ROTOWIRE.COM NFL MLB / Minors NBA NHL GOLF RACING    COMMUNITY FORUMS PODCASTS MYROTOWIRE ASK AN EXPERT GAMES

More Chinese Imports Arriving Daily

JR Smith is headed to New York, he announced via Twitter this morning. Smith is expected to make an appearance at Madison Square Garden for tonight's game against the Hornets, and could be in uniform as soon as this Sunday when the Knicks play the Mavericks.

The addition should pay immediate dividends for New York. The Knicks' second unit has been playing very good defense, but has struggled to score points. Look for Smith to remedy that. He should have a pretty significant role, backing up Landry Fields at the two and Carmelo Anthony at the three, with Bill Walker and Steve Novak likely taking a significant hit to their playing time. The run on Smith has already started - his percent owned is already up to 28 in Yahoo leagues, but he's still just 6.9 percent owned in ESPN/NBA.com's system.

New York waived little-used Renaldo Balkman to clear a roster spot.

More help could be on the way. According to a report from Kurt Helin at ProBasketballTalk.com, Wilson Chandler will be allowed to opt out of his Chinese League contract before their playoffs. If that happens, Chandler could be back in a Denver Nuggets uniform much sooner than anticipated... and the Nuggets need him badly; they've struggled since they lost Danilo Gallinari to injury.

It's hard to imagine another player of Chandler's quality becoming available at this point in the season - and he's available in most Yahoo (11% owned) and ESPN/NBA.com (2.6% owned) leagues. One note of caution, though... for some reason, ESPN classifies Chandler as a "can't cut" player - despite the fact that he hasn't played a single game this year. If you do claim him and he is forced to stay in China until the CBA playoffs are over, you might not be able to unload him.

And on a speculative note - I haven't heard anyone suggest this yet, but it stands to reason that Aaron Brooks might be able to work a similar deal. This might be a good time to put in a claim, especially in deeper or very competitive leagues.


Comments

There have been no comments made on this article. Why not be the first and add your own comment using the form below.

Leave a comment

Commenting is restricted to registered users only. Please register or login now to submit a comment.

Tell Someone

  • Digg it
  • submit to reddit reddit
  • Add to Mixx!

Recent Favorites

How BABIP Affects the Value of Strikeouts and Walks
The league-average batting-average-on-balls-in-play (BABIP) has been on a downward trajectory for the last half decade, something that has implications for the values of different at-bat outcomes. BABIP is down precipitously this season (.289), though it's hard to tell to what extent that's due to all the shifting defenses (better data on where balls are hit have enabled this), or is simply just an April cold-weather/small sample anomaly.
NHL Playoff Observations -- Monday
Just a few things that caught my eye ...
  • Alexander Semin was on the wrong side of the grocery stick most of the night. You know, that spot between the back-up goalie and the rest of the team ... the one where the dead wood goes so it doesn't get in the way of on-the-fly changes.
  • Honey badger don't care. Honey badger doesn't give a $%!&.  T.J. Oshie gave up four inches and 50 pounds to Dustin Penner, but he didn't care. Then again, honey badger didn't care when he hit Rick Nash a few years ago, either. I wonder if the NHL would let me get a Blues #74 jersey with Honey Badger on the back.
Buy Lowest
Every year, we hear advice about how it's time to "buy low" on struggling stars like Albert Pujols, Giancarlo Stanton and Robinson Cano. "Get them now for cheap before they heat up!" Except that the market for superstars - at least in competitive leagues - usually doesn't move much after one bad month. (Whether it should in these cases is another question). It's more likely that the Pujols and Stanton owners are doubling down, figuring that only a hot streak from a player of that caliber can undo the damage that's already been done.

That doesn't mean you can't take advantage of the market's early overreaction, but you'll have to aim a little lower and take on quite a bit more risk. The players listed below are those who should be available at an actual discount.

Fantasy Rookies
Now that the 2012 NFL Draft is complete and rosters look about the way they will when training camps open in late July, it’s time to start the speculation train full steam ahead to fantasy draft days. Many players taken in this class will have a fantasy impact, some immediate, some in small spurts as rookies and some not for years to come.
Cowboys Draft: First Blush Thoughts
My initial reactions to the 2012 Dallas draft crop.

RSS Feeds