Day 45: The Steve Blake era comes to a close

(Illustration courtesy of Mike Harrison/Nike)

Well, it finally happened. The L.A. Lakers have run out of point guards.

On Thursday, the team got the crummy news that Steve Blake has a torn ligament in his elbow and will be out for a minimum of six weeks ("minimum" being the optimum word). Blake has been a fantasy surprise this season, and was averaging the ninth most assists in the entire league (7.7 per game) prior to Thursday. So losing him is going to suck. Sadly, he has to be unconditionally dropped, as the Lakers have so many other point guards that by the time he comes back, which for all we know could be months from now, that starting job might not be available anymore.

But here's the crazy thing. The Lakers' other two point guards -- Steve Nash and Jordan Farmar -- are also out with fairly serious injuries. Farmar is dealing with a torn hamstring, and Nash's back issues are so confounding that he may never return at all. Farmar is expected back in January, but until then, the Lakers have exactly zero natural point guards on their roster. You'd think three would be enough, but go figure.

The fantasy implications of this weird situation should be minor, however, as Kobe Bryant does so much ball-handling anyway that he may as well already be the point guard. In fact, over Kobe's 18-year career, you'll notice that the point guards he's played with have pretty much all been off-the-ball jump-shooters. That's not to say that the Lakers won't be hampered with turnovers and have a tougher time on offense now, because they absolutely will. But they can survive this point-guard-less period better than a lot of teams can.

What will happen from this is that Kobe Bryant, for the first time in his career, could get point guard eligibility in fantasy leagues, which would be pretty neat. Jodie Meeks will get to stay on the floor a little bit more now, and that may have more to do with the team's sudden lack of depth as opposed to them needing him to handle the ball. Meeks gets a boost in value from this and is a pretty good pick-up at the moment. This may also open the door for someone like Nick Young to play more consistent minutes.

The Lakers have an open roster spot, and there's no doubt they'll use it to fetch a point guard who's currently out of the league, like Gilbert Arenas or Rafer Alston or Chris Duhon. Whoever it'll be probably won't do a lot for the Lakers -- hence why they're out of the league -- but, for old time's sake, it'd be pretty neat to see them sign Gilbert Arenas, right? So he can play with Nick Young again, AND Kobe Bryant. What a pleasant little sideshow the Lakers would become at that point. But alas...

And now, onto other non-Laker-related NBA updates.

• The Raptors are reportedly looking at dealing Kyle Lowry to either the Nets or the Knicks, wherein they would receive one of those team's decaying carcasses, such as Raymond Felton or Metta World Peace. It looks like a safe bet that he'll be on the move soon, meaning that Greivis Vasquez could have the point guard spot all to himself in Toronto. It'd be wise to stash Vasquez, as he has a chance to be extremely valuable the rest of the way. Lowry, meanwhile, will retain his current value if he goes to the Knicks. If he lands in Brooklyn? Not so much.
• There's a rumor that the Rockets could be looking to move Omer Asik to the Cavaliers for Anderson Varejao. Asik -- who's also dealing with a minor injury -- barely plays anymore for Houston, so any move will elevate his fantasy value. Unfortunately, he'd still be stuck in a backup role in Cleveland, and that's likely the case for wherever else he could get traded to. So I wouldn't recommend you stash him, like some goofy analysts are suggesting, because unless he goes to a team completely devoid of a competent center, he's only going to be a mediocre fantasy option. The one thing Asik's trading could do, however, is permanently rupture Terrence Jones' value, who is in the midst of a terrific season for the Rockets. Given the likeliness that whoever the Rockets get for Asik is going to compete with Jones for playing time, this is a really, really prudent time to try to sell high on him.
• Dwight Howard continued his sensational play of late, torching the Blazers for 32 points, 17 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. He even went 4-6 from the foul line, and Howard is so awesome right now that it's possible his owners might actually win free-throw percentage this week. Yes, he's not as good as he was in Orlando, and he has some glaring offensive deficiencies. But he's a beastly center when he's on his game like this, and that's well worth sacrificing a little in free-throws. (Well, not a little. A lot. But you know what I mean.)
• Patrick Beverley had an odd night for the Rockets, scoring 9 points on 3-10 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and a block. Beverley is widely viewed as a fantasy bust right now, but he's still a nice player. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Charlie Ward -- if anyone remembers the Knicks teams from the late 90's. Beverley isn't much of a scorer, and really isn't even much of a passer for a point guard. But he's an outstanding defender and is capable of helping out in steals and even blocks while hitting a three once in a while. No, he's just not the offensive threat that Jeremy Lin (5 points in 15 minutes) is, but he gets an enormous amount of playing time and he contributes in every single category, albeit marginally so. He's flawed, but he's not at all a horrible option to have at the end of your fantasy team in a 12-team league.
• Andray Blatche was terrific last night for the Nets, producing 21 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in 28 minutes. Yes, he got some extra run because the Nets won in a blowout, for once, but Kevin Garnett is on such a heavy minutes restriction that he's still getting starters' minutes. Anyone who own still owns Garnett -- which is a lot of people, surprisingly -- would be better served ditching the aging vet for Blatche, if possible.
• Alan Anderson started at shooting guard and played 36 minutes for the Nets, though he only went 1-9 from the floor. Paul Pierce, meanwhile, came off the bench again and had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. The Pierce-as-a-sixth-man thing is intriguing, but Anderson just isn't worthy of all that playing time, and it'll only be temporary anyway, as Andrei Kirilenko and Jason Terry should be back at some point. Even if Pierce stays in this role, he's bound to take in the lion's share of the minutes at small forward, so he's still worth owning in standard fantasy leagues.
• LaMarcus Aldridge was stellar on Thursday, putting up 31 points, 25 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, while committing only one turnover. Aldridge gets absolutely no love in the MVP discussion, but he really should -- and hopefully this is the performance that will do it. He's phenomenal.
• Mo Williams was good for the Blazers, putting up 13 points, 4 assists and a three in 24 minutes. Williams doesn't get a hell of a lot of playing time, but he's been pretty decent this season. The Blazers play on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, so if you're desperate for a nice streaming option, Williams might be for you.