Who has been the most valuable 76er in fantasy this year? Here's a hint: NOT Elton Brand. (Getty Images)

Anthony Morrow

After last night’s performance, this will probably be your last chance to snatch Morrow off the FA list.  Against a solid defensive team in DAL (although granted they were without Josh Howard and Shawn Marion), Morrow poured in 27 pts, 9 reb and 5 ast on 9-16 shooting (6-8 from downtown) while chipping in 3 stl.  Sure it took him 48 minutes to do, but when your team only dresses 8 players and only plays 6 of them, you’re going to end up playing 48 minutes some nights.  (Or in Morrow’s case, 48 minutes 2 games in a row.)  He’s somehow still available in 47% of Yahoo leagues.

By the way, every Warrior who played was worth starting tonight.  Monta Ellis went off for 37, Stephen Curry had a nice all-around game, and even Vladimir Radmanovic recorded his first double-double since who knows when (adding 4 stl) as Corey Maggette and Andris Biedrins sat out with injuries.  Curry should be owned in most leagues; Radmanovic should be owned in more than the 4% of Yahoo leagues he’s currently owned.

Elton Brand

When Marreese Speights went down with an injury a week and a half ago, some astute fantasy basketballers noted these next couple weeks could really define Brand’s value this season.  Well, after last week’s dominant 3-game stretch, Brand fell back to earth with a resounding thud against the Wizards.  EB only mustered 4 pts and 7 reb on 1-9 shooting, not to mention only recording one measly block and no steals after having 11/8 blk/stl his previous 3 games.

Initially, I thought it might have something to do with the front line WAS marched out against Brand: Brendan Haywood, Fabricio Oberto (one of those pesky defensive post players), and Antawn Jamison.  (If I’m not mistaken, Brand’s only bucket came against Andray Blatche.)  If this were the case… no big deal.  Even first-rounders will have their off-nights against solid defenses.

However, Brand wound up leaving the game in the 3rd quarter with a sore hamstring, which is much more worrisome because his age/conditioning is the biggest red flag surrounding him this year.  Last week he wanted to prove coach Eddie Jordan wrong by playing big minutes (35+ for 3 games); tonight he proved that maybe he actually can’t handle big minutes.

What’s it all mean?  Brand probably goes back to having his minutes monitored somewhat (at least for the immediate future), which means we probably won’t see as many nights like last week’s.  Then again, he’s also proven that he can still bring it.  Unfortunately, I’d expect inconsistency (start him against J.J. Hickson and Ilgauskas; sit him against Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum), but overall I think he can still average 16 and 9 with 1.5-2.0 blk, which is pretty much what he did last year (with one extra made FG per game).  In other words, if you can get a top 50 player for him, I’d probably cut my losses and take it.  If not, not all is lost as Brand can probably still provide value in the 50-75 range.  (This, of course, is a moving target.  This next week where we see what Brand can do with 30 mpg without Speights should be telling.)

Lou Williams

Lost in the Elton Brand Stock Panic of 2009 is the rise of Lou Williams in Philly.  I doubted Sweet Lou in the preseason (because I’ve never been a fan of shoot-first PG’s), but Lou has been the most consistent 76er so far this year.  He probably can’t keep shooting 50%, so I still think he’s a SELL HIGH candidate, but just don’t sell yourself short, as I think he can maintain his sneaky-good 1.7 spg (which is pretty on-target with his career steals per minute averages).

By the way, since Williams’ sleeper days are long gone, there’s a new sleeper in Philadelphia and his name is Jrue Holiday.  11 pts, 6 reb, 3 treys, and 2 stl last night…in 10 minutes as the 76ers almost came back against the Wizards.  Keep an eye on him in deeper leagues as he makes his case for more playing time.

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