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The dense foliage of the jungle provided cover from the rays of the sun, yet the heat was unbearable; as if I was trapped in a Russian banya with someone lashing my body with reeds and water constantly pouring over the heated rocks in the stove to produce endless amounts of steam. After weeks of traversing the jungles of Peru to find Paititi, the Lost City of Gold, my mind and body were definitely not one. I needed a break, yet I trudged on. One step with the right foot. One step with the left foot. One st…………….Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! My mind harkened back to the days of riding roller coasters at Six Flags until….BAM! BOOM! OUCH! My head banged into something. My body rolled over and over and over again until……nothing but searing pain reverberating throughout my entire body. I curled into a ball, cursing at the gods when…..I saw it. The gold glistened from the rays of sun darting through the small crevices in the ceiling. That mishap of falling into the hole was a blessing in disguise, as I wouldn’t have found Paititi without it. Which is exactly how the season has gone for Paul Millsap, without all the theatrics and drama.

PTS REB AST STL BLK TOV 3PT FG FT
21 16 2 3 2 2 2/5 8/13 3/6

Millsap struggled for much of the season. He scored 20 or more points just five times and was held under 10 points 14 times. He also missed eight games due to injury. But then, Millsap sat three games due to an ankle injury before playing in two games before the All-Star break. He played 20 minutes then 31 minutes, which happened to be his best game of the season (25/13/2/1/3). After the break, Millsap logged 32 minutes and put up a 17/13/2/1/3 line. So, that’s three great games in a row, which has been good for top 10 value. Small sample size for sure, but he looks healthy and it’s the first time he’s dub-dubbed in three straight games. The trek has been arduous for Millsap owners, but it looks like you will be reaping the rewards of being loyal. Or stubborn. Or lazy. Regardless, the end result is all the same.

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

12 months ago, the biggest criticism of the Washington Wizards was a lack of roster depth, and this season offers a similar outlook. Out goes the Polish hammer, Marcin Gortat, and in comes Dwight Howard, in an attempt to create some of the pick-and-roll magic which brought the Wizards team from one of the worst in the East to a perennial playoff team. The heartbeat of the team still revolves around John Wall, and if preseason is anything to believed, we can look forward to an uptempo Wizards offense led by the former All-Star looking to push the pace, flanked by an excellent wing combo of Bradley Beal and Otto Porter Jr. Can Washington’s big three thrive with the arrival of Howard? History suggests no, as the last three teams Howard has played for have all seen a decline in the win totals. The East might be depleted this season, but for Washington to maintain the status quo, it must rely heavily on it’s starting rotation and pray for good health.

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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be Dwight: and there was Dwight. Dwight Howard was vintage D12 against the Suns (I know, it’s the Suns) and tore them up for 30/12/1/1/4 on 10-for-15 FG (10-for-15 FT) with only one TO. He was fantastic across the board, and the FTs weren’t even that bad, all things considered. Dwight’s still one of the more valuable centers in the league, especially if you’re punting FTs, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be slowing down as the Hornets are still hanging on in the playoff race. As long as he doesn’t get hurt, he should be good to go every time. Anyway, here’s what else I saw last night in fantasy basketball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

In the Batman movies, Commissioner Gordon is portrayed as a subservient, damsel in distress character. “Oh no! There’s trouble in Gotham. Let me run up to the rooftop to signal the Batman so that he can take care of everything.” I kid. Commissioner Gordon was old and needed the youth, strength, and resources that Batman could provide. But, before he became a useless POS, Jim Gordon served in the US Marine Corps and was a Special Forces veteran who could kick some serious ass. That’s where we are at with Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic. He’s only 22 years old and 6′ 9″ 220 pounds. He can dribble, shoot, rebound, block, pass, jump like a flea, and run like a gazelle. He’s basically the new and improved version of Blake Griffin. Sad to see the Matrix slowly phasing out Blake for Aaron. Anyways, last night the NBA’s Commissioner Gordon put up the first 40-burger of his career:

PTS REB AST STL BLK TOV 3PT FG FT
 40 15 4 4 1 1 6/12 13/23 8/11

He led his team to a 121-108 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team led by Russell Westbrook, aka Beastbrook but I prefer to call him the Hulk. Off the court, Westbrook seems like a funny, charismatic guy. On the court, SMASH….SMASH….SMASH! Dude plays with reckless abandon, which results in an abundance of turnovers, but he will dunk on your grill at every opportunity. And keep coming. And coming. And coming. He truly leaves everything on the court, which is why I’d always want the Hulk on my side, because I know he’d always have my back. As for last night:

PTS REB AST STL BLK TOV 3PT FG FT
 37 11 5 5 0 7 7/10 11/23 8/12
Please, blog, may I have some more?

Image result for official wizards logo

Oh, how I miss the Washington Bullets name. It would be so perfect for this iteration of the Washington basketball team. With that said, I get why it was changed. Two things, though. The football team is still named the Redskins. Nothing wrong with that, my good people of Washington DC? Well, at least my Native American brethren were given free reign over some casinos. Why Wizards? C’mon man! Anyways, as a Lakers fan, I probably should just STFU when it comes to nicknames. Back to this squad. There’s John Wall, who is faster than a speeding…wait for it….bullet. There’s Death Row DC, a nickname placed upon the team by Markieff Morris. Why Death Row DC?

“Death Row; that’s the type of team we are, that’s the type of team we want to be…A physical team that will kind of trash talk you a little bit, and that just don’t take no BS” – Bradley Beal

Sounds gangster to me. Definitely not Wizard-esque. This squad is tough and athletic. They lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, but it was a great season. They won the division for the first time since 1979 and accumulated 49 wins after opening the season 6-11.

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With this being the NBA All-Star Weekend, our typical weekend streamer options post will take a backseat to some fantasy implications of any trades that have (and will) occur with the trade deadline coming next week.  There’s been a couple of trades that already happened.  I was hoping to get a glimpse on all of them but looks like the players involved in the ORL-TOR trade didn’t suit up for their new teams.

I said fantasy implications, but let me just add to the growing voices that are asking the Magic management-WTF?!  You trade Victor Oladipo, a near solid (at the very least pretty darn serviceable) stretch 4 in Ersan Ilyasova, the #11 pick (Domantas Sabonis) for Serge Ibaka which you in turn trade for Terrence Ross and TOR’s 1st round pick which is probably no earlier than the 20th pick.  It doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that ORL traded away all those essentially for Ross and that 1st round pick.  No disrespect to Ross but seriously?! </rant>

So, with both Ibaka and Ross not playing last night, we can only speculate as to see how they could initially be utilized in their respective teams.

Let’s start with Ross: I think he will end up being the starting SF.  The way I see it the starting lineup will be this:

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So I’m not a basketball historian, and I’m still a young pup. I barely remember the Bulls glory years – I was in elementary school when they won titles 4-6 (yikes, aging the crap outta myself), but I do vividly remember the Byron Russell push-off and I cherished my Michael Jordan cards. I still have a bunch of em! This one is still in a nice case and one of my favorites… Anyway, when I saw Jimmy Butler go off for 52/12/6/3/1 last night, I was about to make all sorts of tongue-and-cheek MJ parallels…

Got the same reverse layup and everything! But then it dawned on me… Butler is more like Scottie Pippen if there was no Jordan. Pippen’s best season was 93-94, unsurprisingly the year without MJ, and went 22.0/8.7/5.6/2.9/0.8 on 49% shooting with 0.9 treys. So far this year, J Buckets is 25.3/6.8/4.4/1.7/0.3 on 46% shooting with 1.1 treys. While Pippen was obviously one of the best defensive players of his generation, Butler is a much better FT shooter and gets to the line more. But the rest is really close, and I thought kinda interesting food for thought. So the answer for the Bulls is simple – find a Michael Jordan for Buckets to play next to! I’m a problem-solver – if only every team’s issue in the NBA was this easy! Hah! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:

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Who wants to go on a road trip?!? You know, the kind that lasts forever. The kind you start the new year with. The kind filled with adventure. The kind that freaking wears you out.

Well, for Week 11 of our NBA fantasy season that’s exactly what the Utah Jazz are receiving to kick off 2017. But this no ordinary road slate of five games. No…it’s 5 games in 7 days. In other words, that’s death. Will they be tired by the end of it? Most certainly, but while they’re on the ride I’ll be riding their hot hands and bringing death to my opponents in the fantasy realm as much as possible. So, let’s Go-bert on a road trip, because if you own Rudy Gobert you’re in for a wonderful week. Listen to the ridiculousness that he’s producing this year: 18 straight double digit rebound games, and only two games under that mark since November 9.

12.5 PPG
12.0 RPG
2.6 BPG

All on 70.1% shooting. See, it’s not just the boards and blocks, his efficiency has been gold for owners this year. And it’s showing in the box score as only seven times since that November 9 mark has he failed to score in double digits, either. He’s a poor man’s Hassan Whiteside offensively, with all the defensive stats on par. Enjoy these five games! Oh, and for the teams facing the Jazz this week: good luck to you, too. Utah’s now 21-13, leading the Northwest division and allowing the fewest PPG in the NBA. Sheesh.

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Peter here, back from a work trip in Jamaica. JB was right when I needed to escape the cold of the Wizards losing season. Maybe they will bring back JaVale McGee and Javaris Crittenton!?!? One can only hope.

Fortunately, the Wizards were off on Tuesday so that meant I got to watch actually good teams, including an overtime game in Phoenix. Here’s your Tuesday recap:

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Morning, Razzball Nation!  I’m filling in for Peter Kap this morning as he’s on a business trip in Jamaica.  The reason?  A getaway from DC from having to be a Wizards fan!  Well, the Redskins are good now at least!  And the Nationals have a bright future!  But the Wizards keep regressing even with paying big money to retain their stars.  Washington regressing despite more money for positions?!  I’ll just leave that there…

If I told Pete & Wizards fans that John Wall would have a 52 burger, but it would be in a loss at home to the Magic, with the team falling to a .368 win percentage, I think they’d reply saying all the other starters must’ve gotten hurt…  52/4/8/3/0 last night, shooting 18-31 FG (5-8 3PTM 11-14) and giving us back-to-back nights with 50-point performances from guys eligible for the 30-point challenge!  And the highest two scoring games on the season, on consecutive nights.  Man, what a call from NYFantaC!  Almost got the double point bonus for a 60 game!

Wall was apparently due indeed, and up to 24.1/4.2/9.8 on the season.  He actually outscored the Magic starters!  But that’s more about Vogel bringing his best players off the bench…  It’s been an explosive first few nights of this NBA week, so let’s hope it keeps going!  Here’s what else happened last night in Fantasy Basketball:

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As we prepare for the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season, I’ll be taking a look at each NBA team with their major adds and drops to see if we can pan for any surprise rotational gold.  This open is especially witty for the Nuggets…  We’ll be counting down from worst NBA regular season to the best, mainly because I’m still figuring out how to rank the Warriors…

Orlando Magic (35-47)

magic

Key Acquisitions:

F Serge Ibaka

C Bismack Biyombo

F Jeff Green

G D.J. Augstin

F/C Arinze Onuaku

G C.J. Wilcox

Key Losses:

G Victor Oladipo

F Ersan Ilyasova

G Brandon Jennings

F Andrew Nicholson

C Dewayne Dedmon

C Jason Smith

G Shabazz Napier

SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILES!

Wooooo, get this Skiles fool out of here!  We get to turn the page on this franchise, and finally get some fantasy excitement going – – only to have them then hoard big men like they’re the Sixers.  There’s only ONE PF and ONE C spot, Orlando!

A lot of the Magic’s turnover happened around the trade deadline last year, and some “key losses” were only in Florida for a hot, swampy minute.  It’s hard to say if they really got any better or worse – losing Oladipo hurts anyone – but I’m excited to see what new frontman Frank Vogel can get out of the band.  Here’s how their roster is shaping up:

Please, blog, may I have some more?