The new year brings us the glorious 2nd coming of the Durantula, again. Kevin Durant looked better than expected going 44/10/7/0/1 with 6 3s and 12-12 FTs. Sure you could argue the stat line was OT aided but just that Durant played 40 minutes after missing 6 games tells me there is nothing wrong with his ankle. I imagine any buy low window is long gone after this game but he might be worth one last attempt to trade for. If you thought this is why I watched this game though you would be wrong. I wanted to see the Steven Adams vs Alex Len match-up. Lurch with 9/7/1/1/0 in 27 minutes and Len with 2/6/0/0/1 in 22 minutes. There is no question Adams is the guy to own. Neither are part of the offense but at times Len looked bored and unsure of what he was supposed to be doing on both ends of the court. That is a sentence I will never write about Steven Adams. His aggression does one of two things. The foul trouble associated will give him a few duds but it will also lead to big games which I don’t think Len has in him this year. There were a ton of huge stat lines in this 137-134 overtime thriller but perhaps the stat that tells the biggest story was the 6 technical fouls. Including two and an ejection for…
Russell Westbrook – 20/4/4/1/0 and a 3 in only 18 minutes. Even in half a game he still manages a full stat line. That is why he’s a 1st round PG.
Reggie Jackson – Getting the extra run with 40 minutes of 10/2/4/1/0 on 4-18 FGs. Everything was there for a big game but the shots didn’t fall. Reggie is still ownable in a 12er, but barely.
Goran Dragic – Remember when everyone thought he was done in November? For December he went 20.0/3.6/5.1/1.1 with 2.1 TOs, 2.0 3s, 53.7% FGs, and 80.0% FTs. When I add that all up it comes to 2… as in 2nd round value.
Nearly every Suns player – Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, P.J. Tucker were all good but the one I’m most worried about Isaiah Thomas (6/1/2/0/0 with 3 TOs and no 3s) in a 12er. Dragic and Eric Bledsoe (29/2/8/1/1) are just better players and the Suns can’t play their 3 guard lineup vs most teams.
DeMarcus Cousins – The DeMarcus of old rearing it’s ugly head in this one. I got excited to watch this game after he posterized Tyler Zeller but it never happened again and Cousins finished a disappointing 5-17 FGs for 11/11/0/1/1, which looks like it could be binary for 666, and the ejection.
Carl Landry – 30 minutes of 14/5/0/1/2 isn’t too revealing except that with Jason Thompson a healthy DNP and Ryan Hollis drawing a 12 minute start there could very well be more minutes opening up for Landry at the 4 on a regular basis. His minutes haven’t been there recently but we know what he can do and for us it’s always been pretty helpful.
Jared Sullinger – Sully with one of his better games in recent memory 20/11/2/0/3 and his third game in a row, 6 of his last 7, shooting over .500. All this in only 28 minutes as Brad Stevens ran the backups late in the blowout.
Marcus Smart – The lone other bright spot was Smart going 11/6/2/2/0 with 3 3s and 2 TOs in a team leading 29 minutes. Although I noticed Smart played a lot of SG with Jameer Nelson (8 assists) at PG which if that holds would definitely cut into Smart’s assists. Oh wait, I take that back, Kelly Olynyk‘s 15/4/3/1/1 with a 3 was solid too. So the lone other 2 bright spots. Yeah, that makes sense, those 3 lone rangers.
Dwayne Wade – Wade with his throwback 20/2/7/2/3 and only 1 TO rainbow along with Chris Bosh‘s 18/8/1/0/0 and 2 3s played a team leading 38 minutes in a ‘rivalry’ game versus Indy. I guess non of that surprises though. Moving on…
Danny Granger – I am not stopping for Granger in a 12er. 14/3/0/1/0 with 2 3s in 26 minutes, double digit scoring in 3 straight, is well and good for a deeper league but the upside for more minutes is definitely not there.
Hassan Whiteside – This is where the upside for minutes is. Whiteside has played 17, 18, and 20 minutes over his last 3 games with 7 rebounds in each and 5 blocks combined. He’s a legit rebounder and shot blocker as well as a legitimately terrible FT shooter. Obviously he’s an extremely deep league guy but with Chris Andersen (11/7/0/0/2 in 21 minutes) only able to play limited minutes Hassan may be able to carve out a reliable role as a bench big for a team in desperate need for just that.
David West – West has been pretty good for those who were patient enough. He’s a jump shooter who avoids contact these days but the defensive stats have helped soften the loss of boards and FTs attempted. This game, 10/6/4/1/1, is turning into about what we expect nightly.
George Hill – He’s back!… to being a TheAGNoF point guard. 20/3/1/0/1 with 2 3s, 2 good percents, and only 1 TO. If he’s out there he should be able to help someone but I don’t think we can expect anything more than 3-4 assists per game.
C.J. Miles – So he got hot and went 25/7/4/1/1 with 5 3s. His last 5 games are a nearly palindromic 28-11-3-11-25. Yep, I think that line describes C.J. Miles to a tee.
Cole Aldrich – I can only find two things of note from the Knicks side of the ball in this blowout, 1st is that Aldrich led the team with 32 minutes and a respectable 8/5/5/1/1 line. 2nd is that…
Jose Calderon – … is still garbage. 4/2/4/1/0 with 2 TOs and no 3s. I’m done with Jose.
Blake Griffin – Barely anything of note from the Clippers side either. Blake with a near triple double 13/7/11 looks OK on the surface but 1-3 FTs and no steals or blocks is pretty boring.
Chris Paul – Also with a boring 5/2/8/0/0 line with a 3 and 3 TOs. I only mention this because it should be completely ignored. Wait, that doesn’t make any sense at all…
James Harden – Making a strong case for MVP in another Houston blowout, 36/7/6/2/1 with only 1 TO and 8 3s. I had him ranked ahead of LeBron in the preseason, you listened right? RIGHT?!?
Josh Smith – Classic Smoove, 5/4/3/3/3 rainbow line but only 2-7 FGs and 0-2 FTs. He made a 3-pointer so there’s that too I guess…
Corey Brewer – After several 12er worthy games Brewer only goes 5/3/2/0/0 with a 3 in 22 minutes. These games are going to happen with the low minutes. He’s probably 16er worthy but I doubt any shallower.
Al Jefferson – Out for at least a month with his groin injury. Cody Zeller 6/7/3/1/1 in 26 minutes, Bismack Biyombo 9/7/0/0/3 in 26 minutes, look to be the best options but I doubt either does too much more for the foreseeable future. Oh and Biyombo went 7-10 FTs, he’s a high volume atrocious FT shooter. Buyers beware.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Maybe this is where Jeffersons extra shots will go. MKG with a team leading 15 FG attempts and a 16/8/2/0/2 with 2 TO line. I’ll be paying close attention here to see if the offense continues sans big Al.
Marvin Williams – Left the game late with a bloody head. Oh man that sounds bad. I highly recommend he takes a trip to the free clinic and get that taken care of ASAP!
LeBron James – DNP-… I almost wrote DNP-OLD. It’s starting to get there…
Tristan Thompson – With Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao down Tristan is getting all the run he can handle, even in a blowout. 10/13/2/0/1 is serviceable and like I said the minutes are reliable. But it’s Tristan effin Thompson so we can expect 2 poor percents, when LeBron isn’t on the floor, and too many TOs.
Brendan Hayward – 15 starting minutes of 4/5/0/0/2. I imagine 15 minutes is all he can handle and really the only reason I mention this is because the Cavs decided to call up…
Alex Kirk – Who? In 32 D-League minutes the undrafted rookie has gone about 17/7/2/0.4/1.3 with 2.4 TOs. In other words the Cavs desperately need to trade for a center.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – With an uber sexy 14/8/5/1/3 and a 3 pointer made. Multiple blocks in 5 straight, 4+ assists in 4 of his last 6. I think Antetok is shaping up to be a top 50 player the rest of the way.
Larry Sanders – Out for his 4th straight with an unknown illness, I’m pretty sure it’s bird flu, and Kidd says Larry will have to, “work himself back into the lineup.” I imagine he will eventually but in a 12er he can go if you haven’t dropped him already.
Jared Dudley – 9/7/1/0/0 with a 3 in 30 minutes. Dudley doin wrong.
Omer Asik – Even in 28 minutes Asik only managed to go 3/12/0/0/0. We can find better.
Jimmer Fredette – Back to back games of 20+ minutes. He’s ThrAGNoF and maybe only getting minutes with John Salmons down but in an absurdly deep league maybe there’s something here. Edit: There’s nothing to see here.
Jrue Holiday – We don’t talk about Jrue enough. 13/6/9/2/0 with 3 3s and 2 TOs. Remember when Jrue had 3.7 TOs per game his last year in Philly? Now he’s among the league leaders in A:TO ratio. Easily a top 50 guy the rest of the way.
Danny Green – The other D.Green is 1-14 for 3s in his last 2 games and the buy low window may be slightly ajar. 36 minutes last night even when he wasn’t shooting the ball well tells me all I need to know about how much Pops trusts him now a days.
Patty Mills – 29 minutes of 7/2/3/1/0 with a 3 isn’t much but playing more minutes than Cory Joseph (9/3/0/0/0 in 25 minutes) spells doom for CoJo once/if Tony Parker returns.
Streamers/Daily Fantasy Picks
Jusuf Nurkic – Coming off a monster 16/8/2/2/2 rainbow vs the Lakers and the Bulls tend to give up big stat lines vs opposing bigs. If Mozgov plays well then this is going to backfire, but Mozgov hasn’t been so I’d rather gamble on Nurkic.
Carl Landry – Solid in 30 minute last time out with Jason Thompson getting the DNP. There’s a chance Cousins gets suspended for the game but even if Cousins plays there’s plenty of upside for Landry if the minutes hold.
