B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.Cup of Coffee
Someone run out front of US Airways Arena and welcome Boris Diaw's exhumed corpse home. Diaw recorded only his third double double of the season last night (two coming in January). He also recorded his fourth double digit scoring night of 2008, after producing only five in November and December combined. His assists are on the rise (4.8 up from 2.7 in December) and so are his minutes (34.4 in January compared to 21.5 in December). Yes, Grant Hill is returning soon, but when Diaw becomes involved in the passing game like this, the Suns are a very, very dangerous team; witness their 6-1 record in January. Buy low now if you can, or wait until Hill's return and see if Diaw's value dips again (my guess is it will not).
Hot Cakes
If you have drafted Raja Bell over the last few years, you have done so tentatively. And why should you have? After all, he did tie for the NBA lead in three pointers made last year at 205. Well, for starters, Leandro Barbosa has emerged, but still continues to come off the bench. Now Hill is out until some time next week, and Bell is heating up. Over his last seven games he is averaging 17 points, three three's a game and over a steal and a block per as well. Some would say sell high with Hill coming back. I say buy (kind of) low, because it's Grant Hill. He gets hurt. It's what he does.
Let's give credit to Josh Boone here. Nine points, nine boards and two blocks against Amare Stoudemire, who is having arguably his best career season (points are a little down from 2004-05, but blocks are up to over two a game and his field goal percentage is at a stupidly sky high 58 percent), is pretty darn good. Boone can be somewhat inconsistent but you are using him for points, boards and blocks. In January alone he is averaging 11.2 points, 9.7 boards and 1.1 blocks. That's way better than solid for a waiver wire steal.
D.J. Strawberry is making some noise in Phoenix as well, having leapfrogged Marcus Banks for playing time and scoring six points with three dimes a steal and a block in 21 minutes last night. He is certainly not a high end fantasy monster, but in deep leagues with a thin waiver wire, you want to jump on this guy. The Suns obviously never quit running and if he is getting playing time he will be a cheap source of steals, blocks and assists.
Not related to last night but certainly worth mentioning was the return of Tracy McGrady. T-Mac came back and dropped 27 points on Saturday, so it is safe to say he is good to start for the foreseeable future (which may or may not be very lengthy). Do not drop Luther Head yet, or even Bonzi Wells if you have the bench space or play in a deeper league, as T-Mac has been known to deal with injuries once or twice in his career.
