NBA fantasy lab

By Matt Satten, Dropping Dimes, Special to SI.com

New coach Lionel Hollins has promised to press Mike Conley in trying to assess his ability to be a starting point guard in the NBA. AP

Every useful free agent acquisition is dependant on a player's talent and opportunity at that given time. Some have the opportunity, but their talent is lacking or underdeveloped. Others have the talent, but no opportunity exists for them to display it. Still, if a player possesses either characteristic, there is potential for him to be a worthy free agent addition, however, if a talented player is fortunate enough to receive an opportunity when one previously did not exist, then you have the recipe for a true fantasy game-changer. The six players named below are either currently at that perfect moment where opportunity is knocking or it's in view on the horizon. It's time to familiarize yourself with the following opportunists:

Ramon Sessions, PG/SG, Bucks

This is the minute countless fantasy players have been waiting for. Click over to your league's waiver wire on the double to add Sessions. Former All-Star Michael Redd got the devastating news on Sunday that he's done for the season with tears in his ACL and MCL after tweaking his knee when he landed on Luke Ridnour's foot in the Bucks' last game. While Charlie Bell might get first crack at the starting job, considering that's what Scott Skiles decided to do last time, Sessions bumped his averages to 15.6 ppg, 5.8 apg and 3.8 rpg during Redd's absence earlier this year.

If you don't remember the kind of ferocious impact Sessions can have on a fantasy team, odds are you weren't in your league's playoffs last year because the then-rookie might have been the playoff MVP for his late-season performance. After not playing a single game until March 9, an injury forced Sessions into the starting five for the season's final seven games; the rook responded with six double-digit assist games including an unfathomable 20-point, 24-assist night in the second to last game of the season. He averaged a silly 13.1 ppg, 13.1 apg, 5.6 rpg, 1.7 spg and 0.4 bpg during that stretch and the hotness continued in his four starts this year with 13.3 ppg, 8.3 apg, 4,5 rpg and 2.0 spg. If The Lab could add him to your roster for you, The Lab would. And if Charlie Villanueva happens to be sitting on the wire as well, feel free to snatch him up too.

DeAndre Jordan, C, Clippers

Conventional wisdom dictates that Jordan is only a temporary fill-in until the return of the Clippers frontcourt from injury, since all three players -- Marcus Camby, Zach Randolph and Chris Kaman -- are double-double regulars. But as the season wears on for this struggling squad, the incentive to return as quickly as possible from injury is simply nonexistent, especially with guaranteed contracts providing the ultimate security blanket. It's only taken four games as a starter, but it's clear that the 20-year-old, second-round pick from Texas A&M is worth developing with live game action. In these starts, he's had a 20-rebound game, a 6-block and 4-block game, and even a 23-point game against the Lakers. While the 7-footer is a typically terrible shooter from the free throw line, the boards, blocks and field-goal shooting can definitely occupy a spot at the back end of your roster.

Mike Conley, PG, Grizzlies

After beginning the season as the Grizz's starting PG, Conley was exiled to the bench in favor of Kyle Lowry for a month and a half. As of four games ago, Conley reclaimed his starting gig and has been playing about 32 mpg, up five minutes from his season-average as the starter. New head coach Lionel Hollins has promised Conley more freedom than the called sets that axed coach Marc Iavaroni insisted upon nearly every time down the floor. In a recent interview, Mike Bibby immediately answered that Hollins was his favorite coach to play for because of his guard-oriented offense. Take a gamble on last year's fourth overall pick and would-be college junior in hopes that he blossoms under the new regime. If it makes you feel better, know that after a slow start last year, Conley played his best month of basketball in April, which is playoff time in fantasyland.

Danilo Gallinari, SF, Knicks

The baby-faced Italian import has impressed The Lab in his short career as a Knickerbocker. He just seems to get "it." It's obvious from watching the lanky youngster play that he owns a high basketball IQ and a sweet outside stroke, which only bodes playing well playing for a coach who values both and happens to have an Italian background. While the minutes are hovering at about 17 per game in the four games he's played in since sitting out virtually the entire season with a bulging disc in his back, they could increase as Wilson Chandler's play continues to deteriorate and the others start getting worn down from the heavy minutes coach Mike D'Antoni has demanded of his short rotation thus far.

Gallinari's length and versatility on defense coupled with his ability to stretch the defense on the opposite end of the floor will afford him extra minutes as well. In the four January games, Gallinari has hit 56.5 percent from the floor, all four of his free throws, and a healthy 1.5 threes per game for a 9.0 ppg average. Factor in that he's sniffing the rarified air of the triple-single stratosphere (one block, steal and three per game) with 0.8 blocks and steals each, and you can understand why it's easy to get excited about his potential. Unless you have a deep bench, he's hard to add right now, but you have to be ready to pounce at the slightest hint of increased playing time. Keeper leaguers need to be paying attention right now.

Steve Blake, PG, Blazers

Two months into his second season in his second stint for the Blazers, not only did Steve Blake finally feel comfortable, but he also started to thrive as the team's starting PG. In the midst of this career-year, Blake had the unfortunate experience of running smack dab into the unmovable object that is the Sixers' Reggie Evans forcing his right shoulder to pop out its socket sidelining him for the past two weeks. Blake has bounced back quickly and even shot around on Friday with the latest word hinting at a possible return as soon as Wednesday. It's likely that he won't see game action until Saturday at Utah, but it's better to be ahead of the curve here. Blake's ownership in Yahoo! leagues has steadily decreased to just 41 percent, but after a couple of weeks with raw youngsters Sergio Gonzalez and Jerryd Bayless running point, it's apparent that Blake will immediately get his starting spot back.

As it stands now, Blake is tied for eighth in the NBA in threes per game at 2.2 a night to go along with 5.8 apg, 1.7 spg and only 1.8 tpg in January. And if you happen to be in a three-point percentage league, you're totally digging the 44.9 percent clip he knocked back in December and January. Plus, Portland's schedule in February is a more exciting read than a Penthouse Forum letter: NOH, DAL, OKC, NYK, OKC, GSW, MEM, ATL, LAC, HOU, SAS, MIN.

Brandon Bass, SF/PF, Mavericks

You may not have noticed, but the Mavs made a little trade earlier this month, dealing away DeSagana Diop for Ryan Hollins and Matt Carroll. Basically, it was a stinker with no direct fantasy impact. It turns out there was a bit of a ripple effect (and not the kind caused by the cheap alcoholic beverage of yesteryear immortalized in the Grateful Dead tune Ripple) in the Lone Star State. The fourth-year forward Bass out of LSU has seen an uptick in his minutes to 22.5 mpg in January, which has translated into season best monthly averages of 9.6 ppg on 50.6 percent shooting and a sexy 87.5 percent from the line on 3.3 FTA per game, 5.3 rpg and 0.9 bpg. What's happening is that Bass is playing more alongside Dirk Nowitzki instead of largely as his backup, since Dirk is capable of sliding over to center when Erick Dampier inevitably gets into foul trouble every other game. While these numbers aren't much in the way of helping your yeam as is, keep in mind what would happen if Nowitzki or Dampier were to succumb to injury; it's Paul Millsap all over again. Bass is steadily improving, and Dallas is a rather old team in its current state, so as the season progresses, he's going to be relied on even more. Stash him away in the back of your mind with the idea that you'll be a Bass master sometime down the road.

Before we leave this week's column, The Lab wanted to make sure that proper thanks for the last two weeks' Fantasy Basketball Glossary was dished out to my incredibly enthusiastic friends in the insanely competitive and extraordinarily fun fantasy basketball league, Mr. League, that we've been competing in for the past eight seasons. Some of the jargon used in the Glossary originated in the league years ago but has since been sprinkled throughout the fantasy basketball community and adopted by many. This was an attempt to bring some continuity and uniformity to the vocabulary that many fantasy basketball players use, especially since fantasy basketball is still in its infantile stage when compared with behemoths like fantasy football and baseball. So make sure to keep spreading the good word about the best fantasy sport in existence and you'll see its popularity continue to grow.

That's it for this week's Fantasy Lab.

As always, please e-mail questions or comments to msatten@gmail.com. Fantasy Ball Above All.