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NBA Fantasy utter disappointments: drafted high, playing low

Sorry for being out of circulation for a while boys and studs, but daddy's been busy burning rubber for the fam. That's something you wish some of your high draft picks could have been doing for you at this early point of the season—for your Fantasy family, that is. The dilemma for those underachieving, high-profile dudes you presently have is that you're kinda iffy on wanting to trade them 'coz they just might break out of their current funk, and if you trade them now you're thinking you won't get much for them in return, at least presently.

Thankfully for those in roto leagues, this is still November and you can be wee bits more patient than your brothers in H2H formats who are now beginning to feel the pinch of fantasy reality. Let's see if I can help you make decisions. Or maybe this might even you screw you up more…

Wave the White Flag: Derrick Rose, Andrew Bynum, Danny Granger

Wave the Checkered Flag: Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, Chauncey Billups

Injured Dudes that Suck: Dirk Nowitzki, John Wall, Andrew Bogut

RELATED: Bogut not sure when he'll return

Waive/Trade (?):

1. Roy Hibbert-C (IND), O-Rank—64th: from a yummy 2011-12 campaign that saw the former Hoya register career-highs in points (12.8 PPG), rebounds (8.8 RPG), FG% (.497) and blocks (2.0 BPG), Hibbert is now reduced to a lumbering shot-blocker this season (3.1 BPG) padded by that insane eleven swat fluke against the Hornets a week back. Hibbert is struggling from the field (.388, career-low) and thus his scoring has also dropped to 9.5 PPG. One of the biggest factors of this dip is that he's back to being a foul machine, averaging 3.5 FPG.

SLIDESHOW: The Celtics-Nets Brawl

Despite the almost 30-minutes a game he can't seem to stop opposing bigs without coming into contact with them (he's blocking most of the slashers, though). He's trying to block every shot that goes his way and as a result, the percentages have caught up with him. When Hibbert does stay on the floor, he's trying to make up for lost time by hurrying his attempts (72 attempts in the Pacers last six games). The atrocious shooting continues from the free throw line where is a career worst .529—a far cry from his norm of .718 FT%. If there is a silver lining for Hibbert, it's that the season is still in its infancy stages, and when he does get out of his haze, he's going to be the Fantasy monster we all realistically expect him to be. I think.

Roto: Absolutely keep and make him the 1st bench option among bigs

H2H (Standard and below): Trade for stat deficiencies

H2H (Deep): Field and pray…


2. Ersan Ilyasova-PF (MIL), O-Rank—52nd: again, the tremendous expectations after witnessing the Turk attain a breakout year last season, many drafted Ilyasova as early as the third round hoping for an anticipated incline after being named the Bucks' starting power forward. A month into the new season, we've seen Ilyasova hit double figures in scoring a grand total of FOUR TIMES, in a span of eleven games, nine of which he started. His season averages thus far: 6.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG, less than a steal and a block a game and a .349 FG clip. Horrible.

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Now the problem is, it's difficult to trade him now because of the changes in Milwaukee's line-up pushing the seventh year man to reserve status. He did have 18 points off the bench in the win against the Bulls as well as boosts in other categories in that outing, but there has hardly been any positive consistency in Ilyasova's work that it's hard to see how he belongs in your daily roster. Roto managers have the luxury of benching him and waiting for him to show a glimmer of his former self, but even they are getting impatient (I obviously don't have this problem). Personally, the strength of the Bucks this season has been their very deep backcourt combinations (Jennings-Ellis, Udrih-Dunleavy-Daniels-Et. Al) and the emergence of Larry Sanders vs. Ekpe Udoh on who the better Dalembert vulture is. The forward spot is complimentary at best, pedestrian at worst. So in the case of Ilyasova, I think it's high time managers swallow their pride and stop relying on him to contribute Fantasy-wise. It's just not happening for him this year.

Roto: Bench and exercise extreme patience or sell low

H2H (Standard and below): drop

H2H (Deep): sell low

3. Gerald Wallace-SF/PF (BKN), O-Rank—48th: if you take a look at it closely, "Crash" has turned into a journeyman! He's in his second season with his fourth NBA team already. He blossomed into the Fantasy rock he is since joining Charlotte in 2004 (yes, Dwight Howard's rookie year) and his stability (especially for roto teams) across the board made him co-runner-up to Ben Wallace and Josh Smith for Fantasy Stud of the Decade (OK, this was my unofficial poll back in 2010, the winner being the pair of Kevin Garnett and Shawn Marion). Now entering a new era in his career, the former Alabama stalwart has been a true disappointment thus far—I own him in four of my eight leagues. Sure, let's consider he's been playing hurt. Sure, let's consider the fact that he's played in only seven of the Nets' 14 games so far. Sure, he's had to get used to Deron Williams falling in love with the Brook Lopez post game and the Joe Johnson stoke to take any notice of the versatile forward and what he potentially could bring to the forefront. But the bottom line is Wallace has not provided the lift us third round drafters hoped he would be showering our wanting Fantasy squads.

VIDEO: Rajon Rondo, Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace all ejected for fighting

Apparently, Wallace's lack of productivity has not hampered the turn-around season of Brooklyn (9-4). So is Crash a viable Fantasy option at this point? Just know that Kris Humphries is still tasked with the same rebounding chores and is now complimented by the rebound-only Reggie Evans—so this takes away Wallace's boards numbers (3.4 RPG from 6.3 RPG for his career). Lopez took super-duper pills at the start of the season and is somehow swatting 2.5 BPG—so this takes away Wallace's blocks numbers (0.7 BPG from 0.9 BPG for his career). He's still pilfering at a high level (2.5 SPG), but his scoring has definitely taken a hit due to Williams, Johnson and Lopez having the ball 90% of the time and the Nets have been winning. Wallace won't argue with that result. We in the Fantasy world, however, are devastated by the repercussions of Brookyn's rise from obscurity.

Roto: Bench and wait (for now, he's still worth it)

H2H (Standard and below): Try trading for someone who is enamoured by his past

H2H (Deep): You have no choice but to pray you can trade him high, or just keep him (with your fingers crossed)


4. Marcin Gortat-C (PHX), O-Rank—39th: after revelling in his brilliant performances in the first two weeks of the season, all of a sudden the former sleeper from Poland has only been able to score in double figures four times in the Suns' last ten games. Many attribute this to Michael Beasley turning into the black hole he was touted to be. Others claim that Goran Dragic has stopped being the Steve Nash clone and become the Steve Nash Bizzaro. The Gortat mystery is one of the most baffling in the new season so far. There are no injuries. He's still getting the same minutes as a starter. Yet his production has declined very steeply.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what is known as a "slump"; something many professional athletes endure during a long season. In the case of Gortat it's happening now, at just about the same time Phoenix is also going through the post Honeymoon stage. Luis Scola was relegated to bench duties—something we never dreamed happening to the king of international basketball. Jared Dudley lost his starting job to Shannon Brown (not much of an upgrade). And the best player off the Suns' bench is washed-up Jermaine O'Neal (10.9 PPG—on .544 FG% and .824 FT%, 6.2 RPG, 0.9 SPG, and 1.9 BPG over his last seven games). That's how screwed up it is in the Valley of the Sun right now. Gortat is a top quality center and he will—to use a boxing and running term—find his second wind very soon. How he lost his first wind is still a major wonder.

Roto: Bench option, but still field in depending on Suns' assignments (Daily Leagues)

H2H (Standard and Below): Sell-high or be patient

H2H (Deep): Are you kidding me?

5. Dwight Howard-C (LAL), O-Rank—11th: I've always wondered why arguably the best center in the NBA has always been ranked so low in the Yahoo! O-Ranks. Initially, I believed that his massive production (18.4 PPG, career, .578 FG%, career) his rebounding prowess (12.9 RPG, career) and his shot blocking abilities (2.2 BPG, career) more than made up for the other categories he was weak at. Now, I'm older, wiser and am no longer blinded by the fact that his high turnover rate (3.1 TPG, career) and revolting free throw percentages (58.5 FT%, career) coupled with the number of times he has to shoot them (9.3 FTA, career) is what makes him the parking brakes to a Fantasy team trying to zoom and win it all. Unfortunately, when he lands on you as a late first round pick, you somehow still draft him, right? That really sucks.

This season, Howard has been more repulsive from the stripe at 47.8% on 10.5 FTA per game! I have the misfortune of having him and one Blake Griffin in one of my H2 hhhH leagues and, needless to say, I've been extremely struggling. There are many team managers who punt certain categories in a season—usually it's turnovers. But it's difficult to punt two categories and still go on to win the title. So my advice is TRADE DWIGHT HOWARD HIGH—NOW. In one league, I just pulled off a Dwight Howard for Kevin Love dinger and in the aforementioned league where I have Howard and Griffin, I've just offered them both for the duo of Love and Ryan Anderson. I know that that is a tall order to firstly, have the opposing manager to accept the trade and secondly, to have the league not veto it, but if I can pull it off, maybe I'll have a shot at the playoffs.

Roto: Sell-High (maybe for a Ryan Anderson, Rajon Rondo or even a Carmelo Anthony)

H2H (Standard and below): ditto

H2H (Deep): ditto

Follow Noel on Twitter: @NoelZarate

Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.

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