The Fig Cap: Milk is chillin’... I am chillin’... What more can I say, top billin’.

For those of you that were waiting for the return of Dwyane Wade, to a lesser degree, Ron Artest, and to an even lesser degree, Stephen Jackson, your patience will be rewarded this coming week with a full set of games for the week.  But before we get down with what individual players have been doing and could possibly continue to do, it’s time to peep the number of games each NBA team has going on in Week Four of the fantasy basketball season.

Also check out DroppingDimes.com’s Rankings for Week Four where we breakdown the top 20 players at each position!

What Time Is It?  Game Time! (Week Four: 11/19-11/25)

Teams Playing Three Games: Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Seattle SuperSonics, Utah Jazz

Teams Playing Four Games: Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards

Hoops Hot?  Hoops Cold?

HOT

It’s appropriate that the player that starts this section off is a Phoenix Sun.  Only it’s not one of the trio of studs that you’d probably expect drafted in the first round of most fantasy drafts. – Shawn Marion, Steve Nash, and Amare Stoudeimre.  No, instead it’s Leandro Barbosa I’m gonna begin with as he averaged 26.0 points and knocked down 4.5 treys in four games in the past week.  Add the excellent percentages – 51.9 FG% and 85.7 FT% - and you can understand why Barbosa can be labeled hot!

Not that he wasn’t doing well anyway, but Yao Ming could see a slight increase in his production in Week Four depending upon Tracy McGrady’s mending back to health from an elbow injury.  In four games the past week, Ming has averaged close to 28 points and 10 boards to go along with almost two swats a game.  And proving that big men can actually convert free-throws, Yao drained 88.0 percent of his chances from the charity stripe.  The 54.1 FG% doesn’t hurt either.

What’s up with Andrei Kirilenko?  It looks like he wants to make up for last season’s disappointing output.  AK47 almost average a triple-double in four games in the past week – 12 points, 9.3 rebounds, 9.8 assists – and his stellar defensive numbers from seasons past have also come back as the 3.3 steals and 2.5 blocks per game in the same four games will attest to.  A lot of it has to do with Kirilenko getting out of Jerry Sloan’s doghouse and earning the starting minutes he’s been getting this season, as opposed to last season when there was a lot of strife between the two.

Along with Barbosa, Manu Ginobili will be a strong Sixth Man of the Year candidate.  In the past week, Manu averaged 19.3 points, 1.8 triples, 6.5 boards, 4.0 dimes, 2.3 swipes, as well as 48.9% accuracy from the field and 88.9% from the line.  And it’s not like he’s getting a ton of minutes either, as he’s averaging less than 30 minutes of burn each game thus far this season.  One can only imagine if he got 36 minutes each night on the floor.

A lot of the focus up in Boston has been on Kevin Garnett and how he has transformed the franchise, which is all valid.  However, it’s the old franchise player that has flourished just as much.  Paul Pierce leads the Celtics in scoring in the past week dropped 24.3 points a night, thanks in part to converting 50.8% of his shots from the floor and sticking 1.8 triples a game.  However, thanks to the presence of KG and Ray Allen, Pierce also averaged 4.3 assists in that same span.  There is something special about this Celtics offense, which suits fantasy owners of the Big Three in Beantown.

Carmelo Anthony is proving that he is more than just scoring and adding a huge heap of points in that category.  He’s also averaging over five dimes a game for the season, which is what he averaged in four games last week.  The 50.6 FG%, 87.1 FT%, seven glass cleanings, and 1.8 rock rips yells versatility to me.

And how can you talk about versatility without mentioning Jason Kidd. The triple-double monster almost averaged that in three games in the past week with a big uptick in points (16.7), and level production in boards (8.0) and above average in assists (9.7).  However, the 38.6 FG% ugly, as well as the 0.3 swipes average for the skillful ball hawk.

COLD

Pau Gasol was a borderline first round pick before the season, but in four games last week, he hasn’t produced much in boards (5.3) or blocks (0.5), two categories many fantasy owners rely on Gasol for.  But, it’s not all bad as Gasol also averaged 18.0 ppg, but Andres Nocioni actually averaged more points (19.0) and Andris Biedrins matched the points output.

What is going on with Jermaine O’Neal?  His numbers this season is seven games are down across the board.  JON is only averaging 13.7 ppg, his lowest average since the 2000-01 season (12.9), 8.1 rebounds from last season’s 9.6, and 1.4 rejections from 2.6.  Probably the most disconcerting stat though is the 38.4 FG% from this post player and career 46.0 FG% shooter.  You’d like to think that things can change for the better, but last week’s 38.7% in four games last week isn’t encouraging.

Last season, Mike Miller was one of the better surprises as he averaged over 18 points and hitting almost three triples a game.  Last week’s averages of 12.3 points on 39.1% shooting from the floor and 0.3 treys-made does not make for a good fantasy player with a lot of expectations coming into the season.  The lack of three-pointers hit is the most surprising.  However, the season is still young for Miller to turn it around.

Andrea Bargnani has really cooled off in the past week after a great start to the season.  In three games last week, Bargnani put up 8.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.3 apg, and 30.8 percent from the floor.  It isn’t too much of a coincidence that this cool off coincides with Bargnani no longer starting.

If you want to talk erratic, you have to talk about Peja Stojakovic.  There was a lot of hope for Peja coming back strong this season, but after last week, the comeback is looking sketchy.  Averages of 7.8 ppg (including a two-point effort in over 25 minutes of play) and shooting 32.4 percent from the field just isn’t going to cut it.

Somewhat of a deep sleeper coming into the season, Charlie Bell played like he actually slept in all three of his games in the past week as he averaged 3.3 ppg on 21.4% shooting.  Bell should produce better than that when he’s averaging about 21 minutes of play per game.

The Returns

In his first game back, Dwyane Wade scored 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting, adding five assists and three steals and a block in only 24 minutes of play.  It’ll take a bit of time, but it looks like Flash is on his way back and ready to put up strong numbers across the board this season.

Ron Artest played a significant amount of minutes, as he was coming back from suspension and not injury as Wade was.  In about 38 minutes of play, Artest scored 17 points, dropped six dimes, and swiped the rock three times.  Expect Artest to get back into the swing of things off the bat as he’s a talented and well-conditioned player.

TFJO Tidbits

- Vince Carter suffered a severe ankle sprain and is out indefinitely.  Sit him if you need to set a weekly lineup as you don’t want to lose any production relying on an “iffy” player.
- Chauncey Billups suffered a right knee injury and could sit out against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.  Monitor the situation, but he should be back to health in time for next week.
- As mentioned briefly, Tracy McGrady suffered a strained right elbow injury and is considered day-to-day. 
- Atlanta Hawks rookie Acie Law sprained his left ankle on Wednesday night against the Charlotte Bobcats.
- Dallas Mavericks guard/forward Eddie Jones suffered a high ankle sprain and will be out for two weeks.
- Milwaukee Bucks forward Michael Ruffin broke his left wrist and will be out of action for four to six weeks.
- New York Knicks center Jerome James had foot surgery and it out indefinitely.
- Philadelphia 76er Kyle Korver strained his groin against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday and is expected to miss seven to ten days.

That’s it for this week and since we won’t publish until after the holiday, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and a special welcome back to my friends Jeff and Dan to the shock jock world.  Have a safe holiday all and try not to get trampled during “Black Friday,” the first official day of Christmas shopping!