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Court Report: Week 13 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 (33% owned)
We’re making progress here slowly but steadily, with Dudley’s ownership up nine percent since this time last week. Not a whole lot has changed since last week, with an ugly 34-point rout at the hands of Denver snapping what would be a six-game double-digit scoring streak. A fluky free-throw percentage dip (63.3% this month) has put a dent in his recent rank, but it’s nothing to be concerned about long-term.

Chuck Hayes(notes), FC, HOU (5% owned)
Hayes was undervalued before his ankle injury put him out of action for two weeks, so it’s no surprise that his ownership figure is way lower than where it should be (in the mid-40s, at least). Jordan Hill(notes) and Brad Miller(notes) didn’t do much of anything to stake their claim on Hayes’ starting spot in his stead, a role he immediately stepped back into upon his return. He won’t give you much by way of points (or threes, obviously), but contributes just about everywhere else, rebounds and field-goal percentage especially. Don’t forget he was posting top-75 numbers in the two weeks prior to his injury. 10.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, on 60 percent shooting (9-of-15 FG) since his return should show he’s still plenty capable.

Greg Monroe(notes), FC, DET (32% owned)
It took him longer than others to figure things out and get acclimated to the NBA game, but Monroe finally seems to have worked through his initial mistakes and has become much more comfortable (and in turn more productive) in recent weeks. He posted four straight double-doubles (averages of 13.5 points, 11.5 rebounds) earlier in the month against some impressive competition (@LAL, PHI, @CHI, MEM), and followed those up with another pair of impressive performances. His marked improvement and consistency have forced John Kuester's hand at regular minutes, and has recently earned him a spot in the starting lineup. Monroe remains very much a work in progress and certainly has his own limitations (athleticism, post game), but he has managed to work through them and develop into an interior presence well worth the seventh overall pick the Pistons used to get him. I’m still salty the Warriors opted for Ekpe Udoh(notes) instead, by the way.

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

Richard Jefferson(notes) (72% owned), J.J. Hickson(notes) (69% owned), Brandon Roy(notes) (64% owned), Chris Kaman(notes) (59% owned), Chris Kaman (59% owned), Chris Kaman (59% owned), Thaddeus Young(notes) (56% owned), Corey Maggette(notes) (49% owned), Louis Williams(notes) (42% owned), Richard Hamilton(notes) (41% owned), Evan Turner(notes) (41% owned), Anderson Varejao(notes) (40% owned) … Chris Kaman (59% owned)

Additional notes: Anderson Varejao’s season-ending injury was supposed to be J.J. Hickson’s chance to finally be relevant, right? Wrong. I’ve been nearly as outspoken about Hickson as I have about Kaman this season, but I decided to give him a shot by taking him off last week’s Cut List just to see if he could prove me wrong. His per-game rank in the five games since Varejao’s injury: 276. On first glance 16 points, 10 boards, and 1.2 blocks look pretty darn good … until you realize that he’s shooting 38 percent from the field, 63 percent from the line, and turning the ball over 3.4 times. Those are collectively the worst efficiency totals over that span, even managing to beat out Andrew Bogut(notes) (41.4% FG, 39.3% FT, 1.8 TO). If he can’t manage to even crack the top-150 with half the team injured then he really is hopeless … The Clippers are 1-9 with an average scoring margin of -8 points with Chris Kaman. Without him, they are 13-16 with an average margin of just -0.9 points … The key to DeMar DeRozan(notes) maintaining his value despite limited contributions outside of scoring will be keeping his turnover total down. He’s gone from 1.5 per game in December to 3.3 in January … Lou may have the “hot hand” lately, but he still derives a good chunk of his value from his low turnover total and his points are usually offset by his field-goal percentage impact. Even when his shots are falling, he’s still a fringe play in most standard leagues. Consistency is and always has been an issue.

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

It took an injury to LeBron James(notes), but Mike Miller(notes) (27% owned) is finally getting his first substantial minutes of the season. He has averaged 29.5 minutes over the last two games after totaling 48 minutes in the Heat’s prior 11 contests. The court time will lead, and the production will eventually follow … Ersan Ilyasova(notes) (18% owned) continues to start at power forward even with Drew Gooden(notes) back, and has had a stellar month that includes averages of 12 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 0.6 blocks, 0.6 threes, and plus efficiency (46.5% FG, 93.3 % FT, 0.9 TO’s). That comes out to top-50 per-game value over that period … It’s not very often I’ll use this to justify picking up a player, but there really isn’t anyone else to produce right now. That is the case for Manny Harris(notes) (9% owned) in Cleveland , where Daniel Gibson(notes) is just getting over a right ankle sprain and Mo Williams(notes) is now dealing with a strained left hip flexor. The Cavs were down to seven active players at one point on Saturday … Corey Brewer(notes) (17% owned) and Tony Allen(notes) (6% owned) are in a similar boat – both worth rostering just for the steals potential alone.

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

Kurt Thomas(notes) (5% owned), Ed Davis(notes) (5% owned), Jodie Meeks(notes) (5% owned), Earl Boykins(notes) (5% owned), Vladimir Radmanovic(notes) (3% owned), Shawne Williams(notes) (2% owned), Paul George(notes) (1% owned)

Additional notes: Slim pickings to choose from this week, and it’s no surprise that the return consists mostly of two-category specialists. Vlad Rad is the best out of this bunch right now, but I’ll endorse him with extra caution considering he’s shooting well above his means (51.9 % over the past month, 41.8% career). If you’re going to take a shot on one of these guys though, then let it be Paul George, who’s shown the ability to fill it up across the board and give you that “a little bit of everything” roto impact that’s made Nicolas Batum(notes) such a commodity. George is posting top-20 per-minute value right now amongst qualifiers (200+ minutes), right on par with the likes of Kobe Bryant(notes) and Amar’e Stoudemire(notes). He’s obviously not on the same level as the aforementioned duo, but if he can manage to stay in the rotation and get a consistent 20 minutes of action moving forward, he could certainly be of use to those in deeper 14+ team leagues.

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

Your Suns – @NYK, @CLE, @WAS, @DET
Categorical breakdown: points (1st), threes (5th), rebounds (1st), assists (1st), steals (5th), FG% (1st)
Players of interest: Steve Nash(notes), Jared Dudley, Vince Carter(notes), Grant Hill(notes)

Your Bucks – @HOU, WAS, @CLE, MEM
Categorical breakdown: points (3rd), threes (2nd), rebounds (2nd), assists (3rd), steals (3rd), blocks (1st), FG% (3rd)
Players of interest: Andrew Bogut, John Salmons(notes), Earl Boykins

Your Blazers – MIN, @SAC, LAC, IND
Categorical breakdown: points (4th), threes (7th), rebounds (7th), assists (5th), steals (2nd), blocks (2nd)
Players of interest: LaMarcus Aldridge(notes), Marcus Camby(notes), Wesley Matthews(notes), Andre Miller(notes)

Your Clippers – IND, MIN, @POR, GSW
Categorical breakdown: points (6th), threes (9th), rebounds (3rd), assists (2nd), steals (1st), blocks (7th)
Players of interest: Blake Griffin(notes), Eric Gordon(notes), Baron Davis(notes)

Your Bulls, especially guards – @MEM, CHA, DAL, CLE
Categorical breakdown: threes (1st), assists (7th), steals (5th), blocks (3rd)
Players of interest: Derrick Rose(notes)

Other extreme values…
Knicks points (2nd) / FG% (4th) – Wilson Chandler(notes)
Warriors turnovers (1st) – Monta Ellis(notes), Dorell Wright(notes), David Lee(notes), Stephen Curry(notes)
76ers threes (5th) – Jodie Meeks
Bobcats turnovers (2nd) – Boris Diaw(notes), Tyrus Thomas(notes), Gerald Wallace(notes)
Grizzlies blocks (4th) – Marc Gasol(notes)

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

Your T’Wolves, especially big men – @POR, @LAC
One of two teams with only two games in Week 13
Categorical breakdown: rebounds (29th)
Players of interest: Kevin Love(notes)

Your Heat – ATL, TOR
One of two teams with only two games in Week 13
Categorical breakdown: threes (28th), rebounds (29th)
Players of interest: LeBron James, Chris Bosh(notes), Mario Chalmers(notes)

Your Raptors – @NOR, @SAS, @ORL, @MIA
Categorical breakdown: points (30th), rebounds (26th), assists (29th), steals (30th), blocks (29th), FG% (30th)
Players of interest: Jose Calderon(notes), Andrea Bargnani(notes), DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson(notes)

Your Grizzlies – CHI, @NOR, HOU, @MIL
Categorical breakdown: points (29th), threes (26th), rebounds (t-23rd), assists (30th), steals (29th), FG% (27th)
Players of interest: Rudy Gay(notes), Zach Randolph(notes), Mike Conley(notes)

Your Bobcats, especially guards – @PHI, @CHA, PHI, ATL
Categorical breakdown: points (28th), threes (30th), assists (27th), steals (26th), FG% (29th)
Players of interest: D.J. Augustin(notes), Stephen Jackson(notes)

Your Wizards, especially guards – UTA, @MIL, PHO, BOS
Categorical breakdown: points (t-22nd), assists (25th), steals (28th), blocks (t-24th), turnovers (28th)
Players of interest: JaVale McGee(notes), Andray Blatche(notes), Kirk Hinrich(notes), John Wall(notes)

Your Hawks – SAC, @MIA, NOR, @CHA
Categorical breakdown: points (27th), rebounds (27th), assists (24th), steals (27th), FG% (25th)
Players of interest: Al Horford(notes), Josh Smith(notes), Joe Johnson(notes)

Your Jazz, especially guards – @WAS, @NJN, @BOS, @PHI
Categorical breakdown: points (24th), threes (27th), steals (25th), blocks (t-24th)
Players of interest: Deron Williams(notes), C.J. Miles(notes)

Other extreme values…
76ers rebounds (30th) – Elton Brand(notes)
Pistons blocks (30th) – Ben Wallace(notes)
Magic threes (29th) – Jason Richardson(notes), Ryan Anderson(notes), J.J. Redick(notes), Jameer Nelson(notes), Hedo Turkoglu(notes), Gilbert Arenas(notes)
Nuggets FG% (28th) – Nene Hilario(notes)
Nets blocks (28th) – Brook Lopez(notes), Kris Humphries(notes), Derrick Favors(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 resume at its regularly scheduled time of Tuesday at 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET.

Friendly reminder: All but three of Monday’s 13 games kick off by 4 PM EST, so make sure to set your lineups in advance before it’s too late.

Follow Justin on Twitter @jphanned

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photos via Getty Images