Fantasy Talk

Boobie Gibson is going to miss the entire West Coast Trip. Meaning he is going to miss at least the next 5 games. If you use him, you may want to grab Sessions or another hot FA instead…

As I said, I do not trust D Stevenson as a guy to play, but you could take your chances..Tonight he got minutes and 3PT attempts, but was terrible.

Stevenson hit a bunch of threes down the stretch…He ended up with 4. The 14 points was OK…but he produced nothing else…

You already know Rondo, Pierce and Allen are likely to have good nights tonight. Glen Davis looks like a very good play with KG hurt. He torched the Raps last time out. If you are in deep leagues playing fringe Celtic big men tonight is not a bad idea these type of players often have solid nights against the Raps.

Andrea is a must play…There is not a Celtic big man to guard him without KG. Barbosa is streaky, but he is going to keep getting minutes while our PGs are banged up…

In reality Rondo is going to give Calderon fits, but that does not matter for fantasy purposes…Make sure Jose is playing, if he is get him in your line up

I would stay away from Kleiza tonight in case the Raptors are smart and play Julian Wright again.

Amir should be able to match up well against an unathletic Celtics big man core.

DeRozan has become playable, but don’t over value him, points are only one category and he will have a negative effect on your FT%

According to Devlin – Jose is probable, but Bayless and Weems are out

That means good things for Barbosa, and should hopefully let you sneak Julian Wright into your line up tonight if you are in a very deep league

As of what I have read up to right now, Jerryd Bayless is expected to play.

That could take a little bit of shine of a banged up Jose Calderon, but unless you here Calderon is going to play limited minutes due to injjury, keep him in your line up his fantasy stats have been awesome as a starter. Since the Jarrett Jack deal, Jose is averaging 12.3pts, 1.4 3PTm, 3.1 reb 10.3 ast, 1.6 stl, 0.0blk, 0.533fg% on 9.5 shot attempts, 0.706 ft% on1.1 ft%. I am sure you can tell that is awesome, but just to be clear that has been the 24th most valuable PER GAME contribution in standard 8 category leagues (no turnovers) for that time span. Bottom line, at this point in time, Jose needs to be in your fantasy line ups if you know he is playing.

Andreas should be able to score on the Kings, especially if Samuel Dalembert does not get a lot of minutes, which has been a trend.

Barbosa and Kleiza have been hot, but I would only play these guys if you need to. When Bayless plays Barbosa sometimes has big games, but his production is much less predictable.

We assume Kleiza will keep getting run at least until the trade deadline, but you never know if they will insert Julian Wright as a defensive stopper. I guess Tyreke Evans being questionable, makes things a little brighter for Kleiza that is one less perimeter player that the Raptors need to worry about guarding.

Amir Johnson is unpredictable, so if I have a great team I do not play him because you might catch him on a useless day. If I have a team that is weak, I play Amir every time because overall his production is pretty good..Since November 28th the first game after the injury to Reggie Evans, Amir has contributed the 111th best per game value of any player in standard 8 category leagues. He has done much better in my league, since we count offensive rebounds.

Ed Davis does not produce consistantly enough unless you are in deep leagues, where his block and rebounding numbers would be helpful.

So far I am glad I decided to play Landry today.

Run out and get JJ Hickson, he has been maddening this year, but with Varajeo done for the year he should finally be in line for consistant minutes.

You can never guarantee this stuff, but you should bet on the following:

A subpar statistical game from Andrea. He may end up scoring, but if he does, it will likely take a lot of shot attempts and poor field goal percentage to do it. Josh Smith and Al Horford are rare combinations of length, power and speed – they are capable of taking away almost all of Andrea’s advantages..Last time the Hawks played the Raptors, Andrea really struggled turning the ball over 5 times and scored only 14 points on 6 of 17 shooting. On top of that Bargs managed 15 points in his only game that Bosh missed versus Atlanta last year.

Josh Smith should have success because he is going to be able to lure the Toronto big men away from the basket, and none of them are good defenders out there.

Horford will probably be checked by Andrea and will get his fair share of boards and easy dunks. Look for an efficient night with at least 15 points and 8 boards.

Jamal Crawford should probably have a big night. He only scored 10 in his first game against the Raptors this year, but he is hot now and averaged 21.75 points against the Raptors last year.

DeRozan should be able to score, he is playing with confidence and he could score at will if checked by Jamal Crawford.

Marvin Williams could have a plus game since he is likely to spend quite a few minutes matched up against an unathletic Linas Kleiza.

Calderon should play much better than he did the first time we tangled with the Hawks…Look up a few posts on this list to see how good he has been since the Jack trade. Plus, Mike Bibby is not a good defender.

Tonight I like Bargnani’s chances, especially if Ben Wallace does not play. Besides he and Jose are pretty much must plays every night right now.

DeRozan took a step back the other night because Barbosa got so hot. Neither guys are sure fire fantasy options, but they have both been hot enough that I would take a chance on them tonight.

Depending on your team and league format, Amir Johnson is playable. The Pistons do not have great big men so he should be solid..

There would not be another Raptor that I would trust enough to play tonight.

Players I would use in fantasy leagues today…Bargs and Calderon of course. John Wall will certainly have spectacular offensive plays, but he has given almost no effort on D in recent weeks…Hopefully, he not Hinrich guards Calderon for most of the night. If he does Calderon could have a truly great game…

DeRozan offers little other than scoring, but he should be able to score on a Wizard’s team that plays very little D.

I hate to say it, but Kleiza may be usable today too…You can bet that with the Blur and Sonny both not playing he is going to get minutes and touches.

The Raptors would be smarter to play JuJu on a red hot Rashard Lewis, but you have to bet on Kleiza playing 25+ minutes…

You could gamble on Bayless in deep leagues because he will get his 15 minutes behind Jose and could get another 10 at the 2 spot with Barbosa and Sonny both hurting…

I would not play Amir tonight…He’s been banged up and could rack up fouls with three big guys to try to guard under the basket…Plus I think Joey Dorsey is much better suited to play against a skinny and weak JaVale McGee (not that Triano is likely to use that logic).