As we near the 2009 All Star break, it seems that the dreaded "out for the season" update has come up more times than most fantasy owners want.
The major players shelved for the year who could swing the rankings by their absence alone are Elton Brand, Michael Redd, Al Jefferson, and Gilbert Arenas (most likely done). There are more who, despite estimates of 4-8 weeks out, will probably no longer have any impact on the standings. The length of time away plus the expected recovery and burn in period should make fantasy owners look for other options asap. Players who fall under this catefory are Andrew Bynum, Andrew Bogut (must be the initials!), Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko (must be the Jazz!), and Jameer Nelson.
Looking back at the first half of the year, a lot of players were also out for extended periods, some frustratingly having erratic and unpredictable absences. The Houston Rockets' Tracy Mcgrady and Ron Artest have been in and out of the lineup so many times that many fantasy GMs have actually dropped them. Monta Ellis was out for the first 3 months and, even now, has not contributed significantly and consistently yet – again, recovery and adjustment time is a real pain. Tyson Chandler, Chris Kaman, Drew Gooden, Gerald Wallace, Luke Ridnour, Jason Terry, Brad Miller, Kevin Martin, Delonte West and Steve Blake have been or still are out for extended periods and most in that list still have no timetable. West and Blake were having career years until their injuries so their loss is actually more significant than expected. Even the Hawks' Josh Smith was out for a few weeks with a sprained ankle and it took him quite a while after coming back to get his timing back, especially for the blocks category. Manu Ginobili was the same, taking quite some time to get back into the groove of things although he did come back much earlier than expected. Right now, 2 big guns Chris Bosh and Chris Paul, are out and would probably use the all star break to heal. Bosh and Paul are franchise players and their owners certainly are squirming at the uncertainty of their situation.
On the bright side, the myriad of injuries have opened up fringe players to step up and make an impact. Ramon Sessions game went up a notch when Redd got injured and went up even higher when Ridnour went down. Sessions is a pass first PG so expect a lot of assists. Paul Millsap has been a tower of strength on the boards and on defense for the Jazz as their frontline has been decimated. Millsap has also provided better than average scoring punch with excellent FG%. The absence of Drew Gooden has allowed young guns Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah to climb up the fantasy rankings. Thomas has been having a splendid January, contributing double figure rebounds and more than 2 blocks a game. Noah has also been a revelation starting at center for the Bulls, so far getting 7-9 boards and 2 blocks per game.
Injury replacements aside, other notable waiver wire pickups who are starting to make contributions only recently are Mike Conley of the Grizzlies (assists, some 3s, 15ppg), Mike Miller of the Wolves after a horrible 1st half, Francisco Garcia of the Kings, Ronny Turiaf of the Warriors (tons of blocks even with limited minutes, though he's been getting more exposure lately), and Ryan Anderson of the Nets (still inconsistent but coming on).
The all star break will hopefully heal up small aches and pains as the players, the teams, and fantasy GMs gear up for the stretch run.
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