Welcome back to another Monday night recap. Last night we saw why you should pick up Kyle Kuzma in any league, several stars shot the lights out, and Andre Drummon returned to form. Let’s talk about it…
Nuggets vs Grizzlies
Nikola Jokic is a phenomenal player, who had an amazing night (seven assists, seven rebounds and 23 points), but he can’t carry this team by himself. He needs more offensive help and Michael Porter Jr. has been struggling lately. He only put up 10 points, but even more concerning he only attempted nine field goals, with four free throw attempts. It’s a scary trend to see him shooting less, and a very concerning one. Don’t sell him just yet, but shop around a bit.
Ja Morant is a legitimate superstar. He put up seven rebounds, eight assist, and 26 points last night against the Nuggets. If this form stays throughout the year Ja could end up being a top 10 player in standard points leagues. As for his teammates, don’t be discouraged by the low scoring numbers tonight, as it was a low scoring match. Rebounding numbers and true shooting % transform a “bad night” for Steven Adams and made Jaren Jackson Jr. look impressive.
Raptors vs Knicks
OG Anuoby was a player that I was quite low on to start the season. How wrong I was. Putting up a career-high 36 points with six rebounds as well, he’s an early front runner for the MIP award. Speaking of players I was high on to start the season, Gary Trent Jr. finally popped off, scoring 26 points with four steals. A very inefficient 26 points (10-22 FG and 4-11 3pt) but 26 points nonetheless. One other interesting note from this match was the minutes that Svi Mykhailiuk played tonight, 35 in total, a season and career high. For a player that’s rostered in 0.7% of total leagues on ESPN that’s a ton and definitely worth keeping an eye on him.
The Knicks stars came to play tonight, both RJ Barrett and Julius Randle put up at least 20 points and five rebounds each. One player I would like to highlight from last night is Mitchell Robinson, who cleaned up the glass on both ends of the floor with five offensive rebounds and seven defensive. Robinson is for the Knicks what I thought Khem Birch would be for the Raptors, a rebounding machine. Unfortunately, his numbers outside of rebounding are nothing justifying a pick up, but if you need rebounds and just rebounds absolutely look his way.
Bulls vs Celtics
While the Celtics struggle to find their footing in the East, their players provide amazing structural stability for fantasy owners. Jayson Tatum put up 20 points, Jaylen Brown put up 28 with seven rebounds, and Al Horford put up a double-double. Granted, Tatum’s 20 points were on very inefficient splits (8-22) but this doesn’t matter as much in point leagues. As for what should be done with Horford, well he shouldn’t be your starting center in any format, but off the bench you could do a lot worse.
As a Raptors fan, it’s games like this that make me especially miss DeMar DeRozen. What a night. It’s so sad Toronto couldn’t find a way to bring the championship home with him and Kyle Lowry. A super-efficient 37 points while shooting 75% on all field goal attempts, with near perfect free throw shooting (4-5). Also, flying under the radar, Nikola Vucevic almost had a triple-double putting up 11 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Although, it’s yet to be seen how far the Bull’s Big 3 can go in the playoffs, they’re proving to be absolute fantasy studs.
Wizards vs Hawks
Pick up Kyle Kuzma in whatever league you’re in. This isn’t a joke, it’s my war cry for the rest of this season. Kuzma has been consistently great this year putting up six rebounds and 18 points in this close loss to the Hawks. He’s currently 6th in the league in average rebounds per game with 12! In other less important news Bradley Beal seems to have shaken off the sluggish start and is returned to form with 24 points. If you can trade for him, especially using pieces like Booker or Dame, go for it. One last note about the Wizards is that Spencer Dinwiddie put up a double-double with 10 assists and 14 points.
Speaking of players returning to form, Trae Young has finally returned to the FT line, taking 11 attempts and draining all 11 of them on pace for 26 points total. Also worth mentioning was that Young led the team tonight with six turnovers, but still had a +19 rating. Beating him in +/- statistics, teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic had a very efficient night shooting above 50%, grabbing six rebounds, and collecting six assists in the progress. Bogdan is a solid complimentary piece to Trae Young, but nothing spectacular on his own, don’t buy too high on him.
Trail Blazers vs 76ers
Congratulations to Norman Powell, as he put up 22 points tonight on efficient shooting, but can we talk about Damian Lillard? Did being selected on the NBA top 75 list place an undeserved curse on him? Is Dame Time on Daylight Savings time? What’s going on? He put up 20 points, seven assists, and 10 rebounds. Pretty good stats for an average NBA player but for Dame? For someone who was considered a top 20 lock in all leagues? This week is make or break for selling Dame, it may be for pennies on the dollar but hey, at least you got some pennies.
At the start of the year, if the 76ers were a dynamic defensive titan with a point guard who could finally shoot threes and an elite center that cleaned the glass better than Mr.Clean, Sixers fans were thinking of Tyrese Maxey, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond right? Drummond was in vintage Pistons form, collecting 15 rebounds, 11 on the defensive end. Seth Curry was also on fire putting up 23 points, five rebounds, and six assists. As for Tyrese Maxey, he’s one of those players that has a massive impact on the game but not from a fantasy perspective. PJ Tucker and Robert Covington are two other examples of fantasy-irrelevant players who receive starters minutes.
Spurs vs Pacers
Much like the Blazers last week, the Spurs decided to play their entire bench so congratulations to those in 30-person leagues. For everyone else, it was a disappointing night. Nothing really to comment on for Spurs starters such as Jakob Poeltl, Keldon Johnson and Dejounte Murray. Sophomore Devin Vassell tied for most minutes played and put up 15 points in those 27 minutes. This could be a sign of trust from Coach Pop so we could see more Vassell in the future
When friends would ask me for sleeper fantasy players, I would always recommend TJ McConnell, especially in CAT leagues. It’s nights like these that make me love him. On the surface, he only put up 10 points but look a little deeper and he also put up 10 assists, three rebounds, three blocks, and one steal. He does so many little things right that he’s a no-brainer in all but the shallowest of leagues. Domantas Sabonis put up a very impressive double-double with 13 rebounds and 24 points. He may not make an All-Star team but he absolutely deserves to with his play this year. Also worth mentioning, Caris LeVert made his return to the floor and put up 16 points and seven assists in a conservative 24 minutes of playing time. As his minutes increase, expect to see rookie Chris Duarte on the floor less and less going forward.
Cavaliers vs Hornets
Is Jarrett Allen the new Andre Drummond? Putting up insane rebounding numbers with relatively unimpressive stats outside of that? He put up a double-double with 16 rebounds and 24 points. On the season he’s only averaging 12 points and nine rebounds but did put up a similar double-double last Monday. By the way, this defensive titan is averaging fewer rebounds per game than Kyle Kuzma, so pick up Kuzma already. Lauri Markkanen finally went off putting up 21 points and eight rebounds. Markkanen has been getting starters minutes all season. He’s just very inconsistent so nights like this will probably just happen.
Happy late Halloween to everyone. The monster known as Scary Terry returned and put up a ghoulish 23 points and six assists. In all seriousness, Terry Rozier seems to have finally found his form after struggling against the Blazers two nights ago, and should be returning to normal production going forward. A buy-low candidate for sure but the cat might already be out of the bag. On a different note LaMelo Ball is an All-Star in his second year,”. Holy crap, he put up 30 points with six rebounds and seven assists.
Magic vs Timberwolves
This was the breakout game everyone was waiting for German power forward Franz Wagner to have. A team-leading 28 points while shooting 55% from the three-point line? Wagner is the most underrated rookie at the moment, and if Scottie Barnes or Evan Mobely fall off their hot stars, he could be a ROTY candidate. Cole Anthony also went off, putting up 31 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists in a near triple-double. Anthony is legit this year, and if he hasn’t been scooped up by early adopters and you need points pick him up as soon as possible!
Everyone other than Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards on the Timberwolves is inconsistent and a liability to your fantasy team. While Jaden McDaniels shows promise, D’Angelo Russell always has a chance at a random 20 point performance and Malik Beasley should be better than he is. There are almost certainly better options available on your waivers.
Thunder vs Clippers
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stands on an island alone, surrounded by first-round picks and players with potential but no production. While rookie Josh Giddey will eventually find his footing in the league, I must ask, what happened to the next unicorn Aleksej Pokusevski? He showed such potential last year, so why is he only getting an average of 13 minutes per game? His play has been worse, only averaging five points and four rebounds but why is he playing less than Mike Muscala? The Thunder clearly aren’t trying to win games this year, so why not develop him?
Paul George also stands on a similar island, but his is filled with quality veteran players, instead of young players. What surprised me about George in this match were his defensive numbers. Yes, he put up 32 points but he also contributed nine rebounds, three steals, and one block. As for the other members of the Clippers it was brick season. Reggie Jackson went 5-17, Terence Mann shot 4-14, and Luke Kennard converted 4-10. The team as a whole shot 38% from the field. Thank goodness they were playing the Thunder, or else this could have came back to bite them.
