With how the Poppycockers put together their “Super Team”, I admittedly had some worries that the bunch of Tom Cruise-divas they threw out there might make The Poison Goose a mere co-pilot. But not with moxie like this!
Dude doing that at 7’3!!!!! SEVEN THREE!!! Monster game from Kristaps Porzingis last night, going a career-high 35/7/3/1/1 with 3 treys on 13-22 shooting. He played 40 minutes, and put the Poppies on his back. While I was a little apprehensive of his USG, I still think my rank of 23 ended up being ahead of the curve (I would confirm this, but FantasyPros is being a little ish and not making it easy to find draft day expert consensus!). Alas, I was unable to get the Goose in any leagues, and I’m suffering some major poultry withdrawal. Thankfully Thanksgiving is right around the corner! He’s taken 15+ shots the past 7 games, attempting 2 more treys a game than last year, and the TO rate has gone from 1.7 his rookie year to 1.3. His ridiculous 7’3 size makes him too tough for stretch-4s to cover him, and his ridiculous speed and ball-handling makes him too tough for centers. He’s becoming a true matchup nightmare with the added iso moves, and is – I’m going there – a no question first-rounder next year. Slim having him on his REL team has me depressingly reaching for the Grey Goose! Here’s what else went down in fantasy hoops action last night:
LeBron James – Sat with a case of “special treatment”itis. In his stead, Kevin Love picks up a big line of 27/16/1 on 11-23 shooting. Not much in the ancillary stats – and the Cavs lost – but you’re more than happy with your Love investment thus far.
Monta Ellis – Ate the same bowl of Wheaties as Myles Turner yesterday morning! 5 blocks! He had 4 blocks going into last night ON THE SEASON! 7/6/4/1/5 is like a Gorgui line! Turner also got his swats, going 12/8/0/1/4. I don’t know what Turner’s 0-3 FT was about, maybe his hands were sticky from spilled milk from his Wheaties.
Anthony Davis – Another high-profile DNP, sitting with a bruised quad. Here we go again! I bet he bruised it running into one of the Pelicans’ medical staff in the hallway.
Terrence Jones – Sub out a great Wildcat for a pretty good one when he gets run, and Tjones was the best Pel on the court last night. 26/9/2/0/1 on 9-20 FG (2-4 3PTM 6-7 FT). 38 minutes in that line too. [throws arms up in the air] I guess grab him in all 12ers; don’t lose anyone consistent in 10ers, and let’s go from there.
E’Twaun Moore – The Pels medical staff gave him a nice toe job to be able to play last night, and E’Trade went 14/3/4/2/0 on 6-16 shooting. I’m surprised at how consistent his scoring has been, but Jrue Holiday is back tomorrow and Tyreke Evans isn’t too far off either…
Tim Frazier – 1-7 FG, 4/3/3 with 4 TO in his last game before Jrue is back. Talk about a letdown! I wouldn’t be surprised if they still start him a game or two further though, and the Pels play a Fri/Sat back-to-back, so I’m waiting until after that set to cut him in RCLs.
Elfrid Payton – The entirety of the Magic line-up had an off-night, but because they played the mess of Nawleans without their only plus NBA player, Orlando still got a W. But you’ll take a rainbow line any night! 5/4/4/3/2 with only 1 TO, but on 2-9 shooting…
Otto Porter – Kills your Roto boner! He’s punt only!!!! 15/13/1/4/1 with no TO. But! 5-17 FG. Against the Sixers! I still don’t fully understand how he’s gone from 5.2 REB to 8.3, but the rest actually doesn’t look too crazy. I’ve been OttoCorrected!
Sheldon McClellan – Meant to mention him in the weekend notes, but got another start for Bradley Beal (hamstring). Slim has his Floride bias for him, but he’s a pretty ThrAGNOFian wing. Worth a look in deepers though for the short-term, although Beal is close.
John Wall – Embarrassing loss for the Wizards, who began down 29-15 after the first quarter. Wall got benched most of the first half after the slow start, but ended up going 27/4/6 in only 24 minutes. Benching your best player is always the answer, Scotty B! Or should I say, SKIIIIIIILES B!
Ersan Ilyasova – Took the starting 4 job from Dario Saric. You remember when I called Saric “just a guy”? You know who loses their starting job to Ersan friggin’ Ilyasova? …just a guy. Anyway, 16/4/0/0/0 with 4 treys of utter ThrAGNOF from Ghostface, but did foul out in 26 minutes. Saric for 13/12/1/0/0 with 1 trey. Neither inspired confidence as must-own, but I am happily ThrAGNOF streaming Ily right now.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – This just in! He’s really good. 26/15/7/1/2 in 40 minutes, and playing every bit like the first-rounder you expected, even if stupid, ugly Matthew Dellavedova is stealing a few dimes…
John Henson – I said in the comments that I would be shocked if he got 20+ minutes. I’M THE BIGGEST MORON IN THE HISTORY OF FANTASY BASKETBALL!!!!! 20:18. Ugh! 7/7/2/0/0 for Henson, hate not seeing the swats, but they’ll come in bunches. Definitely more of a 12er streamer, if that.
Mike Muscala – With Dwight Howard out (quad, was a game-time call), Chicken Muscala brought the gravy and the potatoes for 16/5/3/0/1 and a trey. I’d like him more if he didn’t have a terrible man bun… I don’t understand this man bun fad going across the NBA!
Taurean Prince – His first name sounds like something in an energy drink, which is good as we wash out the thoughts of the last T Prince in the NBA! 8/5/1/1/2 including a big dunk for by far his best game on the season, but Thabo Sefolosha was a surprise scratch with a minor knee thing, so not much to see here.
J.J. Barea – Mannnnn. Had him on a couple RCLs and was loving the ride, then he went down on an awful-looking non-contact injury. He said he was having problems with his Achilles lately too. This one made me sad, usually I hate the short NBA players! Cough, Nate Robinson, cough. But I loved watching Barea. This might be an out-for-the-season thing.
Seth Curry – Which I guess would help solidify Seth Curry’s role. Not to mention Deron Williams‘ calf flared up again, and HE only played 10 minutes. How much do the Mavs wish they kept Raymond Felton!? Here’s an idea – trade Dwight Powell who you’re not using enough, or like Justin Anderson, plus a first-round pick for Ricky Rubio. Wow, this went from a Curry blurb to trade talk! 32 minutes of nothingball last night from Curry (6/4/4/0/0 in 32 minutes), but with absolutely no PG, I scoured all my leagues to add him where I could… Andddd, at 28% owned, was already owned in all my RCLs, which really pisses me the F off. I thought he was supremely overrated, but due to now 3 PG injuries, he’s going to be valuable. I hate fantasy basketball sometimes.
Avery Bradley – This is getting insane. Another 13 boards. Your next highest Celtic last night? Marcus Smart with 7. Man, they need Al Horford and Jae Crowder back! They had a big lead, but then a 10 point second quarter and almost let the lowly Mavs steal that one.
Isaiah Thomas – The exclamation point was on this nasty dime!
He has 2/3 the size of normal legs, so that’s a tight window to get it through! 30/4/6/0/0, you don’t love the 5 TO, but 13-16 FT and 3 treys while playing through a swollen stinkfinger. Hey, that’s a Tool reference, nothing more!
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Speaking of my REL team, I went from a “have to have a drink every day” KCP addiction to “lost my wife and kids” KCP addiction on this desperation trey!
He then got a pretty good look to tie this game at the buzzer, but barely missed. If it had gone in, I might’ve gone full “Leaving Las Vegas” KCP addiction! I do love me some Elisabeth Shue! 21/4/3 with no TO from KCP, on a bleh 9-22 shooting.
Jon Leuer – Even though he was getting abused by the Goose – Goose abuse! – got 27 minutes and had a great fantasy line of 17/9/3/1/0 on 7-11 FG (2-4 3PTM 1-1 FT). I guess his role as the 6th man is 100% legit. My bad for not buying in until now! I would roll with him while hot in 12ers if I had room, but if the minutes dry up a little bit, I ain’t looking back with a cut.
Joakim Noah – 25 minutes, and yelled at the refs enough to get a 7/15/3/1/3 line. How his FT shot got this much worse from his sidewinder stroke – that had him in the 60% range most of his career – is beyond me – 1-6 FT last night. Like in baseball, they’re juicing the rims!
Eric Gordon – Houston went on stretches where they were hitting a ton of treys, then when they started missing, they looked like an awful team. D’Antoni – just like the Brooklyn Mess – are playing Duke ball right now! God I hate an offense that relies on nothing but 3s, so boring… Anyway, 5-20 FG from Gordon with 3-12 treys. Bluuuuuch.
Victor Oladipo – I dunno if it was the D’Antoni matchup, or a strategy, or what, but Oladipo took the ball up the court way more than any other OKC game I’ve watched… REL bias (below) has me watching a good bit of Thunder. Finally a nice game of 29/10/5/2/0, hitting 5-7 treys. Almost all of those treys were absolutely wide open looks due to the pace of this game, but hey, he knocked em down! If you haven’t been able to deal him yet, I would coast off this game and see if he can string a few more together before assessing a sell-high.
Russell Westbrook – The game I watched the most last night – The Oklahoma City Westbrooks against the Houston Hardens – went to OKC after a nice 4th quarter comeback. Advantage, Westbrooks! 30/7/9/2/0, 9-20 shooting, 2 treys, 10-11 FT, the only non-efficiency being the 6 TO, which we’re starting to expect might push Harden for another NBA record. But when you end the game on this, who cares?!
Hurray, JB’s REL!
Lucas Nogueira – The flavor of the week (Egg Nog is seasonal!) got 13 minutes of 0/5/2/0/0 last night. That said, the Warriors love to play small, so it makes sense he barely got run. If you really need the D stats, I wouldn’t immediately cut in 12ers.
DeMar DeRozan – Scored 30+ points again. Yawn.
Stephen Curry – Great W for the Dubs beating the Craptors on the road, with Curry going 35/3/7/1/0 with that amazing FG% (10-19) mixed with 3s (three of em) and good FT volume (12-13). The steals are still a little behind, but his line is exactly what we expected. Anyone panicky after a slow-ish start should feel satiated.
Draymond Green/Kevin Durant – #Occupy got his rainbow line (11/7/5/2/3), KD got 30 points as well on a full line (30/9/6/1/0), but poor ginger stepchild Klay Thompson goes only 15/4/1/0/1 with 3 treys. It’s almost exactly what I pictured would go on here. Well, minus Zaza – AND DON’T YOU MENTION THAT OTHER CENTER IN THE COMMENTS!
Brandon Knight – The other candidate for the lead this morning, BK put up a whopper of a 32/4/4/1/0 line on 12-20 FG (3-5 3PTM 5-7 FT) in only 27 minutes off the bench. Barely more minutes than what we’re used to! It was a night of bounceback games from under performing guards like Knight and Dipo, but I don’t know how sustainable either are. Looks like T.J. Warren got the short-end last night (8/1/0/2/0 on 2-11 shooting), but Devin Booker got his, and Eric Bledsoe got a shockingly low 4 shots up (8/3/5/3/0 with 6 TO – ouch). Do you think Knight can score 30 every night in 27 minutes, and Bledsoe + Warren will combine for 15 shots? Sounds unlikely. I admittedly said it was OK to drop Knight in several comments – mostly in 10ers – so I’m kinda hoping I don’t look dumb there. Just too many mouths to feed. As a BK owner in an RCL, I’m going to try and sell high off this one.
Nikola Jokic/Jusuf Nurkic – Oh dear god. I thought we were already in an absolute abyss of meaninglessness with these two, but then in a night where the Nuggets score 120, Nurk goes 0/6/4/0/1 with 3 TO and Joke goes 10/2/2/0/0. At least both did a little of SOMETHING, but geeeeez.
Kenneth Faried – Wow, he’s the one to own right now, as I self-flagellate myself for saying that. 20/15/0/4/1. I hate fantasy basketball sometimes.
Emmanuel Mudiay – After Mike Malone calls him out for having butterfingers, goes an awesome 15/5/6/2/0 on 7-17 shooting with ZERO turnovers! Talk about coachable! Slim’s hate for Mudiay had gotten way out of control. Given this was one game, but daddy like.
Wilson Chandler – Will Barton sadly suffered a setback with his kankle, so who knows the timeline there. Plus Gary Harris is out 3-4 weeks. Malone is like “WILLLLLLLSON!!!!” “I NEED YOU!!!!” 28/11/5/1/1 off the bench in a monster 35 minutes, shooting 11-22 FG (2-3 3PTM 4-4 FT). It won’t be that good every night, but he has a pretty big role right now due to the shortage of wings. Which I hope doesn’t happen again for the Super Bowl.
Chandler Parsons – I know. I KNOWWWWWWW. It’s bad, rough waters right now (4/2/1/0/1 in 14 minutes). But stay strong! I hate fantasy basketball sometimes…
Marc Gasol – Maybe my FG% concerns were a little overwrought, as he shot 10-21 last night for 26 points, and shot 46+% the past 5 games. Eh.
J.J. Redick – Something weird for the Clip for a change! Chris Paul admitted he had Lasik surgery in the offseason, went bananas to start the year, the apparently after admitting you had laser eye surgery, it then doesn’t work. You have to keep it a secret. That’s the key to laser eye surgery. 9/2/6/5/0 is still a usable enough line (3-11 FG), and it was JJ who picked up the slack going an uber-ThrAGNOF 29/1/0/1/1 with 7 treys. But the almighty Clip lost this one! All CP3’s fault for admitting to the surgery…
Pau Gasol – Keeping the good times rolling! 24/9/2/0/2 coming out of his funk, and even LaMarcus Aldridge got a full rainbow line of 21/6/2/2/2. The Spurs FINALLY played their starters, which actually spells doom, as this likely means a week of DNPs across the board. Ugh!
Jonathon Simmons – Remember when everyone even in 12ers added him? Gus Ayonin’!
Darren Collison – God, what in the friggin’ world is Dave Joerger doing, giving Ty Lawson legacy starts over Colly?! Losing respect for him as a coach. Lawson did nothing, Colly went a bleh but usable 10/4/6/2/0 in his 30 minutes. I guess it must be a Sophie’s Choice between two absolute saints, picking which one to start…
I hope everyone had a great Wednesday on the full slate of action, and I’ll catch you tomorrow with the Podcast post!
