tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10226278.post-1132973499572986992005-11-25T20:12:00.000-06:002005-11-25T20:51:59.096-06:00Either Joel Przybilla or Marko Jaric returning to the ranks of fantasy relevance on any given night would be enough to stir joy in the hearts of the many owners (like me) who drafted these two anywhere before the twelfth round on draft day. But both... having huge games... on the same night? It's a gift from God!<br /><br /><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nba/players/2005/3408.jpg"><br /><strong>Joel Przybilla</strong><br /><br />The Vanilla Gorilla was a huge favorite of mine heading into the season. He hasn't nearly lived up to his potential this season because his playing time under Nate McMillan has been in the toilet.<br /><br />But tonight, Przybilla put up 15 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 assists, and no turnovers on 6-8 shooting while playing 42 minutes. Outside of the points, Joel could put up numbers like this every night. He hasn't because of Theo Ratliff, nemesis of Przybilla owners worldwide.<br /><br />For some reason that wasn't discussed in AP's post-game recap, Theo Ratliff didn't play a single minute in tonight's game. "Coach's Decision" was the reason listed in the box, but it's unlikely that McMillan just decided to not to play the Rattler. As I see it, there are two possibilites. <br /><br />A) Ratliff is injured... maybe that problematic shoulder from last year is acting up again. <br /><br />B) Ratliff, along with malcontent Ruben Patterson, has been traded for additional young scrubs to fill out Portland's roster, and the trade has not been announced yet.<br /><br />The latter possibility is almost too beautiful to consider for any long period of time... Let's wait and see. Maybe Theo just missed the game because of personal reasons, or was feeling a little under the weather.<br /><br /><img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nba/players/2005/3429.jpg"><br /><strong>Marko Jaric</strong><br /><br />First of all, is it just me, or does Marko have a little bit of a young-Peter-Falk thing going on?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.jaky.sulinet.hu/staf04/colombo2.jpg"><br /><br />More importantly... At the end of the 3rd quarter of the Bucks-Wolves game when I write this, Jaric has 21 points, 4 assists, 2 threes, and 3 steals on 9-13 shooting. <br /><br />Wolves coach Dwayne Casey had refused to make a lineup change to jolt a "wallowing" Jaric out of his slump, according to the rumors compiled by Inside HOops, and instead has encouraged Jaric to stop thinking too much. Says Casey: "I told him, just play."<br /><br />Rejoice! It looks like Casey's sage advice may actually be paying off for one of fantasy's biggest busts so far.MKDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04593505156840418629noreply@blogger.com