Spotlight On: Bobby Simmons

Full disclosure: I have Bobby Simmons in a league, so I may be pulling for his success a little irrationally, especially since he's a Clipper. This is your warning.

Probably best known for his co-staring role on the Sports Guy’s Page 2 feature, Behind the Bench, Bobby Simmons is why I love fantasy basketball. First,

The Ego Boost
A talented predictor of future player performance I am not. I drafted Brent Barry and traded away Chris Bosh right before the Vince Carter trade. So, I feel pretty good about picking out Simmons off wavers after the first week of play. I felt I could ride Simmons hot start for a few weeks. Except he kept it going, and going, and now he might ride it through the rest of the season.

Second, and more importantly,

He’s Greater Than the Sum of His Parts
Currently ranked an unbelievable #38 on the rater for an 8 category league, you can look at Simmons stats and wonder how it all adds up. 16pts, 6.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists; no one is mistaking him for Kevin Garnett. But upon further inspection, he’s 47% from the floor, 89% from the line, and he’s averaging 1.4 steals, and a half a three a game. Again, you might wonder how that puts him ranked ahead of big name players like (pre-injury) Pau Gasol, Andre Miller, Lamar Odom, and Ben Wallace. Well, it just all adds up. The percentages and the steals help quite a bit, but even the things he doesn’t do as well (blocks, assists) he does good enough to not to hurt your team that badly. And all this from a guy who was not even going to start at the beginning of the year. I love that I guy like Bobby Simmons can go out and hustle his way to fantasy (not to mention NBA) relevance.