A new era has dawned in Milwaukee. The Eric Bledsoe era! Hopefully, this malcontent doesn’t foul up Giannis’ MVP caliber season. Only time will tell, but from the looks of last night, he seems to be fitting in nicely. One game is a small sample size obviously, but they topped the Spurs in San Antonio which is a good sign. Any way there was an eight game slate of games on the night so let’s jump right in to the action.
Want the best tools and projections to help dominate your league? Check out the Stocktonator, the byproduct of Rudy and machine making love. Click HERE for a FREE 7-day trial.
*A minor change I’m making this week, is writing the number of 3’s before the points in the stat line so it reads more like the Yahoo stats. So for those who have don’t understand it goes: 3’s-Points-Rebounds-Assists-Steals-Blocks-Turnovers. If the player had no 3’s I’m just going to leave it blank.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – 28-12-5-1-4-1, 4-for-8 from the charity stripe, but a solid game for the Greek Freak, as the Bucks topped the Spurs 94-87. Hopefully, the addition of Bledsoe doesn’t cut into his usage, as there are a lot of mouths to feed now in Milwaukee. Speaking of…
Eric Bledsoe – 1-13-4-7-1-0-3 in his Bucks debut. Had a really nice alley-oop to Giannis and looks like he should be fitting in nicely with his new squad. Bucks have a solid roster and I don’t see why they can’t be a top 3 seed in the East.
Malcolm Brogdon – 1-9-7-1-2-0-2. Still got 34 minutes which is a good sign, but he came off the bench. I wouldn’t panic too much, but I’d expect a slight dip in production.
LaMarcus Aldridge – 20-12-4-1-2-1. Still killing it sans-Leonard. Sell high! You won’t!
Kyle Anderson – Double-doubled and has been another one of those sneaky values on the year. However, I see him losing some minutes once Kawhi gets back. (whenever that is…)
Manu Ginobili – 1-18-3-1-2-1-2. Occasionally, Manu will have a flashback to five years ago, when he was a viable fantasy option, but there’s really nothing to see here unless you’re in a 16-20 man league.
John Collins – 16-8-1-0-2-3. My favorite free agent add of the year had another solid night. 8-of-13 shooting too in just 27 minutes. If he could stay out of foul trouble, he could be a monster. Have yourself a Tom Collins young man! At this rate they’re going to need to invent a drink in Atlanta and name it after him. ‘No, no. I’ll have a John Collins.’
Dewayne Dedmon – 1-13-9-1-1-1-3 on 6-of-7 shooting. As the Jamaican necromancer always says, “Time to wake up D. Ded-Mon!”
Dennis Schroder – 17-4-11-2-0-3 on 50% FG. The Dennis System has been working this year and he’s been a top-50 value on the year. Kudos if you drafted him.
Kent Bazemore – 3-22-5-5-3-1-2 on 50% shooting. Would be a nice value if not for his wonky percentages and high TO rate. Kind of a Will Barton-esque.
Andre Drummond – 16-20-7-0-2-6 with 4-of-6 FTs! 6-for-15 from the field is kind of odd, but overall has been a huge improvement from last year so far. FT% jumped from 38.6% to 64%. Keep taking that Adderall Drummo!
Tobias Harris – 4-16-8-1-0-0-3 on 6-of-11 shooting. He is taking and making a lot of 3’s this year and it is boosting his value a lot. “Go ahead, make my day”-Dirty Harris
In the same game Reggie Jackson had 22 points and a nice line, and Avery Bradley had 20.
Dwight Howard – 6-11-3-1-2-7 on 2-for-8 shooting and 2-for-9 FT shooting. Not a good night for D-Ho, but his FG% should generally be much better than this and the seven TOs are also uncharacteristic.
Kyrie Irving – Left early after an inadvertent elbow from Aron Baynes and is in the League’s concussion protocol. He might miss some games, but should be fine going forward. In the same game Jaylen Brown had a double-double, but shot 3-of-14 from the field, and Shane Larkin had 16 opportunistic points off the bench, as the C’s eked out a victory over the Hornets. Not much to see here besides maybe a deep-league streamer if Kyrie misses games.
Victor Oladipo – Continued to ball out with a 1-25-6-6-2-0-2 line on 11-of-20 shooting. Hmmm, leaves Westbrook, stats go up… Hmmmmmmm. Westbrook gets two superstars, doesn’t seem to be working out. Hmmmmmmmmmmm…Well, I need more clues, but I’m beginning to suspect KD might have made the right move.
Corey Joseph – 2-10-7-4-3-0-1. He’s putting together some solid numbers, but is more of a 14-team guy or just a streamer. He could be a Darren Collison injury away from relevancy though.
Bobby Portis – 1-20-11-1-1-0-1. He couldn’t do anything last year with his opportunity, but he’s had two 20-point games since returning from his suspension for decking Mirotic.
The rest of the Bulls – Kris Dunn and Justin Holiday had good games. Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant, and Denzel Valentine had bad games, and the Bulls lost. You can probably interchange all those names in any order for any given Bulls game, but don’t change the last part too often.
Paul George – 4-42-9-7-3-0-3. Probably the line of the night. The man with two first names did double duty last night as the Thunder outgunned the Clippers 120-111.
Carmelo Anthony – 1-14-6-3-0-1-0. It was a quiet night for Anthony. This is to be expected once in a while, as he adjusts to being third fiddle in this tripod of superstardom. The Thunder still won, but I would bet Melo is upset inside about this performance.
Russell Westbrook – Had 22 points, eight assists, and chipped in three steals. Again, he’s going to have his big nights, but if you were expecting what he did last year when you drafted him, you are learning the hard way the secret Fantasy Basketball Formula: Superstar+Superstar=Less Stats. Now, throw in another superstar and you’ve got even less stats. There are exceptions, but the usage rate had to go down with these three they’ve got in OKC.
Jerami Grant – 1-7-2-1-0-1-2. Quiet night for Grant, but he’s been sneakily good on the season as the main bench guy for the Thunder. I’d probably add in 12-ers, but I’ll save my Pearl Jam reference for a better game. Teaser!
Lou Williams – 6-35-7-3-0-0-3. Sweet Lou was the real deal last night, no Splenda!
Blake Griffin – Only had 17 points in 40 minutes. Kind of a letdown for Blake, but that’s kind of been the story of his whole career, so he should be used to it. Too harsh?
Aaron Gordon – 2-22-7-3-1-1-1. Where was this last year? He’s been great if you took the leap of faith on him on draft day, but you probably didn’t if you owned him last year.
Jonathon Simmons – 1-17-3-1-2-0-2. Keeps chugging along as a cheap source of points.
Terrence Ross – 4-17-4-2-2-0-2. He’s so up-and-down, but there are good stretches where he’s ownable. If you need the 3’s and can take the good with the bad, I could see rostering in 12-ers.
T.J. Warren – One of the emptiest 20-point lines you will ever see. That’s pretty much his game though…
Alex Len – 21-13-1-0-2-3. 11-of-12 FTs will definitely help you. He was probably a smart DFS play today with Chandler out with back spasms, especially since he sucked last time out. The upside is there for Len-sanity and I’d add him in case Chandler misses more time or is dealt. I have a feeling Greg Monroe won’t be a factor either.
Josh Jackson – 18-6-1-2-1-3. 50% shooting, but missed all four of his 3’s. Still developing, but the upside and playing time are there. Could be interesting at some point, but right now I’d rather have Justin Jackson.
Hassan Whiteside – 8-20-0-3-3-3. Nice night if you needed only defensive stats, but who doesn’t amirite?
Dion Waiters – 3-21-2-1-0-0-4. Served up a classic Waiters line. No one’s ever used that one before right? In all seriousness, I am not a fan of his game for fantasy purposes. 7-of-20 shooting? I’ll pass…
Utah Jazz – Scored 74 points collectively. Not many good lines as far as I can see. Derrick Favors might be a drop. Ekpe Udoh keeps getting blocks and zero else. Yeah… I feel sorry for you if you actually watched this game. I mean, if I had Whiteside or Gobert, I definitely would have so I feel ya, but 158 total points in today’s NBA is extremely low. Hopefully, you bet the under.
D’Angelo Russell – 3-21-4-9-0-0-2.Shot 2-of-5 from the line. It’s been a problem for him on the year, but last year he shot 78% so it should correct itself soon. I’d say buy low, but he’s scoring 20.5 ppg this year compared to 15.6 last season. He’s turning into the leader of the Nets as they closed out a close road win at Portland last night.
DeMarre Carroll – 3-16-8-1-1-1-0. Has been super-solid on the year for a guy you probably got in the very late rounds of drafts or off the FA pool.
Portland Trailblazers- Really got stifled by the Nets surprisingly. Jusuf Nurkic had 21 points, but no D stats, Lillard and McCollum both shot poorly and were fairly quiet. It was just good to see my Sleeper Playoff pick pull a little closer to the 8th seed 12 games into the season…
That about wraps it up! As always feel free to ask any questions in the comment section.
