By Andre' Snellings, RotoWire.com

MVP Mania: Where are the numbers?

All four of the candidates for NBA Most Valuable Player were on display Wednesday night, and two of them had huge games to lead their teams to victory. Chris Paul dished 20 assists to lead the Hornets to a buzzer-beating win over the Cavaliers, and Kevin Garnett scored 30 points to lead the Celtics to a 20-point thrashing of the Suns. Late in the Boston game, the crowd showered Garnett with "MVP! MVP!" chants as he shot free throws. Before the game, though, Shaquille O'Neal had questioned Garnett as the MVP by asking, "What are his numbers? "

On the surface this is a valid question, as Paul leads the NBA in assists and steals, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are first and second in scoring, but Garnett is not in his traditional spot as the NBA leader in rebounds. In fact, Garnett's counting numbers are down pretty much across the boards this season, so if the MVP were based upon fantasy numbers Garnett would not stand up to the other candidates.

But fantasy numbers are primarily offense-based, and don't necessarily tell the full story of a player's overall impact. Garnett is a great offensive player, but where he separates himself from the other MVP candidates is on the defensive end. Bryant is a great defender and Paul leads the league in steals, but Garnett has an excellent chance to be the Defensive Player of the Year. And APBR-metric stats such as Wins Produced or Roland Rating that measure a player's overall impact on the game, including both offense and defense, show that Garnett's individual numbers are as strong as any of the other MVP candidates. Garnett also makes his case with team achievements, as he has the Celtics on pace to obliterate the mark for the biggest turnaround season in NBA history and to become just the second team in the last 25 years to lead the NBA in all three major defensive categories (points allowed, FG% allowed, and 3-point FG% allowed).

As an NBASE owner, you should definitely rank James, Paul and Bryant higher than Garnett on your "to buy" list because his fantasy numbers will not measure up. But based upon the numbers that lead to team success and the fact that his Celtics have by-far the best record in the NBA, Garnett has a strong case to take home his second MVP trophy this year.

Team Building: Weekly scoring trends for bargain shoppers

As always, I have compiled a list of lower-priced players that are producing similar NBASE points to the big sticker players. This week the two best producers were Lamar Odom and Vince Carter, the first time in weeks that anyone has outscored both Paul and James. The average cost of the 10 highest priced players is $90.07, while the average cost of the lower-priced players is $41.30.

Prospecting: Fave five

At different times this season I have pointed out the kings of the price-movers, the players that are consistently at the top of the "$ change" list on a daily basis. Currently, the five most volatile players tend to be Jazz teammates Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, Stephen Jackson of the Warriors, and Spurs Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. If they have upcoming games their prices tend to shoot through the roof, routinely up $5 or more by lunchtime. Conversely, on the day after a back-to-back their prices can drop $8 or $9 without warning.

There is still no definite rhyme or reason why some players find themselves on this list, as it is not entirely price/production-based. Great producers like Al Jefferson or Antawn Jamison never find themselves on this list, despite the fact that they produce similar numbers at similar prices. Thus, a good strategy is to mix-and-match the price-movers with the steady-priced players. Pick up Duncan or Jackson the day before their games begin and ride the price wave up, then sell them before their last game and instead start someone like Jefferson or Jamison that you don't have to worry about rushing to drop the next morning before the inevitable price drop.

Beating the Market: the week ahead

Weekly prospectors (3/28 - 4/3): The Clippers hit the jackpot with five games this week. There aren't any dominant NBASE producers on the Clippers, but there are some intriguing options with early-season sensation Chris Kamen, leading scorer Corey Maggette, explosive rookie Al Thornton, and even Tim Thomas as viable pick-ups. There are 16 other teams with four games this week, but the Pistons and Magic only have two games. This puts Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups, and the ailing Hedo Turkoglu on the list of impact players to steer clear of this week.

For the first half-week (3/28 - 3/31), there are eight teams with three games (Hawks, Bobcats, Clippers, Grizzlies, Suns, Raptors, Jazz, Wizards) while four teams have only one game (Pistons, Rockets, Magic, Trailblazers).

For the second half week (3/31 - 4/3), only the Clippers have three games while seven teams play just once (Pistons, Lakers, Nets, Magic, 76ers, Spurs, Supersonics).

Daily Prospectors: For those that still plan their week around sparsely scheduled days, there is only this week:

  • Thursday (4/3) three games: Bulls/Cavaliers, Rockets/Trailblazers, Clippers/Kings

Back-to-back schedule:

  • Friday/Saturday: Bobcats, Bulls, Clippers, Grizzlies, Bucks, Nets, Suns
  • Saturday/Sunday: Cavaliers, Warriors
  • Sunday/Monday: Hawks, Mavericks, Heat, Raptors, Jazz, Wizards
  • Monday/Tuesday: Nuggets, Suns
  • Tuesday/Wednesday: Celtics, Warriors, Bucks, Timberwolves, Hornets, Knicks
  • Wednesday/Thursday: Cavaliers, Clippers, Trailblazers
  • Thursday/Friday: Rockets

Value stocks

The market moves so fast that by the time this article comes out many of the player values will have already changed. Nevertheless, these are some players worth keeping your eyes on.

Devin Harris ($24.71): Harris has produced games with 15 assists and 13 assists over the last week, and over his last five games is averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 assists, 3.8 boards, and two combined steals/blocks.

Troy Murphy ($21.48): Murphy missed Wednesday's game with strep throat, so make sure he is back before you pick him up. But he was averaging 18.8 points and 11 boards per game in the four games leading up to Wednesday, so he is worth a look once he's healthy again.

Kenyon Martin ($18.30): Martin is in this space for the second week in a row, showing that he is producing at a high level consistently. He is averaging 15.8 points, 6.4 boards, and 3.6 combined steals/blocks over his last five games.

Ronny Turiaf ($15.05): Turiaf is a hustle role-player, which generally doesn't get you on this list. But he has scored double-figures in four games in a row, and is even dishing the rock with two surprising six-assist games in the last week. He is averaging 12.4 points, 5.6 boards, 3.4 assists and 1.2 blocks over his last five games.

Joel Przybilla ($13.96): Przybilla has 56 boards and six blocked shots over his last three games, numbers that would make even Marcus Camby proud.

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