So if you haven’t listened to this morning’s Podcast yet, you wanna know what’s fun when you run the world’s awesomest Fantasy Basketball blog?! Coming home to no internet! And your ISP having no way to fix it until the next day! It just makes you think about how we in the fantasy basketball world rely on the internet, when so much of the world is still without it… I’m over here stressing like a madman wanting to be sure Razzball Hoops can still deliver our silliness, when the world at large still has a long way to go. Even though it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, I want to tell my family at the Razzball Nation table that I’m just thankful to be here, and thankful for everyone reading! …and thankful I can get to work a few hours early to bang out today’s recap… Without the internet, I wouldn’t have a job with a software company, Razzball wouldn’t exist, I’d be working at some factory or some ish, fantasy basketball would likely not exist…. Imagine calculating fantasy hoops by hand! Ahhhhh! Awful! I’m very fortunate to merely exist at this point in time and space. And to wrap up this sappy open, I want to say I’m the bigger man and certainly wouldn’t ousT What Cable provider I use… Crooks.
Anyway, so with limited hoops watching last night due to an inconsistent 4G stream, I didn’t get to watch the Celtics game and two of my REL rocks, but had a little better service to watch most of the first half of the Spurs/Sac game. First off, have you seen the new Kings arena?! The Golden 1 Center doesn’t look real! It looks like where they’d play football in Starship Troopers, ya know, with that silver football? Wasn’t there talk that this team could move a few years ago? Geez! Well for as bad as the Kings manage their personnel, they certainly can hire some Star Trek architects, that’s for damn sure. But for as cool as the new arena looks, Kawhi Leonard looks better. Sleeker. Sexier… “You are ruining moving day for us!” 30/3/5/5/0 last night, giving him back-to-back 30 Pts/5 Stl games for the first time in NBA history. Ok, don’t fact check that, I’m sure it’s happened before… [edit – Rotoworld must be reading us, because about an hour after this posted, they put out this latest news blurb on Kawhi this morning…]
I feel like he’s one of the birds from Finding Nemo. “Mine! Mine mine! Mine!” But what an absolute superstar, and maybe he belonged right next to KAT a tier below the big-4 in my ranks. Maybe even within the big 4! 7-7 FT last night, giving him a 22-22 clip to begin the season. He only committed 1 TO last night too! If you watched any of this game, the Kings actually started pretty hot, and the other starting 4 Spurs looked horrific. It was all Kawhi to open the scoring, putting in San Antonio’s first 9 points. It was Kawhi 9 to Sacramento 16 halfway through the first… With the rest of the Spurs struggling a bit out of the gate, Kawhi put his team on his back, and absolutely looks like he’s in the MVP discussion. Makes you pretty happy for having a later-round pick in standard snake drafts! Here’s what else went down last night in Fantasy Hoops action:
Dwight Howard – Ugh so in REL, Dwight goes 3-4 FT against me while IT2/3 shoots 2-6 FT. Go flippin’ figure! 11/19/2/1/3 in his Hawks debut, doesn’t FT punt it, but only 4-9 FG and 3 TO. Here’s to hoping he goes like 3-15 FT against Philly tomorrow…
Dennis Schroder – Gets paid ($70 mil extension) andddddd?! 14/2/2/1/0 with 4 TO in only 25 minutes. Yeesh. At least gets you 2 treys and shoots 50% (6-12), so it wasn’t a total loss, but after they cut Jarrett Jack, I thought we’d be seeing 30+ MPG from Schrodes no matter what…
Malcolm Delaney – 20 minutes off the bench with 5 dimes. With the second unit helping to run away with this game, the game flow makes sense that these two were so close. I’d be Mach Schnelling! my buy low offers for Schrodes.
Paul Millsap – Clearly your best Hawk (like that was any question!), going 28/7/6/0/1 with 3 treys and a +22 +/- while the rest of the starters were about even. Played the most minutes and gelled with the second unit as the Hawks soared with the W. Sapper Dan!
Mike Muscala – Leads the second unit with a surprising 26 minutes, and nearly rainbows! 9/4/1/2/3 with a trey, shooting 3-6 FG 2-2 FT. He was an REL target of mine because Dwight is no spring chicken, but alas, no Chicken Muscala for me. Can you tell I haven’t eaten breakfast yet?!
Tim Hardaway Jr. – Who had Timmay J as the second leading scorer for the Hawks?! 21/2/1/0/0 with 3 treys. ThrAGNOF!
John Wall – Ewwwwwwww. 12/3/10/4/1 with 5 TO on an atrocious 3-15 FG. Remember he lost most of his offseason time recovering from knee surgery. It might take a few games. I might let the low times roll, then pepper in some buy lows.
Bradley Beal – Not much better, for a pretty rotten egg laid by your franchise backcourt. 13/0/4/0/0 with nary a trey. No rebounds?! Talk about your ultimate “standing around” award of last night!
Markieff Morris – The Wizards best player in 2016-17?! I must be high! 22/4/2/2/1 with 0 TO, shooting 9-18 FG (2-3 3PTM 2-2 FT). A lot of comments asked about dropping Kieff, and I think I was pretty steadfast saying to hold and see what you get. At least I hope so! Feeling good about the late round flier now!
Isaiah Thomas – In a game where I need FT% as I mentioned above, I get 10-15 FG… What in the world IT2/3, why you DeAndre Jordaning it?! 25/3/4/2/0 with 5 TO and the awful 33% FT. Meh, he looks fine though… Game-to-game anomalies.
Avery Bradley – Shout out to Las who kept bludgeoning me with comments saying Avery gonna be a facilitator this year! 16/6/5/0/1 last night with a trey, giving him 5 dimes in each of his first two games. After 2.1 AST last year, if he gets to 3.5-4.0, he’s going to vault into a 50ish overall player. I really like how 4 of the starting 5 on this team are going to average 3+ dimes it appears…
Al Horford – Still not quite at the value you wanted, but 11/7/5/0/1 last night and attempted 2 treys, while playing 30 minutes after playing only 27 against the Trainwreck Nets. It’ll get a little better.
Terry Rozier – Continuing to play the Marcus Smart role, leading the second unit in minutes and going 8/4/4/2/0 with a pair of treys. Short-term streamer for steals, maybe even in 12ers?! A pair of swipes in each of the first two games.
Jaylen Brown – Just at the eye level, looks a lot better than I expected already… Not much to do for fantasy since the run isn’t quite there, but as he settles into his second unit role and is kinda meh in the stat line, I might start shooting some dyno buy lows by 2017. Amir Johnson is on the last year of his deal, and the C’s I think could go small and start him as soon as next year.
Pau Gasol – Yuck. Which is Spanish for “Barf!” Only 21 minutes of 7/6/1/1/1, but at least added a trey and went across all 5 cats. 3 TO though?! He had one lazy pass that turned into an easy transition layup that looked like Blake Bortles out there! Still send in your buy lows, and if you own him, you gotta hold out.
Jonathan Simmons – I told everyone there’s no way you’re adding him in 12ers, and he promptly fades away, letting the big men of the Spurs second unit spark them this time…
Dewayne Dedmon – A game after getting rim-checked on an open dunk for his first 16-17 FG attempt, shocks with a 12/7 line with 4 blocks. I don’t know what is happening to Willie Cauley-Stein, but he brought nothing defensively last night. Deep league BLOCKnof, that’s all to see here from Dedmon.
David Lee – Deep league NOTHINGnof from Lee! Sure he had a good game almost rainbowing at 12/5/2/2/1 with no TO, but bleh. No way you’re trusting this, expect as a deepest of deep league roster filler.
DeMarcus Cousins – Just to rub more salt on the Pau Gasol wounds, Boogie tore him apart play after play in the first half, going 37/16/2/1/0, hitting 14-16 FT and 3 treys.
Maybe Pau should win the “standing around” award from last night! Cousins tries to put the Kings on his back with MVP-caliber play and they still lose. Story of his life.
Matt Barnes – I don’t know what’s worse, his anemic line last night of 3/0/1/1/0 with 2 TO in 27 minutes, or his man bun. I’m going bun, and cutting both.
Rudy Gay – 10-12 FT, but only 3-10 from the field in the Kings home opener in the new stadium. I didn’t hear the home fans boo him, so that’s a shame…
Ty Lawson – I guess 7 Pts and 9 Ast works out for you… Only 1 TO isn’t the worst either. Gives him exactly 16 Pts and 16 Ast through the first two games, with only 3 overall TO. Bleh, you’re definitely taking a shot on long-term value like Sergio Rodriguez.
Blake Griffin – 27/13/2/3/1 in his 16-17 debut, with only 1 TO. Shot 9-22 which isn’t the most purdy, but he looks like he’s on a nice comeback trail after a punchy 15-16.
Chris Paul – Not to be outdone, also scored 27. But where’s the beef?! Only 5 AST. That said, the Clip had only 7 TO as a team. That’s pretty damn lean-meaty!
DeAndre Jordan – Well, at least in the ever-evolving fantasy basketball landscape, we can rely on a few things… 2-10 FT. Only 1 block though makes it feel not worth it, and the 2-7 FG doesn’t either! If you FT punted and want to float some buy lows, you can try. But I doubt it yields much.
Marreese Speights – The ace of Speights! Ya wanna know what he is? A low rent version of LaMarcus Aldridge. Good mid range shooter, nab a few boards, but much lower end. 15 points with a pair of treys off the bench, but nothing you can rely on.
Damian Lillard – You can rely on the Omen, that’s for sure! Although 10 boards is a little weird! Way to box out, DJ! 29/10/3/0/0 with a couple treys.
Maurice Harkless – Apparently uses Razzball Basketball as bulletin board material! After slamming his game in the opener, is the second-highest Blazers scorer, going 23/8/2/0/0. But only 1 trey and the lack of D stats… Meh, I don’t see how he’s above the streaming class in 12ers. Of course I say that now, then he’ll read this, and go like 40 Pts 3 Stl 3 Blk next game!
Mason Plumlee – Why you don’t overreact to one game, 30:30 minutes of 17/8/4/0/3. 7-9 from the field and 3-6 FT. This is the FT punt you’ve been looking for!
Excited for the first weekend of NBA Basketball?! I know I am! Let’s hope the Razzball Basketball Office can get some internet back in time for the games… I hope you have a great weekend, and catch you Monday morning, Razzball Nation!
