We’re about 6 weeks into 2012 and already some athletes are making a big impact on the MVPExchange market. As of tonight 6 NBA players stocks have each gone up over 30%.
Some are who you thought they might be, others maybe not.
Here are the those top 6 stocks:
"Ahh! Que rico pelota!!"
1. Ricky Rubio +38.43% — aka Rrrrrrricky Rrrrrrrrubio (my best Spanish accent). Since bursting on the scene from Barca, Rubes is averaging 11 PTS and almost 9 AST, with 2.5 Steals. He far outplayed his estimates and is the king of 2012 so far.
Sweet sideburns.
2. Mario Chalmers +37.14% — People unfamiliar with MVPExchange might not understand how Mario “that guy from Kansas, whatever happened to him?” Chalmers is the #2 most profitable athlete of 2012. It’s because coming into this season I only estimated him to score 6 PTS and 2.5 AST. Instead he has put up a solid 11 PTS & 3.7 AST.
"I went to college for a whole month!"
3. Kyrie Irving +36.26% — Kyrie has made Cleveland forget about that jerk Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Well, one step at a time. Kyrie started out with reasonable estimates of 10 PTS & 3 AST. He has been crushing those estimates all year, averaging 18 PTS & 5 AST, and probably a Rookie of the Year award.
"Is this a dream? Am I on stage with the Heat?"
4. Kemba Walker +34.45% — I’ll admit it. I was a bit of a Kemba hater coming into this season. I thought he would be a decent NBA player, lost in the shuffle in Charlotte. The most impressive part of his game is his Passing and Rebounding. I estimated him under 2 REB & AST, and he has doubled both.
"Best looking dude in Minnesota, ya heard me???"
5. Kevin Love +30.55% — Not much to say here. He has crazy high estimates, about 15 REB per game, and he still outplays them on a regular basis.
"This is a hat."
6. Greg Monroe + 30.33% — Monroe is a less consistent version of Kevin Love. His estimates are reasonable (currently 14 PTS, 9 REB), but he consistently outplays them. It also helps that he plays on a terrible Pistons team that misses tons of shots creating lost of rebounding opportunities.
I had to make this picture bigger, I just loved it too much.
Analysis – The first quarter of any season is the best opportunity to make some big gains. Athletes who are unproven have very low estimates (hindsight is 20/20) and they consistently outplay them. Consistent veterans can also make you some good money because they play great every night.
We’ll check back in when the first athlete in 2012 becomes a 50% gainer.
