DeMar DeRozan

JB Gilpin

Jonas Valanciunas, Luminescent Lithuanian, 2013-14 Fantasy Sleeper

| 2013-2014 Fantasy Basketball Sleepers | Leave a comment

by: +

You know what?  I still blame whatever broadcast I was watching while logging Yahoo fantasy highlights for calling Jonas Valanciunas Latvian and not Lithuanian as the cause for me to make the same mistake.  Sure I should’ve fact checked!  But who does that anymore?  Cough, cough, Kansas City Royals graphics truck, cough. Then again, maybe I heard wrong and I have no idea which game it was and who’s broadcast it was, so I need proof.  Who needs proof anymore either?  I pretty much don’t know or have anything…

Well now that I have undersold my intelligence, let me try to get you to buy on the Luminescent Lithuanian before anyone else in your draft can nab him:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
JB Gilpin

DeMar DeRozan, 2013-14 Fantasy Sleeper

| 2013-2014 Fantasy Basketball Sleepers | 9 Comments

by: +

Sleepers.  How you win your leagues.  I love sleepers; it’s my favorite part of any fantasy forecasting where you identify the diamonds in the rough.  A big reason I love sleepers is they are the guys that can end up on a lot of your teams at a draft day value discounted where you know you can beat your draft to them.

So that takes me to DeMar DeRozan, a guy I wasn’t going to write my first sleeper post on at first, but amidst my ranking at 67 in my Way Too Early Rankings, I decided to dig deeper and try to convince Razzballers why they should spend a higher price on DeRozan than other rankings would suggest:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
JB Gilpin

Way Too Early Rankings: Top 100 For 2013-2014

| 2013-2014 Fantasy Basketball Rankings | 17 Comments

by: +

I’ve got to say, growing up a huge Charlotte Hornets fan, I am going to finally have a favorite team again next year.  I mean, the Bobcats is such a horrific name for a professional sports team that it actually made me not cheer for them.  If they follow my logic – citizens of New Orleans, I’m sorry, you’re no longer cheering for your NBA team.

If you missed it the other night, the 2013 NBA Draft Lottery was selected (coincidentally right when a huge Powerball was built up and won – conspiracy?!) with the Cleveland Cavaliers winning another #1 pick.  Nerlens Noel, or Captain N as I’m going to call him, looks like he’s heading to one of basketball’s friendliest cities.  Just don’t leave for another team in a televised special.  Honestly, my first thought was, “great, another talented player I have to navigate through injury estimates with.”

Anyway, I doubt any NBA rookies will crack the top 100 for fantasy this year, it’s a pretty weak draft class, but that’s why these way too early rankings will be capped at 100 before readdressed closer to the season when they’ll expand to 200.  As always with rankings this early, it’s May, the Finals haven’t even started yet, and there will be a lot of revisions.  But here’s how I see things shaking out as of right now:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
JB Gilpin

Jonas Valanciunas Scores The Weirdest Career High

| Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 17 Comments

by: +

If you’ve been keeping up with me since I took over the basketball reigns here for Razzball Nation, you know I’ve had two guys I’ve been all about.  Tobias Harris and Jonas Valanciunas.  Yes the luminescent Lithuanian (LL).  Not Latvian!  Easy mistake…  OK, so I’m not one to talk, I’m paler than an Icelander living in Seattle.  But it sounded cool when I made it up.

At the ripe young age of 20, Valanciunas is owning the post, and is doing a Tyler Hansbrough impression of what Psycho-T did in college, just throwing up shizz and getting to the line.  LL (see, this is much better than typing his name correctly every time) has been scoring double-digits a night, but hit his career-high yesterday with 24 in 41 minutes.  The crazy thing is, he took only 7 shots!  Went 16-18 at the free throw line for a splendid line of 24-10-1-1-2.  I know pounding Nene and the rest of the Wiz bigs down low isn’t exactly a huge accomplishment, but I’m gonna be all over him for next year.  And if for some reason he’s available in your league, nab him for your championship run.

Here’s what else went down across the NBA last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Dan A

Buy/Sell – Trust The Gordon’s Fisherman

| Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell | 23 Comments

by: +

Let’s face it. It’s unlikely that LeBron or KD are available on your waiver, and nobody in their right mind is gonna trade ‘em to you. So adjust your expectations accordingly. You’re not taking the prom queen home tonight, but some of these fillies can still put out, and you can still pretend that the one you took home kinda does look like LBJ in the pale moonlight. Here are one man’s brain droppings on who to grab, and who to sell.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
James Redacted

Kobe Bryant is no Jack Taylor

| Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 14 Comments

by: +

Last night, Kobe Bryant scored over half his team’s points (40) and reached a triple double.  No, not the good kind of triple double…the kind where you also have 10 turnovers.  An absurd line of 40/10/3/3 with 5 3PM, 12-28 FG, 11-13 FT, and the aforementioned 10 turnovers.  You’ll live with the high TO’s but the Lakers can’t.  In a night of high profile college basketball, the game turned out to be very similar.  I didn’t watch, but George Hill (19/5/5/1) hit the game winning shot to win 79-77 over Kobe Bryant.  Not to mention that the teams combined for 57 personal fouls (that’s an actual number, not some sarcastic number).  Did anybody enjoy watching that?  Glad I watched the ACC/Big 10 challenge instead.  Anyway, here’s what else happened in the NBA last night:

Darren Collison – Sometimes a coach likes to put a slumping player on the bench and see how he responds.

Please, blog, may I have some more?