Gerald Wallace to the Blazers: Fantasy Impact

The Bobcats have agreed to a trade for Gerald Wallace in a move that seriously strengthens their team and their push for one of the final playoff spots in the West.

The Bobcats agreed to give up Gerald Wallace for two 1st round picks, Joel Pryzbilla and Dante Cunningham.

The Blazers won this trade despite the two 1st round pick sticker price as both picks figure to be outside of the lottery in the late teens.

Despite the Blazers reluctance to part with the promising Nicolas Batum they have been looking for an upgrade at the small forward position ever since Hedo Turkoglu spurned them for the Toronto Raptors in the summer of 2009.

The Bobcats are a hopeless, hapless team that is apparently doing their best to end up in the lottery this summer…nuff said.

Fantasy Impact:

Gerald Wallace will step right in as the starter at small forward for the Blazers and may also see some time at PF with Batum at SF and Aldridge at C. Any which way G-Dub is expected to rack up over 30 minutes a game and his current numbers of 15 and 8 are indeed maintainable.

Joel Pryzbilla will fill the void left by Nazr Mohammed but will have minimal fantasy value barring an injury to Kwame Brown. D.J white also figures to land some minutes at C for the inept Bobcats.

Nicolas Batum’s fantasy value takes a serious hit with Wallace’s arrival although there is a chance to the two can share the floor together when Brandon Roy is out. Batum has tremendous upside but the Blazers are fighting for a playoff spot which will necessitate playing the superior Wallace at least 30 minutes per game at Batum’s former position.

Gerald Henderson is moving into the starting lineup for the Bobcats and is an intriguing add in deeper leagues. He has shown flashes and has scored 18 ppg over his last three contests. Henderson is currently available in 96% of Yahoo! leagues. The Bobcats are aiming for the lottery and not the playoffs so it stands to reason that Henderson will get plenty of burn the rest of the way.