Day 18: Deron Williams' ankles are made of twigs and cardboard

(Illustration courtesy of Art Mobb)

Oh man, Deron Williams. You and I need to have a little chat.

Look dude, there's no beating around the bush. You've been pretty terrible through the first two and a half weeks. Coming into Friday's game, you were averaging just 11 points and 7 assists a game. You know which nondescript veteran point guard is putting up just as many stats as you? Steve Blake. Like, come on dude. People are starting to ask me if it's time to start shopping you, and here you are, a top-15 fantasy pick, and the best you can do is to put up numbers that match the second-string point guard on the Lakers? Yeesh.

Don't worry, though, because I recognize that your poor start isn't all your doing. In your first seven games, you played over 32 minutes just once. You're still trying to get back in game shape. You're trying to get acclimated with your new ex-Celtic teammates. You're taking seven less shot attempts per game than you did a year ago. I understand. These things take time, and at the very least, your minutes have been steadily rising the more the year has progressed.

Ordinarily, I'd be pitching owners to stay the course with you, because you really are a fantastic talent. Four straight years with 18 points and 10 assists? That's Chris Paul territory. Seriosuly dude, you should be someone fantasy owners are lunging to get in a trade. But, uh, here's the thing... you need to stop getting hurt. Seriously: it's starting to throw an annoying little monkeywrench into this conversation.

On Friday, you tweaked an ankle and had to leave the floor for the second straight game, which is just silly. You played only 4 minutes and your averages took a nosedive as result of it. More importantly, you're starting to make it harder for me to trust you, although you claim that this latest ailment is "not even close" to being as bad as the one that kept you on the sideline during the preseason.

Honesty, D-Will, I think your main problem is exposure, or lack thereof. You're really not shooting that much worse than you normally have, so you're due to see an increase in points. And in assists, you really have no excuse not to get 9 a game when you have so many dudes to pass it to. I, personally, think you can be a dynamite option again once Jason Kidd, in a Keyser Soze moment of revelation, realizes that his basketball team would actually be better off if his best player wasn't sitting on the bench for one-third of the game. If you can get back to full speed, I like your chances to again be a must-hold fantasy beast.

But that's the thing, D-Will. It really is only an "if" because you can't seem to stay healthy and that's kind of concerning. You've now had three separate ankle injuries in the span of a few weeks, and while these latest two are supposedly rather benign, you can't blame owners for feeling a little skiddish with you right now, especially when you're off to such a mediocre start.

Right now, your primary goal should be to get healthy and stay that way. And if you do, I think there's a good chance you can salvage your fantasy season. But this leaving-the-game-with-an-injury-and-heading-to-the-locker-room stuff has gotta stop -- otherwise I might be forced to write something truly drastic, like that Goran Dragic is more valuable than you. Please, please don't ever make me write that. For all that's right, get back on the court and dominate, dude. Although... if you are going to have a crummy week, please be sure to have it against me so I can better annihilate whoever it is that owns you in my league.

Okay, it's blurb time. Let's get down to business.

• A flu-ridden Markieff Morris had a second straight bad outing, shooting 1-9 and scoring only 4 points. Although his stat lines haven't been as shiny as they were a week ago, his talent hasn't gone anywhere, so there's no reason to fret over him. If he can beat out Channing Frye for the Suns' starting power forward spot, Morris' value will go through the roof. I expect that to happen eventually, but the Suns don't appear to be in a hurry to tamper with their rotation just yet. (Frye, by the way, finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds.)
• Joe Johnson hit the game-winning shot for the Nets on Wednesday against the Suns, besides scoring 13 points and grabbing 5 rebounds. So far, Johnson is averaging 12 points and 2 assists on the year, and it's hard to see those stats going up considering A.) his age, B.) a slight lack of playing time in Kidd's offense, and C.) the fact that he's now the fourth scoring in Brooklyn. Johnson may be capable of having a good game now and then, but he's not someone you should want on your fantasy team.
• Josh Smith had 21 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocks in what can only be described as a vintage J-Smoove statline. It's kind of preposterous that he's hoisted just as many three-pointers as Kyle Korver this year; he's seriously averaging almost 6 three-point attempts per game, which explains why he's shooting a career-low 42.1% from the floor. But so what? Smith is still one of the best all-around stat-stuffers in the entire league. He's averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.6 three's, 2 steals and 2 blocks a night, production that should make tolerating his percentages quite easy.
• Lou Williams returned early from his injury on Friday, scoring 7 points in 16 minutes. Williams is someone I put in the better-in-real-life-than-he-is-in-fantasy category. He's capable of being a Jamal Crawford-type scorer of the bench, but he's hardly someone you need to rush out and get. He's addable, but given how well Jeff Teague is playing right now (33 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds), I can't see Williams putting up eye-popping stats. And for what it's worth, Williams' return should do little to slow down Teague, who's averaging almost 20 points and 10 assists a night and is looking more and more like one of the best point guards in the NBA.
• With Michael Carter-Williams hurt, Tony Wroten had yet another good game, scoring 22 points and dishing out 6 assists. Wroten is going to have no value once MCW gets back in there, but his play in his absence is nonetheless intriguing. If Carter-Williams were to go out for any great length of time, Wroten is looking someone you'd want to add off the waiver wire as quickly as humanly possible.
• Joakim Noah finally had a nice line for the Bulls, posting 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in Toronto, though he failed to record a block. Noah is one of my personal favorite fantasy players. Last year, he had multiple triple-doubles -- one with double-digit blocks, and one with double-digit assists. Like Serge Ibaka, he's capable of exploding for a monster line at any given moment, and while he's off to a slow start so far, I have full faith in him so long as he's healthy.
• Brandon Knight's disastrous start to the season continued Friday, with the young point guard sitting out another game with a hamstring injury. The good news is that the starting point guard job is his for the taking if he can get healthy; I don't care that Nate Wolters' assist-to-turnover ratio is great, because he's only had 11 assists in his last three games and isn't a serious candidate to take minutes from him when he's at full-strength. I'm an unabashed member of the Brandon Knight fanclub, but I won't dispute that he's been pretty horrible to own through the first tenth of the season. If you want/need to drop him, I understand. Just don't stray too far from him in case that he can actually stay healthy.
• By the way, what's with all the injured point guards this season? Knight, Williams, Rose, Westbrook, Dragic, Nash, Hill, Curry, Rondo, Carter-Williams... I'm sure I'm missing some too. It's pretty amazing how many point guards have already missed a game this year with an injury.
• Roy Hibbert's awesome season continued on Friday, with the Pacers center totaling 24 points, 10 rebounds and 8 blocks in yet another Pacers victory. Hibbert's scoring and rebounding are basically where they were a year ago; it's his shot-blocking that's absolutely gone through the roof, as he's getting almost 5 swats a game this year. Hibbert isn't the most reliable scorer/rebounder, but he's nonetheless an elite entity given his prowess at rejecting shot attempts.
• LeBron James had 39 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists yesterday on 14-19 shooting. He's shooting 61% from the field this season, which is all kinds of fantastic. Call me crazy, but I think he's okay at this basketball thing.
• Kawhi Leonard had 6 points and 9 rebounds for the Spurs last night. By far, the most negative feedback I got from my preseason fantasy preview was when I completely dismissed Leonard, who many assumed was going to follow through on his amazing finals and be a superstar this season. But... yeah, I was right. Leonard isn't a great passer, three-point shooter, shot-blocker or stealer. He's an above-average rebounder, but even if he averaged like 13-and-7 or 13-and-8 for the Spurs this season, those are still numbers that would only be good, not great. You're on your own if you want to trade for him. But if you do, you should wait a little more because his value is going to continue to drop the clearer it becomes that he's not the central cog in the Spurs' offense, regardless of what Greg Popavich might tell you.
• Shout-out time! Tyler Thornsby was kind enough to link to this site on Crooked Manners, so I'm going to return the favor. Ty writes for both that site and Modern Thrill, and he's also a fan of fantasy basketball, which I obviously condone. So, I say you should go to his sites. Just do it. Hey, put the pizza bagel down! Come on, this is serious! That's right, just hover the mouse over the links... yes... it's all going according to plan.