I added Robin Lopez in two of my leagues. I didn’t like doing it, but anytime a guy who was overhyped last year drops 21/7 in 27 reserve minutes, you kind of got to throw away your last pick and take a chance. I’m not alone, of course. I would have grabbed Fropez across all my leagues, but some dudes are just quicker than me. I’m old. My bones are weary. The thing is, I’m only hesitantly recommending a Lopez pickup. Well, I guess I am enthusiastically recommending a Lopez pickup, just not enthusiastically suggesting he maintains this type of production all year long. It’s very likely that Brook and Robin switched identities over the summer “Parent Trap-style” and while Brook is rocking in Arizona, Robin broke his foot and is lying on a couch playing Batman: Arkham City on PS3. C’mon, that’s SO Robin, you guys. If this Phoenix Lopez really is Robin, the back injury that Alvin Gentry said took 10 inches off Lopez’s vertical is apparently no longer a problem. We’ll see cautiously. What I’m saying is, grab Lopez, but don’t expect to never let him go. Anywho, here’s what else went down in day two of the season.
Markieff Morris – 7/9/2, with a three, two blocks and two steals. Wanna know a secret? Between Morris’ game and Lopez’s, this was the more impressive game. Waiver accordingly.
Marcin Gortat – Click this. What’s the fantasy implication here? Only that the Polish Hammer believes he’s pulling off that beard. If that’s not a fantasy, I don’t know what … Marcin Gortat is doing.
Ramon Sessions dropped 18 points and six assists on .500 shooting from the floor in 22 minutes off the bench. Had he shot .450 in 28 minutes, I’d be more inclined to view Sessions as a must-add (not to be confused with how Bostonians pronounce “mustard”). As it stands, Anthony Parker and Kyrie Irving combined for 14/5/7 on .333 shooting. That won’t happen every night (gulp). Neither will such a hot shooting night against a poor defensive team. Deep leagues might want to take a flier (or maybe just the little tab at the bottom of most fliers. No need to steal the whole damn flier), but I’m just not sold on, well, on anyone playing for Cleveland. (NOTE: I expect to type that last sentence no fewer than 65 more times this season.)
Kyrie Irving – Icy Irving gets the cold shoulder from me until he shoots better than 10 percent from the floor.
Leandro Barbosa – 14 points and 4 assists in 22 reserve minutes, made all the better by pronouncing his name as if it were a Harry Potter spell. (Lean-DRO Bar-bo-SAW!)
Jonas Jerebko – 17/5/1, with a steal and a block. Come sit next to me / Pour yourself some tea / Just like the Detroit P’s/ Not to rebound any. On another note (that doesn’t belong to Weezer), Jerebko is owned in fewer than 10 percent of leagues and he seems to be starting over Austin Daye – at least, for now.
Greg Monroe – Picked up five fouls with 7:47 left in the third quarter, which seems like either an ineffective basketball strategy or a perfectly effective cheerleader-watching strategy.
Tyler Hansbrough – Double-doubled in less than 20 minutes/three quarters. I believe that’s the $200 answer to the “Effects of the Detroit Pistons’ terrible rebounding” Jeopardy category. It wasn’t a popular category.
Ryan Anderson – Look, I don’t want to own Ryan Anderson and you don’t want to own Ryan Anderson, but we have to come to grips with the fact that he’s starting, scoring (16.5 ppg/8 3ptm in two games) and he’s the tallest version of all this team’s perimeter scorers, which I think counts for something.
J.J. Redick – Dropped 20 points in 28 minutes. Couple things: He shot .600 from the floor, he won’t maintain that. Also, he offered up only 2 boards and 2 assists to go with those points. He’ll very much maintain that.
Kevin Martin – Shot 1-for-10 from the field to start the season. If you take away the six three-point attempts he bricked, his field-goal percentage rises from .100 to .250. /pauses … No. Nope. That’s still atrocious no matter how I phrase it. He passes from the hip, he shoots from the hip, I fully expect to hear about a hip injury sometime this morning to explain Game 1.
Chase Budinger – 3/3/2 in 20 minutes. Bud White just looked as out of synch as Martin. This would help explain why Terrence Williams (13/6/2) played 26 minutes and Courtney Lee (15/3/1) played 24. I’m not calling it quits on Budinger, but if you’re in a deep league with a spare roster spot, I’d grab Williams and Lee, in that order.
Mike Dunleavy – Starting in place of Carlos Delfino and ended with 13/3/3, with a trio of threes. This is about what Delfino would have contributed. So assuming your fantasy team was built around the production of Carlos Delfino, Dunleavy should be a sweet pickup until Delfino is fully healthy (in a game or two).
Stephen Jackson – Picked up five fouls in what felt like the first four possessions, which seems impossible until you remember that it’s Stephen Jackson. Three possessions later, dude fouled out. I would expect Stax to 1) remain in future games longer because 2) he won’t be frustrated EVERY night that his team is losing to the Bobcats.
Shaun Livingston -The best game of basketball Livingston has played since whenever the last game Livingston dropped 14/4/6 in 35 minutes from the bench. Remember: Jackson played 17 minutes and Livingston shot .600 from the floor. Who’s the suckaface interested in betting this happens on any regular basis?
Mehmet Okur – 0/5/2 in 21 reserve minutes. So that’s encouraging for the 100 percent of leagues that rushed to add this guy to their roster.
Ricky Rubio – 6/5/6, but those assists made it feel like he triple-doubled. If you don’t need assists and own Rubio, wait a few more games and see if you can’t get someone to overvalue him in a trade. Or keep him because he might be fun to own.
Tiago Splitter – Played nearly 36 minutes in this game. His (more talented) teammates were in foul trouble and he only produced a 5/8 line, with 2 stl and 2 blk, but still … you know? Still.
Spencer Hawes – 10/14/9, with two steals and a block in 39 minutes. How normal is this? Not only is this the first time Hawes has hit each of these marks in the same game, but in the last four seasons only 10 players have hit 10/14/9 in no fewer than 39 minutes. So … not normal at all really. Temper. Your. Expectations.
Metta World Peace – 19/4/4. MWP 4 MVP! The Artist Formerly Known As Artest only scored 19+ points twice last season and only had four assists and rebounds in addition to 19 points once. Still wouldn’t pick him up with your team, though.
