The NBA is BACK baby and so are the daily notes. This morning, fantasy owners were greeted by their players with a trick or treat. Oh LeBron James (26/10/3/2, 2 3PM), a snickers bar! Thank you Rajon Rondo (20/7/14, 9-14 FG), I love butterfingers! Kyrie Irving (29/6/3/0/1, 3 3PM), I can take two?!! Uh Steve Nash (7/2/4/0/1, 1 3PM), a f*cking apple? Are you joking me? Don’t you know parents make you throw shit like that away? WTF, and besides who wants an apple?! Sigh. In case you didn’t hear the general panic from California, the Lakers lost last night to the Dirkless Mavs. It’s OK though, in the spirit of Halloween they let the Bobcats dress up as Lakers and let them play. Such nice guys. The important thing to remember about the first week or two is don’t overreact/panic. Don’t suddenly trade Nash or give up on Bradley Beal (8/3/3/1, 2 3PM). There were only 3 games last night but here’s the other fantasy relevant news from the NBA…
But first, we have yet another Razzball Commenter League open for those of you who really procrastinate! Okay, now on to the relevant news:
Trevor Ariza – The Good: 2 3PM, 3 rebs, 4 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk. The Bad: 9 points. The Ugly: 3-8 FG and 1-2 FT. Besides the blocks, this is status quo from Ariza. If you’re punting %’s, he’s your man!
Jordan Crawford – 11/3/5/1/1. Tied with A.J. Price (Wizards starting PG!) with the most minutes (29) despite coming off the bench. Crawford should be a factor in fantasy but beware his ghastly FG% (4-13 last night, 0-6 from 3).
Anderson Varejao – 9 points, 23 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 blocks. I’m taking all stat lines against the Wizards this year with a grain of salt. If you see the Wizards coming up for your fantasy player, rejoice!
Tristan Thompson – See Varejao, Anderson. 12/10/5/1
Dion Waiters – Despite it being against the Wiz, it was good to see Waiters taking the second most shots on the team. Looks like I’m going to have to learn how to pronounce his name after all. 17/2/0/3 with 2 3PM.
Darren Collison – If Collison can torch Steve Nash like this, I think I’d start even A.J. Price against the lakers. 17 points, 2 boards, 4 dimes, 3 steals and 8-12 FG.
Jae Crowder – 8/3/2/1 with 2 3PM. After a very successful preseason he may see limited minutes like last night (20) if Shawn Marion (11/9/4/1/1) continues to be this effective. Oh, preseason.
The Lakers Bench – Absolutely worthless with no one playing over 15 minutes. They’re gonna play Nash and Kobe Bryant like it’s 2002.
Brandon Bass – Very effective last night going 6-11 from the field with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 1 assist. With Jared Sullinger and Jeff Green competing for minutes, this is a great sign for owners who took Bass with a late round flyer. Could be matchup based though, so be careful.
Mario Chalmers – 36 minutes along with 8 points, 1 board, 11 assists, 3 steals. Norris Cole? 6 minutes.
Ray Allen – Tried to downplay all the leaving Boston hoopla but I think the stat line says it all. 5-7 FG, 7-8 FT, 2 3PM, 19 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists. After the game was over, he ran over to Kevin Garnett and mercifully pulled the knife out of his back. Allen smiled the entire time.
Hi!
Haha, I just noticed that yesterday on one of my teams Tristan Thompson had more assists than Steve Nash.
Anyway, can you please answer a quick question about my team?
This is my team:
Brandon Jennings
Marcus Thornton
Damian Lillard
Nicolas Batum
Kevin Love
LaMarcus Aldridge
David Lee
Brook Lopez
Nikola Pekovic
Gordon Hayward
Arron Afflalo
AK47
Greivis Vasquez
George Hill
Someone just dropped Amar’e. I have the number 1 waiver pick. Should I use it and drop Hill? Or should I wait and see if Amar’e gets off of waivers, and then pick him up? Or should I just ignore him?
Thanks!
@asdfasdflakdf, Ha! That’s why you don’t base opinions off of 1 game. How many teams and how many bench spots?
@James Redacted, Yeah
It’s a 10 team league with 4 bench spots.
@asdfasdflakdf, Sad to say but I’d leave him on the wire.
@James Redacted, Okay, thanks James.
I traded LBJ for J smith AND melo………..
was I on a bad trip last night…. Im happy with it but I wanted to ask u guys…
I now have Batum/Clay Thom/Jsmith/Melo/Westbrook/millsap
I know you don’t think so, BUT i think batum will be a all-star
soon rather thn later.
just wondering ur thoughts
another good read
@Moez, I prefer not to trade LeBron but I’d be lying if I said that trade wasn’t tempting. I think it will work out if Smith has the contract year everyone is expecting.
Why do you think I’m down on Batum? I have him in the tier below Smith, Anthony, and Gay. He should have a great year. Looks like you have a very strong team.
Yo, homey:
I just nabbed Tristan off of waivers in my dynasty. If I could spin him for Valencius, should I?
Thanks, Holmes.
@JT, Straight up? If you like Val better then sure. A bit of a coin flip right now but I do like Val slightly more.
@James Redacted, Thank you.
Any chance Thomas Robinson from Sacramento would be a better 1 for 1 target?
@JT, I like Val better than Robinson. Sacramento is a bit of a mess.
I think Tristan can average close to a double double, with 0.5 steals and 1.5 blocks, good FG, bad FT, all year, that’s a pretty effective player to me. What do you think?
@Zebo, Double double may be a stretch but your prediction is possible. He has the upside to take a flier on if you got room on the roster. Just remember that the wizards were without Nene and Seraphin. Also remember that the wizards are bad.
We are short 2 teams for an ESPN league. Anybody interested?
@MR T, I’m in if the spot is still open. in_ertiatic@yahoo email me an invite.
drop Manu for Waiters?
@Zebo, Nope. Manu will still produce.
Why didn’t you list Gasol’s line? 23 points, 13 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks and a 3 pointer. Led the team in minutes (40) and shot attempts (19). Seems like he might be one of the few Lakers that benefits from the new offense?
@RoundMound, Pau Gasol was a 1st or 2nd round pick so I tend to shy away from those. You already knew he’s going to be great. Why did I list LeBron then? Well it was just to be apart of the joke.
Got a waiver question as well for ya. My team is:
Kyrie
Monta Ellis
Rondo
Evan Turner
David West
Barngani
Cousins
Noah
Roy
Marcus Thorton
Rose
Vallachunas
Asik
Reddick
Thinking of dropping D Rose, no timetable, and this is a daily league so not having that spot occupied hurts. What weaknesses do you see that I should address?
Top waiver adds available are: Waiters, Gerald Green, Nick Young, Ayon, Jarret Jack, Marvin Williams, Andre Miller, Hawes, Harrison Barnes.
Any help would be appreciated!
@rob, Yea drop Rose for Waiters since he has the most potential out of everyone listed there (unless Barnes surprises). Is this H2H?
@James Redacted, thanks! Yes it is H2H. Feeling a little light on big men and could use another PG. Also forgot, but Nate Robinson is out there too…
@rob, In H2H it’s usually best to try and win 6 out of 9 categories every week rather than 9 out of 9 (near impossible). This seems like more of a roto team (meaning I think your team is pretty balanced) but don’t worry you got plenty of time. I think punting assists (since you only have Kyrie and Rondo as true point guards) by trading Rondo and strengthening up other areas is the way to go. I’m not advocating immediate action but after a couple weeks you’ll see which categories your team is leaning towards. Then you can reflect and start making some deals.
I need some help. In a Dynasty league, would you trade:
Thomas Robinson/Brandon Bass/Dwight Howard/Brandon Jennings
for
Gortat/Lowry/Monroe/Dunleavy
??
@Pavel, H2H? #Teams? 9 Cat? Howard is tricky.
@James Redacted, 10 teams, h2h, 9 cats. My core is Kobe/Lebron/Wade/Nowitzki/Hibbert/Jennings (if you don’t count Howard). So I have a really solid team, and it’s been doing well. But I have an owner who wants Howard, and I figure I could be winning the ft% if it wasn’t for Howard, so why not? What you think? This is my team:
PG: Jennings, Nash, Vasquez, G.Hill, Nelson, I.Thomas,
SG: Kobe, Wade,
SF: Lebron, Matthews
PF: Ilyasova, Nowitzki, Bass, T. Robinson
C: Howard, Hibbert, Noah
@Pavel, Pretty even but you are giving up the best player. if he wants Howard badly, can you get more?
@James Redacted, True, I am getting the best player. However, I wanted to free up my squad some to get a good FA if available (a jeremy lin type). The main players he’s got on his team are:
Lawson,Lowry, Faried, Anderson, Bogut, Teague, Bosh, Garnett, Beal, Gortat, Randolph, Monroe. What you think?
@Pavel, Yep I recommend that tactic myself. I like Lawson over Lowry. After tonight, if you like Lowry more it would be hard to blame you but I’d push for Lawson.
Someone just offered Eric Gordon for Kevin Martin. At first I thought this was a no-brainer, but apparently Gordon is out “indefinitely.” Do you think I should go ahead with the trade anyway?
@Thirteen, Unless keeper league, nope. I think Martin will be good still.
Where would you rank Harden with his move to Houston. 51st prior to the trade I believe.
Thanks
@Travis, Chris and I do not see entirely eye to eye with ranks. See my tiers post from friday for a more accurate reflection of my views. I had Harden as my #1 SG and I feel good so far.
@Travis, Here is the link http://basketball.razzball.com/2012-fantasy-basketball-tiers-james-redacted-version
definitely top 12 for me.