Week 10 Matchup Rankings

This weekly ranking is based on opponents’ points given up per possession based on pace.

5 Games	4 Games	3 Games	2 Games
Phoenix	Golden State LA Clippers Philadelphia Utah Orlando Miami LA Lakers Charlotte Dallas Milwaukee Toronto Denver Indiana Chicago Washington Minnesota	San Antonio Sacramento Cleveland Oklahoma City Portland Atlanta Detroit New Orleans New York Brooklyn Houston	Boston Memphis

What we learned last week

Ish Smith can’t stop won’t stop

Philly made an interesting trade bringing Ish Smith back into the fold. We have already seen what Ish Smith can do when he is given the keys to the offense. In New Orleans, Smith was able string together stretches of high quality standard league value when he was playing starter’s minutes.

Immediately after joining Philly, Smith got the start and scored 14 points with 5 assists, two rebounds, a steal and a block with one three-pointer in 31 minutes. Time to jump back on the Ish Smith bandwagon. All those in need of guard stats should snag him back up immediately.

Scott Skiles should stop

All Oladipo owners have to be ready to book their flight to Orlando to give Skiles some street justice, and I for one can’t blame them. Granted Frye and Fournier are seeing a lot more run, but a top tier fantasy player such as Oladipo needs to be release to play full time.

What sort of lineups Skiles will finish the year with, let alone finish January with will continue to be anyone’s guess. This type of nonsense will continue to hurt fantasy owners as long as he is coaching, which will be a while.

Injuries Suck

With Valanciunas set to return in Toronto, news is Bledsoe is possibly out until March in Phoenix. Blake Griffin, though temporary is also out. It should be expected that at least two of your main guys will end up on the IR for at least a decent amount of time. Knowing what to do during that time is very important. Knowing how to get those stats back to maintain production. Maybe needing to drop a good guy for those stats?

In Roto, this is why it is ok to be up on games with guys who get on hot streaks, when someone gets injured, you will have played quality games and won’t miss those starts as much as you would if you were catching up.

What to Watch This Week

Monday

Milwaukee vs Dallas
Michael Carter-Williams has improved with the absence of Coach Kidd, whether this was just a coincidence of him getting healthy while Kidd was not, or if the trust of MCW by the temporary coach is a positive to his performance is yet to be seen. Monroe’s minutes over the last two weeks have dwindled down to 27.6 minutes per game. Jabari has been ineffective though has been playing more, OJ Mayo even more so. Lots of potential on this team, but only a few players with value.

Tuesday

Cleveland vs Denver
Will Barton continues to climb the fantasy ranks as he is playing fearless basketball while Gallinari recovers from injury. The rest of this team could learn something from him as they seem to barely be scraping by for most fantasy owners. Nikola Jokic has won favor in the ongoing center battle in Denver and is worth a pickup. Continue to monitor Kyrie’s return as he will take at least a month to get back to full form, and I’m sure the Cavs don’t want to rush or over work him.

Wednesday

Philadelphia vs Sacramento
How will the Ish Smith era continue in Philly? Does this mean a return to form from Noel, or is he just unable to play with Okafor. Where has Covington fallen off to? Will he improve with stability at the point guard? On the Kings, Casspi continues to impress and play heavy minutes. Darren Collison is also starting to get more run and playing very well with his starter’s minutes, will the trust in playing Rondo with Collison continue?

Thursday

Phoenix vs OKC
With the horrible news of Bledsoe’s injury, Knight will have the opportunity to step up in his absence. Jon Leuer and TJ Warren could see more playing time. Ronnie Price should also be watched as someone who could see more minutes. Speaking of someone who needs more minutes, Enes Kanter is doing more in 22 minutes than most centers can do with 32. I understand his defense is a joke, but Kanter has been used more and more situationally for the Thunder.

Friday

New York vs Chicago
Porzingis has gotten over his “rookie wall” and is showing signs of life again. Melo has been mediocre compared to what he could actually produce, and hopefully he gets his act together in the city where he could have actually played for a championship. Is Lance Thomas legit, or just a flash in the pan? In Chicago, Noah’s injury has opened up playing time for Taj Gibson and his bump in minutes gives him standard league value. Niko showed signs of life, but is it just a temporary hot streak? I’m questionable with jumping back on the Niko train.

Weekend

Brooklyn vs Boston
Jarrett Jack is back into actually playing point guard and producing high level point guard stats. While this might not last the rest of the year, you have to ride hot streaks as they happen. In Boston, IT is still doing his thing and Bradley’s poor form might be easing, but the rest of the team is a big question mark. The frontcourt still continues to be a complete crapshoot and even as Crowder plays well he still can put up a dud of a game here and there. Crowder has the playing time and the ability to fill the stat sheet, so not the worst guy to put stock in.

If you have any fantasy basketball questions or comments follow me on twitter at @WatchTheBoxes.