Linas Kleiza

The 6-8 small forward landed in Toronto in July of 2010, and signed a multi-year deal. He came from Denver, where he played a solid four seasons. Kleiza has career averages of 8.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and posted a career-year in 2007-08 of 11.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg and 1.2 apg. He’s a powerful player who’s crafty under the rim. About halfway through last season, he suffered a meniscus tear, forcing him to undergo micro-fracture surgery in February. His time-table for return was 12 months, and he’s on schedule, but even if his timetable is accurate, it’s unclear how soon he’ll be ready to contribute enough to be of use in fantasy.

Kleiza played his first four seasons in the NBA with the Nuggets and was used in a limited role. Frustrated with his situation, Kleiza spent last season with Olympiacos and averaged 17.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.4 three-pointers in 30.4 minutes per game while leading Olympiacos to the Euroleague championship game. The Raptors will play him at small forward and power forward and ask him to play a large role in their offense.

Kleiza made more than a few “most added” lists last season. During his brief 13-game stint as a starter, he racked up impressive averages of 17.1 points, 4.7 boards, 1.5 threes and 1.2 steals while shooting over 47 percent from the floor. With Marcus Camby and Eduardo Najera gone, Denver is relying on Kenyon Martin and Nene to play big minutes in the frontcourt – a risky proposition at best. Look for Kleiza to play a significant role for George Karl this season, and don’t be surprised to hear him named a starter.

Kleiza showed some real flashes of brilliance in 2006-07 and we don’t see any reason he won’t continue to improve. The only problem is Kenyon Martin is back and Anthony never seems to come out of the ball game. Those two factors will limit Kleiza to around 10 minutes of court time a night which isn’t going to be enough to bring him anywhere near fantasy relevance.

Kleiza will compete for a back-up role behind starting SF Carmelo Anthony but will have stiff competition from Eduardo Najera. Even if Kleiza wins the job, and he isn't expected to, Anthony plays so many minutes, and the club is so stacked with talent up front, that Linas will have minimal to zero fantasy value in any league regardless of size.

It was assumed, after Kleiza was drafted, that he would probably be headed for Europe or a stint in the NBDL considering the talent and veteran stacked Nugget front line. Yet after his summer league performance coach George Karl came away impressed enough to bring him into camp and even suggested Linas might be able to help the team this year. However, despite all the positive strides Linus made last season and during the summer it�s doubtful he�ll make that much of an impact this year. The sad fact is the Nuggets� front court packed with talent and there just aren�t enough minutes to go around. That�s not saying Kleiza won�t see any court time but it will be in the 3-7 minutes a night range which should help his development and help the team determine if he�s a late draft gem or another �Tskitishvilli!