Oh man, what a fun day this is for Razzball Basketball! Let’s start with our big announcement we’re making later today – I’ve teased it a few times, but it’s coming this afternoon! We’ve got a special post going up today that is going to: Blow. Your. Mind. I’ll just leave it at this – it involved robots and very short shorts…
On top of THAT, what a fun night of hoops on Humpday! We had epic drama with the Kings somehow beating THE King (in Cleveland no less!), yet another tripdub for Russ, but then a late night wonder with my boyfriend Ivica Zubac having another awesome game! My preseason darling looked further away than ever for minutes when he barely got run in preseason games, but he just kept his head down and powered through some D-League stints and a handful of junk time minutes here and there until the Lakers finally started unleashing him. Had the 11/13/1/1/3 line 3 games ago against the Nugs, then after low minutes for two games, exploded again last night for 12/10/2/0/3.
He’s just so big and so fundamental! He did only shoot 5-15 from the field (a few “misses” were on consecutive putback attempts though…) and had 4 TO, but hit 2-2 FT and typically should be a true 8-cat guy (no treys). As I mentioned on the Pod last week, in the D-League he shot 57.8% from the field, 82.9% from the FT line, and had a 15.6/9.7/1.3/0.2/1.0 line in 13 games at 30 MPG. I mean, it’s not “epic”, but he’s still only 19 and looks like he could turn into Jonas Valanciunas with D-stats. With ZuBlock showing off his potential and our big announcement today, I’m like a rabid Beatles fan this morning!
After pimping him hard as a possible second-half sleeper in the preseason (I initially ranked him like 160 or something, but then they signed Tarik Black and never played Zubac in the preseason, so I cut him out of my top 200), it’s 100% time to add him if you need a big. It might be bumpy for minutes, but the Lakers have fallen to 16-33 and it’s time to keep the youth developing. Here’s what else went down in fantasy basketball last night:
PS – Podcast will be out tomorrow morning – we are recording later today, just a day behind. Can’t wait to gloat about taking back the 30-point challenge lead!
DeMarcus Cousins – 28/11/9/3/1 in a tripdub flirt as they took down the mighty Cavs. Cavs be in a rough streak right now though! Maybe they should take some front office advice from Sacramento…
Darren Collison – Woooooo! Awesome to see him get 36 minutes and play well in a high profile win, holding Ty Lawson to only 17 minutes. Colly for 23/3/5/2/1 on 8-14 shooting with 3 treys in 36 minutes. I’d probably look to add him again even in 10ers.
LeBron James – Struggling to point the finger at what happened here! All I can think of is just defensive intensity… Bron Bron had a tripdub of 24/13/11/2/1, the other pillars of the big 3 played well, the team shot 49% from the field and 40% from deep with 15 treys… Just no one can stop the Kings right now! Hah!
James Harden – Mannnnn, this was a ridiculous game! One of the worst officiated I’ve ever seen. Harden gets his typical 30/6/12/1/1 line, and having 16-19 FT isn’t that surprising, but there were numerous techs and stoppages to determine flagrants… It was wild.
Montrezl Harrell – 25 minutes off the bench for 11/2/3/1/0 on 5-6 shooting. Was kinda hoping Nene was a DNP-CD, but it was a DNP-old. Still, while the Rockets are coasting to a high seed in the playoffs, don’t forget Harrell come playoff time with Nene 74 years old.
Al Horford – He’s still playing fine, but nice to see 3 steals and 2 blocks last night after a D stat lull the past 5 games (2 steals, 3 blocks total in that span).
Jonas Jerebko – Going to become a fan favorite after this start, going 7/7/1/0/1 on 3-3 shooting with a trey. Got called for back-to-back terrible fouls in the 2nd, got a technical, and got the crowd fired up with everyone chanting “BULL SHIT”! Then late in the 4th, took an errant, flailing-arm from Harden to the face which bloodied him up pretty bad, and he was fired up and just ran to the locker room bleeding everywhere. And yet, he still returned to the bench with a minute or two left after getting a few stitches, and the fans went nuts seeing him come back. There’s something to be said for “intangibles” and maybe he’ll help fire up the team when needed. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hold onto a decent role – go ahead and add him in deepers.
Marcus Smart – Still got a nice 31 minutes of 7/4/6/3/0, helped by Avery Bradley still being out. That said, I still like what Smart is bringing, and he’s playing plenty next to Isaiah Thomas, who obviously went ham against a D’Antoni team (38/5/9).
Dion Waiters – At it again! NBA MVP the past 3 games! 24/5/8 on 10-18 shooting with 2 treys. Still inexplicably misses FT (2-4), but always it hitting the big shot!
Another big win for the Heat.
Wayne Ellington – 22 points with 4 treys off the bench. Forget it Jake, it’s Brooklyn! ThrAGNOF!
Okaro White – Whoa, taking advantage of some run on a 10-day contract! 10/7/1/1/4 with 2 treys last night in a shocking outing. Helped that the Heat played down to Brooklyn’s smallball approach, and poor Hassan Whiteside got only 21 minutes of 7/1/1/0/1. 3-10 shooting too! Only one rebound?! Wow, Willie Reed still got 24 minutes though! Things falling apart for Hassan! [edit – Apparently Hassan played through a kankle, and might miss a game after this, so there’s another reason for ineffectiveness…] Anyway, White’s blocks last night seem fluky, as he was 18.4/8.7/1.8/1.1/0.6 in 23 D-Leagues games in 33 MPG. 1.7 treys though, and an 86% FT shooter in that time down there… Maybe there’s something here, enough to take a flier on in really deep leagues.
Brook Lopez – 33 points and 7 treys, with 4 rebounds and no D-stats. 7 foot ThrAGNOF!
Caris LeVert – Still playing well, it’s just tough to be a must-own in 12ers with 26 minutes… 12/1/4 with a trey. Meh.
Steven Adams – Kiwi can ya see me?! 20/11/3/1/4 in a nice full line, hate to see the 2-4 FT though… Also hate to see he shot a trey! Maybe it was a desperation one though…
Anthony Davis – Pretty much happening every game now… Got a right quad contusion, and only lasted 16 minutes. 8/5/0/0/1 on 2-8 shooting, so not like he was playing great anyway. Be sure Terrence Jones is owned in your league! Wasn’t huge (27 minutes, 12/4/1/1/1), but damn Brow is being vintage Brow again with the early exits.
E’Twaun Moore – Outta nowhere with an 18/8/2/1/1 line with 2 treys and no TO. Actually his D stats over the last 5 games have been OK. But I’m not trusting much here.
Thabo Sefolosha – Huzzah for not quite dropping him yet! Streamed him in a few RCLs late last week and hadn’t cut him yet, and lucked into a 18/3/0/1/0 line with 3 treys on 6-8 shooting. Yeah, prob still cutting him soon…
Kent Bazemore – Helllll yeah! I’m still so pumped this is working out! 16/6/7/1/3 with 2 treys, and it’s all finally coming back together… Even Tim Hardaway Jr. played well too! 17/2/5 with 4 treys. Hawks just need to play the Bulls every night!
Jimmy Butler/Dwyane Wade – It wasn’t for lack of trying with the two Bulls superstars, with Buckets going for 40/4/3/3/0 on 13-22 shooting and Wade putting up 33/5/2/2/1 on 14-24 shooting. That’s some crazy efficiency! Team just isn’t working…
Robert Covington – Rainbow alert! 11/5/2/2/3, but 5 TO on 3-9 shooting. Still good to see him consistently contribute right now though…
Nerlens Noel – Got another start with both Joel Embiid flaccid and Jahlil Okafor hurt. 16/13/0/1/1, and more importantly 1 TO and 6-6 FT. Somebody will hopefully pay up SOON to get Captain N!
T.J. McConnell – Another Rubio-ish line of 7/3/13/3/0. At least he KNOWS he can’t shoot! 3-5 from the field. Nice game across the board for the Sixers, even stupid Gerald Henderson had 20 points! Ugh.
Greg Monroe – Led the Bucks in scoring in this futile effort, going 28/9/2/1/0 on 11-17 shooting in the loss. I blame the center waffling by Kidd on this one!
Norman Powell – Welcome to the party, Powell! Got another start for DeMar DeRozan who is still resting a kankle, going 21/5/2/1/1 with 2 treys, Only 1-4 FT though, and the Raptors lost by 2?! Ouch! You’re kicked out of the party, Powell!
Marc Gasol – Marcy Marc went mad funky against the Canucks, going 42/7/2/1/2 with 5 treys on 14-25 FG and 9-10 FT. Epic game! Gotta be tough carrying a team against foreign invaders!
Draymond Green – Your fairly typical Warriors line with everyone playing pretty well, including a nice 13/4/6/2/3 line from Dray, with 2 treys and no TO. #OccupyEfficiency!
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Maybe it’s just Slim’s pessimistic views, but still feel like MKG is going underlooked right now! 15/9/0/1/2 with no TO on 7-12 shooting. Getting the blocks, making his low-volume FT, getting boards… It’s pretty useful from a wing!
Spencer Hawes – Bleh, 10/13/5/0/1 with a trey in 29 minutes, but I’m not buying much from the man bun. Just one hot cross bun last night.
Carmelo Anthony – Rumor is out there that the Knicks wanted to trade him for Kevin Love, but instead they got a nice note with the “No” box checked. 30/8/3 last night with 7 TO, as the Poppycockers dropped yet another game last night to the lowly Mavs. To be fair, the Mavs are playing better right now, but sheeshkabob!
Courtney Lee – 23 points, giving him 13+ in 3 straight games. In other news, I don’t really care about Courtney Lee.
Willy Hernangomez – For the love of boxing out! 8/16/0/3/0 in only 24 minutes. Hey, someone has to rebound all those Melo labradoodles! Still can’t fully buy in until we see an extended run of virtually no KOQ, aka last Saturday’s March against Trump.
Seth Curry – I’ve bashed him a lot this year, but 20/5/0/3/1 last night with 2 treys and Deron Williams lasted only 16 minutes before leaving with a toe injury. Curry has a lot more fans due to name value/potential tied to that than I think he should, but obviously I would add him in all leagues for right now.
Lou Williams – Only reason the Lakers were even in this game last night! 31/4/5/3/0 with 6 treys and 5-5 FT. He’s soooooo good. Imagine if he got unleashed like this earlier in his career! Could’ve been fun. Here’s a more fun thing – the Lakers starting 5 combined – COMBINED – for 27 points. Lou off the bench outscored the starting 5! That is fantastic, I wonder if that’s ever even happened before…
Brandon Ingram – Back to the bench, and in 19 minutes, 0/4/2/0/1 on 0-5 shooting with 2 TO. My Ingram bias is on him as a [bad] basketball player, not because he’s a Dookie!
Mason Plumlee – Well, I guess one detraction on the Zubac game is Portland’s terrible D against opposing centers, but at least for fantasy Mason is going strong! 19/13/3/2/1 and continuing to improve on his best season.
As I mentioned before, and it’s not me overselling, get pumped for a huge announcement this afternoon! I can’t wait to talk all about it in the upcoming weeks. Drop your comments below, and I’ll catch ya with the Pod tomorrow morning!
