Day 29: Derrick Williams is a Sacramento King

(Illustration courtesy of Kumail Rizvi)

Okay, so this is going to be one of my Seinfeldian blog posts about writing a blog post. I'm on vay-cay, which is pretty excellent, but the internet here sucks, which doesn't. It's honestly something of a mini-miracle that I'm even able to write this much, so I'm not going to push my luck. Let's just get to the blurbs, shall we?

• The Minnesota Timberwolves gave up on Derrick Williams on Tuesday, who they had selected with the No. 2 overall back in 2011. They dealt Williams to the Sacramento Kings for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, with the primary reason being that they just didn't foresee Williams having much of a purpose with them now that they're competing. In Sacramento, Williams will get regular playing time and has a chance to be an occasional fantasy factor. In his defense, his playing time was always stunted in Minnesota, and even when he was out there, he was playing out of position next to Kevin Love -- the best power forward in the entire league. So there's no reason to view Williams as a bust just two and a half years after he was drafted. The Kings have a million guys to hand minutes to, so his production and playing time are by no means set in stone. But there are worse purely-speculative pick-ups you could make right now.
• There's good news and bad news on Kobe Bryant. The good news is that he signed a widely-derided contract extension with the Lakers the other day, good for two years and $48 million. Yes, that's a lot of coin to spend on an aging veteran, but for fantasy purposes, the extension shows that Kobe's injury can't possibly be viewed as a longterm issue by the Lakers' front office. (Otherwise, why on Earth would they splurge so much on him?) The bad is that he's not quite as close to returning as it looked a week ago; he himself said he's "probably weeks" away from getting back on the court. So if you own him, you're going to have to be a man down for at least a couple more matchups. (Also, my initial prediction of him returning on Dec. 13 against the Suns is still in play.)
• Bradley Beal will miss at least the next two weeks as he tries to deal with a stress injury in his right leg. Beal said during a shootaround yesterday: "I'm pretty sure I could probably play, I could probably duke it out. But I did that last year and it didn't work out too well. So, I'm just going to play it smart this year and take care of it and just try to get rid of it early." Normally, it's something of a scary prospect to be tied to a player who's missing games with an ailment. But Beal's absence sounds precautionary more than devastating, so there's a good chance he'll be the same player he was prior to resting when he returns. Beal is on the cusp of being a universally-regarded fantasy monster, and if you're looking for someone who can help you win points and three's, I don't think it's a bad idea to buy low on him, injury be damned.
• Trevor Ariza made his return to the Wizards lineup and picked up right where he left off: producing 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 32 minutes. Randy Whitman loves playing his starters big minutes, (Bradley Beal actually leads the league in that category), and with Beal now out, Ariza is a stone cold lock to tally huge minutes with them again. Don't hesitate to pick him up if he's still out there.
• Martell Webster got to keep his starting job thanks to Beal's injury, and he promptly celebrated the occasion by putting up 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 4 three's against the Lakers. With Al Harrington hurt as well, the Wizards are so limited in the wing positions that Webster is still an excellent person to own right now. In fact, his stock is now much higher than it was when he was just subbing for Ariza, as he's now taken the place of the team's leading scorer. There's a good chance Webster might have been abandoned in fantasy leagues due to Ariza's imminent return, so if he's out there in your league, I recommend adding him in the short term.
• John Wall continued his impressive play of late, notching 31 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals in a Wizards' win over Los Angeles. This was the third straight game in which the Wizards' guard scored at least 31 points. Wall has his issues, sure. He turns the ball over a lot, he can't hit a three-pointer, his field-goal percentage in general is underwhelming and he gets hurt all the time. But he's pretty damn awesome in everything else. He's maybe the best rebounding point guard out there, he's great at stealing the ball, and he's even melded himself into an 87% foul-shooter this season. Chris Paul is obviously a better point guard than Wall, but statistically, the two honestly aren't that far apart. And hey: there are worse things to be in life than a poor man's CP3.
• Jordan Farmar had 22 points and 8 assists off the bench for the Lakers. Farmar has been playing well since Steve Nash got hurt, but unfortunately, Steve Blake has been playing out of his mind lately, which is going to prevent Farmar from being more than just a tertiary backup when Kobe Bryant or Nash returns. (Blake, by the way, had 15 points and 5 assists.) Still, you can get away with owning him if you want to. Which... is pretty freakin' awesome, if I can celebrate the success of a fellow Jewish person.
• Jodie Meeks scored 10 points on 2 three's yesterday and added 5 rebounds. He's going to be hard to own once The Black Mamba returns, but for now, he's a pretty darn consistent source of three's for anyone who needs it.
• Andre Iguodala has been ruled out of the Warriors' next three games. Iguodala was in the midst of a terrific season prior to getting hurt and luckily, it seems, his injury doesn't appear to be the sort that'll keep him out for an intolerable length of time. Trevor Ariza, who like Iguodala had to miss time with a strained hamstring, was able to return to the court in two weeks. Sure, all injuries are different, but barring a setback, it's not unreasonable to expect Iggy to be in a Dubs lineup again by mid-December.
• Andray Blatche had 24 points and 5 rebounds for the Nets on Tuesday. It's a good thing Jason Kidd stopped being goofy long enough to insert Blatche into the starting five, as 7-Day Dray is a totally dependable source of points when he's allowed to get 30 minutes a night. He remains a quality play until Brook Lopez returns from his seemingly-indefinite injury absence.