Happy New Year’s Eve, Razzball Nation!
May your champagne be stocked, your last night of horrific eating before a New Year’s resolution be gorged, and your lists of things to reflect on be lengthy. Number one on my list right now is my groin is healthy! Rough, rough injury for the Charlotte Hornets and fantasy owners’ front lines with Al Jefferson out at least the next month with an adductor strain. Not that you need it, but Dr. JB is linking a little pic here [FAMILY FRIENDLY!]. Enough groin talk already!
When I heard Big Al was out for a month, I made the same face as Bill Walton’s Basketball-Reference picture… Lots of shock waves across the Hornets, with Bismack Biyombo likely starting at the 5. I don’t think he plays 30 minutes a night, but the boards-n-blocks upside puts him into the Rudy Gobert conversation. Like Gobert, Biyombo won’t be winning a game of knokout anytime soon… Shooting 44% from the FT line this season, and under 50% in his career. A big winner here is Marvin Williams, who should be owned in 14ers and worth a bookmark for shallower. Off 8/14/3/3/0 Monday night, the Hornets are going to move Cody Zeller into a lot of C minutes as the Hornets have no real front-line depth. Williams hit a couple of treys in that game as well, and as with all Hornets, is in line for a few more shots with Big Al’s 16.3 FGA distributed to the masses. For deep leaguers, don’t forget about Noah Vonleh who was sent to the D-League recently for a little seasoning. He’s expected to be called back up momentarily, and as you’d assume with a team losing their best player, the Hornets are likely to fall even further in the Eastern standings. Vonleh might get some experiential run as the season presses on to develop the 9th overall pick in this year’s loaded draft. Here’s what else went down last night across the NBA:
Andre Drummond – Three games without Josh Smith, three Pistons blowouts! And while Drummo has been back to being the beast we hoped, he’s 23-33 from the field the past 3 games as he’s finally crept up to 50% shooting on the year. But with the good comes the bad, as the Magic started Banging the Drummond Slowly in the 3rd quarter, amping up those FT to 5-16 last night. Buzz’s girlfriend, woof! Overlooking that, a 17/22/2/2/3 rainbow line with no TO. 7 cat killah!
Jodie Meeks – Ultimate ThrAGNOF! 34/0/0/2/0 hitting 11-16 shots with the monster 9-11 3PTM. Somebody make up a 4-pointer! Still only 27 minutes, and not even a “He’s on fire!” player from NBA Jam is gonna hit 9-11 treys most nights. Worth a look in 12ers, but not dropping anyone solid.
D.J. Augustin – Dimebag alert! 11/5/10/1/1 in his best game of the year. Played 30 minutes over 18 from Brandon Jennings, who after some nice showings went back to BJ-ing last night. Not much you can do with this other than hope BJ is making his jumpers and properly cupping the ball!
Kyle O’Quinn – Only 20 minutes, but probably would’ve played more had A – Greg Monroe played more than 21 minutes, and 2 – the Magic weren’t blown out at home. By the Pistons. Such a weird series of events! Pass the Jameson.
Victor Oladipo – 16 points is nice and all, but 16/3/3/2/0 with 3 TO on 6-14 shooting is still not up to par with his perceived value in my humble sell-VO opinion.
LeBron James – Sat out on his 30th birthday with a “sore knee.” I wish I got days off work on my birthday!
Kyrie Irving – Went bonkers with BronBron on the shelfshelf. 35/6/9/2/0 with three treys, but 8 TO. Uncle Drew wants you! To protect the basketball…
Tristan Thompson – Blast from the past! 18/13 with no other stats except a TO. And 0-5 FT! Eschewing Andris Biedrins!
Paul Millsap – Unstoppable! 26/9/3/2/3 rainbow, no TO, and hit all 6 FT. Trillsap ending the year with a bang!
Pero Antic – The Hawks and their antics… Started for Al Horford, who got sick during pregame. I’m guessing it was after watching Thompson take some practice FTs…
Alex Len – After a hot stretch had a toughie against the bruising Omer Asik and MVP Anthony Davis. Welcome to the NBA! Like they say when you’re knocked out of a Jenga competition – better days and more blocks ahead.
Brook Lopez – Ughughughughugh! Unless you drafted Brolo, then yayayayayay! 13-21 shooting moving back into the starting line-up for 29/5 and a couple of swats. Start the death chant for Mason Plumlee… The swan song… The emo song… With extra crying! Plumlee “started” but only played 17 minutes and very sparsely in the 2nd half. And to add insult to injury – the Nets won convincingly against the superior Bulls. Prof. Plum was still 6/8/1/1/1, so I’m giving him another game or two even though Kevin Garnett got a DNP-old.
Jarrett Jack – Well, it wasn’t the hottest game, but still usable. 11/2/5/1/0 with only 1 TO and much to Slim’s chagrin – chipped in a steal and a trey. Yawnstipating indeed! Albeit useful. “Ahhhh, they’re calling me Yanstipating! Wahhhhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack!”
Deron Williams – Shot 1-8, yet almost rainbowed. Rainblowed with his shot… 6/6/4/3/1. Hurry up and get traded!
Jimmy Butler – Even in one of his worst games, he finds a way to produce. 3-12 FG for 8/3/1/1/2. Hey, a couple blocks might cost me in a matchup this week!
Tony Snell – Just needs a chance… “Put me in coach!” 3-3 FG (all treys) for 9/2/1/0/2. What I’m trying to say is, he’s better than Jimmy Butler…
Aaron Brooks – Ejected for arguing. If only the US Congress could adopt that rule!
Cory Joseph – Man, once Tony Parker finally hangs up his sneaks it’s going to be agogo for Cojo! 18/3/3/3/0 last night, given a few were last minute buckets with the Spurs down 10.
Mike Conley – Playing reeeeeeeeeeedonk. 30/7/6 hitting 10-13 FG (4-5 3PTM 6-7 FT). Cojo just needs to work on that D, yo!
Rajon Rondo – Ewwww, stinky. 11/1/5/1/0, but hit 3-4 FT! It’s a New Year’s miracle! In a bludgeoning blowout of the Wizards, really no Maverick had a game you’re too happy with. Except…
Charlie Villanueva – …Gramps keeps killin’ it! 14/2 with 2 treys shooting 6-8. Had 7 of those points on 3-3 shooting in the first quarter, then the rest in junk time. Even 14 team ThrAGNOF streamable to me!
Kevin Seraphin – There’s nothing much you can do about it in redraft leagues, but the deep dynasties should keep an eye on him. Flashed some fadeaways and looked good in garbage time, going 4-7 FG (1-1 FT) 9/6/1/0/2, with one of those swats a monster.
Nene – Sprained his ankle yesterday and exited early. As fragile as a Brazil Nut! Which could also be classified as a seed! Kris Humphries might get a couple more starting nods as Nene is having another Mr. Glass season.
Kobe Bryant – Tripdub! Guess the Kobe stat line kinda lost it’s luster, huh? Especially with all these benchings… New Year’s resolution #1! Resurrect Guess the Kobe stat line! 23/11/11/2/1, with the near quaddub racking up 9 TO. Shot only 6-11! Hit three treys, and minus the TO, this was an elite game from a previously abhorrent %-killer. Only 21 shots the past two games… With 18 assists… New Kobe?
Ed Davis – Broke his nose, and might be able to keep playing with a mask. Pretty sure he hurt his nose on one of his line-drive FT attempts. Those come rocketing off the rim! Was 3-4 from the stripe last night though…
ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING ME??? – That’s what I propose Kenneth Faried change his last name to… Back down to 21 minutes, yet nearly rainbowed for 4/4/2/2/1. At least…
Jusuf Nurkic – …is getting some deserved run, going 16/8/2/2/2 for his first career rainbow line. 7-10 from the field and 2-2 FT. I haven’t seen a 20-year-old Bosnian this polished since my mail order bride!
Wilson Chandler – My REL team is a curse. Traded for him last week, anddddd gets hurt. Luckily it sounds like only a minor quad bruise that kept him out of the second half last night, and should be fine.
Shabazz Muhammad – My azz is on fire! 30/7/2/0/1, hitting 10-17 FG (5-6 3PTM 5-5 FT). Man am I glad I got him in a league! Even though the 3s were an outlier and he’s mostly a scorer-only, that high-volume FG% makes him must-ownable in virtually all leagues.
Andrew Wiggins – The rebuilding Wolves starting to look dangerous in the future. 21/5/1/1/1 on 10-19 shooting for Wiggy, and looked pretty polished. Bosnian mail-order bride polished!
Trey Burke – Neither raw Zach LaVine or vet Mo Williams could D him up. 26/4/6 with three treys, and nary a TO. He’s so up and down, I have chronic headrushes – and not the good ones.
Alec Burks – I didn’t mean to bury it, but is out for the year with shoulder surgery. I didn’t want to ruin the entire top of the last 2014 Daily Notes with back-to-back brutal injuries! Rodney Hood is going to start, while some other schlubs get filtered in to make no one ownable in really any leagues. Burke and Gordon Hayward get a minor boost.
Rudy Gobert – Like I said yesterday, I just can’t trust him in the role ROS. 16 minutes of 0/5/0/0/1. Ugh, awful finale for my streamer calls last night… Monsieur Elbow looks good out there though! Pounds the glass hard and very smooth. One day! One day…
James Johnson – Playing like close to a must-own while starting. 7-11 FG for 14/11/2/1/0. Before last night, was 9.5/4.3/1.5/1.5/1.3 in 4 starts. Landry Fields is still out with a concussion, and JJ might have won the starting role regardless until DeMar DeRozan is back. A little surprised he’s only owned in 11% of Yahoo leagues…
Joel Freeland – Well, might be a Robin Lopez-lite for 3 more weeks! Even with LaMarcus Aldridge returning, Freeland went 2/12/0/1/2 last night in 32 minutes. Thomas Robinson all the way down to a DNP-CD. Three straight 10+ board games for Freeland with 1, 2 and 2 blocks in those. Isn’t at the stripe often (14-17 this year) but can make em, and doesn’t turn it over. A useful big for sure in deepers.
Tony Wroten – Just traded for him in my favorite league, so actually watched some of this travesty against the Warriors. Funny anecdote – someone on the Yahoo box score commented “looks like a trap game!” Might have been talking about the spread, but either way, ummmm… Wroten is more careless with the ball than Jets’ QBs. Buttfumble. Geno Smith the other day. 5 TO and playing bad streetball.
Nerlens Noel – Just looked terrible.
Michael Carter-Williams – Was even worse. To add insult to injury, Brett Brown played the starters the last 4 minutes against the Warriors second unit down 30. Not even the second unit! The dregs of their bench. And the Warriors benchwarmers looked so much better… Brown is like, “see – this is how bad you all are…”
Draymond Green – Had 3 steals and 3 blocks in the first quarter. Man amongst, well awful at basketball men… 10/10/3/4/2 with a trey. I would marry him…
Marreese Speights – The ace of Speights! Dude, I so had him as one of my streamers at first, but after only playing 19 minutes in the Warriors blowout last Saturday, I didn’t think he’d get enough run. Ended up playing 24 minutes (only 3rd time this year he’s played that much) for 23/4/4/0/4. Shocked he played that long! The Sixers were so bad that Leandro Barbosa threw in 17 points…
Streamers/Daily Fantasy Picks:
Don’t forget to set your line-ups early today! New Year’s Eve games start at 1:00 PM!
Marvin Williams (5% owned) – Building off what I said above, I see Starvin Marvin getting 30ish minutes with multi-3s and close to a double-double against the Rockets. Any minutes against Josh Smith means some steals should be comin’ too!
Jared Dudley (22% owned) – Yes. Dudley is 22% owned. Wow. He’s hot, and worth using if you have an empty spot while playing the big minutes and getting treys and steals. Multi treys in 5 of 6 and at least a steal in 8 straight. Crazy but true!
Thanks again everyone in Razzball Nation for making 2014 a huge year! We wouldn’t have the passion and fun we do without you guys, so we really appreciate it. Have a wonderful and safe New Year’s and I’ll be back next Monday in 2015!
