Players to Avoid In Daily Fantasy Basketball This Season

Who is that one player that totally kills your daily fantasy basketball lineup each night? For some reason you are drawn to him and then he lets you down night after night. These are players that have burned me and have burned you in 2012. There’s reasons to avoid these players that many don’t consider when creating their lineups. Injury risk, variance, blowout teams, to name a few. Here are my top choices for unstable players to avoid in 2012. (All players value is analyzed compared to DraftStreet player salaries.)

The “Broken Stars”

Derrick Rose – Rose is a bonafide superstar in the NBA, but that doesn’t always translate into Fantasy gold. The problem with Rose is two-fold. First (and most obviously), it is becoming more and more difficult to predict whether or not Rose will play on a given night. You don’t want a $18,000 goose egg sitting in your lineup. What’s more, Rose has only surpassed 35 fantasy points per game four times this season meaning in general he far underperforms his $18,000 price tag.

Dwyane Wade – See Derrick Rose. What is true for Derrick Rose applies to Wade as well. You have no idea if he is going to play on any given night and like Rose has underperformed his value. Wade has only 2 games this season over 35 fantasy points per game. Again, at a price tag north of $17,000, he far underperforms his value most nights.

Russell Westbrook – Who saw this coming? Coming off of a monster season, Russell Westbrook has become undraftable in salary cap formats. Westbrook is averaging 30 fantasy points per game, but has only cracked over 35 points 4 times and over 40 points twice. Therefore at over $17,000, more often than not Westbrook has been a bad play. There is really no explanation for this kind of drop in Westbrook’s performance. Hopefully the security of a new contract will improve his numbers.

Deron Williams – Like Westbrook, Williams has been a bit of a disaster this season averaging just 28.5 fantasy points per game. Unlike Westbrook, I think we can attribute the dorp in his numbers to his lack of supporting cast. The loss of Brook Lopez in the preseason left a huge hole in the Nets’ front court. There is little reason to think Williams can get back into that elite territory even as his value has dropped under $16,000.

Amare Stoudamire – What happened to Amare? Stoudamire is averaging only 17 points and 8 rebounds a game this year compared with 25 points and 8 boards last season. There isn’t really a good reason for Amare to be this bad. Is Melo freezing the ball? Is the addition of Chandler clogging up the middle? Whatever the reason Amare has been terrible all season and continues to see his value drop and is currently costing fantasy players just north of $13,500.

Just Plain Lousy:

Stephen Jackson – Despite having a good game last night, this guy is a complete donkey. Not only have Captain Jack’s numbers been terrible, but now you don’t even know if he is going to play on any given night and he’s coming off the bench. Last Tuesday Scott Skiles sat him for the entire second half and finished the game shooting 0-6. Then, Friday night in New York he is suspended by the team for missing the team bus to shoot around. Then two games ago Stephen Jackson managed to put up 0 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists in 26 minutes. You read that right, no points in 28 minutes. Outside of a good two game stretch two weeks ago, Jackson hasn’t met the minimum 2 points per $1000 spent that most players look for.

Andray Blatche – Everything I wrote about Jackson applied to Blatche. Blatche is another locker room cancer in a locker room full of ‘em. I can’t give you a single reason to have him on your roster. In his last 3 games he has scored just 43 fantasy points making his $11,000 price tag a cancer to YOUR lineup.

Ivan Johnson – I don’t have anything negative to say about Johnson. He is a good hustle player and will probably see a small bump in minutes with Al Horford out for the season, but who is paying over $11,000 for a guy averaging 8.5 fantasy points per game and scoring over his 22 point value threshold just once? I really think he is the worst value in the game right now.

The Boom or Bust Guys:

These guys are the guys in your lineup that can make or break you on any given night (and usually do). In GPPs, sure, roll the dice. But in heads up contests, know that these guys are high-variance, and that you are rolling the dice whenever you pick one of them:

DeMarcus Cousins – Seriously, is there anyone tougher to have in (or leave out) of your lineup? Cousins is my ultimate boom or bust guy. I want him in my lineup every night knowing he can put up a double-double every night. That said, when he puts up a 10 and 4 game, I’m not surprised. With that in mind Cousins does have four consecutive double-doubles and has looked impressive. Proceed with caution.

John Wall – Joining Cousins on this list is fellow 2010 draft pick, John Wall. Wall produced one of the biggest fantasy point totals in the NBA this season putting up 59 points a week ago against the Rockets. Wall has also had his share of “clunkers,” to borrow a word from Shane Battier. Eight times this season Wall has scored 23 fantasy points or fewer. Surely, at a price of $15,500 you want more than 23 points.

Tim Duncan – The Fundamental has become a boom or bust guy. This season alone, the Big Fundamental has five games scoring under twenty fantasy points and five games scoring over 35 fantasy points. This means that he has played six games scoring between 20 and 35 points. That is the definition of inconsistent. It is hard to put a guy like Duncan in your lineup especially knowing that Coach Pop will be looking to rest him during this abbreviated NBA season.

Thanks for reading and please let me know any players that have killed you this season in the comments below.