For this week, I found three vagabond players who all seem to be hitting their stride this year to pick up.  I also found three depressing top draft picks still living off their college glory days that you must digress. 

Three Who Have Impressed

Anthony Johnson

Atlanta Hawks

PG

Helps With: Assists

Journeyman PG Anthony Johnson has been on quite a “journey” since he started his NBA career, playing for 7 teams in his 11-year career.  He has had three separate tours of duty with the Hawks alone.  At long last, though at 33, Johnson may have finally found a home.  Starting for the Hawks, he has led the perennial doormat to 5 wins in their past 7 games.  He played exceptionally Monday night against the Jazz and Deron Williams, notching a double-double, 14 points and 17 assists.

I know you’re thinking I only put him down here because of what he did last night, and I was past my deadline needing to find something to write about.  While I was past my deadline, I actually chose Johnson because his season assist ratio of 38.5 is good for #5 in the NBA, ahead of bums like Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups.  Given that he’s been averaging 33 minutes for the past 7 games, it may be time to give Anthony another home on your fantasy roster.

Joel Przybilla

C

Portland Trailblazers

Helps With: Rebounds & Blocks

The 28 year old Minnesotan Center is having another solid year manning the middle for the surprising Trailblazers.  Not much was expected of them this season, similar to the Hawks, but have played great.  The Blazers have won a bunch in a row, and over the past five, Pzyrbilla’s been averaging 2.6 blocks and 9.6 rebounds in 32 minutes.  All this, while shooting 67.8% from the field.  The FG% will not continue, but the blocks and rebounds should, he’s been strong in these categories over his whole career.  Joel is available in a lot of leagues, and has value because he does specific things well, even if his overall game is limited.  For the season, he is #6 in the NBA in rebound rate at 19.6. 

Rashad McCants

SG

Minnesota Timberwolves

Helps with scoring.

The short, scoring 2-guard who hasn’t been able to become the next Allen Iverson, or even Ben Gordon, has finally started doing SOMETHING.  After some injury plagued years to start his career, McCants has started to come into his own on the Timberwolves sinking ship.  Coming off the bench he has been averaging 13.1 PPG and in Decmber is shooting over 45% from three point land.  No, those are not awe inspiring numbers, but they can help.  Interesting to note is that McCants has the highes Usage Rate, 25.5, on the T-Wolves.  That means that he “uses” via a shot, trip to the foul line, assist or turnover, more possessions when he plays than anyone else.  While this may not be conducive to winning basketball, it can help your fantasy squad. 

Three Who Have Digressed

Tim Thomas
F
Los Angeles Clippers 

Thomas is having another average season for the Clips.  Since being drafted as 6-10 wunderkid out of Villanova in 1997, 7^th overall by the Nets, Thomas has not done much.  His best two years came the year before he got new contracts, after which, he promptly resumed his underwhelming ways.  His rebound rate is worse than Grizzlies PG Kyle Lowry, he has only made 26% of his 3’s in December and he scores barely 16 points in 40 minutes.  Speaking of minutes, he looks to lose those going forward with the emergence of Al Thornton, and Elton Brand’s eventual return.  He could do so much on the court, and for that reason, some people tend to over value him: real and fantasy GM’s.  Take advantage of this if you have the misfortune to have him on your squad. 

Larry Hughes

G

Cleveland Cavaliers

Coming out as a Freshman the year after Thomas, Hughes was also selected high, #8, by the 76ers.  Things never really worked out for him with Iverson, and he bounced around the league a while before a big year playing with Gilbert Arenas got Danny Ferry to WAY overpay him.  Since then his PPG have gone down and he has been in a steady decline. 

Despite his recent big game, scoring 36 points on 13-17 shooting against Indiana, Hughes is still a bad-shooting bum.  Over the next three games, he shot a combined 8 of 35, making less than 23% of his attempts.  Injuries have ravaged his career in addition to laziness, and he has already missed most of this season.  Move him now, before all those minutes he will lose to Daniel Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic make him a completely useless fantasy player.

Drew Gooden

PF

Cleveland Cavaliers

Speaking of players failing to live up to their draft status and consistently underperforming, Drew Gooden has come to the Charity Stripe.  Gooden is one of Jerry West’s few true mistakes as GM.  Taken #4 in 2002, West quickly realized the unmotivated kid would never be as good as he could and traded him halfway through his rookie year.  Since then, Gooden has put up decent averages of 12 – 14 points, 8 – 10 rebounds, but nothing like the All-Star potential his body possesses.  Like Hughes, his numbers will only go down in the coming months as he loses minutes to younger players.  Anderson Varejao still probably is not in game shape coming off his silly holdout, for the rest of the season, Gooden’s fantasy stock will only decline.