This would be a big blow to the Cavs. Wallace isn’t the dominant defensive force he used to be but he’s still a very good defender who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective. With LeBron James doing most of the offensive work, Wallace has been free to concentrate on defense and rebounding — a role he does very well.

Obviously, take Wallace out of your lineup for the rest of the regular season. If you are participating in playoffs fantasy basketball, even a healthy Wallace only holds a little bit amount of value. His inability to score and his low free throw shooting percentage negates a lot of his positives.

If Wallace is out for an extended amount of time, expect Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varejao to eat up most of the bigman minutes. Joe Smith will also see a healthy uptick in minutes.

Here is a Ben Wallace highlight reel video:

Post from: Expert Fantasy

The time table for Wallace’s return is reportedly 4-to-6 weeks. Although he wasn’t much of a fantasy basketball player these days, his defense, rebounding and championship experience definitely was helping the Cavs on the basketball court.

In his absence, expect more playing time for bigmen Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Those two bigs will start and could see their role’s grow without the presence of Wallace.

The fantasy basketball sleeper is JJ Hickson. The rookie out of North Carolina State has good per-minute numbers and could become fantasy viable if given a larger role. Recently, he had a game with ten points and nine rebounds against the Memphis Grizzlies. For the season, he’s shooting better than 54% from the field.

If you want to role the dice on a sleeper, look in Hickson’s direction. If you want to buy low on a big who could start producing more as the season winds down, Varejao and Ilgauskas would be good targets.

Post from: Expert Fantasy