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Sports Grumblings -
http://www.sportsgrumblings.com/basketball/articles
Treasure Hunting -- November 15, 2007
http://www.sportsgrumblings.com/basketball/articles/articles/217/1/Treasure-Hunting----November-15-2007/Page1.html
Scott Sargent
 Scott Sargent is the Senior NBA fantasy analyst for Sports Grumblings. He is a
lead writer for DroppingDimes.com, and has been featured on SI.com. He also
contributes his sharp analysis for Sports Grumblings for fantasy football
fans. By Scott Sargent
Published on 11/15/2007 |
Tired of the Starbury soap opera in New York? Nate Robinson is not...
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Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit premature on my Robert Swift mention last week. I was not accounting for the return of Kurt Thomas, and it appears as if Swift’s knee is significantly less than 100 percent. Keith Bogans, on the other hand, has done quite well and is coming off of a very nice game against the Sonics. This week, we get into another pair of players that can offer you some more scoring and long distance dialing. Ironically, both of this week’s treasures are due to some holes left by well-established veterans. Check them out below…
Bostjan Nachbar, SG/SF, New Jersey Nets
We all know that Vince Carter is one of the best dunkers in the game. So much that people still clamor for the veteran to jump into the Slam Dunk Challenge each All-Star break. Granted, this may be because they’re sick of watching players like Chris Andersen disgrace the game, but Carter is an upgrade over most.
Ironically, the soi-disant master of the dunk left a game with an injury to his ankle after finishing just that – a dunk. Unfortunately, news has recently surfaced that the former Tar Heel may miss the next three weeks with a Grade 1 ankle sprain. If you’re a Carter owner, you are likely scurrying to fill in the gap left by a player that you had to use an early round pick simply to acquire. Antoine Wright will benefit the most from this news, but he is likely long gone from your wire after he averaged 12 points per game before Carter’s injury.
With that said, one player that likely flew under the radar in all of this is Bostjan Nachbar. Nachbar had several flashes of brilliance last season when Richard Jefferson was forced to miss some time. He has the innate ability to drain clutch three-point field goals and he gets to the line an amazing amount of times given his playing time. For instance, in 19 minutes against the Celtics, Boki managed to get to the line five times – converting on three attempts.
While this sample size leads to the suggestion that Nachbar isn’t a good charity stripe contributor, he actually converted on 80 percent of his attempts in the 2006-07 regular season. What is even better is the 95 percent conversion rate that he has in last season’s playoffs.
He’s not guaranteed significant minutes, but Nachbar has the tendency to be instant offense off of the bench and has the ability to average double-digit points with significant contributions from downtown. Again, if Antoine Wright is still available in your league, he shouldn’t be – so grab him. However, if your league is of the deeper variety, someone to consider is Nachbar whose role is bound to increase over the next three weeks.
Nate Robinson, PG, New York Knicks
By now, you have heard the soap opera that is the New York Knicks. Isaiah Thomas isn’t happy with Stephon Marbury’s defense. Zeke tells Starbury that he’ll be relegated to a bench role with Mardy Collins getting the start. Marbury decides to bail on practice and a game by flying back to New York.
It gets a lot worse in the fact that Marbury now says he has some dirt on his coach, and then receives a fine near $200,000. Just another day in New York, right? Well, last night did see Collins get the start, but it also saw him leave with injury that leaves him day to day. If you can’t wait for this whole thing to shake out, quit reading this and just grab Robinson.
It appears that Robinson will be the one to benefit from this whole debacle, regardless of who starts. There’s always a chance that all can be forgotten and Marbs can be right back in the lineup in no time. After all, this is the same coach that starts Quentin Richardson and Jared Jeffries even though David Lee is on the team. But until this time comes, Nate Robinson offers plenty of scoring and three-point potential.
The knock on the little guy has been his lack of assists thus far in his career. Actually, even though he is less than six feet tall, there have been plenty of nights that have seen Robinson grab more rebounds than the number of dimes he had dished out. One look at his most recent start and you may have to ease up on the judgments. In 25 minutes off of the bench, Robinson logged 18 points, three boards and five assists while draining two treys. Even if this is the best he can do, it’s worth a shot in deeper leagues. With Collins and Marbury questionable at best going forward, thinking here is that this may be only the beginning.
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