Barbosa is getting the extended playing time and is aggresive offensively.  Barbosa is also 3 years older than Telfair who came straight from high school.  Despite the potential volitility in the Suns rotation and the upside potential of Telfair as a PG, taking Barbosa is justified.  He has averaged 40 mpg in his last two games.  Note that so far Barobosa has not been to great in steals which is one of targeted areas to improve in.  In the future consider Matt Bonner for a player who can help in steals as a PF.

I’m in a 10 team, 8 cat yahoo roto league (p,r,a, s, b, 3, fg%, ft%), and my team is as follows:  Garnett, Brand, Ginobili, Bosh, Iguodala, Terry, Stephen Jackson, TJ Ford, Claxton, Magloire, Kurt Thomas, James Jones, Sczcerbiak, and Deron Williams. I currently play the first 10 on a regular basis, with the remaining 4 as reserves.

Two questions-
1. My centers (thomas and magloire) have been under performing so far. its early, and they are with new teams, but it is somewhat frustrating that I can’t plug a center into my lineup. since I have players playing beyond expectations so far (Ford, Brand, Claxton etc), do you think I should try to pull a trade for an established center or simply wait it out for my centers to emerge? if you think a trade is a good idea, who would you offer from my team?
2. Recently, some players in my league have become available on waivers, namely Childress, Al Jefferson, Raja Bell, and David West. Do you think it is wise to drop Sczcerbiak, Deron Williams or James Jones to pick any of these players up? Kötting   11/16/05

I don’t think you want to drop Wally since he is getting 13 shots per game – he is just not hitting them now as he is 10 percentage points below his career average of 49%. This will pick up.  He has 20 ppg potential.  I think you also want to hold on to Deron as he has tons of upside. 

You are disappointed in Thomas and Magloire both of whom are adjusting to new teams. At least Magloire has been giving you blocks and rebounds and he should come around with scoring.  If you were to drop someone perhaps it would be Thomas as he is older and does not have the upside. But you may need him as a backup center. If not then perhaps Jones if he continues to fade in Phoenix and you don’t need his threes.   

Although I like Childress now is not the time to get him as he continues to struggle.  But when he figures it out you may need to be quick to get him.  I like what West is developing into for the Hornets but he may not be the answer to your center problem.

If you are able trade Claxton for something of value, particularly at center, I would give it a shot.  He won’t keep up what he is doing and will likely get hurt as usual.  Emeka Okafor has been struggling so perhaps you could get him cheap (though it would require more than Claxton).  Even Andrew Bogut with his upside is a thought since then you have some protection for an injury to Magloire.

I wonder if Nick Collison will continue to get PT from the Sonics or if this was just "an experiment". My guess is that if this was an experiment, they'll keep running it as long as its working.  For week 3, I was going to start Dwight Howard to get 3 games of his big rebounding stats but now may have to start Nick to get 4 of games of HIS big rebounding stats. Would you agree?  Woody  11/13/05

 

The type of decision you are making is really a coin toss I would probably lean to Dwight the more 'proven' guy with a track  record of playing time.  In leagues with weekly transactions it is better to resist the urge to plug in a guy who just had a big game above the norm of what they have previously established.