Weekly Planner: Rough Road for the Raptors

At first glance you can look at the Toronto Raptors schedule for the upcoming week and get the initial feeling that things are going to be all right. Cue the up-lifting music because the Raptors start off the week with a home game against the Warriors who early on only trail the Houston Rockets in opponents points allowed. They then play a Charlotte team who actually allows more points-per-100-possessions this season than the aforementioned Warriors.

Toward the end of the week, however, it all seems to fall apart. The Raptors have a back-to-back road swing against the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic -- the two best defensive teams in the league this season. They are the only two teams with a Defensive Efficiency rate below 90. It's still early, of course, but I don't think anyone will dispute that the Heat and the Magic will be among the top five defensive teams in the league once the season concludes. For those in weekly leagues, starting anyone not named Andrea Bargnani is ill-advised. In daily leagues, get your Raptors in against the Warriors and the Bobcats, but don't expect great numbers in that back-to-back set to end the week.


4-Game Teams (home/away): Atlanta Hawks (3/1), Charlotte Bobcats (2/2), Golden State Warriors (0/4), Minnesota Timberwolves (1/3), New York Knicks (2/2), Orlando Magic (3/1), San Antonio Spurs (2/2), Toronto Raptors (2/2), Utah Jazz (0/4/)

3-Game Teams: Boston Celtics (0/3), Chicago Bulls (3/0), Cleveland Cavaliers (2/1), Dallas Mavericks (2/1), Denver Nuggets (1/2), Detroit Pistons (0/3), Houston Rockets (0/3), Indiana Pacers (2/1), Los Angeles Clippers (1/2), Los Angeles Lakers (2/1), Memphis Grizzlies (3/0), Miami Heat (3/0), Milwaukee Bucks (2/1), New Jersey Nets (2/1), Oklahoma City Thunder (3/0), Philadelphia 76ers (0/3), Phoenix Suns (1/2), Portland Trail Blazers (1/2), Sacramento Kings (2/1), Washington Wizards (2/1)

2-Game Teams: New Orleans Hornets (2/0)

Start 'Em

Eric Bledsoe, Clippers - Baron Davis will miss the Clippers next four games, as was reported by FanHouse's Chris Tomasson. Bledsoe has been a hot add this week, coming off a 17-point, 8-assist, 4-rebound, 2-block, 2-trey game against the Thunder. He'll have a rough go against Chris Paul and Tony Parker in back-to-back nights, but he'll remain productive enough to get the start.

Reggie Williams, Warriors - He's the only bench player in Golden State getting any significant minutes. The Warriors play four times on the road, but the matchups are favorable. The Raptors and Knicks give up plenty of points and the Bulls are coming off a Thursday matchup in which the Knicks hung 120 points on them. Stephen Curry returning to the lineup may mess things up a little, but I still expect Williams to get good enough numbers in a 4-game week to get him in your lineup.

Toney Douglas, Knicks - The Knicks have the most favorable schedule this week with home games against the Warriors and Rockets, plus road games against the Timberwolves and Bucks. Douglas has been getting 27 minutes per game on the season thanks mainly to his defense (1.8 steals), 3-point shooting (2.0), and efficiency from the floor (54.8%). He's only owned in 19 percent of Yahoo! leagues, but should be owned in all 12-team leagues and plugged in for the coming week.

Ryan Anderson, Magic - Anderson is coming of a 19-minute, 19-point game in which he hit four 3-pointers and blocked three shots. The Magic play four times this week which helps in Anderson's case, since he's not seeing more than 19 minutes early on. With the way that the Magic are blowing teams out, you can almost expect him to play a major role in the upcoming Raptors and Nets blowout games at the end of the next week.


Sit 'Em

Jose Calderon, Raptors - It's pretty clear that Jarrett Jack is the better option right now. I already talked about the tough road ahead for the Raptors with back-to-backs against the Magic and Heat. You'd love to get his 5.5 assists, but you can't live with a point guard who shoots 28 percent from the floor.

Derrick Favors, Nets - As much as I love Favors, the Nets are starting to work Troy Murphy back into that starting power forward role and you can guarantee he'll get more than the 18 minutes he saw in his Nets debut. Favors is a huge upside, but it's going to be some time before we see some consistent output.

Darrell Arthur, Grizzlies - Arthur has been a popular add early on with Zach Randolph injured. The problem is, Randolph should be back this weekend. He's going to get his minutes, you can guarantee that as well. I would sell on Arthur or sit him if you think that Randolph is in line for another injury. I just won't trust him in my weekly lineup next week.

Marco Bellineli, Hornets - The Hornets play only twice next week. While Bellineli is showing some nice numbers from the scoring and 3-point shooting categories, he provides little else value. He plays no defense, doesn't dish the ball (1.8 assists) and doesn't rebound well at all (2.2 boards). Sit him. And while you're at it, sit Marcus Thornton too.