Marko Jaric and Brandon Roy make this week's list for very different reasons...

Focusing on the guards this week, I have two groups of one rookie, one young veteran and one established player. Bet you cannot guess who has impressed and whom you should digress…

Daequan Cook
Guard, Miami Heat

Truth be told, I was wrong about the young Mr. Cook. Heading into the season, I made the pithy, sarcastic comment “Cook could be a nice bench player, in two to three years.” To think, I thought that would be funny. Well, the only person laughing now is Cook, all the way to the Charity Stripe, where he’s shooting 95.5%. He’s been HEATing up lately, scoring 12.3/game over the last three. Including a 19 points on 5-7 shooting from the filed complemented by going 9-9 from the line, piece de resistance against Charlotte last Tuesday. His game is quite thin and limited to scoring, but given the head on his shoulders:

“I mean coach is a great coach, I’m not gonna ever say anything about the way he coaches. Just when he call up on me, be ready.”

With what he has already shown, he is somebody who should absolutely not be on a waiver wire.

Louis Williams
Guard – Philadelphia 76ers

Louis Williams is finally hitting his stride coming out of high school in a big way, and no one really seems to have noticed. Those who have commented do not really seem to understand the magnitude of what young Louis is doing. Regardless of how you feel about John Hollinger’s PER, it is a good measure of a player’s fantasy value, as it captures across the board statistical production. Williams PER this year is 20.68, ahead of Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen, and Jason Kidd through 16 games. Granted he is not playing their kind of minutes, but 22 minutes is a more than acceptable sample size to estimate a player’s value. According to Hollinger, his PER equates to a “Borderline All-Star” season. It is time to jump on Baby Iverson.

Marko Jaric
Guard – Minnesota Timberwolves

The European Playboy stuck in the midwestern winter has been scoring with more than just the ladies lately, averaging 14.2 points/game, shooting nearly 60% over the stretch. His all around game makes him an even more attractive pick-up, dishing 4.3 assists, stealing 1.36 balls and grabbing 2.7 boards. Okay, the rebounds are not that impressive, but I needed something to complete the three item series with my appropriate basketball verbs. Bottom line, Jaric is getting good minutes and producing, grab him before he’s gone.

Three to Digress

Kevin Durant
Guard – Seattle Supersonics

Yes, Kevin Durant is having an amazing rookie season. Yes, he hit a thrilling, gutsy game winning shot against the Hawks a few weeks ago. Yes, he is the coolest personage in Seattle since Frasier Crane has validated his draft status and given evidence of his insane potential. That said … is Kevin an overrated fantasy player this season? Absolutely. He is shooting horribly from the field making barely 40% of his shots and less than 30% of his threes for the year. He is being forced into a role he is not ready for as the primary option on a horrendous team. More importantly, his frail body is not ready to withstand the night in night out pressure being a team’s No. 1 option brings. Owners would be much better off trading Durant while he is at his peak in exchange for proven NBA commodities like an Andre Igoudala or Al Jefferson. Remember, it’s not about Durant not being an All-Star someday, it’s about winning your fantasy season this year.

Brandon Roy
Guard/Forward – Portland Trailblazers

Like Durant, Brandon Roy is playing extremely well right now for a young player on a bad team in the Pacific Northwest. And, like Durant, now is the time to cash in your chips on Roy. Just like trading stocks, whenever an asset’s perceived value is higher than its real value it is necessary to sell or trade. Roy puts up good across the board numbers, but lately he has been struggling from the floor. Especially during a recent four game stretch where he shot an abysmal 12 of 53, making only 23% of his attempts. I realize this is just a case of a young player going through a natural down stretch, and he will soon resume being a good player. Nevertheless, Roy was the ROY last year amongst a bad batch of rookies, and has a bad history of injury problems. Use this information to your own advantage.

Ray Allen
Guard – The Paper Champs

I will probably take some heat for this one, but I’m just drawing conclusions from the evidence I see. Allen is easily surpassing expectations so far, along with his fellow Celtics, as the team has cruised out to a 14-2 record. But, buried beneath the surface, Allen has been struggling of late, making only 37% of his field goals and not even 29% of his threes of the past six games. Considering also, he hasn’t played a full season since 2000-01 with Milwaukee. Way back when, when George Karl was failing with another overly talented offensive team also featuring Sam Cassell and Glenn Robinson in their primes. I feel the Allen’s value for the regular season may be nearing its peak. It is time to capitalize on how much people the greatness of all Boston sports right now to do what’s right for your fantasy roster.