Talks of shutting Brandon Roy down for the remainder of the season are surfacing. The mere possibility of the Blazers losing their leader and second-leading scorer boosts the fantasy value of Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez.
Earlier this season, Brandon Roy revealed that there was no meniscus remaining in either knee, meaning that he would have to deal with bone-on-bone contact for the rest of his career. In an effort to keep his 2010-11 season alive, the Blazers tried playing Roy on a minute-cap each game. Unfortunately, this did not work and Roy has been on the sidelines since Dec. 17. If Roy is not shut down, he will likely be a game-time decision on a nightly basis and will miss chunks of games for the rest of the year.
Fantasy Implications:
Since being inserted into the starting lineup, Wesley Matthews has been scoring at will averaging 18.3 points per game along with 3.6 rebounds, 2 three-pointers and 1.6 steals over December. Matthews is owned in close to 80 percent of Yahoo leagues and therefore unlikely to be on the waiver wire in your league.
Nicolas Batum is owned in just 62 percent of Yahoo leagues. He will continue to start in Roy’s absence and provide help in threes and in the hustle stats (steals, rebounds and a few blocks each week). After shooting an impressive 52 percent last year, Batum has struggled with his shot through the first few months of the season. Consistent starts at the small forward position should help him find his stroke and improve on his ten points per game from a year ago.
Rudy Fernandez is owned in just 15 percent, but he will finally receive consistent minutes if Roy shuts it down. As noted in the Deep League Pickups for the New Year, Fernandez has been tearing it up of late, providing help in points, steals, threes, and assists. After sporadic playing time to start the season, Fernandez logged over 35 minutes in three straight games last week. Although he will continue to come off the bench, he has begun to get consistent, fantasy-relevant minutes and should contribute in multiple categories.
Written by Win My Fantasy League Senior Writer Justin Hasan (J-Has)
Comment below or e-mail him at JHas@WinMyFantasyLeague.com
