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Today, HOOPSWORLD’s fantasy department takes a look at the two guards who are providing owners with impressive statistical numbers so far in the 2010-11 season.  If the shooting guard(s) you drafted is not giving you the points you need, it may be time to talk trade within your league.

 

As always, when we talk fantasy here, we assume a nine-category league (points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, three-pointers made, turnovers, field-goal percentage, and free throw percentage).

 

Please note that while we are focusing on players with SG eligibility in Yahoo! Fantasy Leagues, some of these players have PG and SF eligibility as well.  For that reason, we considered only those players that primarily start as two guards on their team.

                 

Let’s take a look at the top five leaders in the shooting guard position in each major statistical category and Player Efficiency Rating (PER), averaging at least 25.0 minutes per game and who has played in at least 80% in games so far this season:

*Note -All stats represent games played through 1/21/11

 

Points:         Monta Ellis (26.0)              Least Turnovers:    Thabo Sefolosha (0.8)

                   Dwyane Wade (25.1)                                     Raja Bell (0.9)

Kobe Bryant (25.0)                                        J.J. Redick (0.9)

Eric Gordon (24.1)                                        Marco Belinelli (1.0)

Kevin Martin (23.4)                                       Mike Dunleavy (1.1)

         

Rebounds:    Landry Fields (7.3)            Field Goal%:          Arron Afflalo (.519)

                   Dwyane Wade (6.5)                                       Landry Fields (.516)

                   Andre Iguodala (6.2)                                     Ray Allen (.510)

                   Thabo Sefolosha (5.3)                                    Dwyane Wade (.489)

                   Mike Dunleavy (5.3)                                       Monta Ellis (.472)

                  

Assists:        Monta Ellis (5.7)               Free Throw%:         Raja Bell (.925)

                   Andre Iguodala (5.6)                                      J.J. Redick (.893)

                   Joe Johnson (5.5)                                          Kevin Martin (.887)

                   Tyreke Evans (5.5)                                         Manu Ginobili (.881)

                   Manu Ginobili/Kobe Bryant (4.8)                      Ray Allen (.874)

                                                             

Steals:          Monta Ellis (2.3)               Blocks:                   Dwyane Wade (1.1)

                   Tyreke Evans (1.9)                                         Arron Afflalo (0.7)

                   Manu Ginobili (1.8)                                        Wes Johnson (0.6)

                   Corey Brewer (1.8)                                        Brandon Rush (0.6)

                   Thabo Sefolosha (1.5)                                    Mike Dunleavy (0.6)

 

3-pt made:   Jason Richardson (2.4)      PER:                      Dwyane Wade (25.5)
                   Kevin Martin (2.2)                                          Kobe Bryant (24.6)

                   Ray Allen (2.2)                                              Kevin Martin (22.9)

                   Manu Ginobili (2.2)                                        Manu Ginobili (22.8)

                    Eric Gordon (2.0)                                          Eric Gordon (21.1)

 

 

The above lists allow us to clearly ascertain those two guards who are putting up the best numbers in fantasy categories.  Many of the same names appear in these lists; we will breakdown those multiple contributors, in no particular order:

 

Dwyane Wade – Miami HEAT

Injuries are always forefront on the minds of fantasy players when it comes to Wade; fortunately, he has stayed relatively healthy over the past couple years.  Since the 2008-09 season, Wade has only missed ten games, which is remarkable given the fact he missed a total of 62 games in the previous two seasons (2006-07 and 2007-08).   He’s currently league-ranked fifth in points (25.1) and third in PER (behind LeBron James and Chris Paul), and his ability to contribute meaningfully across the board – assists (4.2), rebounds (6.5), steals (1.4), blocks (1.1), field goals (8.7), field goal percentage (.489) and free throws (6.8 pg) – makes him among the most valuable two guards in the league.

 

Kobe Bryant – Los Angeles Lakers

It’s a new era for 32-year-old Kobe; one that includes playing with an arthritic finger and a nearly cartilage-free knee (surgically repaired three times) plus extended leaves from practice….yet still, he currently leads the league in total points made (1123).  Not bad for a player in the middle of his 15^th year in the league.  Like Wade, he contributes nicely across the stat board – assists (4.8), rebounds (5.1), steals (1.3), free throws (6.1), free throw percentage (.817) and field goals (8.8 pg) – all at about five minutes per game less playing time than last season.  His fifth-ranked PER in the league is obviously quite impressive as well.

 

Monta Ellis – Golden State Warriors

{AUTHOR_BOX}The third-leading scorer in the NBA (26.0 ppg) is turning heads, and even has the owner calling him "our core franchise player."  The owner went on to say he would be open to breaking up the Ellis/Curry backcourt duo if it netted them a superstar, and most agree Ellis is safe.  In the meantime, he continues to reward fantasy owners by filling up the stat sheet in assists (5.7), rebounds (3.4), steals (2.3–ranked third in the league) field goals (total of 411 ranks first in the league), three-pointers (1.7), free throws (4.7) and has logged more minutes than any other player (41.1 mpg).  True, it would be nice if his shooting percentages were a bit higher.

 

Manu Ginobili – San Antonio Spurs

Thank you, Pop, for starting Ginobili this year.  Thank you, Manu, for not participating in the FIBA Worlds last summer.  A healthy, happy Manu has been good for fantasy owners this year.  The 33-year-old is putting up some fine numbers: 18.9 ppg, 4.8 apg, 3.9 rpg, 1.8 steals, 5.2 free throws, .881 free throw %, 2.2 threes per game, and playing the most minutes of his career (31.6).

 

Eric Gordon – Los Angeles Clippers

Gordon has a new partner-in-crime with the beast that is Blake Griffin, and his game has elevated as a result (and the reverse is true as well).  His scoring (24.1 ppg–ranked eighth in the league) has taken a giant leap from last season (16.9), not to mention assists (now 4.6 from 3.0), rebounds (3.2 from 2.6) and free throws (5.9 from 3.6) just to cover a few categories.  Early 2010-11 Most Improved Player talks include Gordon’s name.

 

Kevin Martin – Houston Rockets

Martin is just shining in Houston.  On track to average at least 20 points per game for the fifth year in a row (currently 23.4), Martin is also ranked first in total free throws (323), seventh in true shooting percentage (.620), fifth in total three-pointers made (91-tied with Ray Allen), eighth in total points (984) and sixth in offensive win shares (4.8).  It seems like the healthy Martin should be playing more than 31.4 minutes per game.

  

Obviously, we didn’t come close to covering every viable shooting guard; established shooters such as Ray Allen, Joe Johnson, Stephen Jackson, Jason Terry, among others, deserve consideration. 

Normally a list such as this would include Brandon Roy; his injury situation is a downright shame and we wish him the best. 

The league has new faces to be excited about as well, including Nick Young, Tyreke Evans, Landry Fields, Arron Afflalo and Wesley Mathews, just to name a few.