Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green started the first 24 games this season, but he struggled with consistency and his production was lackluster (7.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game; 43.4 percent from the floor). He has come off the bench in four of the last six games, with better results (10.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game) after putting up 22 points (7-for-7 from the floor, 5-for-5 from three-point range) with three steals, two assists and two blocks against the Dallas Mavericks Thursday night.
Is Green’s fantasy basketball stock now on the rise coming off one of his best games of the season?
Green has been a tough player for fantasy owners to rely on so far this season, as he has scored five points or less in a game 13 times while putting up 17 points or more five times as well. His average minutes per game has dropped some in December (21.7 per game, 23.4 per game through the first 20 games), but after playing just under 16 minutes on Christmas night he played 27 minutes on Thursday night.
Marco Belinelli has started five of the last six games, but his best game over the stretch (28 points against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 19) came off the bench with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli not playing. Leaving that game aside, Belinelli has averaged just 8.2 points per game in his five recent starts and he does not produce enough in other categories (2.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season) to offer much fantasy value if he is not scoring. Simply put, Green’s fantasy upside is better than Belinelli’s as long as both guys are healthy.
Green is still widely owned in Yahoo! leagues (63 percent), and I assume that ownership percentage holds true regardless of league host as owners have held out out hope he can turn things around soon. It remains to be seen if Green can show better consistency going forward, but now looks like a good time to attempt to buy low on him in a trade.
Brad Berreman is a contributing writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradberreman24.
