Devastating

As if Kobe’s dagger shot in the waning seconds of Sunday’s game against my Celtics wasn’t bad enough, now I have to deal with the golden boy, Chris Paul, going down for Arthroscopic knee surgery. Oh didn’t you here? Yeah, Chris Paul, in the final moments of a loss to the Chicago Bulls, went for an errant pass and landed out of bounds on a photographer hurting his knee. Apparently this injury will require a scope, which Paul will undergo immediately. The obvious add here is Darren Collison. True, this is a huge blow to my squad, and many others out there. CP3 has literally been placing us on his back along with the rest of his own team up to this point. My condolences go out especially to those managers who snagged him up in the last week or so, fate can be cruel.

But really, isn’t this why we play fantasy sports? I read the news sometime around 5am this morning, and truth be told, a smile came to my face. Bring it on. Injuries are part of the game, I’m not letting even one as significant as this hold me down. I’ll not sit back and wallow. That’s what THEY do. WE move forward, we plan, we take action, and we recover. In the end, when we win, we’ll be able to say we did it without our top man. If you’re like me, and you’ve spent much of the season buying low on players and enjoying the fruits of those deals, selling high on players and never looking back, then your squad is built on a solid foundation of more than just one superb point guard. Never show weakness, always look forward and plan.

I hope you were able to snag Collison. My hat goes off to those readers who posted the news on this blog as soon as they read it. For those that were able to take action, fear not. In just his first game starting Collison posted 17 points and 18 assists albeit in 47 minutes of play. He’s shown in the past that he can lead the team and has a bright future ahead of him. The two places you’re really going to suffer from the change will be steals and points. Luckily points aren’t hard to come by, and we should be able to handle that blow. Steals is a different story. If you weren’t able to snag Collison, and find yourself in need of a PG or PG stats like dimes, I highly recommend making a strong offer for him today. Try shipping off a player like Carlos Delfino or even Jason Thompson. Send a note along telling the manager you’re giving them a player that will have value for the rest of the season, where Collison only has value for the next month or so. By the way, the Hornets claim it should only be a month. They’re positive on the situation, for what that’s worth. If you have bench space, the trade talk involving Ramon Sessions is heating up; you can take a flyer on him. Rafer Alston is also likely available, he hasn’t produced much yet but he is getting the minutes.

OK, moving forward:

If you play in a H2H league and you are currently in the playoffs, with a good grip on your seed, then don’t panic. One way or another, CP3 will be back for your playoff run and that’s all that matters. If you are not in the playoffs, then you’re going to seriously want to consider dealing him off. I’d target a top manager, package CP3 in a 2-1, ask for a Tier 2 guy like Billups in return, and leave a note explaining that the manager will have CP3 for the playoffs and that’s a big boost.

If you’re in a roto league and you snagged Collison, don’t panic. He should provide you the stats you need to bridge to CP3’s return. You can expect to drop one or two places in the standings, but have no fear as we’ll make it up when he’s back. The deficit you create between now and then won’t be that big. If you did not get Collison, and are in trouble of seriously hemorrhaging stats, you also might want to look to make a deal. Particularly if you’re lower on the standings.

For anyone looking to deal CP3, I will say that you need to ink a deal this week. If you don’t, you’ve already lost a week’s worth of production, and given the time it takes for a deal to close, you’re already going to have felt the brunt of this injury. Only having him when he is back will allow you to make up the deficit.

To those who don’t own CP3, what a great time to buy low. If you’re in a H2H league, and you have a strong squad, I would seriously encourage you to try and snag him on the cheapy cheap. He will definitely be back for the playoff run. If you play Roto his value isn’t quite as much, so don’t spend the farm to get him.

Again, this is why we play fantasy sports. This is what makes it exciting. Everyone deals with injuries. Everyone loses a player during the season, be it Greg Oden or Blake Griffin or Gilbert Arenas. It just means we have to work a little harder, pay closer attention, and act accordingly. This is not the end of our season. On the contrary, it’s just starting to get interesting.

I’ll be available throughout the day to help strategize.