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By Answerman

The Answerman is the first and only Fantasy Basketball and Romance advice columnist on the web. He is here at Inside Hoops to Answer all your questions (or at least the interesting ones).

Lets get to the INBOX:

Dear Answerman:

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If you could pick any 6 of these players for your bench who would they be and in what order? I know most of them have been getting more minutes and starting roles recently.

Chris Crawford, Rafer Alston, C. Atkins, Aaron McKie, Derek Anderson, Bob Sura, J. Mashburn, J. Stackhouse, Turkoglu, Brent Barry, Doug Christie, J. McInnis, or C. Maggette

Username

Dear Username

Always love it when readers ask me questions without context. When you talk about your bench you want to pepper it with specialists who compliment your starters and guys on DIFFERENT teams than your starters, so there is a greater chance for more games. Without more information, I can’t give an accurate opinion on it.

However, just picking based on quality of the players, Stackhouse, Anderson, Atkins, Christie, Sura, Maggette. This way you’ve got three specialists, for extra help in specific categories, Stackhouse (scoring), Christie (steals), Atkins (assists), two good multidimensional players in case of injury, Anderson & Maggette, and a guy coming on hot worth keeping an eye on in Sura.

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The piece of advice you gave about trading for a guy because you like them is borderline retarded. Every good fantasy player know its about the numbers and winning.

KH

Dear KH,

Good to be only “borderline” retarded.

I believe my readers are sophisticated enough to realize that you do not simply trade for players you like. You trade for players you like without taking a hit on productivity from the player you are giving up.

I thought that was obvious. Maybe only to those of us on the boderline side of things.

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Playoffs start on the 22nd of this month. There are some decent Free Agents available in my league such as Jamal Mashburn, Jerry Stackhouse, Jalen Rose, Rafer Alston, and Olowokandi (not sure if Mash, Rose, or Hughes will be back before my playoffs). Should I pick any of them up and replace them with one of my current players, if so who for who?

Do you have any other comments or suggestions?

Thanks!

DR

Dear DR-

I’d avoid Mashburn like the plague, especially in a playoff league. Even when/if he comes back, his injuries just come too quickly and unpredictably. I’d avoid Olowakandi, he has never shown an ability for consistent numbers. Also with Minnesota playing so badly with him as a starter, they may be going to him less and less.

Wade is back so Alston will see a decline in playing time. Rose or Stackhouse look like your best option. I prefer Rose. He has a history of good health, so I expect him to finish the season, whereas Stack’s health has been iffy (“iffy” is about as accurate a fantasy basketball medical term as “probable”, “questionable”, and “game-time decision”).

Rose is a consistent part of what they do in Toronto good for 15, 4 & 4, with little else.

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Is it time to drop Dwayne Wade? There's no guys available that are going to help much, but losing Wade won't hurt much. But I always figured having a guy who's going to put up consistent mid-level stats is always better than an unproven rookie who can have huge games but gets hurt a lot. Best guy I could get would probably be Jiri Welsch.

Travis

Dear Travis,

Like the late Sam Kinison used to say “If you don’t trust the p****, why are you f***ing the p****” Family web-site, so you’ll have to read between the lines.

If you don’t trust Wade then it is time to dump him. Consistent mid-level veterans are generally a better risk than unproven rookies – especially injury prone ones like Wade. I don’t know that Welsch is a mid-level consistent vet, as much as a McKie, Rose or Wesley, but your brain is in the right place.

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I have been offered a trade that brings me T-Mac in exchange for Bibby and Amare Stoudamire. While Bibby has been on a tear as of recent, I fear that his numbers will decline due to the return of C-Webb and Brad Miller. Should I pull the trigger? RA

Dear RA,

First rule of trading, always get the best player. Second rule, if you cannot figure out who is getting the worse end of the deal, its probably you. Third rule, get it done before the trading deadline – which we’ve probably already missed for this deal. Sorry.

In case you can still do it - Yes, pull the trigger

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My girl is really pissed at me. I messed up – no question, but I apologized and she’s still at it. Thoughts.

JP

Dear JP,

You’ve come to the right place. A lot of guys will try flowers, candles, chocolates, etc., its all very nice but its all been done and none of it actually works.

Women tend to let problems seethe longer than men do. We fight, we apologize, we’re done. Women will think about it for days- weeks – even months following.

What your girl needs is two things: 1) an open invitation to get it all out. Something like “Baby, I know you’re upset, just tell me what’s on your mind” Be prepared because it can be brutal.

2) Space. It sounds weird. You want to dote on her to make it up to her. She doesn’t want it. She needs to finish the fight in her head. Something like, “Listen, I’m going to stay at work a little tonight so you can have some time to yourself. I can’t wait to see you”

The key is to let her know you are purposefully giving her time to herself, despite your overwhelming desire to be with her (during that time, go out with your friends and have some fun.)

She’ll take a bath, listen to music, take a nap. Whatever it is they do. It'll give her a chance to feel guilty about the yelling she did and - more importantly - a chance to miss you.

When you come home ask “Is everything ok” – “Yeah I feel much better, Thanks”.

If a week goes by and she’s still being unpleasant, she may not be capable of forgiveness and she’s not the girl for you.

Good luck everybody. If you have any questions ask the [email protected].