Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets
After cashing in this past summer, Vince Carter has been a huge disappointment this season for the Nets. In 2008, he has been even more disappointing. His shooting percentages are down and he’s not playing with any type of fire.

Tracy McGrady, Houston Rockets
Although he has battled various injuries, Tracy McGrady just isn’t playing well enough when he does play. Fantasy owners who used a high draft pick on McGrady and really disappointed with what they’ve received this season.

Ricky Davis, Miami Heat
With all the struggling and injuries on the Heat, you’d think Ricky Davis would at least be putting up numbers. However, that hasn’t been the case at all and as of late, he’s been one of the worst players on the team.

Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors
The 2007 NBA Draft’s number one overall pick, Andrea Bargnani is looking like a total bust. In 2008, despite starting, Bargnani has looked horrible for the Raptors. While he’s still young, Toronto would like to see some improvement out of their second year player.

Carlos Boozer, Utah Jazz
Although the Jazz have been winning at a healthy clip, Carlos Boozer’s numbers haven’t been too impressive in 2008. His numbers have fallen from where they were earlier in the season and the bad news for fantasy owners is there’s little sign that the numbers will go back up.

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2) Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets
Carter and Kidd are hurting each other’s stocks at this point. Carter is also shooting poorly, which is hurting Kidd’s assist numbers. With Carter not being a high powered scoring threat, teams can focus more defense on Kidd. One of the two players needs to get hot and that should help the other player both in real life and the fantasy world.

VC Career Mix

3) Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics
Pierce’s scoring numbers have gone down each month as his superstar teammates have adjusted to life in Boston. There might be a shakeup in the pecking order in Boston that could play out over the next couple weeks. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Pierce will need to figure out which player will be the go-to scorer. Pierce was the go-to scorer to begin the year but that may be changing. Keep an eye on this situation, especially if you are a Pierce owner. Now might be the time to sell high on him.

4) Kevin Durant, Seattle Supersonics
Durant seems to have hit a rookie wall in Seattle. His shooting is off and he’s having trouble adjusting to defenses night-in and night-out. On the defensive side of the ball, he also has had a major drop off. He’s not rebounding, blocking shots or getting steals as he was earlier in the season. He should bounce back at some point but right now he’s hurting fantasy teams.

5) Ricky Davis, Miami Heat
When Pat Riley traded for Davis, he was looking for a quick fix. That fix hasn’t happened and right now Davis is probably more of a problem than a solution for Miami. Davis’ offensive numbers of plummeted of late and his value is now at an all-time low in both the real world and in fantasy. If you have him, you should consider trading him for whatever it is you can get.

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Ron Artest
With the return of Ron Artest, the Kings opted to put John Salmons and Francisco Garcia on the bench. This is obviously devastating news to Salmons and Garcia owners. Interestingly enough, Beno Udrih was elevated into the starting lineup. Artest owners should be excited and Udrih all of a sudden becomes relevant in the fantasy world. Keep an eye on Salmons and Garcia to see how much they play in upcoming games.

Dwyane Wade
Wade owners who survived the first couple weeks of the season without him have to be thrilled to get him back this soon. It was unknown when he’d finally be able to return. However, there’s bad news for Penny Hardaway and Dorrell Wright. Hardaway is about to be benched in favor of Wade and Wright is about to be out of the rotation completely. Also keep an eye on Ricky Davis, as he could see his time greatly reduced, as well.

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No longer will the T’Wolves be thinking championship, instead their main goal will be to locate and grow their young core players. It’s going to be another two or three years until people in Minnesota seriously consider the T’Wolves a playoff team.

What makes this situation tough is there are so many players on the T’Wolves who may or may not be fantasy factors. The only real fantasy stud on their team is Al Jefferson. Aside from him, it’ll depend on which players are getting minutes.

Here’s a look at the Timberwolves’ players and their possibly fantasy impact:

Al Jefferson – Jefferson was the crowning piece of the Garnett deal. He’s a stud in the making that should be ready to produce this year. He’s a very good low post scorer who can rebound at a fantastic rate. His feel for the game is phenomenal and he still has room to get a lot better.

Ricky Davis – Davis is getting a lot of fantasy love but his situation is shaky. He doesn’t exactly fit with the youth movement and could easily find himself behind younger players. However, he’s also a likely candidate to be traded to a contending team in need of a scorer. Davis’ fantasy appeal is completely dependant on whether or not he’s starting and playing big minutes.

Randy Foye – Foye showed good promise last year in his rookie season. He can play both guard positions and has a good knack for scoring the ball. He’s not going to average a lot of assists because he’s not a pure point guard, but he should find himself starting at point guard at some point this season.

Craig Smith – After a fine rookie season, Smith is going to look to expand his game. Although he’s undersized, he can rebound and is a beast down low.

Gerald Green – Green is a guy who looks to score. Fantasy wise, his upside is somewhat limited as it stands because he doesn’t rebound or get many assists.

Corey Brewer – Brewer is a rookie with a good deal of potential. He could become a very good fantasy player if he gets minutes because he’s a threat to rack up steals, blocks and rebounds in bunches.

Rashad McCants – McCants has struggled with injuries but he’s another shooting guard option that can score the ball for Minnesota.

Ryan Gomes – Gomes had big games with the Celtics over the last couple seasons. He’s an all around player who can put up fantasy stats at nearly every category.

Sebastian Telfair – Telfair is a very talented point guard. Problem is he’s undisciplined and not very strong. If he could slow down and attempt to learn the game, he has the potential to one day be a starter.

Marko Jaric, Mark Blount, Greg Buckner, Juwan Howard, Theo Ratliff – These five guys could have solid fantasy value or they could have absolutely no value. It’s tough to tell because they are veteran players on a team trying to rebuild. If any of these players earns a starting spot or gets traded, that’s when they’ll enter the fantasy equation.

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Kevin Martin, Sacramento Kings
Martin had wonderful stats last season and was a great story, He’ll continue being an important part of the Kings’ attack, That said, he’s not a top ten fantasy shooting guard as some are stating, He doesn’t do enough other than score and even his scoring dipped as the season went on last year, Look for other options rather than Martin this year.

Monta Ellis, Golden State Warriors
Ellis was another feel good story last season as he won the Most Improved Player award, While that was a great accomplishment, he shouldn’t be considered a top 20 shooting guard prospect, He’s going to likely come off the bench for the Warriors and in the playoffs, some of his weaknesses were exposed last season, Let someone else draft Ellis.

Ricky Davis, Minnesota Timberwolves
Davis is getting a lot of looks by fantasy players who see him as a top 20 fantasy shooting guard, I couldn’t disagree with that assessment more, The Timberwolves are in a rebuilding mode and won’t feature Davis, Davis could very well get traded, at which point his fantasy status will have to be reevaluated.

Remember when Ricky Davis intentional missed a shot to get a rebound and his triple-double?
(Ignore the lame stuff at the end of this video.)

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