The 2014-15 Fantasy Basketball season is officially in the books! But we won’t be slowing down too much, with a lot of great off-season content planned and my Way Too Early Ranks for 2015-16 coming in a few weeks…
In 14-15 we had ups (#OccupyDraymondGreen baby!), we’ve had downs (cough, MCW, cough), but what matters most is we had fun I finished better than Slim in the REL league!
And one of the highest of highs from last night was James Harden‘s triple double, going 16/11/10/1/1 in only 27 minutes against the Jazz. Only took 8 shots! That’s what Mel Gibson tried to tell the police anyway… 3-8 FG, 2-5 3PTM, and more of that oh-so-sweet FT volume hitting 8-8 freebies. Assists, rebounds and steals all went up this season, along with the obvious scoring and he was at a career best 8.8-10.2 FT a game entering last night. The TO are brutal, but he also chipped in a career best 0.7 blocks in an absolutely elite year. So I can say with pretty good confidence he’ll be my #1 player for the 2015-16 Fantasy Basketball season. Was durable (81 games this season, 73+ the past 3 years), consistent, and I just love mustache rides. Take me to the promised land in 15-16, Mr. Beard! Here’s what else went down on the final night of 2014-15 Fantasy Basketball:
Noah Vonleh – A solid showing for the raw rook for 9/12/0/0/2 on 3-7 shooting with a trey. Gotta love those athletic stretch 4s! The Hornets will need to commit to him, but if they do I’ll be down to lay Vonleh.
Anthony Davis – Of course right after we rave about him on the Podcast with his non-TO ways, gives up 6 TO to the Spurs. He was respecting his elders! Regardless, finishes on a high note with a 31/13/2/2/3 rainbow and gives the Pels a playoff berth.
Jrue Holiday – Encouraging to see another solid outing (11/3/4 on 4-9 FG 1-1 3PTM 2-2 FT) and playing 25 minutes. We’ll get to see even more of how he looks in the playoffs, but the injury risk looming will still keep my 15-16 Jrue rank blue.
Russell Westbrook – Well, A for effort for the Thunder… Westbrook continued his redonkulous play while Kevin Durant has been hurt for 37/8/7/2/0 on 11-20 FG (2-5 3PTM 13-17 FT) and secured the scoring title. Alas, the Thunder came up a game short with NOP winning, even after scoring 47 in the first quarter. 47! C’mon Wolves D, I don’t care that you’re starting Arinze Onuaku at C, clamp it down!
Zach LaVine – Man, this was like a Ricky Rubio-clone game! Well, except he scored some points… 19/5/13/3/1 on 6-16 FG (1-5 3PTM 6-6 FT). Should be interesting to see how he fits as a combo G/6th man sorta guy next year.
Dennis Schroder – Turned into a ThrAGNOF on the final night! 21/2/0/0/0 on 9-13 FG (2-3 3PTM 1-1 FT). The Hawks going in rusty and cold… Just how I like my trombones!
Jimmy Butler – Buckets playing like his normal Buckets for 21/6/3/2/1 with no TO, peppering in that high volume FT (7-9). Love him as a person and a player, but that injury risk looms for too Bull-ish a rank… See what I did there?!
Kevin Seraphin – I’ve mentioned a few times I think he’s been underrated, and flashed his multi-cat potential last night for 12/12/2/1/3. Just give Frency a shot! The Phillies are!
LeBron James – Sat the finale, the East is too easy, and I could easily see the Cavs being more like the Hawks next year. So more rough DNPs ala the late Heat days. Makes me scurred of The King in 15-16.
Tim Frazier – Remember when he was a thing back in the Sixers days in early February? Seems like a few seasons ago! Ends the year with a dimebag off the bench for the Blazers, and 17 dimes his last two games. Might be intriguing for deepers if he gets a pure backup role.
Terrence Jones – Ended on a high note going 15/2/3/0/3 on 6-6 FG (1-1 3PTM 2-4 FT) in only 20 minutes last night. He’s someone I’ll be watching intently in the playoffs. I think that nerve issue and all the missed time could make him a major value in 15-16 drafts.
Luigi Datome – Hahahahahahaha, I was mostly kidding yesterday when I said it was Datome time in the Evan Turner blurb! A little sad that that almost made my night… 22/3/2/0/1 in 27 starting minutes, hitting 9-15 FG (3-7 3PTM 1-1 FT). He’s never gotten his full shot -he might go back to Europe because of it – but he’s a better player than the facial hair/goofiness would indicate.
Jared Sullinger – Like TJones, worth monitoring through the playoffs, but it’s good to see he got the minutes up to 28 last night for 11/4/4/1/3. As a late-round pick next year, J Sully could pull off some Avatar returns.
Andrew Nicholson – Odd games on the finale night abound, with jolly ol’ Saint Nich for 18/9/1/0/1 in 28 minutes, shooting a red hot 8-10 FG with 2 treys. St. Nich needs a change of location though, maybe he needs out of Orlando and go as North as possible! Here he comes, Raptor fans! Winter is comin’!
Bojan Bogdanovic – The ThrAGNOF giveth and the ThrAGNOF taketh away, with mostly the former lately for Bojan scoring 28 last night on 12-17 shooting with 4 treys. His last 7 were pretty good, but meh, super ThrAGNOFfy fa sho. But he’s not gonna be a favorite to Pacers fans, that is for sure!
C.J. Miles – One of the league’s best ThrAGNOFs in his own right, CJ tried carrying the Pacers to a W against the Grizz with 26 Pts and 5 treys, but twas all for naught.
Paul George – Also tried giving it his all, but hurt his calf and had to be carried off. Certainly some good moxy he showed out there coming back from the broken leg and we can just hope he’s 100% for next year.
Marc Gasol – If there’s one person to blame for the Pacers missing the postseason, it’s Roy Hibbert. Couldn’t put any D pressure on Marcy Marc who scorched Roy for 33. Hey Roy, quit worrying about your IMDB profile with those Parks and Rec appearances and try to finish out a whole NBA season for once!
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Well, it wasn’t 30, but 17/5/4/1/0 with 4 treys is a nice finale. But who cares, I won the 30-Pt board, WOOOOOOO!
Reggie Jackson – Also finished strong – sure it was against the Poppycockers, but schwatev – for 24/4/11/3/0. It’ll be very interesting to follow where R-Jax goes, and if he stays what happens with Brandon Jennings…
James Ennis – Well that ended up being a monster stream call! The Heat played 6 guys and only 7 bench minutes! Crazy. 17/12/6/1/0 with 2 treys for Ennis, but he was probably the third biggest performer in this final Heat lineup…
Zoran Dragic – Be the Dragon, Z the Dragon! He’s been like one of the chained up dragons from Game of Thrones this year, but got his shot and went 22/3/2/2/0 with 3 treys for the Heat #2 option game. Love playing the Sixers! Almost as much as…
Michael Beasley – …our true Heat savior, going 34/11/8/2/2 in a dubdub, a rainbow, and almost a tripdub. I think this answers the age old question – could players that were close but never quite made it beat up on the Sixers this year?!
Jakarr Sampson – Team-high and career-high 22 Pts, for 22/5/6/3/1 and I kinda doubt he even makes the team next year…
Jusuf Nurkic – The Jamba Jus was open for the finale! 17/9/2/1/1 in a start, playing 30 minutes and hitting 7-13 FG. Did have some smoothie hands with 5 TO, but I’m still going to be investing next year.
Omri Casspi – Illness, really?! Man, I thought for sure that’d be a great stream. Instead it was Derrick Williams for 22/6/3. Ew.
Jabari Brown – I mentioned on the Pod that had I know in the wee hours yesterday morning that Jordan Clarkson would be out, he’d for sure be a stream! 32/3/2/2/0 on 9-19 FG (4-6 3PTM 10-11 FT) in a monster game of ultimate junk. Hey, one day he can tell his kids the only time he scored 30 in an NBA game was when the Lakers clinched their worst season ever!
Vander Blue – Ya know, I remember him making this garbage layup in the NCAA tourney when Marquette beat Davidson (my home town) in the first round a few years ago… Never forget! 15/7/8 last night, but proved that garbage memory correct by shooting 6-23. Hey, he did a lot better than Allen Crabbe which was a good call by me! I hope you did well in your DFS contest!
Man, it feels so weird to officially close out the final 2014-15 Daily Notes. It’s been a lot of fun this year! We’ve still got our finale Podcast for this afternoon and as mentioned above – a lot of great off-season content to bridge into 2015-16 to keep things rollin’. I hope everyone enjoys a great Summer, and happy NBA Playoffs!
