Yes, I spent a couple nights watching the NBA, and yes of course I had thoughts. My first thought was should I watch Manifest? The answer, of course, is yes. Who wouldn’t like a Lost knock off, right? It’s kinda dumb and a good excuse for 40 minutes to make fun of everything you’re watching with your lovely wife.
I’m gonna name each category after my favorite TV shows I’ve seen, in no particular order.
Warriors: 24
24 was that show from the early 2000s with Jack Bauer. It was crazy exciting, and the first show I can remember where the hero had to make complicated moral choices. And also, anyone could die or turn heel at any turn. That was a deliriously fun show.
Kinda tracks with the Warriors. Constant action, and players who can turn into villains at a moment’s notice, like, I dunno, sucker punching your teammate and leaking out things about said sucker punch.
I love the Warriors, at least watching them. I’ve never met a single Warrior, so I can’t say if they’re nice people or not. Draymond Green is probably not, I’d guess. Maybe he is, but he’s one of those guys with a nasty snap temper. The way they play, though, there’s always guys to target if they have an injury since there’s a lot of usage for everyone involved. Andrew Wiggins is out, so some insight can be gleaned about some rotation guys.
Donte DiVencenzo is the name to watch here if Steph Curry is to miss time with his injured shoulder. Donte heats up like an inferno out there at times. With Curry a question mark, DD is your go to man for some points, boards, and threes for as long as Chef Curry needs to marinate to get healthy.
Jonathan Kuminga is looking really good. He’s a high energy, high effort, kinda mean player. The kid is taking lessons from Draymond Green and playing the same way, or trying to. I would keep an eye on him, and instantly pick Kuminga up in the case of any frontcourt injury for Golden State. He might be good enough to get regular minutes though even when the roster is healthy. Gotta love when a talent starts to put things together.
Bucks: Kenobi
Loved this show, even though you knew the fates of all of the main characters. Kinda like the Bucks; you know they’re going to be okay in the end like Obi-Wan was.
The Bucks are very fantasy friendly in terms of their set rotations, and they have nice rotations that work for when someone is out. This game, Jrue Holiday sat, so Jevon Carter‘s pesky defense got the minutes. Good. Stream. There’s a good backup for every starter, so keep an eye on their injury reports for streaming or DFS opportunities.
Keep an eye on their defensive players, that’s how you earn minutes as a Buck. Touched on that here: https://basketball.razzball.com/writers-league-recap-3
Grayson Allen is clearly ahead of Wesley Matthews at this point at SG. There’s around 30 minutes per game here, and a low volume of shots, and I’ll stop posting about Grayson now.
Bulls: The Wire
The Wire was never a happy ending show. There were gut punches the end of every season. Wallace, Stringer, the white guy from season 2, even McNulty, you knew at the end it would be a loss in the end.
Kinda like this stupid team who is now 3-12 in close games. You can watch the game, and there’s good moments, but you know in the end you’re going to be sooooooo sad.
You know who’s impressed me the past two games, though? Coby White. I’ve been the hardest guy on him I know, thinking he’s a borderline NBA player. I’m rethinking this, and Coby is a guy to keep an eye on (especially if he ever learns to change speeds, that guy has the X button mashed down all the time). He’s shooting and making threes with confidence, and with injuries and improvement by himself might carve out a rotation spot.
Of course, there’s rampant rumors in Bulls Nation about trading a starter or two, in which case then RUN to get Coby White. And these rumors affect DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, who could crater if they get dealt to the wrong contender.
Alex Caruso is my favorite Bull. As a Bulls fan, he’s actually the only guy on the team I’d be sad to see leave. The guy will always get his 30 minutes due to his defense and court savvy. Dude guarded Julius Randle in the post last night and got stops. If you are in need of any category except for scoring Caruso is a great sticky glue piece.
Knicks: Andor
Andor has not used the typical Star Wars formula, and was hard to get into as a result. The end result, however, after they completely change up the season, is a solid show, one that will stand up for a long time. Reminds me of the Knicks and their benching of old guys for new blood and storylines.
The Knicks revamped rotation was a ton of fun to watch. They play up-tempo and share the ball incredibly well. The Bulls have lived on spurts from their second unit all year long, and they got totally owned. Let’s see what the rotation has
Quenton Grimes was as advertised here on this site. Fifteen points including some dagger 3s in the 4th and OT. Grimes did the Bulls dirty and has no fear. I like him for the rest of the year.
Immanuel Quickley hit over 30 minutes with 9 points, four assists and four steals. You know what to do if you need some extra guard stats. He looked good too, was all over the place on offense and defense. Grimes and Jalen Brunson were the finishers, though, so Quickley’s minutes might fluctuate. I also touched on this here: https://basketball.razzball.com/rotation-changes
Lady Pirates Update
Big week for the Lady Pirates as we played the rival school from down the road, then traveled an hour to take on the Catholics. Nothing against Catholics. Fine people. But they had a 6-1 8th grade girl! Good news is, tall girls in 8th grade are often slow. Monday night, the rival school from down the road was defeated by 30 points or so. Last night, the Catholics went down to the wire, but the Lady Pirates sped ahead to a ten point victory. First place going into the Christmas break! My girl had her first pancake block, er, moving screen violation but also is becoming a shot blocker with her 6-2 wingspan. Solid stuff.
