leg that will require surgery. The thing is that because Cleveland is so short on frontcourt talent beyond Varejao, there are only a few implications here. Antawn Jamison(notes) should continue to put up plenty of points, threes, and boards (top-50 overall the past month), while J.J. Hickson(notes) will have an opportunity to be rosterable in standard leagues for the first time in nearly two months. Hickson’s value is clearly capped with his limited contributions in assists, steals, and blocks, not to mention his general inefficiency. We’re really talking about a two-category contributor (points, boards) here, so don’t get too carried away with his prospects, even with the big 21-15 line against the Suns on Sunday. Don’t see much value in Christian Eyenga(notes) or Samardo Samuels(notes) either … Roy Hibbert(notes) (90% owned) is on the verge of making the Cut List if he doesn’t snap out of his massive shooting slump soon. He’s mired in a six-week skid that’s seen his rebounding drop by 24%, his points drop by 31%, and his effective field goal percentage drop by almost eight points. To make matters worse, his assist and free-throw attempt figures are also down a third. What blows my mind is that his shooting efficiency has plummeted while his shot selection has improved. One has to wonder whether he is simply being overwhelmed by the added offensive responsibility he’s taken on this season. Right now his per-game rank of 258 over the past two weeks looks good when compared to what he’s done over the past month (283). … Darko Milicic (63% owned) barely missed the cut, only because he still has plenty of value for those who are in need of blocks … Apologies for not including Kaman on this list sooner. What was I thinking? I’ve thoroughly bashed the guy enough this year so I think I deserve a pass … Robin Lopez(notes) (40% owned) and Troy Murphy(notes) (51% owned) are off the list with Lopez getting a 10+ game guarantee to start and Murphy on the verge of being traded to Detroit.

Watch List - players currently owned in less than 40% of Yahoo! leagues to monitor closely in standard leagues

Ersan Ilyasova(notes), F, MIL (11% owned)
Ilyasova has done an admirable job as a starter these past 12 games while Drew Gooden(notes) remains sidelined with plantar fasciitis, averaging 9.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, 0.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks in 25.4 minutes. He’ll have his share of on and off nights, but will remain a big part of the Bucks’ rotation because of his ability to score points in bunches and the inability of the frontcourt tandem of Gooden and Andrew Bogut(notes) to stay healthy.

Others to consider: Chris Douglas-Roberts(notes), GF, MIL (7% owned), Tracy McGrady(notes), GF, DET (27% owned)

Additional notes: I don’t trust anyone in the Pacers’ frontcourt right now outside of Danny Granger(notes). I talked about Hibbert’s struggles earlier and there’s not much more to say about Josh McRoberts(notes) (two straight DNP-CDs), so this is more about Tyler Hansbrough(notes) than anything. Hansbrough’s 23-point output on Friday was highly fluky when you look at how he got there. He went 10-of-19 on the night, with seven of his 10 makes coming from outside 15 feet. He ended up 7-of-12 from that distance, well above his career mark of 36 percent. The league average is 39.7 percent from 16-23 feet, just for reference. Clearly, the 7-of-12 performance is not at all sustainable. The book remains the same on Hansbrough – rebounds, and not a whole lot else. Yes he gets to the line at a good rate but his 78% clip is nothing special. Neither is 15 points per 36 minutes. The power forward spot will remain a revolving door, and what we saw from Hansbrough in his subsequent performance on Saturday (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4-for-7 FG) is a lot closer to what you should expect moving forward.

Deep League Specials – players currently owned in five percent or less of Yahoo! leagues who warrant a roster spot in deep leagues (14 teams+)

Jodie Meeks(notes) (5% owned), Ed Davis(notes) (5% owned), Kurt Thomas(notes) (4% owned), Austin Daye(notes) (3% owned), Joel Anthony(notes) (3% owned), Shawne Williams(notes) (2% owned), Vladimir Radmanovic(notes) (2% owned), Manny Harris(notes) (1% owned), Patrick Mills(notes) (1% owned), Gerald Henderson(notes) (1% owned)

Additional notes: Manny Harris’ real name is Corperryale "Manny" L'Adorable Harris. You can’t make this stuff up ... Daye was key in Saturday’s win against the Pistons, hitting the three that sent the game into overtime, and appears to be a regular member of the rotation now after (inexplicably) losing out to Chris Wilcox(notes) earlier. John Kuester is a visionary though so I digress. It’s clear that you shouldn’t build the future of your franchise around the likes of Daye and Greg Monroe(notes). You build it around Charlie Villanueva(notes), Ben Wallace(notes), and Wilcox instead … Be careful not to put too much stock into the recent ranks of Shawne Williams or Vladimir Radmanovic; Williams because a large chunk of his value comes from his low turnover total (0.6), and Vlad Rad because he’s well, Vlad Rad.

Spark Plugs – players with a set of especially favorable matchups this week who make for excellent short-term plays

Your Lakers, especially guards – CLE, @GSW, NJN, @LAC
Categorical breakdown: points (4th), threes (2nd), rebounds (6th), assists (1st), FG% (8th), turnovers (3rd)
Players of interest: Kobe Bryant(notes), Pau Gasol(notes), Lamar Odom(notes), Andrew Bynum(notes), Ron Artest(notes)

Your Wizards, especially guards – SAC, @MIN, TOR
Categorical breakdown: points (1st), assists (2nd), steals (1st), blocks (5th), FG% (1st)
Players of interest: JaVale McGee(notes), Kirk Hinrich(notes), John Wall(notes), Andray Blatche(notes)

Your Blazers – NYK, @PHO, NJN
Categorical breakdown: points (3rd), rebounds (2nd), assists (5th), FG% (3rd)
Players of interest: LaMarcus Aldridge(notes), Andre Miller(notes)

Your Spurs – @MIN, @MIL, DAL, DEN
Second-best four-game schedule of Week 12; above-average in seven of eight categories
Categorical breakdown: threes (8th), assists (9th), blocks (9th)
Players of interest: Manu Ginobili(notes), Tim Duncan(notes), Tony Parker(notes), George Hill(notes), Richard Jefferson

Others extreme values…
Nuggets threes (4th) – Chauncey Billups(notes), Al Harrington(notes), Arron Afflalo(notes), J.R. Smith(notes)
Your Jazz (1st) – one of four teams with only two games in Week 12
Celtics/Heat blocks (1st) – Jermaine O’Neal(notes), Shaquille O’Neal(notes), Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes), Joel Anthony
Mavericks rebounds/blocks (4th) – Tyson Chandler(notes), Dirk Nowitzki

Short Circuits – players with a set of unfavorable matchups who have a good chance of struggling this week

Your 76ers, especially guards – IND, MIL
One of four teams with only two games in Week 12
Categorical breakdown: points (27th), threes (27th), assists (29th), steals (28th), FG% (30th)
Players of interest: Jrue Holiday(notes), Andre Iguodala(notes), Louis Williams

Your Rockets – @BOS, OKC, NOR, @ATL
Categorical breakdown: points (29th), threes (30th), rebounds (30th), assists (27th), steals (29th), blocks (27th)
Players of interest: Kevin Martin(notes), Kyle Lowry(notes), Luis Scola(notes), Aaron Brooks(notes), Shane Battier(notes)

Your Bobcats – MEM, CHI, @BOS, NOR
Categorical breakdown: points (30th), rebounds (29th), assists (28th), FG% (27th), turnovers (30th)
Players of interest: D.J. Augustin(notes), Kwame Brown(notes), Gerald Henderson, Dominic McGuire(notes)

Your Knicks, especially guards – @POR, @UTA, SAC
Categorical breakdown: assists (30th), steals (27th), turnovers (26th)
Players of interest: Raymond Felton(notes), Toney Douglas(notes)

Your Pacers, especially guards – @PHI, DAL, CHI
Categorical breakdown: points (28th), threes (26th), assists (25th), FG% (29th)
Players of interest: Darren Collison(notes)

Your Bucks, especially guards – @ATL, SAS, @PHI
Categorical breakdown: points (26th), threes (29th), assists (24th), steals (30th), blocks (23rd)
Players of interest: John Salmons(notes), Keyon Dooling(notes), Earl Boykins(notes)

Others extreme values…
Clippers blocks (30th) – DeAndre Jordan(notes)
Pistons turnovers (29th) – Rodney Stuckey(notes)
Mavericks turnovers (28th) – Jason Kidd(notes), Jason Terry(notes)

Additional notes: A reminder that the schedule analysis in the previous two sections is based on an eight-category format, with FT% excluded because how well a player shoots from the line is not dependent on the team that he faces. The players of interest who are listed for each team are ones who have a significant amount of value vested in the categories listed in the breakdown. These players are the ones that have the most to gain/lose depending on their weekly slate of opponents.

Programming note: The weekly chat will return to its regular scheduled time of Tuesday at 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET. Special guest to be announced shortly.

Follow Justin on Twitter @jphanned

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