Who will be my five keeper?

[Faithleader]

My roster:
Russell Westbrook
Brandon Rush
Richard Jefferson
Deron Williams
Stephen Jackson
Andrea Bargnani
Al Horford
Carl Landry
Vince Carter
LaMarcus Aldridge
Martell Webster
Jonas Jerebko
Earl Watson

Right now my keepers are:
Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Stephen Jackson, Andrea Bargnani, and Al Horford
I was thinking LaMarcus Aldridge's fate. What do you guys think? or am I over thinking?

[FantasyMVP]

You can make a pretty solid argument about keeping Aldridge over Stephen Jackson. Considering Aldridge is still only 25 years old compared to Jackson being 32. Aldridge still has potential, while what you see for Jax is what you get. Plus if your league counts fg% and turnovers, Jackson gets pretty irritating to own.

Then you have to consider the fact that all reports indicate that Aldridge is in the best shape of his life, and put on something like 20 pounds or so.

I actually think I would keep Aldridge. You would have a nice core of bigmen set up for years to come.

[rocketsballin]

ya those are ur best keepers in this team. could take a chance on lma but last season when oden was healthy, lma was 14/7 .5blk and stl. now w/ joel and camby, his stats could be lower after the all star break, that's when u need ur players the most

[rocketsballin]

You can make a pretty solid argument about keeping Aldridge over Stephen Jackson. Considering Aldridge is still only 25 years old compared to Jackson being 32. Aldridge still has potential, while what you see for Jax is what you get. Plus if your league counts fg% and turnovers, Jackson gets pretty irritating to own.

Then you have to consider the fact that all reports indicate that Aldridge is in the best shape of his life, and put on something like 20 pounds or so.

I actually think I would keep Aldridge. You would have a nice core of bigmen set up for years to come.

do u think lma could do more than 15/7 .5blk and stl when all of portlands bigs are healthy? he did that last year when oden and joel were healthy, now they got camby. it may be a big if, but if they stay healthy lma cant be more than a mid round pick. jackson hasnt showed any signs of decline, still putting up near 20/5/5 numbers w/ 3s and stls, and even .5blks.

his fg% and to's are bad, so if he wants to be above average w/ those stats then he shouldnt keep him. if i were him i'd tank to's (i always do anyway) and try to be in the upper half in fg% . now that bobcats dont have felton and chandler, they need someone to pick up the slack. jax wont play those positions but his stats could go up this year.

[AussieBuck]

LMA has hardly improved since his rookie season. SJax is a much better option particularly with the increased playmaking he'll likely do in the absence of a decent PG on the Bobcats.

[pj_tor]

What about mine? I can keep up to 5 (3 minimum) in a 12 team, 13 player, non-snake draft league.

Durant
Granger
Evans
Martin
Murphy
Gay

The first 3 are no-brainers. I think I will dump Gay (low upside, brings nothing different), and maybe Murphy too (doubts about new role in NJ), keep Martin (top 30 if healthy) and try to get a good PG (maybe B.Davis and Wall available) or C (Randolph or Camby).

Thoughts? Thanks!

[PerkinsFor3]

Russell Westbrook
Deron Williams
Andrea Bargnani
Al Horford
LaMarcus Aldridge

Very nice keepers.


Durant
Granger
Evans
Murphy
Gay

[FantasyMVP]

You can make a pretty solid argument about keeping Aldridge over Stephen Jackson. Considering Aldridge is still only 25 years old compared to Jackson being 32. Aldridge still has potential, while what you see for Jax is what you get. Plus if your league counts fg% and turnovers, Jackson gets pretty irritating to own.

Then you have to consider the fact that all reports indicate that Aldridge is in the best shape of his life, and put on something like 20 pounds or so.

I actually think I would keep Aldridge. You would have a nice core of bigmen set up for years to come.

do u think lma could do more than 15/7 .5blk and stl when all of portlands bigs are healthy? he did that last year when oden and joel were healthy, now they got camby. it may be a big if, but if they stay healthy lma cant be more than a mid round pick. jackson hasnt showed any signs of decline, still putting up near 20/5/5 numbers w/ 3s and stls, and even .5blks.

his fg% and to's are bad, so if he wants to be above average w/ those stats then he shouldnt keep him. if i were him i'd tank to's (i always do anyway) and try to be in the upper half in fg% . now that bobcats dont have felton and chandler, they need someone to pick up the slack. jax wont play those positions but his stats could go up this year.

The problem is that Portland doesn't really have any healthy bigs outside of Camby at the moment. Pryzbilla is still out and won't be ready for awhile, and Oden apparently hasn't started basketball activities yet. We all know how injury prone Camby tends to be as well.

Although LMA hasn't improved much over his career, I still feel like he'll take another step this season. Based on all the reports about him and the fact that Portland will be leaning heavily on him.

Look at what Yahoo and rotoworld reported about him...

YAHOO
F LaMarcus Aldridge has added 20 pounds to his 6-11 frame and is now weighing 260 pounds. "L.A. is a lot stronger, but the quickness and explosion is still there," said Bill Bayno, the Portland assistant coach who spent three weeks working with Aldridge in his native Dallas. "We worked on being physical in the drive game, when (defenders) crowd him and try to force him to shoot a fadeaway jumper. We worked a lot on his left-hand attack, on trying to get fouled by creating contact. I felt good leaving there. I think it will translate onto the court this season."

rotoworld
LaMarcus Aldridge has reportedly gained 20 pounds after a summer of hard work, increasing his weight to 260.

Aldridge has been working on his dribble-drive game, his left-handed shooting, and more, all in an effort to diversify his offensive attack. His statistics have barely changed over his three-year career, but hopefully this season he'll take a leap into elite territory.


It could really go either way, but in a keeper league I rather take a young big who produces than a 32 year old swingmen who also tends to be a category killer in two stats. I usually punt turnovers like you do, but fg% is still a big problem with Jax. Especially with the amount of shots he takes per game. I can see an argument towards taking Jax but in my opinion it's Aldridge.

[rocketsballin]

jax is the safe pick since he'll always get 20/5/5 w/ 3s and stls in charlotte, and with their starting pg gone he could get more asts this year. he can still put up those numbers for at least 2-3 years.

lma could possibly get more minutes now that he's 260. maybe the portland bigs never get healthy and they decide to trade one or 2 of them, and have lma play 35mpg. he's in his early prime years too so there's more upside. the only way i'd get him is if he starts blcking shots, at least 1.4bpg with the 18/8.

the way i play fantasy ball is different than you tho. i'll take a few low % players if they give me things like 5apg or 1.5stls / 3pts. i wont be top 5 in the %, but i can always be in the upper half, and be top 5 in other stats.

[AussieBuck]

What about mine? I can keep up to 5 (3 minimum) in a 12 team, 13 player, non-snake draft league.

Durant
Granger
Evans
Martin
Murphy
Gay

The first 3 are no-brainers. I think I will dump Gay (low upside, brings nothing different), and maybe Murphy too (doubts about new role in NJ), keep Martin (top 30 if healthy) and try to get a good PG (maybe B.Davis and Wall available) or C (Randolph or Camby).

Thoughts? Thanks!

B Diddy, Camby and Murphy are all excellent options. Trade Gay.

[rocketsballin]

What about mine? I can keep up to 5 (3 minimum) in a 12 team, 13 player, non-snake draft league.

Durant
Granger
Evans
Martin
Murphy
Gay

The first 3 are no-brainers. I think I will dump Gay (low upside, brings nothing different), and maybe Murphy too (doubts about new role in NJ), keep Martin (top 30 if healthy) and try to get a good PG (maybe B.Davis and Wall available) or C (Randolph or Camby).

Thoughts? Thanks!

durant, granger, evans, gay are keepers. the other one is up to you. both murphy and martins stats will go down this season. martin is only top 30 if he's a 20ppg player and that wont happen in houston. also hasnt been healthy for awhile but supposedly his last injury was a new injury so shouldnt linger. since troy is a big who makes his ft and 3s i'd keep him over martin. u already got 4 wings and they give you rbs anyway

[pj_tor]

What about mine? I can keep up to 5 (3 minimum) in a 12 team, 13 player, non-snake draft league.

Durant
Granger
Evans
Martin
Murphy
Gay

The first 3 are no-brainers. I think I will dump Gay (low upside, brings nothing different), and maybe Murphy too (doubts about new role in NJ), keep Martin (top 30 if healthy) and try to get a good PG (maybe B.Davis and Wall available) or C (Randolph or Camby).

Thoughts? Thanks!

I forgot to mention it's a 9 category, head-to-head league)

I can't trade anybody before choosing 5 keepers.

I like Martin because the last update on his health was encouraging. He said he would go back to "attack mode". If he doesn't score 20+, who will? Scola and Brooks are the only scoring options, so if Martin is healthy I expect no less than 23.5 PPG with a lot of threes an FT made. But again durability is a big concern.

Murphy was a clear keeper in Indiana, but I'm not sure about his new role in NJ. If he doesn't get 10 rebounds and 2 treys per he is not worth keeping and I should go for Camby or a PG.

So the big question marks are:

1) How much will Murphy's numbers decrease?
2) Has Gay any upside after 2 seasons with identical numbers?
3) Is Martin back to his pre-injuries self?
4) Should I take a flyer at keeping only 4 and going for a decent player in round 5, 56th choice? Maybe Wall so I get a star PG for a decade?
5) Should I dump FG%? (of course I will dump TO)
6) Any idea for round 6? Need blocks, assists, rebounds but I don't think there will be decent PG left, so maybe Randolph is the guy...

Thanks for the help guys!

[AussieBuck]

So the big question marks are:

1) How much will Murphy's numbers decrease?
2) Has Gay any upside after 2 seasons with identical numbers?
3) Is Martin back to his pre-injuries self?
4) Should I take a flyer at keeping only 4 and going for a decent player in round 5, 56th choice? Maybe Wall so I get a star PG for a decade?
5) Should I dump FG%? (of course I will dump TO)
6) Any idea for round 6? Need blocks, assists, rebounds but I don't think there will be decent PG left, so maybe Randolph is the guy...

Thanks for the help guys!

Hard to say about Murphy's threes in a new system but NJ need all the spacing they can get so I don't see that it's a lock that he'll shoot much less. His rebounding will be fine. Lopez won't steal any boards from him.
2)Gay has been overrated since he stopped taking a heap of threes. He has trade value but that;s about it.
3) Martin is always an injury concern I'd dump him.
5) It's almost never a good idea to dump two cats. It'll hamper both your drafting and free agent pickups.
Durant
Granger
Evans
Murphy
B Diddy/Camby depending on what else is available. That's a top 5 players that'll lead you to the title if your league is competitive.