Fantasy Basketball: Three S’s For Success In November

If you aren’t knee deep in NBA hoops by now, you aren’t a fan of the game. For fantasy basketball owners this can be one of the hectic times of the season because you are trying to adjust your roster before the others realize who’s hot and who’s not.

For Novembers Three S’s For Success (stars, starters, and sleepers) I have two of the NBA’s finest Italians and one superstar who sounds Italian.

If another owner in your league doesn’t want to give one of these guys up, put a horses head in his bed and see if he comes around.

Star

Carmelo Anthony, SF, Denver Nuggets – Looking quicker than ever, Anthony has amassed 71 points in his first two games with a 51.2 field goal percentage while shooting 25-of-29 from the stripe. Melo is attacking offensively, he is exploiting mismatches in the post, and has displayed a plethora of moves when facing the hoop.

While there may only be a handful of players capable of outscoring Anthony in the month of November, fantasy basketball is about more than just points. He is averaging 7.0 rebounds per game to go with his 4.0 assists.

The month presents Denver with some high scoring games like the Pacers and Knicks, and it will need Anthony to play big minutes against the likes of LA, Atlanta, Toronto, and Chicago (twice).

Coach George Karl wants Carmelo to be a serious MVP candidate this season, and even when J.R. Smith returns, the offense will be ran through its star. He had a third round value in most drafts but will post top-20 fantasy numbers for the remainder of the season.

Starter

Andrea Bargnani, F/C, Toronto Raptors - In the preseason I had Bargnani as my fifth ranked center, and he confirmed that ranking with 28 points in his first game. He drained two threes, grabbed five rebounds, stole a ball, and blocked a shot in under 29 minutes.

He isn’t a dominating rebounder, but as a center he is good for blocked shots and he is one of the few three point shooters at the position.

November will be a tough month for Toronto. The Raptors will play Orlando (twice), Dallas, New Orleans, Detroit, San Antonio, Chicago, Denver, Utah, and Boston—this means they will need their key contributors to play big minutes. They will have especially high-scoring games against the Pacers and against the Suns, whom they play twice.

There may be nights where Bargnani fades but overall his production is worth targeting.

Sleeper

Danilo Gallinari, G/F, New York Knicks – This summer when Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said Gallinari is the best shooter he’s ever seen—people listened. However, I’m not sure they believed him.

As a rookie, the Italian hit 22.2 percent of his 2.6 threes per game—the downer is that he only averaged 15 minutes in his 28 games played due to injuries. The kid could get stronger, but there is nothing wrong with his stroke. He displayed that in a 22 point game against the Heat where he canned 7-of-13 threes on the night.

At 6-foot-10, Gallinari has the size to get over five rebounds per game, especially if he plays 28-plus minutes like he did in his first game. He isn’t much of a passer or defensive threat, but his ridiculous three point production his a H2H killer.

Schedule is not a major issue, the Knicks will play at their pace regardless of the opponent and the bigger the deficit the more Gallinari will get to shoot. But two games against Indiana and one against Golden State should be especially high scoring affairs.

The Knicks must develop Gallinari this season so he is ready to contribute when they are contenders, adding him now could pay dividends throughout the year as long as he can avoid the IR.

Fantasy Basketball: Three S’s For Success In November

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