NBA Fantasy Basketball Market Watch: Ramon Sessions Gives Some Hope In Cleveland
In an otherwise lost season for the Cavs, Ramon Sessions is seemingly one of the only bright spots (besides a slightly above average Antawn Jamison). In the midst of a 17 game losing streak, Sessions has stepped in as the starter and is embracing the role.
The former second round pick of the Heat (26th in ’07) has only 11 starts to his credit on the season, but has performed admirably considering the circumstances. As a starter, Sessions has a 12.7 PPG average and 4.4 assists…but wait, it gets better.
In the past six games, Coach Scott has rewarded Sessions with almost 34 minutes per game (besides the 11 minute aberration against Chicago on 1/22). And Sessions is rewarding the Cavs by averaging 19 PPG, 6.6 assists and almost four rebounds in those games.
For the month of January, Sessions averages currently sit at 14 PPG, 5.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds. He has scored in double digits in all but two of his team’s last 14 games. It’s hard to ask for more from an eight-win team at this stage of the game.
Sessions’ ownership rate has taken a remarkable leap to 55 percent and is projected to jump to 74 percent by next week. As impressive as this may be, owners are still hesitant to plug him into their starting lineup, with only 31 percent doing so. While there isn’t much hope for the Cavs this season, Sessions is turning heads and proving to be a vital part of the post-Lebron rebuilding era in Cleveland.
Let’s move on from the point guard who would have been dishing assists to LeBron to the one who actually will, at least going forward. Mario Chalmers has also been anointed as the starting point guard of his NBA squad.
Chalmers has actually been on the receiving end of a decent amount of playing time of late, so this announcement by the Heat is hardly more than a formality. In fact, since the beginning of December, Chalmers has averaged at least 26 minutes per game.
In his two official starts this season, Chalmers has a 12.0 PPG average along with 6.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds. Furthermore, in the Heat’s last five games, Chalmers has averaged 11.2 PPG, 3.8 assists, 3.2 rebounds. In addition, Super Mario has been contributing almost three 3-pointers made per game on 41 percent shooting from downtown.
While Chalmers will not light it up on most nights, he can be a decent contributor across multiple categories at any given time. He’s only owned in 9 percent of CBS leagues with a projected jump to 23 percent next week. That’s still low enough that he will fly under the radar. However, a few stand-out performances and he will surely get noticed quick, especially playing alongside D-Wade, C-Bosh and LeBron.
It’s difficult to find fault with a first place team playing .844-ball and leading the NBA with 38 wins. But, if we had to look somewhere, it’s easy to point to Richard Jefferson and his disappointing play for the Spurs.
In a head-scratcher of a move, San Antonio committed $28 million over three years with an $11 million player option in ’13-’14 to Jefferson. This was his reward for averaging 12.3 PPG (with no significant contribution in any other category) in his first full season for the Spurs .
In return, Jefferson is averaging 12.2 PPG, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists this season. And, there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel as his numbers continue to slip. R.J. is averaging 8.6 PPG in January on 42 percent shooting. He’s put up eight games of single-digit scoring and even mixed in a goose egg against his old team, Milwaukee on 1/12.
I ask you this: Why pay a shooting forward a large chunk of change if he can’t shoot or score?? He’s still owned in 71 percent of CBS leagues but starting in only 24 percent. It’s difficult to imagine that he will have a renaissance this season after seeing him for the last one+ season in San Antonio. Sorry R.J., but you don’t belong on a fantasy roster any longer.
This edition of the Stock Watch’s Goat Award goes out to the Detroit Pistons, as a whole. This once proud organization, which beat the Lakers convincingly in five games in 2004 to win the NBA championship has officially hit rock bottom.
After coming off a 27-win season, the Pistons currently sit at 17-28, only better than the Cavs in the Central Division. Their two high-priced free agent imports – Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva (signed to a total of $90 million in ’09) are combining for a whopping 24 PPG. The Pistons also added Chris Wilcox and brought back Ben Wallace for another tour of duty in ’09 (more money well spent). In addition, their ’09 first round pick Austin Daye is averaging 6.6 PPG on the season.
There have been persistent trade rumors surrounding Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton, but neither has been moved during this partial rebuilding process.
Management has allowed head coach John Kuester to completely obliterate Hamilton’s value by DNP’ing him for eight straight games. At least Prince has remained in the starting lineup and is averaging nearly 15 PPG, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
The time has come to completely tear the roster apart, trade whatever valuable pieces that remain, and completely rebuild around Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey. This is seemingly the only way to win back the fans in Detroit and to restore the franchise to its glory days. Mr. Dumars, I urge you to do this sooner than later.
Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Sports Advice, Fantasy Basketball Advice, Fantasy Basketball, 2010, NBA, Stock Watch, Ramon Sessions, Mario Chalmers, Richard Jefferson, Detroit Pistons
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