NBA Skinny: King me

The NBA Skinny will take a look around the league and highlight news and information, coach-speak and major storylines, good or bad stats, and anything else relevant to fantasy basketball each and every Tuesday over the course of the season.

•Marcus Thornton(notes) was one of the big stories on Monday night, thanks to an electric performance that included 29 points (9-16 FG, 10-12 FT) and three steals in a 105-99 win over the Clippers. He played the entire fourth quarter, scoring 16 points and leading the Kings from five points down to start the frame. Paul Westphal called his performance "sensational" and now has every reason to find him playing time ahead of Jermaine Taylor(notes) - in three games with the Kings, Thornton has averaged 19.3 points on 48-percent shooting, 1.3 threes, and 1.7 steals in 28 minutes. He's Tuesday's most added player thus far, and for good reason.

• While we're on the subject of Kings: those of you that have DeMarcus Cousins(notes) rostered (currently 80% owned) need to ask yourselves if you really want your fantasy fortunes tied to the much-ballyhooed rookie. He was terrible as a reserve Monday (28 minutes, 5 points, 1-8 FG, 3 -10 FT, 6 turnovers) and his ability to single-handedly lose fantasy owners three categories has been on full display over the past six games, during which he's averaged 32-percent shooting (11.5 FGA), 57-percent foul shooting (6.2 FTA), and 4.9 turnovers in 29 minutes. Yes, he's also averaged 8.7 boards, 1.5 steals, and 1.3 blocks in those games, but the negatives dwarf the positives by a substantial margin. And that's been the case for the vast majority of the season.

• John Kuester has pressed the reset button in Detroit, announcing an open competition for every spot in the rotation. Sadly, it's probably not going to seem like a dramatic change from what we've gotten used to from Kuester this season as fantasy owners. In general, stay invested in Greg Monroe(notes) and skeptical about the potential for consistency from rest of the crew. Monroe is locked in with Ben Wallace(notes) having been excused from the team indefinitely to deal with a family issue. Austin Daye(notes) could also have more of a role if Tayshaun Prince's(notes) back issues don't go away and is a solid speculative add after coming out a loser at the trade deadline. Richard Hamilton(notes) has apparently cleared the air with his coach but is also dealing with injury (groin). The rest of the rotation should stay familiar and largely unimpressive, consisting of Rodney Stuckey(notes), Tracy McGrady(notes), Ben Gordon(notes), Charlie Villanueva(notes), Chris Wilcox(notes), Will Bynum(notes), and Jason Maxiell(notes).

• Don't look now, but Dwight Howard(notes) has been a top-10 player over the past five- plus weeks… even when you include his FT%. Howard is in the midst of the most productive stretch of his career - his averages over his past 18 games include 26.1 points on 65-percent shooting, 15.4 boards, 1.4 steals, and 2.1 blocks in 38 minutes. The huge negatives (59% FT, 11.1 FTA, 2.9 turnovers) have barely outpaced his positives, particularly that epic positive impact on field goal percentage. Howard has average 15 field goals per game, ranks sixth in the league in scoring, and tied Kevin Love(notes) for the rebounding lead over that stretch. I'm interested in hearing from you roto managers in the comments section as to how the Howard owner is currently faring in your (competitive) league.

• Antawn Jamison(notes) is expected to miss five to seven weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured left pinky finger on Tuesday. The timetable ends his fantasy season - even if he does come back on the early end of the estimates (early April), we're talking about a week or so left in the NBA season. Unfortunately, there is no actionable info here outside of dropping Jamison. His scoring load will be absorbed by the rest of the roster, and his minutes will fall to some combination of Samardo Samuels(notes), Ryan Hollins(notes), Semih Erden(notes), and Luke Harangody(notes). Samuels merits a look in the deepest of leagues as the presumptive starter at power forward - his per-30 minute averages include 11.2 points, 6.6 boards, and 0.9 blocks, but 2.2 turnovers and middling percentages (47% FG, 65% FT) don't inspire much confidence.

• Danilo Gallinari(notes) will miss between a week and 10 days with a nondisplaced fracture in his left big toe. His absence Monday helped ease the playing time crunch for the now-crowded roster, and it appears that we'll get a reprieve for at least another week before we have to figure out how exactly George Karl will hand out the minutes for the post-Melo Nuggets. In other words, hang on to J.R. Smith(notes) for now (25 minutes, 19 points, 2 threes, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks Monday) … Raymond Felton(notes) played 30 minutes to Ty Lawson's(notes) 24 because Lawson was dealing with the flu and was very solid - his 16 points included 11 in the fourth quarter. Lawson is likely to keep starting but this has timeshare written all over it, particularly if/when the entire roster is healthy.

•Andrew Bogut(notes) is going to miss at least a week because of a strained ribcage muscle. He'll be re-evaluated on Saturday but is not necessarily guaranteed to come back at that point, although Scott Skiles is hopeful that will be the case. The news certainly could have been worse here and Bogut has been a warrior all season, but it's clear that the strain is starting to get the better of him. It's unlikely that the trade market will bear much of value for Bogut at this point, but it's at least worth attempting to avoid the uncertainty here. Ersan Ilyasova(notes) would be the major beneficiary of this news, but he's currently sidelined by a concussion, suffered in practice this past Friday. Larry Sanders(notes),Jon Brockman(notes), and the newly-signed Earl Barron(notes) will fill in for Bogut and Ilyasova in the interim. Corey Maggette(notes) will also see an uptick in playing time when the Bucks look to go with a smaller lineup.

• Troy Murphy(notes) has completed his buyout with the Warriors and will sign with the Celtics. Murphy has appeared in just one game since January 1, is not a strong defender, and will compete with Nenad Kristic, Glen Davis(notes), Jeff Green(notes), and Shaquille O'Neal(notes) (eventually) for minutes. In short, Murph can stay on waivers in the vast majority of leagues.

• The Heat released Carlos Arroyo(notes) on Tuesday and will sign Mike Bibby(notes), another notable real-life move that doesn't really shake things up for fantasy owners. Bibby has been an asset when you punt points, thanks to 1.9 threes per game, but his limitations everywhere else have largely kept him on the fringe in the big picture. Bibby gives the Heat a bit more veteran know-how at the point guard spot, but his usage opportunities should remain roughly the same and matching the 30 minutes he averaged in Atlanta is an absolute best-case scenario. It's also worth noting that Bibby has averaged just 37-percent shooting over his past 29 games (2.5 FGM, 6.9 FGA), including 37 percent from three (1.7 3PM, 4.8 3PA), so it wasn't just his defense that prompted the Hawks to part ways with the 13- year veteran.

• Al Thornton(notes) has been waived by the Wizards and will sign with the Warriors. He could end up playing some power forward when the Warriors go small but mostly will struggle for minutes behind Dorell Wright(notes) and David Lee(notes). Thornton scores some when he shoots a lot but doesn't do enough to matter in standard leagues even when he's getting minutes, and that doesn't change with this change of addresses.

• Say what you will about the upcoming pair of games between the Nets and Raptors in London, but it's coming at the perfect time for Deron Williams(notes). Having just two games over the next eight days will give Williams lots of time to rest his injured wrist, something that has clearly has been affecting him as of late. While he's averaged 15.7 assists in his three games with the Nets, he's also made just 33 percent of his field goals and one of 12 attempts from three-point range (8%). Over his past seven games, Williams has converted just 35 percent of his shot attempts and 20 percent of his threes.

• Two quick status updates: Eric Gordon(notes) says his wrist is improving to the point where he can make mid-range jumpers and he's now expected to return on Wednesday … Josh Smith(notes) sprained the MCL in his right knee Monday but will not have an MRI and is considered day-to-day.

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