The injury bug has begun quickly this season and with the new compacted schedule, many more set backs are ahead of us in our unusual 2011 fantasy basketball season. This is why it will be more important than ever to keep tabs on potential replacements and the health of your roster. Below are a few recent injuries and some quality replacements to help ease your pain till they become healthy again.
Manu broke his left hand this week.
Manu Ginobili broke his left hand earlier this week and is expected to miss anywhere from 2 to 3 months. This could not have
been a worse time for Ginobili owners with the shortened season and the fact that he is taking on a bigger role with Tim Duncan slowing down quickly. A couple replacements that are still out there would be Richard Hamilton and Vince Carter. Both players have some age to them, but got plenty left in the tank. They are currently available in over 50 percent of fantasy leagues.
The Hornets just Announced that Eric Gordon will be missing the next 2 to 3 weeks with swelling in his knee. I don’t think this season could get any worse for Eric. He went from playing alongside one of the best power forwards in Blake Griffin to a franchise going downhill fast. With that said, a knee issue is very scary injury that can turn out to derail players’ careers. A great replacement would be Ben Gordon of the Pistons. He is having his best year in Detroit and is leading the team in points per a game. Also Ben is showing some leadership which has been missing in Detroit for years. This looks like the good old Ben from his playing days for the bulls.
Corey Maggette pulled another hamstring; this injury has plagued him his entire career. Those of you playing weekly salary cap fantasy basketball games will want to stay away from Maggette for the most part, regardless of price. He will be shelved for 2 to 4 weeks. Corey was rebounding at a career high level to go along with over 12 points per a game. His perfect replacement is his teammate Tyrus Thomas. Tyrus is set to come back just as Maggette got hurt, and will probably out play him most nights. It would also be fair to say that Maggette’s minutes were going to go down with Thomas coming back anyway. Tyrus is a free agent in almost 60% of fantasy leagues. If he is taken try Derrick Favors of Utah!
A few players that will need monitoring of their situation are:
- Jason Kidd – hurt his back and is expected to only miss one game but at age 38, this could be an
injury that nags him all year. - Paul Pierce – Just came back from an injury, but has old age creeping up on him and the Celtics core.
- Stephen Curry – Kid could roll an ankle walking down the street. With the number of ankle injuries he has had in the last 2 years, it’s only a matter of time before it happens again.
- Mehmet Okur - Left last night’s game with back spasms after 3 minutes.
- Kyle Lowry – doesn’t have an injury but is having issues with the law. This needs to be monitored in case of a suspension.
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