Rotation Report: Southeast Division

The 2RR Rotation Report is your guide to who's playing, who's battling for minutes, and who's riding the pine as coaches sort out their squad's regular lineups in the early season. Today: the Southeastern Division.

Atlanta Hawks:

The loss of Josh Smith to an ankle sprain can't be pleasing to anybody (except maybe the Dark Prince, if Josh never payed his due for the ungodly athleticism he possesses), but if it benefits anybody on the court it's probably Marvin Williams. Williams was already getting some run as he returned from his suspension (remember when he took down Rajon Rondo in the playoffs?) but now he'll log the majority of minutes at PF until Smith returns. Don't expect much difference in his numbers, but it's good to see that if you took him in the late rounds of your draft he'll return some value. Then again, you could have had Thaddeus Young and the Hawks could have had Chris Paul so... nobody's really happy, are they? Heads up for something called "Solomon Jones" to pull time away from Zaza Pachulia behind Williams and Al Horford. Pachulia tends to foul and the sophmore Jones (that has to be a fake name, right?) logged 25 minutes against the Raptors Friday night and 22 against the Thunder yesterday. That said, he's not likely to play quite so well in games to come against the league's non-punching bags. I just wanted to write the name "Solomon Jones" a couple of times. If either Flip Murray or Maurice Evans emerge as a 20+ minutes player, one could end up averaging 10 and 5 with a steal or so, plus maybe do stuff like this.

Charlotte Bobcats:

I'm not sure what the timetable is for Sean May's return from... I- uh- I don't really know what else to call "being too fat to play basketball."

Conditioning?

I'm being told they call that "conditioning" in the NBA... Right.

Anyway, there's bound to be some serious forward drama in Carolina soon, as the franchise is apparently dead-set on trading Gerald Wallace. Lately Adam Morrison and Matt Carroll have been splitting the backup SF role, which makes sense, because they suck and the Bobcats suck... That's called synergy, you guys. Heads up for the DJ Augustin minutes-creep... there's no way he's not averaging 25+ in another month as Raymond Felton makes his case for benching.

Miami Heat:

If you drafted Marcus Banks, I don't blame you. Mario Chalmers is just a rookie and Chris Quinn was a D-Leaguer (not that there's anything wrong with that.) But if you're still holding him, you're probably not very good at fantasy basketball. Banks' hip flexor is still all janked up, and in the meantime Miami sorted out its backcourt without him- Chalmers and Wade start, Quinn gets 20 or so a night, and the Heat are fun to watch. Meanwhile, Dorell Wright remains buried on the depth chart, now beneath Daequan Cook and something called Yakhouba Diawara- I'm still not sure why. Dorell Wright's going to have to go into that fucked up tree-cave thing on Dagobah to chop a vision of Daequan Cook and his 22 minutes a night in half with a lightsaber. Only then will his destiny as a Sith lord/viable rotation player be fulfilled.

(Edit: Apparetly, Wright was actually placed on the inactive list late last week. He had played in the preseason and appeared in the Heat's Halloween game against the Kings, but the team believes that he needs to further recover from his offseason knee surgery. Get well soon, D! And, you know, ascend to your rightful place at the Emperor's side. -Brendan)

Orlando Magic:

This one's easy because Orlando's got no bench. Keith Boggans and Tony Battie will play maybe 20 minutes or so a game. Neither will be worth adding in fantasy. Brian Cook and J.J. Redick will not play, and will therefore only be slightly (and theoretically) less valuable than Cook and Battie. Courtney Lee is a rookie, but could see some run because Jameer Nelson's backup is Anthony Johnson. Lee went to Western Kentucky University and used to whup up on my Arkansas State Red Wolves a lot. Fuck that guy. Oh, and Tony Battie went to Texas Tech, where I am finishing my MA. Go Red Raiders!

Washington Wizards:

This team is just a mess. This Wizz are hurting so badly for a defensive presence in the middle that they've been running out Oleksiy Pecherov, Darius Songalia, and Javale McGee. For those keeping score, that's two white Euros and a rookie. Actually, McGee logged 30 minutes against the Knicks, which- aside from being another clear sign that Eddie Jordan still has no clue what to do with Andray Blatche- resulted in a double-double with 2 blocks and a steal. McGee has the most upside by far, so keep an eye out should he become the go-to big behind Etan Thomas. Oh, and go grab Nick Young already. Kid is averaging mid-teens-to-twenty points on 55% from the floor. We're seeing a lot more of his scoring flair that was glimpsed in his rookie year, and it wouldn't be out of the question for him to break out soon as a regular 20 point, 1.5 trey, 1 steal threat. Anyway, guards who help percentages without turning the ball over are a favorite of mine.