By Answerman

The Answerman has been participating in fantasy basketball leagues since the Nets team that featured Derrick Coleman, Kenny Anderson and Drazen Petrovic and was coached by Chuck Daly were considered "up-and-coming." I am here to answer all your Fantasy Questions:

Dear Answerman:

PLEASE ANSWER. I am long out of my playoff race, but am in a keeper league. One of my better players this season has been Ricky Davis. With his antics against the Jazz, I am really turned off to him as a player and am thinking of throwing him back out of simple disgust.

What do you think? Thanks Answerman.

- Oh Ricky

Dear Oh,

A good fantasy owner stays very far away from making judgments about player behavior. Fantasy is about cold numbers not quality of character or amount of teamwork. "Thunder" Dan Majerle did a Nike commercial where he said when hustle/teamwork/hard work "make it into the box score, I hope they spell my name right".

Well, "hustle" doesn't count in fantasy, rebounds do.

As a fantasy owner, I am thrilled with Davis' intentions against the Jazz, though I wish he had a better grasp of the rules (a missed shot at the other team's basket cannot garner a rebound as the shot is a violation). Some owners needed an extra rebound that day and he tried to get it for them. I, among them, thank and applaud you for trying Ricky.

Sometimes players with poor character give the best results. Similairly to choosing girls to date in high school.

Davis showed the second best quality a fantasy player can have (first being talent) which is stat awareness.

Fantasy owners want guys who pad their stats, because stats win in fantasy. Watch for guys who seem to take alot of shots at the end of blowout wins/losses, seem to take a shot or grab a board when they see they are about to be subbed out, or always walk right up to the assistant coach with the clipboard during timeouts. They care about their numbers.

With regard to keeping Ricky Davis, he reminds me of a young Latrell Sprewell (he even has the same sideburns), extremely talented and explosive player on a very bad team. He may not strangle Coach Smart, but there are suspensions on the horizon.

The only thing worse than having ineffective players on your fantasy roster are having players who miss games. Ask any Artest owner. I would throw Davis/Artest back into the pool and see if they're still around in the late rounds next year after you've already secured a more reliable player.

Good luck to you all and here's hoping that all player's sign incentive laden contracts this year.

If you have any questions, write Answerman@insidehoops.net


Answerman is a contributor to InsideHoops. His views and email responses are not necessarily those of this website.