Man, hell of a weekend! Injuries, DNPs, I got a credit card hacked, went to a wedding, saw the sorry Panthers beat Jay’s sorrier Chargers… Out of control out there! Thankfully we’re nearing Christmas, time to see some family, gets some time off work, and hopefully get our fantasy teams healthy… But noooooooooooooo! The fantasy gods gave us a bah humbug last night, with Nerlens Noel finally debuting off knee surgery, only to go down with a kankle. He was looking pretty good too, especially with a little dunk on his first basket!
The hair on the other hand… I dunno… Shot 3-5 FG, hit his 2 FT, for 8 points and a steal in his first 10 minutes of the season. Sucks it ended prematurely with another injury, and especially on the Sixers, who are treating everyone with kid’s gloves and have too many centers anyway. Also sucks we don’t have any idea what his role will be, as Joel Embiid sat this one out to further maintain his EMBIIIIIID minutes. As long as it’s under 4 hours, we’re good! Here’s what else went down over the weekend in Fantasy Basketball action:
Jeremy Lamb – See Slim?! Here’s a weekend post that doesn’t start with someone I added in REL! Hah. 12/8/2 then 10/5/2 over the weekend. It’s pretty blah, but I like it in anything deeper than 12ers, it looks like enough of a role is there. Given a few games were minutes-inflated due to injuries, 11.1/6.2/1.3/0.3/0.4 with a trey on 50% shooting the last 9.
Norman Powell – Welcome to the party, Powell! Die Hard is DEFINITELY a Christmas movie… You know the relevancy if you listen to the ESPN or CBS fantasy Pods… Anyway, monster 20/3/2/5/0 game on 7-10 shooting with 3 treys on Friday night against the C’s, starting for DeMarre Carroll (rest). If you rely on the wing version of DMC in a deeper, might wanna look into handcuffing!
Terry Rozier – Getting extra burn with IT2/3 out with a 3/3 painful sounding groin strain, and as I mentioned late last week, Rozier just passes that eye test. 12/3/3 then 6/5/2 over the weekend, not huge, but only 1 TO his last 4 games in bigger minutes, and has an anemic 0.6 TO rate in 19 MPG this year. Too bad the Celtics have a logjam…
Hassan Whiteside – Said his knee was bothering him, but sounds more like his effort was bothering Spo. Horrible run of back-to-back 8/12 games with 4 TO in each and only one overall block, before snapping out of it on a 20/8/1/2/3 line Saturday.
Dennis Schroder – Dich liebe that!? 33/3/4/1/1 in a monster line against the Bucks, hitting 12-19 shots and 4 treys. After his best AST:TO run of the year with only 6 TO his previous 4 games, he did have 7 giveaways in this one though. Nein nein nein nein!!! No Hitler, it was seven, you’re two off…
Tim Hardaway – Tim ThrAGNOFaway! 18/4/4/1/0 in 31 minutes in his second start since Kent Bazemore has been out.
John Henson – Go-go Gadget, consistency! 6/6/4/1/1 then 14/4/1/0/2 over the weekend, playing exactly in the 25-26 minute range the past 6 games. Muppet Man starting to get a little boring though… Meh boards, inconsistent scoring… Only want him for his blocks.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Sat last night with a knee bruise. In other news, I woke up naked this morning, vomiting into a sushi restaurant’s fish tank… The dark side of addiction!
Russell Westbrook vs. James Harden – The battle of the triple-doublers on Friday night! This round went to Harden, going 21/9/12 and beating the Thundah by 3. Although if we’re giving the crown to who got a triple-double, then I guess Russ won! 27/10/10 that game, but lost his tripdub streak last night going an awful, pedestrian, 37/12/6/2/0. Ugly.
Steven Adams – Speaking of ugly, what is happening to that FT%?! Down to under 75%, but man he had a great weekend. I tried to jynx him with my regression fairies, but instead those damn glittery bitches are force feeding me crow!
Victor Oladipo – Nooooooo! Took a hard fall, looked like he might have broken his tailbone or picked up another concussion, but turns out he “only” sprained his wrist… Was down on the hardwood for several minutes before limping off. Stay tuned here.
C.J. Miles – I knew there might be some rust to shake off, but after 3 pretty blah games off his knee injury, I was one small EMBIIIIIID away from dropping him! Then 18/4/1/2/0 against the Mavs with 6 treys, and huzzah! The follow up?! 14 minutes of 0/2/2/1/1. I guess that’s OK, but damn he was in such a groove and now is looking at inconsistent bench run…
Dwight Powell – …speaking of inconsistent bench run (my transitions are on FIRE today!), I’m still arguing with Slim about the Mavs not “unleashing” Powell. 25, 21, 26 minutes the past three – yes the 21 minute game was foul-trouble laden – but he’s only 9.3/5.3/2.7/1.3/0.3 over these last 3 games with Andrew Bogut out. Sure he’s shooting 58.8% (low volume though) and 2.7-2.7 FT, it’s nice and all and didn’t hurt you, but for “must-own” in 12ers I just don’t see it.
Dorian Finney-Smith – Going even deeper, the big DFS with his best weekend in the NBA! Suck on that, DraftKings! 12/8/2 then 11/4/0/1/2 in back-to-back 30+ minute runs. Probably have to ramp it up to 16ers before taking a stab here.
Alex Len – Lakers got bakers! I dunno what I was trying for there… 14/13/2/0/5 Friday in 34 minutes, but only 15 minutes last night on 6/4/1/0/1 in an OT-loss. Had 4 fouls, so maybe foul trouble played a part, but other than that Lakers game, has been blah the past 5.
Leandro Barbosa – He’s like The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – just never ends! Comes out of nowhere on a team with a heavy G rotation to score double figures in 4 straight, including 21/2/4/2/0 and 18/3 lines with 7 combined treys over the weekend. Captain Barbosa and DFS mighta won some deep leaguers their weeks last week, as bottom-feeder streams!
D’Angelo Russell – Welcome back from The Wire! D Barksdale returning to dem towers with a pretty rusty 3/0/5/2/0 line on 1-8 shooting last night, with 4 TO. Don’t worry Avon, he’ll get back with it and find Wallace!
Lou Williams – Even with D Barksdale back, still has room to play outta his mind, going 24/6/5 last night with 10-10 FT. With D on a minutes-limit and assuredly still gonna play a big role, the sell-high window is going to shut fairly soon for Sweet Lou.
Kristaps Porzingis – Said he had discomfort in his knee, but is playing through it. Just be sure to keep the Pelicans medical staff away from The Poison Goose’s trainers, even though both are experts in aviary injuries!
Kyle O’Quinn – KOQ gave SAC a nice 20 minutes, going 8/11/5/0/2 on Friday night. But got a kankle and sat out last night against the Lakers… Nothing is worse than an injured KOQ, just ask John Bobbitt.
Brandon Jennings – Got added run with Derrick Rose hurt (back), but Rose returned last night and BJ still got some numbers, going 19/3/4 in 23 minutes against the pace-y Purp-n-Gold. Rose got 34 minutes, so not like his minutes were limited… I mentioned last week that I’ve been streaming BJ for some dimes, and it looks like he’ll be in the 12er streamer-range again.
Matt Barnes – Decided that at the sage-wisdom age of 36, going to a nightclub while in NYC and choking a woman and beating the shit out of some dude was how he’s going to live out the veteran years of his NBA career. With Matty B being a mighty douche, Omri Casspi has gotten a little more run, and as always, playing solid. Might be worth a spec add in anything deeper than 12ers pending Matty Bitch’s suspension.
Thaddeus Young – After a mad boring stretch over 7 games, broke out with a monster 40 minutes run against the Blazers, impaling them with a 24/9/2/2/3 line with 6 treys. I was about at the point where he could be dropped in 12ers, he’s sooooo boring. But I guess this sparks it up again…
Ed Davis – The Blazers are playing big, and Big Ed getting some nice numbers the past 2! 10/10/1/0/2 against the Grizz last Thursday then 6/10/2/2/1 in a surprising 34 minutes at the Paces on Saturday. He’s always been a decent D-stat filler ala Lucas Nogueira when he gets run, but he needs a lot more minutes to be as full bodied as Egg Nog.
Nikola Jokic – After being even more annoying than jock itch, is finally settling into a little consistency! 14/6/6/1/2 against the Magic on Saturday night, giving him 6-straight fantasy-usable games. Patience is a virtue not all of us have!
Kenneth Faried – Speaking of patience, got benched, got a DNP, and I bet a lot of Manimal owners cut him. I woulda! Then 19/10/1/0/0 on Saturday. Ugh! Although: 1-3 FT, 2 TO, and without the D stats, this was a Zach Randolph game. Meh.
Wilson Chandler – There were some added minutes and shots to go around Saturday without WILLLLLLLSON! who sat with hip soreness after putting up a dud Thursday. Hopefully he can get that hip nice and rubbed.
Juancho Hernangomez – If I didn’t give him a shout, Slim woulda written a 4 paragraph comment on him. I have to reveal my boyfriends to the world every day in the posts, Slim can keep them secretive and to himself! Not anymore! 14/4/2 on Saturday with 4 treys, but his 18 minutes are a bit of an outlier and I think Wilson-inflated. That said, he does look good out there for dynos.
Kelly Oubre – Irony of Juancho’s career-high is Slim traded Oubre for him, who had a season-high 19/9/1/3/0 line with 3 treys on Saturday as well. 29 minutes in a 6th man role, mmmmmm.
LeBron James – The Cavs lost 3 straight a couple weeks ago and everyone panicked, but they’re fineeeeeee. Monster 44/9/10/3/1 with 5 treys for Bronnie Bron on Saturday, fly swatting the Hornets.
Marc Gasol – That’s the thing when you throw dice, sometimes you get a 7, and sometimes you friggin’ land on Go To Jail for the 3rd mother f$*%ing time! I’m not bitter about the last time I played Monopoly at all! 19/8/6/1/2 with a trey in his latest gem Saturday against the Warriors, beating the Dubs by 21 out of nowhere! If you gambled on him off the foot thing, you have the same feeling as hitting 5 straight blackjacks. Career-high scoring, blocks went back up, career-high dimes, and after never shooting more than 17 treys in a season (or 0.2/game), he’s at 46% from the field despite shooting 3.6 treys per, and his 3PT% is up to 43.7%. Man was I wrong to question his FG drain…
Rudy Gobert – 6 swats against the Kings! It was kinda like unleashing Gobert against a middle school team…
Cheick Diallo – Garbage time alert! 19/10/1/2/0 in 31 minutes outta nowhere Saturday night against the Clip, on a night where Brow got a DNP-rest. Only 9 minutes last night though to follow it up, with Brow back. No more Sweet Cheicks for you!
Tim Frazier – Well, this blurb was initially going to be “look at Timmy maintaining value with no Jrue Holiday“, but then last night happened! Good thing I wrapped up this post this morning instead of my usual Sunday night publishing! So 20/1/11 against the Clip on Saturday with no Jrue as the starting PG, then with Jrue returning you’d expect a dud, right?! But he comes off the bench last night and puts up his first career tripdub! 14/11/11/5/1 with only 1 TO in 38 minutes in the OT win. Man, I cut him in my RCLs a week ago too… Buddy Hield only got 13 minutes, and it looks like the Pels are just way better playing the combo guards together.
Marreese Speights – The Ace of Speights! Off 15/9 in some junk time against the Warriors last Wednesday, got 17/12/4 in even junkier time Saturday. Not much to see here, I just wanted an excuse to say ACE OF SPEIGHTS!
T.J. McConnell – Our favorite Dapper Dan got one glob of hair goo away from a tripdub, going 12/10/9/3/0 last night with no Sergio Rodriguez. 37 minutes for TJ, and the Phillies surprisingly have won two straight!
I hope everyone had a great weekend, and is looking forward to week 8! Shoot your thoughts below on the weekend and upcoming week, Razzball Nation!
