Andrew Richardson-USA TODAY Sports
The Houston Rockets have been hit by injuries in their backcourt, with Patrick Beverley (fractured right hand) going down during Saturday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons and James Harden (ankle) and Jeremy Lin (back) already out for the game. Aaron Brooks played a season-high 34 minutes against Detroit, and he scored 10 points with seven assists and two rebounds after scoring just three points in the previous two games. Should fantasy owners now consider adding him?
Brooks has been up-and-down this season, with seven double figure scoring games (two with 20 or more points) along with a streak of five games in a row in November where he failed to score at all. Overall he was averaging 6.9 points, 1.9 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game in 22 games this season prior to Saturday night’s game, in 16 minutes per contest.
Beverley is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks, and Lin has not suited up in 10 of the last 12 games for the Rockets due to his back issues. So Brooks is quite literally the next man up in Houston’s point guard mix, and the only depth behind him in the near future looks likely to be a D-League call-up unless a trade is made (perhaps involving Omer Asik?).
Brooks is widely available right now (four percent ownership in Yahoo! leagues), but that has a good chance to change quickly as the new week gets going in fantasy leagues. It’s hard to know if Brooks will maintain solid value over the rest of the season, but he is worth a look for any owner that seeks a point guard with some short-term upside potential.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
