{"id":219384,"date":"2010-01-14T17:36:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T22:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,yhoo:20050301:fantasy,article,yhoo-ept_sports_fantasy_experts-213699:1"},"modified":"2010-01-14T17:36:17","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T22:36:17","slug":"court-report-wait-til-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/219384","title":{"rendered":"Court Report: Wait ’til next season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blake Griffin’s<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> debut has been postponed until at least next season, and Brandon Roy’s<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> hammy could need some rest. <\/em><\/p>\n

• Blake Griffin’s season is officially over (not that it ever officially started). He experienced pain in his knee<\/a> soon after ramping up his rehabilitation to include activities like jumping in a pool, so he’s been shut down and will undergo surgery. The expected rehabilitation period is four to six months, which should<\/em> leave him plenty of time to be ready for the 2010-11 season. The unsuccessful attempt to avoid surgery (Mike Dunleavy<\/a> called the effort a calculated risk) is another knock on his long-term fantasy potential. His college game was almost completely dependant on explosive athleticism, and he never was a player that projected<\/a> to accumulate many steals-plus-blocks, make more than 60% of his free throws, or help anyone in terms of assists-to-turnovers. Captain Obvious thinks that Griffin and Greg Oden’s<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> recoveries and off-season regimens will be heavily scrutinized.<\/p>\n

Knowing that Griffin isn’t coming back could mean that the Clippers don’t move Marcus Camby<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> at the trade deadline, having no other everyday option at power forward. Camby is in the midst of another monster season, with a current per-game rank of 13th thanks to averages that include 11.7 boards, 3.2 assists, 1.1 turnovers, 1.2 steals, and 2.1 blocks. … Chris Kaman<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> has missed the past two games because of a bad back, but is feeling better and an MRI showed nothing of consequence<\/a>. He said he may be able to go Friday, but that "could be optimism." I’ve been saying since early in the season that 37 minutes per game are too many for Kaman’s body to handle, and you only need to look at his history to come to that conclusion. DeAndre Jordan<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> has started the past two games (averages 15 points, 7 boards, 1.5 blocks in 29 minutes) in Kaman’s absence and would be the clear beneficiary if Kaman ends up with significant health issues. Jordan (20 minutes, 7 points, 7 boards) lost time to Brian Skinner<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (19 minutes, 14 points 2 boards) Wednesday, but there aren’t many good reasons for that to become a trend. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

• Brandon Roy is "concerned" about a right hamstring strain that "could be serious." Plenty of ominous quotes here<\/a>, with the most troubling aspect being that this is an injury that has never fully recovered from last season<\/em>. To summarize: he aggravated the injury on Jan. 2 and it’s been bothering him since, and it really tightened up on him during Wednesday’s blowout of the Bucks, during which he played 27 minutes. A Thursday MRI confirmed the strain and he’s currently questionable for Friday<\/a>. Fantasy owners shouldn’t be surprised if Roy gets a few games off and deep-leaguers should make a quick check of Jerryd Bayless’<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> availability, although Rudy Fernandez’s<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> return muddies the backcourt roles in Portland.<\/p>\n

• Tim Duncan<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> got the night off Wednesday and will continue to sit out<\/a>
\nparts of back-to-backs as the season progresses, according to Gregg
\nPopovich. Duncan figures to be active for both of the Spurs’ games this weekend<\/a>, and the team only has one back-to-back in February<\/a>, but then it will get interesting. The Spurs have five back-to-backs in March<\/a> and two in April<\/a>,
\nso you have to expect those DNP-CDs to be a potential factor in h2h
\nplayoff matchups. … DeJuan Blair<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> went off in Duncan’s absence
\nWednesday, scoring 28 points and adding 21 boards, two steals, and two
\nblocks in 31 minutes before fouling out. Blair’s per-31 minute averages
\non the season include 13.2 points, 10.9 boards, 0.9 steals, 1.1 blocks,
\nand 4.8 fouls. <\/p>\n

• Kobe Bryant’s<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> back spasms kept him out of the entire second quarter<\/a>
\nWednesday, but he then went on to play all 24 minutes of the second
\nhalf. Bryant took just 11 shots and no free throws in the 100-95 win
\nover the Mavericks, after encouraging his teammates to be more agressive<\/a> earlier in the day.  <\/p>\n

• So much for Dwyane Wade’s<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> sore wrist<\/a>. He scored 35 points on 10-of-15 shooting and made all 15 of his free throws in the 115-102 win over the Warriors on Wednesday.  <\/p>\n

• Jameer Nelson<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> says his left knee isn’t close to 100 percent<\/a> and the numbers back it up. In 12 games since returning, Nelson has averaged 9.8 points on 38-percent shooting, 1.1 threes, 4.3 assists, 1.7 turnovers, and 0.5 steals in 27 minutes. He’s still dealing with soreness and occasional swelling, but he’s currently considered healthy enough to play through the issues. <\/p>\n

• Josh Howard<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (finally) replaced Jose Juan Barea<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> in the starting lineup for the Mavs, scoring 18 points and adding three treys, five boards, three assists, one steal, and one block in 36 minutes during the loss to the Lakers. <\/p>\n

• Jodie Meeks<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> set season-highs for minutes (31) and points (21) Wednesday, the second game for the post-Redd Bucks. He also added three treys, four boards, and a steal, and should be given plenty of chances to assert himself in the Bucks’ rotation moving forward<\/a>. Deep-leaguers in need of offense should consider an add here.  <\/p>\n

• Here’s the current top 10 in the Curry Line standings ((AST+STL+BLK)\/TO):<\/em> 1. Chris Paul<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (6.14), 2. Marcus Camby (5.90), 3. Ronnie Brewer<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (5.19), 4. Jason Kidd<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.92), 5. Ben Wallace<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.74), 6. C.J. Watson<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.50). 7. Mike Bibby<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.49), 8. Jose Calderon<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.45), 9. Chris Duhon<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.27), 10. Rajon Rondo<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (4.26)<\/p>\n

And the bottom 10: <\/em>1. Tyson Chandler<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (0.89), 2. Amar’e Stoudemire<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (0.99), 3. Jonas Jerebko<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.20), 4. Carl Landry<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.23), 5. Udonis Haslem<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.26), 6. Kendrick Perkins<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.30), 7. Corey Maggette<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.30), 8. Chris Kaman (1.33), 9. Kevin Durant<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.37), 10. Al Harrington<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> (1.42) <\/p>\n

• Friday status quick hitters:<\/em> Pau Gasol<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> will practice Thursday and is expected to play<\/a>. … Kevin Martin<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> practiced Wednesday and is "very likely"<\/a> to play. … Vince Carter<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> remains day-to-day<\/a> with a sprained left shoulder and his availability is not yet known. … Both Ben Gordon<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Tayshaun Prince<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> will have their status’ updated on Friday<\/a>. … Mike Miller<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> is doubtful<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

—<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blake Griffin’s(notes) debut has been postponed until at least next season, and Brandon Roy’s(notes) hammy could need some rest. • Blake Griffin’s season is officially over (not that it ever officially started). He experienced pain in his knee soon after ramping up his rehabilitation to include activities like jumping in a pool, so he’s been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}