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• Spencer Hawes put on 10 pounds this offseason in an effort to increase his strength and subsequent post presence on both ends of the court, something the Kings desperately need from their young 7-footer.
“I think that’s a role I need to embrace and a void I need filled so it’s something I need to keep working on every day,” Hawes said.
But Kings coach Paul Westphal isn’t looking for Hawes to stop taking threes on the offensive end:
“Our offense calls for a lot of interchanges where you might be down low in one part of the offense and if you don’t get the ball you gravitate up to the top and someone else comes in low. There are plenty of opportunities for everybody, both perimeter and in the post if they can get open.”
It’s easy to overlook the fact that Hawes is entering his third NBA season at just 21 years of age. He’s dealt with inconsistency but has a unique skill-set and is looking at a clear path to playing time. Round 7 is a perfect spot to strike a balance between the risk and reward here.
• The Heat have signed Carlos Arroyo to a one-year deal in an attempt to bolster their depth at point guard. He’s likely to replace Chris Quinn as Mario Chalmers‘ primary backup and does present the team with a more suitable second option if Chalmers were to struggle in his sophomore campaign. That said, after making just two of 12 shots in his first two preseason games, Chalmers made six of 12 shots on Sunday against the Spurs and I still have him pegged for incremental improvements and as a solid return on investment in Round 8.
• Those of you interested in seeing how Hedo Turkoglu will fit in with his new Raptors’ teammates should get a chance to find out before the week is out. Turkoglu has been sidelined by sore knees and fatigue, but ramped up his involvement in practice on Monday and should be on the court either Wednesday or Thursday. While I don’t think he will be a bad fit for the team in general, I do expect his exhaustive schedule to affect him this entire season, and he tends to be overrated to begin with.
• Brandon Jennings is slated to make his first start of the preseason on Tuesday, ahead of regular starter Luke Ridnour. Scott Skiles had these words to say about Jennings so far:
“He’s had stretches in all three games, which is typical, where he’s looked really good for certain minutes. You’ve got to be blind not to see the ability. Then he’s had some rough patches as well where he runs out of gas a little bit. This is what these games are for, to get a guy like him as ready as we can get him for when the real stuff rolls around.”
Nobody should be expecting Jennings to bump a healthy Ridnour from the starting spot in the early going – it’s just not the Skiles way – but the kid has tremendous potential and it’s not difficult to argue him as the team’s most dynamic player. He’s worth stashing in deep leagues and certainly worth paying attention to Tuesday night when he is on the court for the tip.
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Hawes should be a monster this year. At least he will fill the big-man stats good enough not to have any complaints against him.
You could do a lot worse as far as your C3 goes…
I think that Hawes is getting to be a little overrated this year for fantasy. His blocks really tailed-off from the beginning to the end of last season. His FG% and rebounds are not that good for a 7ft C and his FT% is poor but not too much of a negative impact at around 2 FTA per game. His TO were also a little over 2 per game. He doesn’t kill you in any of these categories but all of the negatives add up and really deflate his overall value. Obviously in his 3rd year at age 21 he stands to improve but I think he’s going to disappoint this year.
2 items I noticed today watching a couple of preseason games. 1.) Did J. Noah put on some pounds? I noticed him looking a little thicker. 2.) Is CDR going to start at SF? He had a good game today, plus I liked him in college. Really wondering how he will turn out later as his career unfolds.
I’ve been doing a few mock drafts in order to prepare and I am really targeting Anthony Randolph. In almost all my drafts I have been able to get him in the 5th round except for one where I got him in the 6th (I had the number 1 pick). How soon is too soon for him? I have a feeling my league is going to be wiser than a random mock draft and he may fall in the 4th. Is this too high for him? Thoughts?
i should add this is a 12man h2h
Frankly, I am too afraid of Don Nelson to draft Randolph before pick 60.
a legit fear indeed, but is that the only fear you have from grabbing him early?
i wouldn’t touch any warrior aside from monta with a 10 foot pole.
rd 6 is the ideal place to get him, but it’s about 50/50 that someone will pull the trigger in the 5th. i’m not sure taking him in the 4th means they are “wise” instead of just not afraid to roll the dice. i’d rather take guys like j-rich and d.lee in the 4th, for instance
I think people are getting too crazy over a 1-month opportunity. Sure, he averaged 15-10 with good percentages and good defense. But that was an 8-game stretch and all but one of those games were without Maggette, Crawford, Ellis, and S. Jackson (and some were without Biedrins). Are we really sure that Nellie and the rest of the Warriors are going to give Randolph all of these opportunities? If you want to take him over players like Nene and Horford, who have actually averaged similar numbers over entire seasons and who have not dropped in status on their team, you better be sure that he is going to approach those numbers.
And that is if you pick him in the 50s. I think asking him to leap up to Aldridge-level stats is asking too much. I think a good comparison might be Ty Thomas last year.
agree completely. if people think his april splits from last year are going to carry over to 82 games of nellie ball this season, they’re nuts.
Without the blocks.
redmurph, I think you’re underrating Randolphs potential. He can get serious blocks… I think he could be good for 2 a game if he gets minutes. That would go pretty well with the 12 rebounds he’s capable of. If he’s efficient with 35 mpgs he could be a top 30 player.
But I agree with you overall. Randolph is now overpriced… there’s considerable risk there because of Don Nelson’s instability, and also because we don’t know what Randolph’s efficiency will be like with a higher usage rate.
i will agree with most of the risk being associated with his playing for don nelson, and i don’t see there being an exceptional amount of risk involved if we’re just talking his on-the-court potential within the GSW system
his per-36s for his entire rookie season included 15.9 pts, 11.6 boards, 1.3 steals, and 2.4 blocks, so it’s not like he just showed a few things over a few games late and that was the end of it. brandan wright’s injury means he’s a bit more settled in as the starting PF, his work ethic came to light this offseason, and the summer showed that there has at least been some progression in skills
Kinda strange poll results. Lots of people think Brook Lopez is going to have the biggest jump in fantasy production…but they aren’t drafting him as if they believe it. A big jump in production from him would land him late 1st/early 2nd at worst.
My thing on Lopez is how much more do people think he can improve?
I mean, I see a guy like Westbrook (who I voted for) as having a much better chance on improving his fantasy numbers than Lopez. Now, from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like Westbrook will still have a roller coaster shooting %. But if he can improve on that number and keep it consistent, it would mean a much greater bump in his fantasy value than if Lopez managed to increase any of his stats, even by a little.
Don’t get me wrong – I think Lopez will be just as good this year, if not better. But I just don’t think there’s that much room for improvement. It’s just not needed – which is actually saying a lot. Unless something drastic happens, Lopez is pretty much solid going forward.
yeah man, i actually was exceptionally close to not including him. and here we are
I could be wrong but it seems like some people are not understanding the poll question. I totally agree with you guys that Lopez was great last year and his stats aren’t going up by that much this year as compared to others. Some must be thinking that the question is asking who will be the best 2nd year pro for fantasy. Obviously a lot of people do get it as Oden (my vote), Westbrook, and Rose are #’s 2-4 in the poll.
I was looking through the box scores the other day and was surprised at the quality stats Dejuan Blair from SA Spurs put up. Unfortunately, someone else snatched him up off waivers already. Are there other legitimate sleeper rookies that has the potential to be successful this year?
I think Courtney Lee will have the greatest jump.
He went from being an underrated rookie role player to over-confident sophomore on a new younger team.
He’s the younger version of Trevor Ariza this year.
I got a question for all of you. There was a trade in my league Milicic pick #173 for B. Rush pick #150 (draft was Oct. 5th) and some guy is having a fit about claiming it is not fair. Your thoughts????
Good Day Matt! How do I look out for the invite? When are you sending these out? Again, hope I can be where you’ll be (H2H), I’ll surely prove my mettle and won’t let you down
Cheers