Recent Moves

Spoonful drop Landry for Brooks

With Alston out, and the gap-toothed, oft-picked-up-and-dropped Landry not turning into Paul Millsap, the Spoonful elected to get on the Aaron Brooks train for the second time. Brooks will again provide some points, 3s and AST. Expect 18 and 10 in Landry's next game

Judgment Haiku:

Bricks clang, whistles blow

Fouls and TOs aplenty;

Rockets never launch

My$hkin cuts DeShawn for Belinelli

Marco Belinelli is the next Rob Kurz - he started and scored 21 points, after two nice games off the bench. Remarkably, if I'm not mistaken, 11 Warriors are owned right now, and none of them are Wright or Randolph. DeShawn is still doing his thing, but remains upside-free.

Judgment Limerick:

A guard, Belinelli, a Warri-

-or has become a great I-talian story,

Once allowed on the floor,

He went off for 21, 4, and 4,

And Nellie exclaimed: "That's Amore!"

My$hkin drops Miles for Walton

Luke Walton is suddenly starting, sending VladRad to the bench - it seems to be working, as the Lakers have won 4 straight, and LukeLuke himself had a nice 14/5/2 line in his last outing. Miles and his fellow black starter, Ronnie Brewer were benched for most of the last Utah game by J-Slo, and some think his run as a starter may be close to an end. We think C.J. will be somewhat useful going forward

Judgment, in Prose: We like this move - Walton's always been intriguing, and, when healthy, can be a nice all-round contributor. He does have some competitiion (T-Ariz and VladRad) at SF, so keep an eye on his minutes going forward. For your poetry fix - check out C.J. Miles (the nba player, not the sexy filipina model) rapping...

Spoonful releases Rasho, picks up Marreese

This was another quick, though perhaps ill-advised, pickup by the Spoonful. E-Brizzle is out for a month with a separated shoulder, and Speights, discussed originally here, should see an uptick in PT. That might just mean more fouls and missed FTs, but Marreese is intriguing as a young, athletic big-man. Perhaps the Hosens would be interested in a Bonner/Speights package deal. Rasho's been OK, though annoyingly inconsistent and foul-prone, but has lost his starting gig to an unholy combination of Roy Hibbert and Jeff Foster. Fun fact - originally, the Hosen dropped Speights for Rasho back in October.

Judgment Haiku:

Rasho, piece of poop

Similarities abound.

Can Marreese be worse?

The Kleiz is Right

Nor'Easter drops Brooks, picks up Kleiza

U of O standout Aaron Brooks, discussed many times, has continued to produce, but is fairly one-dimensional, and has benefitted less than most from the Rockets' injury woes due to the strong recent play of Skip-to-my-lou. Surprisingly good bench production from L-Head and Von Wafer(!) have cut into Brooks 'microwave' role off the bench. Brooks is a three-teamer thus far - will he join his fourth?

The Spoonful recently dropped Kleiza, who now joins his third team, and Nor'Easter was looking to improve his rebounding without giving up 3s. Kleiza is a perfect fit! He gets his 22 minutes, 10 pts, a couple 3s, and a few DREBs. He's not rebounding, as mentioned in a previous post, at the rate he did in the past (partly because he's not being asked to play PF...yet),

Judgment: We think this is a strong move for Nor'Easter. They're both consistent 6th-7th men and provide strong 3-shooting. The shift to (supposedly) better rebounding is a smart one, and we believe Kleiza has more upside in general.

Flip this House!

Nor'Easter drops House, reclaims A. Brooks

Eddie House, recently picked up, is now back on the FAP. Indeed, his tenure with Nor'Easter lasted fewer than 15 hours, and Aaron Brooks, master of the 'Brooks/Landry effect' had nice 15 and 19 point games after being dropped earlier in the week for Fat May. Both players' situations appear the same as ever.

Judgment: We disapproved of dropping Brooks for May, and it's clear that Brooks is outproducing House in points and 3s, which are the only cats in which Eddie contributes. Moreover, Brooks is getting more minutes, and is likely to have plenty of opportunity with the perpetually struggling Rafer Alston ahead of him on the depth chart.

Packing on the Pounds

Nor'Easter drops Brooks, picks up May

Brooks was discussed originally here; Nor'Easter picked him up while he was filling in for suspended Rafer Alston. Brooks had a nice 14/8/3 game, but 6/2/2 and 8/0/4 in the next two games, along with Alston's return, were enough to convince Nor'Easter to drop him. He's in an interesting position, though, as supposed injuries to T-Mac, Yao, and Artest may make even more minutes and scoring opportunites available. Indeed, he had 15 pts tonight, but only 1 AST and no REBs. He might just be too one-dimensional to be much of a fantasy option. It's probably that he'll be the first player to be owned by three distinct teams this year, however.

Sean 'Fat' May shed enough flab to get back into the Bobcats rotation, and is indeed starting again. But he's gotten only 12 MPG in his last 2 games, and is only averaging 3/2 on the season. His coach gave him this vote of confidence yesterday: "It's obvious Sean is not ready to play. Nowitzki is a handful for anybody, but he is just not ready to play...I just want him to be able to run up and down the court without getting tired,"

Judgment: We all remember May dominating the paint at UNC, and he's shown 20/10 flashes on occasion - but he's both extremely injury prone and painfully fat, and seems unlikely to contribute in the short or medium term. That said, if he does get into shape, he'll have plenty of opportunity, unless the 'Cats sign another PF, as Jared Dudley is his only competition. We don't see the logic in this move at this juncture, as Brooks, while limited, is still producing, and May is no prize. That said, Nor'easter can afford to be patient.

Nor'Easter pounces on Brooks

drops Powe

We've discussed Powe here, and Brooks here; not much has changed, except that Brooks has played very well of late, and will start a couple games while Rafer is out after the 'brawl':

 

Judgment: Very strong move - Brooks looks to be earning more and more minutes - he is a very limited player though; even if he scores 14 a night with a couple 3s, he's not going to do much else in terms of assists or rebounds. Powe will be up and down as the Celtics do or do not blow people out, and his 9/8 style production can almost always be had off the wire.

Going backwards?

Spoonful drop Brooks for Quinn

We have discussed Quinn and Brooks both previously.

The Spoonful dropped Quinn just 10 days ago, and picked up Brooks soon thereafter. Quinn does seem to have worked his way into the rotation - after 2 DNP-CDs to open the season, he's up to 20MPG, and is shooting an impressive (if unsustainable) 66% from 3. Brooks only played 9 minutes last night (0 points), and while he's had a few 14 point games, he doesn't offer much other than points, which the Spoonful have in abundance.

Judgment: Quinn has looked good for the last two days, but will likely only thrive until Chalmers starts to find his way more consistently. On the other hand, D-Wade's penetrate & dish style has made stars out of moderately good 3 point shooters before (remember Damon Jones?). Brooks could be useful, especially if Rafer continues to struggle, but he's not really a ballhandler or a steal-getter. The Spoonful are making an effort to become an uncharacteristic 3-Ballin' team, since they have serious weaknesses in DREB and BLK. All in all, these two are pretty similar players, but it looks to us that Quinn is the better pick in the short term.

Sefo-'loser'

Spoonful drops sefolosha, picks up Brooks

Again, Thabo has been discussed recently.

Aaron Brooks is in his 2nd year out of Oregon; he's only 6'0, but is very fast, and can score. He was out with an ankle injury, but scored 14 last night. It's unclear what to expect from him, if anything, as he shot often and terribly from 3pt territory. He may, however, get playing time if Rafer continues to stink it up.

Judgment: The Spoonful is a touch desperate for PT, and is worried about the PG position, having lost Tony Parker to trade, and Marbury and Quinn to drops.Will Boobie Gibson be the next Spoonful pickup?