How the Recent Trade Deadline Affects Your Fantasy Team

Perhaps the biggest trade nearing this year's trade deadline is the one that dealt Danny Granger to Philadelphia in exchange for Evan Turner and LaVoy Allen.  Danny Granger has officially gone from the best team in the Eastern Conference (record-wise) to the the second-to-worst team in the entire league.  Needless to say and absolutely an understatement, Danny Granger is not happy.  I doubt Evan Turner is either.  From a guy getting almost 35 MPG, being demoted to a bench role in Indiana isn't exactly what you hope more, but then again, now he has a chance to win an NBA championship.  So let's talk about how the following trades affect your fantasy team.

1. Warriors receive Steve Blake from the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks.  

• Stephen Curry - Stays absolutely relevant
• Klay Thompson - Will keep up his same level of play, three-pointers and a lot of shooting
• Jordan Crawford - Crawford lost fantasy relevance the second he left Boston, and now with the addition of Blake, there's absolutely no reason to have Crawford
• Steve Blake - Blake will be running back-up point guard duties, along with some run with the first string, placing Curry at the shooting guard.  Either way, Blake will be playing limited minutes.  If you're one of the many that picked him up upon his return from injury, I say give a trade a chance or just pick up someone new completely.  In limited minutes, Blake is only valuable in the deepest of leagues.  
• Kendall Marshall - Marshall should be picked up in any and every format.  With Nash riddled by injuries and Blake dealt to the Warriors, the only point guards on the Lakers are Marshall and Jordan Farmar.  On a tanking Lakers team, D'Antoni is going to develop Marshall as opposed to refining Farmar.  Marshall is good for a double-double every game, including multiple three-points and probably 12-13 assists.  Pick-up for sure.
• Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks? - Neither of these guys will really become relevant in fantasy basketball anytime soon.  If anything, Brooks will cut into Jodie Meeks's minutes, hurting him there, but until you see consistent production and minutes from either of these guys, there's no reason to add them.

2. Nets traded Jason Terry and Reggie Evans to the Kings for Marcus Thornton.

• Jason Terry - At this point in his career, Terry is inconsistent and good for a few three-pointers at best, and he will not be playing a large quantity of minutes in Sacramento.  Not worth a pick up.
• Reggie Evans - Evans is a great rebounder, but very little else.  He will be playing behind DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson, and Derrick Williams.  Evans will not be relevant fantasy-wise.
• Marcus Thornton - Thornton hasn't shown much life this season, but given enough minutes he could be a nice low-key pick-up.  However, I wouldn't do that until you see what New Jersey plans to do with him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got around 25-30 minutes per game, perhaps relevant in deeper leagues.

3. The 76ers acquire Byron Mullens from the Los Angeles Clippers in a trade involving future draft picks.

• Byron Mullens - Mullens is definitely one to keep an eye on.  Mullens's game style is similar to Spencer Hawes, and until Nerlens Noel is ready to come back, Mullens looks to be the main center in Philly considering Hawes has been dealt to Cleveland.  If you have a roster spot open, he's worth a shot.

4.  The Bucks send Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour to the Bobcats for Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien.

• Gary Neal - I would venture to say Neal may be worth a pick-up, and if not yet, definitely keep an eye on him.  In Charlotte, Walker mans the point-guard position with Gerald Henderson at the 2-guard.  If they wanted, they could play small-ball and move Henderson to the 3, put Kidd-Gilchrist at the 4, and have Al Jefferson at the 5, starting Gary Neal at the shooting guard.  Neal is a 6'4" guard that can hit from downtown, and he may be just what Charlotte is looking for to space the floor more.
• Luke Ridnour - Ridnour will be handling back-up point-guard duties behind Walker, and will not be getting enough minutes to be relevant.  Even if something were to happen to Walker, Neal would probably take over at the point-guard spot.
• Ramon Sessions - Sessions will not get enough minutes playing alongside Brandon Knight, OJ Mayo, and Giannis Antetokounmpo to hold much fantasy relevance.  However, Sessions is pretty streaky and if the Bucks decide to put him in front of Mayo in the rotation, he might have a shot in deeper leagues.
• Jeff Adrien - Adrien will not be relevant in any circumstances in Milwaukee.  

5. The 76ers send Spencer Hawes to the Cavaliers for Earl Clark, Henry Sims, and two future draft picks.

• Spencer Hawes - With Anderson Verejao ailing with injuries, Hawes steps right into Cleveland as the starting center.  He will have already been owned in your league, and he won't be dominant enough to warrant trading for him, but keep him if you already have him.
• Earl Clark - Not even hours after acquiring Clark, the 76ers waived the forward.  Needless to say, he should not be owned.
• Cavalier forwards - This trade really doesn't effect any other players on the Cavaliers besides Verejao.  When Verejao returns, there may be complications with splitting those minutes, so mind that.  

6.  Houston Rockets send Aaron Brooks to the Denver Nuggets for Jordan Hamilton.

• Aaron Brooks - While Ty Lawson continues to recover from his broken ribs, Brooks will take the start at point.  Brooks has the explosiveness to produce 18 points-8 assists in enough minutes.  If you have a roster spot, I would think about picking up Brooks until Lawson returns to the court.
• Randy Foye - As strange as it may sound, Randy Foye's value will go up with this trade.  Foye is a natural shooting guard, and being tossed into point-guard duties, he could create well but the turnovers and his shooting percentages were very negatively affected.  Now that there is a more natural point guard on the floor, Foye can return to his shooting guard role and become a dead-eye from three.
• Ty Lawson - Lawson will be unaffected.  As soon as he returns from injury, he will resume his role as the starting point guard for the Nuggets.
• Jordan Hamilton - Hamilton will be coming off the bench for Houston.  McHale likes to give the starters significant minutes, so there is pretty much no justification in owning Hamilton, Francisco Garcia, or Omri Casspi.

7. Indiana Pacers send Danny Granger to Philadelphia for Evan Turner and LaVoy Allen.

• Now you've already heard plenty about the Granger Grumblings and his dissatisfaction with his new team, so I'll cut to the chase.
• Danny Granger - Seeking a buy-out from Philly, and considering Granger has not participated in a single basketball-related activity with the team, it's definitely a situation to keep an eye on.  I believe that whatever the case is, Granger will eventually play in Philadelphia.  There's a lot of question about how he'll be resuming a starting role.  I believe he will be effective, and he will be playing hard in order to attract notice from other teams if he wants to leave Philadelphia.  If he begins to participate in practices with the team (which I believe he will within the week), he's a must-add in my opinion.
• Evan Turner - This trade kills Turner's fantasy value.  Turner was playing almost 35 MPG averaging 17.4 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists a game in Philadelphia.  In Indiana, he will take on Granger's workload of a little over half those minutes, cutting Turner's production drastically.  If you can get anyone to take Turner off your hands for whatever you can get, I advise you to do so.
• James Anderson - If Granger keeps this up and either receives the buy-out demand or just doesn't want to play, this opens up the small forward position in Turner's absence.  I would look to James Anderson as the guy that fills the role.  If this is the case, I say pick him up.  He's going to want to prove himself on this team, and if he gets Turner's workload or close to it, he could probably be good for 12-6-3 on a given night, draining a couple of threes in the process.
• Paul George, Lance Stephenson - These guys will be unaffected, just as every other Pacer will be unaffected.  The acquisition of Turner will not mix up the rotation in any way; Turner will just be replacing Granger in the rotation.
  
  
  

I basically covered the majority of the trade-deadline transactions, but if you have any other questions or opinions, feel free to contact me.

5 Tips for Trading Players in Fantasy Basketball

How do you know what a good trade looks like in fantasy basketball?

For the majority of trades, there is one person who is benefiting and one person who is getting the short end of the stick.  Even though both parties think the trade may be fair, it's not for one of them.  For instance, about two weeks ago, James Harden was slacking, and my friend got tired of his nonexistent first-round production.  Knowing I was a Rockets fan, he came to me first.  I told him I'd give David Lee for Harden, straight up, and he almost accepted.  He wanted to see what else he could get, so it ended up becoming a 3-for-3 trade, sending Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and David Lee to him in exchange for James Harden, Samuel Dalembert, and DeJuan Blair.  I immediately dropped the latter two.  So here I am, sending three real good players in exchange for one player who has been struggling and two players who I just dropped, because to me, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and LeBron James are a power trio and I could pick up two guys on waivers who were producing better than Blair and Dalembert.  So now you're wondering where I'm headed with this, and basically, I'm just going to give a few pointers on trade advice for fantasy basketball.

1. Never buy high.  Don't try to trade for a player when they're hot.  If they never cool down, chances are their owner won't trade them anyway, and you'd be getting taken advantage of if you came to an agreement.  For instance, don't try to trade for Westbrook now that he's almost hit a triple double in his last five straight games, but instead, wait for Westbrook to 4-22 from the field with 2 assists and 5 rebounds with 7 turnovers before you make an offer.  Obviously, this kind of performance is rare and this is an extreme example, but you catch my drift.

2. Multi-Player deals are the key. You'll never get the better deal on a one-for-one trade.  It just won't happen.  Nobody is going to give up their precious star for somebody who is producing worse than your target.  That's why you have to convince them with other players.  So, for instance, you want Steph Curry, and you want to trade John Wall for him.  Needless to say, nobody will part with Curry in that deal unless they're a die-hard Wizards fan, which is unlikely.  So take Curry and your friend's two worst players and offer up Wall and two guys you picked up off waivers that have had a few good games recently, and maybe he'll take a look and say, "Well Curry is better than Wall, but just by a little, and these two guys haven't been producing well for me, so sure, why not."  Now I'm not saying this works like a charm, but try it.  It's a lot more efficient than asking a one-for-one.

3. Know who's injured or sitting out.  Occasionally, players get injured and sit out for a few weeks, giving huge boosts to other players.  Let's take Andrea Bargnani for example.  Bargnani was barely doing anything, and then Chandler gets injured and Bargnani's minutes go up -> he becomes productive.  However, when Chandler comes back, Bargnani will become irrelevant.  When you piece Chandler's return with the resurgence of Amar'e Stoudemire, you don't want Bargnani on your team.  However, right now he's averaging 15 points and 5 rebounds in 31 minutes of action, a good bargaining chip for a big trade.  Throw him in the mix, and people will see his current production and may go for it.  He's currently the 23rd ranked power forward in the NBA (according to ESPN), but he won't be for long.  So pay attention to things like that.

4. Look at minutes.  As simple as it may sound, a player needs to be on the court to produce.  If he's not getting minutes, he won't bring you what he could.  Among the top 10 fantasy producers, they average 35 minutes per game.  You need those kinds of minutes in order to reach potential, and there's no point in having someone on your team who won't reach that potential.  Don't ever trade for somebody averaging less than 30 minutes per game.  That means they're either splitting the time with another player in that position, or they're coming off the bench, neither of which you want.

5. Consider the number of possessions.  When you watch a game, who is the offense run through?  Let's take the most extreme example in Carmelo Anthony.  He leads the league in shot attempts per game at 20.8, but he touches the ball on every possession.  In addition to his 39 minutes, he's a part of every offensive play during those minutes.  If he's a part of that play, then that's a much higher chance he will either score or get an assist on it.  Even better is LeBron.  What makes him so valuable is that he's a good passer and commands the ball on every play.  When was the last time you watched a Heat game where LeBron didn't touch the ball on a play?  Exactly.  Steph Curry, Chris Paul, and Luol Deng are prime players who control the possessions.  Let's look on the flip side.  Harrison Barnes and Corey Brewer average over 34 minutes per game each, yet average less than a lot of players on waivers. Why, if they're getting so much playing time?  In Barnes's case, on the Warriors, there are players like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson that the offense goes through every time.  You know that during the possession, Steph will have the ball.  Barnes, on the other hand, won't the majority of the time.  Much similar to Barnes, in Brewer's case on the Timberwolves, his ceiling is limited because of Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love.  Rubio runs the offense and it will touch Love 80% of the time.  So don't just focus on minutes, but watch a game and see how the offense works.

I hope this helps everyone out and you can get some bargains on some top players.