Advertisement

Court Report: Week 23 Dashboard, Part I

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.

Schedule Breakdown — essential schedule information for the upcoming week and beyond

Week 23, total games.
4 games: BOS, CHA, CHI, CLE, DAL, HOU, IND, MIA, MIL, NJN, OKC, ORL, PHI, PHO, POR, SAC, SAS, WAS
3 games: ATL, DEN, DET, GSW, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIN, NOR, NYK, TOR, UTA

Week 23, quality games.
2 games: DAL, GSW, OKC
1 game: BOS, CHI CLE, HOU, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIL, MIN, NJN, PHI, PHO, SAC, SAS, TOR

Note: Monday is a close call, with six games on tap instead of the five-or-less-game cutoff that is usually applied. Go ahead and give the Bucks, 76ers, Celtics, Bulls, and Spurs players an extra boost here for having games on Monday AND Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.

Weeks 23-24, total games.
8 games: BOS, CHA, CHI, CLE, MIL, NJN, OKC, PHO, SAC, WAS
7 games: DAL, DEN, DET, HOU, IND, LAC, LAL, MIA, NYK, ORL, PHI, POR, SAS, TOR
6 games: ATL, GSW, MEM, MIN, NOR, UTA

Weeks 23-24, quality games.
2 games: CHI, DAL, GSW, MIN, OKC, PHO
1 game: ATL, CLE, HOU, LAC, LAL, MEM, MIA, MIL, NJN, NOR, PHI, POR, SAC, TOR, UTA, WAS
0 games: BOS, CHA, DEN, DET, IND, NYK, ORL, SAS

Weeks 23-24, ease rankings.
Strong: SAC (0.30), OKC (0.26), CHI (0.24), MEM (0.24), NJN (0.24), NYK (0.23), DAL (0.23), MIA (0.20)
Above average: MIL (0.13), DEN (0.11)
Average: CHA (0.06), NOR (0.02), LAL (0.00), WAS (-0.04), LAC (-0.06), CLE (-0.08), PHO (-0.08), ORL (-0.10), MIN (-0.10)
Below average: SAS (-0.17), TOR (-0.15), POR (-0.13), UTA (-0.11), HOU (-0.11)
Weak: IND (-0.29), DET (-0.28), PHI (-0.27), GSW (-0.24), BOS (-0.21), ATL (-0.20)

Also see: Basketball Monster's Schedule Grid and Busersports' Schedule Grid.

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

Your Heat — @CLE, @WAS, @MIN, @NJN
Categorical breakdown: points (1st), threes (2nd), rebounds (1st), assists (2nd), steals (2nd), blocks (5th), FG% (2nd)
Players of interest: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh

Your Bulls — PHI, @MIN, @DET, TOR
Categorical breakdown: points (3rd), rebounds (8th), assists (3rd), steals (t-3rd), FG% (1st)
Players of interest: Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer

Your Kings — PHO, @DEN, DEN, UTA
Categorical breakdown: points (2nd), threes (4th), assists (7th), steals (8th), blocks (4th)
Players of interest: Marcus Thornton, Francisco Garcia, DeMarcus Cousins, Tyreke Evans

Your Grizzlies — GSW, @NOR, MIN
Categorical breakdown: points (4th), threes (3rd), rebounds (5th), assists (1st), steals (1st)
Players of interest: Zach Randolph, Mike Conley

Other extreme values…
Bucks blocks (1st) — Andrew Bogut, Larry Sanders
Wizards threes (1st) — Nick Young
Rockets turnovers (2nd) — Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry
Knicks turnovers (1st) — Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups

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

Your Raptors — MIL, @CHI, ORL
Categorical breakdown: points (30th), threes (28th), rebounds (29th), assists (29th), steals (29th), FG% (29th)
Players of interest: Jose Calderon, DeMar DeRozan

Your Pistons — @IND, CHI, @BOS
Categorical breakdown: points (29th), threes (29th), rebounds (28th), assists (30th), steals (23rd), FG% (30th)
Players of interest: Greg Monroe

Your T'Wolves — CHI, MIA, @MEM
Categorical breakdown: points (27th), rebounds (30th), assists (27th), steals (24th), FG% (28th)
Players of interest: Kevin Love, Luke Ridnour, Michael Beasley

Your Hawks — ORL, BOS, @HOU
Categorical breakdown: points (26th), threes (27th), rebounds (24th), assists (28th), steals (22nd), FG% (27th)
Players of interest: Joe Johnson

Your Pacers — BOS, DET, MIL, @NOR
Categorical breakdown: points (28th), threes (25th), rebounds (26th), assists (22nd), steals (30th), turnovers (t-24th)
Players of interest: Danny Granger, Darren Collison, Brandon Rush

Your 76ers — @CHI, HOU, NJN, @MIL
Categorical breakdown: points (25th), threes (30th), assists (24th), steals (28th), FG% (26th)
Players of interest: Jodie Meeks, Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Louis Williams

Your Blazers — @SAS, @NOR, OKC, DAL
Categorical breakdown: points (24th), threes (21st), rebounds (27th), assists (23rd), steals (27th), blocks (t-26th)
Players of interest: Gerald Wallace

Other extreme values…
Thunder turnovers (28th) — Russell Westbrook
Rockets threes (26th) — Kevin Martin, Kyle Lowry, Chase Budinger
Clippers blocks (30th) — Chris Kaman, DeAndre Jordan
Hornets assists (26th) / turnovers (30th) — Chris Paul

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.

Status Updates - quick hitters from around the league

• Andrea Bargnani missed Saturday's game after aggravating a bone spur in his ankle. Consider him day-to-day.

• Andray Blatche remains sidelined with a sprained right shoulder. He's progressing, and is said to be targeting Wednesday's game against Miami as a potential return date, but that's just pure speculation on his behalf. It wouldn't be surprising if he ended up missing another week.

• Manu Ginobili left Sunday's game with a left quad contusion. It shouldn't cost him any time, but he and teammate Tony Parker are prime candidates to get additional rest down the stretch, especially with George Hill and Gary Neal playing well.

• Devin Harris will likely return sometime next week from a strained right hamstring injury, but it probably won't be Monday against Washington. Coach Tyrone Corbin said he didn't want to bring Harris back and task him with keeping up with the speedy John Wall while he's recovering from a hammy pull. A return on Friday against the Lakers seems much more likely.

• Andrei Kirilenko is on crutches after bruising the peroneal nerve in his left knee during Wednesday's road loss to Oklahoma City. He has missed Utah's last two games and has not been able to sit behind the team's bench because of the nature of his treatment. No word on a return date, but it'd be surprising to see him suit up for Monday's game against the Wizards.

• Kevin Love missed his third straight game on Sunday with a strained left groin. He worked out before the game and has been practicing with the team, but was held out in the end. The Wolves have three days off until their next game on Wednesday against the Bulls, which should be enough time for Love to make his return to the lineup.

• Troy Murphy is still in a walking boot after spraining his ankle in Thursday's practice, and is not expected to travel with the team on its upcoming four-game road trip. There is no timeline on his return, and even he admits he's not initially optimistic.

• Jameer Nelson is doubtful to play Monday against the Knicks with a sprained left knee. Gilbert Arenas is the obvious choice to start in his place.

• Coach Doc Rivers is targeting an April 5 return date for Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq has been sidelined since Feb. 1 with various right foot injuries, including an Achilles injury, and has been in an immobilizing boot. Rivers also said Jermaine O'Neal will rejoin the team on Monday in Indiana then engage in his first team basketball activities during Wednesday's practice.

• Rajon Rondo missed Sunday's game with a sore right pinky finger, an injury he re-aggregated in Friday's loss to the Bobcats. It's not considered to be serious, and coach Doc Rivers said Rondo would've played if it were a playoff game. Still, with the Celtics playing a slumping Pacers squad on Monday and three full days off until Thursday's showdown at San Antonio, there's a good shot Rondo misses Monday's game too.

• Deron Williams plans to play again and is aiming to return to the court for Wednesday's game against the Knicks. The plan is to give it one more shot and hope he doesn't re-aggravate it. Williams has missed the last five games with a strained right wrist.

Follow Justin on Twitter @jphanned

-----
photo via Getty Images