All rankings based on 9 categories (pts/reb/ast/stl/blk/3/fg%/ft%/to) and head-to-head format.

STUDS

Point Guards

• Derrick Rose, CHI, 3 games: Derrick Rose missed a game, but he played in three and made them count.  Derrick put up averages of 31.7 points, 8 boards, and 7.3 dimes.  One of the knocks on Rose when it comes to fantasy ball is his lack of a long-ball, but last week he hit over a three a night.  His FG% wasn’t anything special and he didn’t get many steals, but other than that he had an excellent week.  It looks like the threes might be here to stay for Rose, he’s hit at least one in seven straight games.
• Deron Williams, UTA, 4 games: Deron had a super-productive week with four games averaging 23.3/3.5/10.3 with a couple threes and a couple steals on great percentages from the floor and the line.  Just another week for D-Will… he’s basically averaging 20/10 on the season at this point.
• Jose Calderon, TOR, 3 games: Calderon wasn’t as beastly as a few other PGs, but he was good and I want to yap about it because it was his first week in the starting role.  With Jarrett Jack out of town, Jose was good for 10.3 points and 9.7 assists in week five.  He shot 50% from the floor and made all his freethrows.  Jose should be relevent once again now that he’s got his starting spot back. 

Shooting Guards

• Manu Ginobili, SAS, 4 games: Manu Ginobili’s incredible season rolls on.  Manu was the second best player in fantasy basketball last week.  His numbers: 26.3/5.5/6.8 with 3.5 threes and 1.5 steals on 49.3% from the floor and 96.2% from the line.  Manu has become the featured guy for the Spurs this season with Tim Duncan playing more of a secondary roll.  His minutes and shots are both way up from last season.  The Spurs have the best record in the league, so don’t expect anything to change. 
• Jason Richardson, PHX, 4 games: J-Rich was a three-point-gunning machine in week five.  He knocked down 4.3 triples a night while shooting better than 55% from the floor.  He also scored over 28 points and collected nearly six boards per game.  Richardson didn’t fail to score 20+ a single time all week.
• Nick Young, WAS, 3 games: Nick Young got enough minutes and shots to be very productive last week.  He averaged 20 points with over 2 threes a night on 52.3%.  He didn’t really do anything else, but if you add Nick Young off the waiver wire you’re doing it for scoring, so you got exactly what you wanted.  Nick’s minutes were up due to John Wall’s injury problems.  If Wall continues to miss games look to Nick for some help in the scoring and three point departments.

Small Forwards

• Lamar Odom, LAL, 3 games: Pau Gasol had a couple subpar games last week, but Lamar Odom picked up the slack.  Odom was good for 17.3/9.7/3 on 58% from the floor and 93% from the line.  Lamar didn’t do much else…  under one block, steal, and three per game…  but he produced well in the three main categories and did so efficiently.  Solid week, good enough to make him the 15th best player in fantasy basketball.
• Tayshaun Prince, DET, 4 games: Tayshaun padded his numbers with a 31-point explosion on Sunday afternoon.  He ended up averaging 17.5/6/3 on damn near 60% from the floor and 80% from the line.  He didn’t hit a single three, but he only turned the ball over one time all week.  Don’t expect this to continue, basically his stats just got skewed by one monster game against the Knicks.
• Dorell Wright, GSW, 4 games: My main man was at it again in week five.  Dorell had a game in Minnesota where he dropped 30 (with NINE threes) and another game with 24 points.  He averaged 16.5/4.8/4 with 2.8 threes and a steal.  My dude is a straight BEAST.

Power Forwards

• Kevin Love, MIN, 3 games: The numbers you are about to read are accurate.  Yes, Kevin Love really averaged 25.7 points and 20.3 boards over a three-game week.  He made every freethrow he took, shot almost 52%, made 1.7 threes per game, and was the best player in fantasy basketball.  ‘Nuff said.
• Dirk Nowitzki, DAL, 4 games: Dirk scored 31 a night on high percentages with lots of threes over the course of a four-game week.  Basically, Dirk was Dirk.  The guy is shooting 54% on the season so far.  That’s pretty damn impressive for a dude who’s the man on his team and fires over two threes a night.
• Kevin Garnett, BOS, 3 games: KG had a very efficient week.  He shot 55%, made all his freethrows, and only turned the ball over 1.3 times a game.  He averaged 17/9/2.7 with two steals, good enough to make him the 9th best player in fantasy basketball. 

Centers

• Joakim Noah, CHI, 4 games: How about this for an all around line: 17.5/13/4.3 on 52% FG/77% FT with 2.8 steals/1.3 blocks and just 1.8 TOs a night.  That’s more than solid across eight categories.  The only thing he didn’t do was hit a three, and let’s be honest, we want to see as few cringe-inducing jumpers from Joakim as possible… so that’s perfectly fine.
• Channing Frye, PHX, 4 games: Channing averaged more blocks than threes last week, and not because he clanked all his triples.  In addition to two threes a night, Frye swatted an average of 2.5 shots over the course of four games.  What’s gotten into this guy?  He also scored 14.3 points and hauled in 5.3 boards as part of the 12th best line of the week.
• Javale McGee, WAS, 3 games: Javale put up a nice double-double: 13.3/11.7 with 2.3 blocks on 51.7% shooting.  Big minutes were there for him as he was able to stay completely out of foul trouble in two of three games, allowing him to put up the nice numbers.
• Darko Milicic, MIN, 3 games: I normally write about just three players at each position, but I had to squeeze the Manna Man onto the list!  Darko had another great week with his 17/6 on 56% FG.  He also swatted just under four shots a night and even dished three assists per game.  This was his second consecutive stellar week, we’ll see if he can make it three.

DUDS

Point Guards

• Tyreke Evans, SAC, 3 games: Evans has been playing hurt, and his numbers show it.  He shot just 26.2% from the floor on his way to 12/6 with just under 4 TOs a game.  That FG% is bad enough to lose you the category on 14 shots a night.  Props to him for playing hurt, but he probably did more harm than good in fantasy land.
• Darren Collison, IND, 4 games: Collison has been wildly inconsistent all season.  In week five he had one good game, one terrible game, and two decent games.  The line ended up looking like this: 11.5/3/4.5 on 40.9% FG with nothing else.  In the world of fantasy basketball, inconsistency is tolerable as long as the good games outweigh the bad ones.  Last week, Collison’s good game didn’t nearly make up for the three others.
• Jason Terry, DAL, 4 games: Jason simply couldn’t find his jumper.  He shot just 34% from the floor on his way to 12.5 PPG, four points under his season average.  Terry had been shooting very well this season, it appears that he’s just in a little slump.  Don’t worry about it too much.

Shooting Guards

• Dwyane Wade, MIA, 4 games: Dwyane Wade put up 16.5/6.5/5.8, which isn’t that bad, but throw in his 33% FG, 60% FT, and four turnovers a game and it’s pretty terrible.  Wade was playing through some wrist injuries, maybe that’s why he couldn’t find his stroke or hold onto the ball.
• Joe Johnson, ATL, 5 games: Johnson’s terribly expensive yet terribly ineffective 2010/11 season rolls on.  He put up 14/5/6 (I rounded up because he needs every fraction of a stat he can get) on 35% from the floor with pretty much nothing else.  Way to earn that money, JJ!
• Stephen Jackson, CHA, 4 games: Following his week atop the rankings, Stack Jack entered tank-mode.  He hurt his averages by getting tossed from one game just a couple minutes in, and in the three games where he managed to not go apeshit at a ref he couldn’t put the ball in the basket (36% FG, 75% FT).  The line: 13/3.5/3 with 2.8 TOs a night.

Small Forwards

• Hedo Turkoglu, PHX, 4 games: Hedo’s pitched a tent in the SF section of the duds list.  He went for 9.5/5/2.5 on 41% FG and 33% FT this time around.  According to my calculations, Hedo made $498,334.15 last week.  The Phoenix Suns basically bought him a brand new E-Class Benz every time he scored a point.  Must be nice.
• Rashard Lewis, ORL, 4 games: Rashard’s raping the Magic even worse than his buddy Hedo’s raping the Suns.  ‘Shard made about 955 thousand for his services during week five, approximately 76 Gs per point scored.  Aside from his 12.8 PPG he did absolutely nothing, so I could’ve made that salary info look even uglier by using rebounds or three-pointers made or something.
• Corey Maggette, MIL, 2 games: Maggette wasn’t even useful in the FT% category.  He shot seven of them a game, but 71.4% isn’t going to get it done.  His FG% was attrocious at about 26% on almost 10 shots a night.  He really did nothing productive other than grab 7.5 boards per. 

Power Forwards

• Charlie Villanueva, DET, 4 games: Charlie played just 20 minutes a night, a six-minute decrease from his season average.  The decrease was felt in his numbers: 8.3/4.8 on 37% shooting.  It seems that the more T-Mac plays, the less CV plays.  With T-Mac’s minutes going up it doesn’t look good for Charlie… for now.  I have little faith in McGrady’s ability to stay healthy.
• JJ Hickson, CLE, 4 games: Hickson played just 21 minutes a night and was only able to put up 8/5 with little else, unless you want to consider 2.5 turnovers something else.  Antawn Jamison’s minutes are going up and Hickson’s are going down.  If Jamison starts playing well Hickson could become completely useless to fantasy owners.
• Amir Johnson, TOR, 3 games: Even with Reggie Evans sidelined with a broken foot Amir is struggling to get minutes.  Joey Dorsey has been moved into the starting lineup, and Amir wasn’t able to reach 22 minutes in a single game all week.  I like Amir’s talent, but if he’s never going to get minutes then obviously he’ll never produce.  Give him a few more games without Reggie Evans in his way and see if he can get some burn.  Week five line: 7/6 in 21 minutes a night.

Centers

• Marc Gasol, MEM, 3 games: Gasol continues to do not much of anything.  He got over 33 minutes a game last week, plenty of time to produce, but he just didn’t get it done.  He did block two shots a night, but he only averaged 8.7 points and 5.3 boards.  He’s not getting many shots at all; just 6.7 looks per game in week five. 
• DeMarcus Cousins, SAC, 3 games: Cousins hasn’t played very well since losing his starting spot to Samuel Dalembert.  He shot just 38% from the floor on his way to 10 points and six boards.  He’s not making much of a case for more minutes on the court, and on top of that he was kicked out of practice today.
• Andray Blatche, WAS, 3 games: Andray wasn’t that bad, but it was a good week for centers.  He averaged 13/10, but shot just 38% and blocked under a shot per game.