Ya know, I used to love the winter. I like the cold weather, I like snow (hey, when you’re in the south and only see it a few times a year, it’s kinda nice!), my birthday is in December, Christmas is fun, etc. etc. But now working a 9-to-5, I hate it! It’s friggin’ dark all the time! And no different on this Winter Solstice, where I don’t think I’ll ever see the sun this morning and I struggled even through copious amounts of coffee to wrap up this Holiday Edition of Daily Notes – sorry it’s up a little late! Shout out to anyone reading in Alaska, I have no idea how they do it! At least this Holiday season, we did get an early stocking stuffer:
Making his season debut, Kyrie Irving went 12/4/1/2/0 in 17 minutes against the Sixers, hitting 5-12 from the field and both of his 3PTA. It just makes so much sense to debut against the Sixers – they’re a staging team. We saw Brandon Jennings get a rehab game in the D-League, but when the D-League comes to you, you can just debut Kyrie right away! Not to be too much of a Grinch, but Uncle Drew’s minutes are obviously going to be strictly monitored, and I really worry about how much run he gets in the fantasy playoffs. With all the fervor and fanfare surrounding his return, I actually kinda see this as a sell-high moment. I’d obviously need more than draft day value back – missing the first 8 weeks is built into the discount – but if I were getting top-25 value in a deal, I’d take it in a heartbeat. Not that I think Kyrie’s per-minute and eventually per-game numbers won’t be worth that, I just see it as a smart way of minimizing risk. If you’re able to move him, then double up the rum in your egg nog, cover that ish with a ton of nutmeg, and sing a Christmas DeMarre Carroll to the fortune of your fantasy team heading into 2016. Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy hoops, plus the 7 Ahead for week 9:
Jarrett Jack – “Wahhhhhh, Slim hates me even though I can put up 26/9/6/3/2 rainbow lines!” Then, “Wahhhhh, I had a bad game yesterday – I’ll blame it on pressing just to try and make Slim happy!” 4/3/6/1/0, but did have 5 fouls keeping him to under 30 minutes. He’s still fine. Well, not fine, he’s “Wahhhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack!”
Jordan Hill – We’re seeing more and more bench players maintain relevance, and Hill is thriving with the Pacers pace. I have a new nickname for him: “SC Apple”. In that it’s not his Adam’s Apple, not his Jordan’s Apple, but that tattoo is right on whatever you call that! What you guys think on that one? Dubdubs in both his games over the weekend, he’s improved at the FT stripe, and is a nice fringy big man out there in a lot of leagues if you don’t need swats. “I’ll have a Redd’s SC Apple ale!”
C.J. Miles – Just can’t shake his former ThrAGNOF, waiver-wire whore DNA! He seemed locked in as must-own, then goes 0-9 in an absolute killer 0/3/0/0/0 with 3 TO line against Memphis. Well, at least it was in a tough matchup…
C.J. McCollum – Speaking of CJs, for all of the McCollum drama we’ve stirred up, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m on the short side of the stick. That said, it’s not like I ranked him poorly, I was right about in the middle of the pack. Back-to-back 20+ Pts 6 Ast games, the 3PTM have been more consistent, the FG% not a killer… He did tweak his ankle late yesterday afternoon, but it didn’t seem too bad.
Lance Thomas – Ewwwww, Lance Thomas is worth a mention?! That’s me reacting to me writing his blurb… I’m going meta on this one! 8+ Pts in 11 straight games, double digit scoring in 9 of 11, and at least one trey in 10 of 11. It’s low end, but deep league usable. All he needed for consistency was to be traded off my REL team right before this run…
Tony Wroten – Was just so Wroten against the Knicks! 15/3/3/1/0 in only 23 minutes (yay!), 5-8 FT and 7 TO (booooo!). Kendall Marshall started and was meh, and the Sixers are trying to prove to everyone that they can make a PG position for an NBA team wholly irrelevant. None of them did anything interesting OR play 18+ minutes against the Cavs yesterday either. Wow. Just. Wow.
Dennis Schroder – Got some extended run Friday night when Jeff Teague picked up a kankle, going 22/0/5/4/0 with two treys against the C’s. Teague was able to get back out there yesterday, playing 26 minutes with 6 TO and not doing much else. Unfortunately, Schroder didn’t get the run either. A lot of commenters have asked what PG is a better stash with Schroder and some other guys – if Teague had a long-term absence, Schrodes could go nuts. Must-own for Teague owners.
Avery Bradley – Eesh, talk about a catastrophic free fall! He Evan Fournier-ed these last few games… Shot 2-8 from the field in each of his past two contests, scoring a total of 9 points. I’m likely holding – at least he got a steal in both – but yikes.
The Epic 4OT Bulls vs. Pistons game – The Pistons end up winning 147-144 hosting the Bulls last Friday night, with some crazy lines. Jimmy Butler rainbowed (43/8/2/2/2), hit 14-16 FT, and the icing on the cake – called out Hoiberg for being soft. Ouch! Andre Drummond also rainbowed, with a Goromotaro! 33/21/3/3/2. All your regulars had huge games, so if you felt like trading any of your Bulls or Pistons, it might be a good sell-high window.
Joakim Noah – Got the start Saturday, with Pau Gasol playing 48 mins and getting a rest day after the 4OTer. Joakim “AND ONE!” Noah went 21/10/2/1/0 against the Knicks on 9-16 shooting in 29 minutes, but even with the spot start, has been good enough off the bench to be owned.
Bobby Portis – Uh oh, bust out the Portis love! Got his first extended look and went 8-18 FG (2-3 3PTM 2-4 FT) 20/11/1/2/0. Imagine if he was on a team where he could play every game! Hoiberg said he needs to re-think his rotations, which might mean Nikola Mirotic plays a lot more SF with Doug McDermott ailing with a knee issue. I don’t want to get too crazy on Portis here – if you told me from this point forward he would play 25+ MPG ROS, he’s a must-add and probably top-80 or 90 or so for me. But I just don’t see the run being consistent enough. If in a 12er you have no stashes, your team is killing it, and have no particular need, yeah go ahead and pick him up. In any deeper, he’s worth adding now. Shallower? Probably looking elsewhere.
Brandon Jennings – I love how the NBA seems to be closer and closer to making the D-League function like a full-fledged minor league system. Jennings got to play a game in the D-League and put up 11 Pts and 12 Ast in 27 minutes, and he’ll be making his season-debut tomorrow against the Heat. If I had to guess, I say he plays 17 minutes and takes 10 shots. Until he’s traded or god forbid there’s a Reggie Jackson injury, I just don’t see adding him in 12ers and probably not even 14ers.
James Johnson – Man, he looked gooooooood driving the ball last night! 14/6/1/2/1, and started the past two games as they figure out their line-up with DeMarre Carroll still out. Johnson did have a couple lackadaisical TO in there, but I think he’s showing enough to be in the rotation when Christmas Carroll is back.
Patrick Patterson – Chipped in 18 Pts with 4 treys, but this game was a little weird against the Kings with Kyle Lowry getting ejected and forcing the Raps to play a little bigger. PitPat got 33 minutes, which was just enough to spite Slim for slamming him right when he entered the game the first time. REL hero for me, PitPat!
Omri Casspi – I was only 3 years early! I was pumped to get him in the inaugural REL draft when he was on the Rockets – always liked his game – but it’s taken until now to get full-time work as a starter. Well, since that stint at the end of last year when everyone was hurt… 11/4/0/1/0 and 15/11/3/1/0 over the weekend, but 3 treys in both. Probably needs to be owned in all 12ers and in a good amount of 10ers.
Gerald Green – Super Green! Very ThrAGNOFfy, but 9 treys and 37 Pts in two games over the weekend, giving the Heat a nice spark. The injury to Tyler Johnson (shoulder) has helped open up some minutes, but he’s a great ThrAGNOF stream in virtually any game.
Andrew Wiggins – 32/10/6/0/0 then 16/3/0/1/1 shooting a combined high-volume 55% from the field and 81% from the stripe. I wish he did more than score… Seriously though, the 7 TO were annoying, but other than that, it’s the kind of Droid I was looking for.
Gorgui Dieng – Choo Choo! Time to get on board the Dieng Train! 20/10/3/1/1 against the Nets in a crazy 36 minutes. Karl-Anthony Towns played 28 minutes too (and was awesome for 24/10/1/1/2)! Co-existence! That said, the Nets play a pretty big line-up, so I wouldn’t expect 36 mins for Dieng very often. But is a nice step.
Austin Rivers – “Daddy, my ankle hurts!” Doc Jr. picked up a kankle. He wasn’t really usable anyway, but does temporarily change the Chris Paul handcuff picture.
Chandler Parsons – Whew, finally we’re seeing the Chandler of old! His stat lines have been as up and down as Chandler’s weight in Friends. 16/7/7/1/0 and starting to look Perry perry good!
Matt Barnes – Mmmmmmm, D stats! 11/5/1/4/3 and 15/10/2/2/1 over the weekend. Sometimes the “must-own” label gets thrown around willy-nilly, but nothing willy about this one! Must-own.
Greg Monroe – The Moose had an injured hoof there, but shocked everyone when he played Friday night coming in doubtful. Well, it really shouldn’t have shocked anyone with the absolute joke that is their coach. I find Kidd more annoying than Dumb and Dumber Too. John Henson was a popular short-term add during this past week, only to play 5 minutes in that Friday loss in the rematch against the Warriors… Then goes 8/6/1/2/4 against the Suns in 22 minutes. As much as I want to keep piling on Kidd, he’s having hip surgery and maybe the Bucks tighten up their rotation under new coach Joe Prunty. I know nothing about this guy, except his last name is funny and will be mocked if he coaches anything like Jason Kidd…
Michael Carter-Williams – Back in the starting line-up after that benching experiment, back to playing big minutes lately, and delivered a huge weekend with 24/5/4/1/1 and 20/9/6/1/1 lines. “Only” 5 combined TO, shot over 50% from the field in both, and 7-10 FT is acceptable. I guess on one hand you could say benching him helped, on the other you could say Kidd benched this guy and his upside for Tyler Ennis. Ugh.
Alex Len – Had a monster 19/13/2/2/1 line against the Pels in 29 minutes, only to get sub-20 minutes last night and not do too much. Hornacek can suck my hornacek!
Jeremy Lin – Unlike the terrible coaches plaguing these last few blurbs, Lin got 36 minutes off the bench, the game after his 35-point breakout as a spot starter. Went 15/6/7 with a pair of treys. Worth an add for G stats if that’s a need in 12ers or deeper.
Kelly Oubre – Woooooooo! For my birthday, I got a first career start for my favorite dynasty stash Senor Oubre. He didn’t do too much going 8/4/0/0/1 with a couple of treys in only 22 minutes, and while you can point to 4 fouls being rookie-ish, only one was dumb and two were really ticky-tacky. Not much to do with the fantasy-impact, as Otto Porter‘s bruised thigh should be fine.
Klay Thompson – Bringing sexy back! When I hear “KT” I think of “JT” then I think of Southland Tales. Obviously the first thing that comes to mind with Timberlake… That movie was odd… Anyway, 27/3/2/1/3 hitting 9-10 FT. Only two treys, but nice to see he could still put together a huge line without the deep stroke workin’.
Will Barton – I mean, this is starting to get ridiculous! 32/10/6 against, well, there’s your answer – the awful Pelicans last night. 7-11 from deep, 12-25 overall, and been a gold mine of production off the wire. It obviously depends on for whom, but you gotta believe this is a sell-high game if you’re bringing in top-50 or 60 talent that fits your needs. But beyond that, ride the Willie B wave!
The 7 Ahead
- 5-game week: n/a
- 4-game weeks: BOS, DEN, LAL, MEM, NYK, OKC, POR, SA
- 2-game weeks: Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors
- Weekly League Streamers (by Y! ownership percent/games this week): Mario Chalmers (11%/4), Dion Waiters (15%/4), Langston Galloway (26%/4), Nikola Jokic (7%/4)
- Stream days: Tuesday, Friday, Sunday
- Off day: Thursday (Christmas Eve)
Overall Thoughts: Merry Christmas, Razzball Nation! Hopefully your squads don’t have too many stocks in the three teams with only 2 games. The Warriors were apparently on the naughty list, with back-to-back 2-gamers, and putting a big lump of coal in fantasy owners’ stockings the past two weeks. Thankfully in daily leagues we have three stream nights, so load up, use your stream moves and FAAB wisely, and let’s get a W in the last full week of 2015!
For my weekly streamers, Chalmers gets @PHI and LAL, plus games against the Hornets and Wiz that should feature pace. Waiters gets @LAL and DEN that have blow out potential, Galloway has been playing a little better lately and is still available in enough leagues for me to like him in a 4 gamer, and while I still don’t fully buy into any Nuggets C, Jokic is playing some of his most consistent ball lately and gets a 4-game stretch if you need a big. I don’t think we see Jusuf Nurkic back this week, but he is close. Might be your last chance to feel great about a Jokic stream.
Monday: Whew, hectic Monday for the NBA to start it off. We’ve got ATL, BKN, MIN, ORL, PHO, POR and SAC all wrapping up back-to-backs with no time for wrapping up their Christmas gifts. Luckily no teams head into b2bs. OKC@LAC should be a fun battle tonight in the West, and SAC@WAS should feature a lot of pace. If Otto Porter sits again, in deeper leagues you know I love my Oubre! Could pick up another start for a ThrAGNOF stream.
Tuesday: The first of three stream days, so you’re probably not streaming too heavy in RCL 4 moves a week formats and waiting for Friday and Sunday. DAL, DEN, DET, LAL, MEM, and PHI all head into back-to-backs, be sure to check in on your vets in those. Raymond Felton continues to surprise everyone with his play, if he’s out there he’s certainly worth playing Tuesday in any league, with the vets likely still getting light minutes in the b2b set. Your Lakers and Nugs should all be fantasy-friendly plays in a matchup that might not be too NBA-friendly, DAT@MIA should be a nice matchup of the giant 7-footers. MAM@PHI, ewwwww. Although here’s that Mario Chalmers game I like – becoming a popular stream of mine.
Wednesday: Back to the full slate, and only 4 teams have Christmas Eve eve off. Everyone is off Christmas Eve so no back-to-backs, and you should have full line-ups on all of your teams to bring you Holiday cheer. Be sure to keep your eye on the vets coming in on the second end of b2bs, but other than that, you’re playing your regulars.
Thursday: 
Friday: Merry Christmas, Razzball Nation! And after everyone has opened presents and you’re getting ready for your Christmas meal, it’s time to bust out your fantasy squads for some streaming! First, we have NO@MIA at noon (EST). If Tyler Johnson is healthy, he’s always a fun stream for me, as is of course Gerald Green for some ThrAGNOF. Then at 2:30, CHI@OKC should bring us a ton of points, with both teams playing pretty good offensive ball. Joakim Noah probably shouldn’t be available anymore, but he could be out there in some leagues. Dion Waiters is also an option for additional scoring, and a weekly play as mentioned above. Oh boy, then the biggie: CLE@GSW at 5:00. I can’t wait for this one! I don’t see too many streaming options in this game, maybe Brandon Rush for some ThrAGNOF, but if you consider B-Rush be sure that Harrison Barnes is still out with his kankle. We wrap up with SA@HOU at 8:00 and The Battle for Los Angeles at 10:30. If they’re on your wire, which they kinda should be in a lot of leagues, maybe you roll the dice on Danny Green or Terrence Jones. Any time a good team plays the Lakers, you look at some bench players on the other team who could get a bump. Jamal Crawford will be worth a look for sure in the late game, with Austin Rivers banged up.
Saturday: Of those teams playing on Christmas, CHI, CLE, LAC, MIA, NO and SA all go into back-to-backs. Hard to imagine anyone sitting on Christmas to play on the 26th, so keep an eye on all those vets on the 26th – why I mention the b2bs on Saturday. BOS, DEN, MEM, NYK, and POR all head into b2bs. With Saturday another chock-full slate (again only 4 teams off), you’re only sticking with your regulars, but keep an eye on all the vets with b2bs.
Sunday: Week 9 wraps with a 4-game slate on Sunday. Only LAL and SAC head into b2bs crossing into week 10, but that should only really impact Kobe. We start with LAL@MEM, and yeah as I write this, Chalmers is yet again becoming a weekly stream for me. Tough to like anyone else in the streaming class too much. NYK goes at BOS – I dunno, I just have a weird feeling this could be a Kelly Olynyk game. There’s other streaming options, but I don’t have a great feeling on it. DEN@OKC should be a blowout, I don’t really trust any DEN bigs in daily moves leagues for this game (I think this might be Jokic’s weakest) and I dunno if Steven Adams gets the run. Could be another Waiters game, and yeah he’s a weekly play for me. Then our final game of the week, POR@SAC should feature a ton of pace and be a fantasy-friendly outing. Omri Casspi is playing more like a hold, but if he’s available he’s certainly worth playing. Even though he’s not done much lately, I could see Kosta Koufos being useful. On POR side, I don’t feel great about any of your streams. Ed Davis has struggled lately and I’m not a Meyers Leonard guy who is being held on too many teams anyway. I’m likely avoiding the Blazers.
Happy Holidays, Razzball Nation! I hope everyone is looking forward to Christmas and everyone has a safe time travelling to see family. Matty will be helping with the 7 Ahead next week and I’m off from Daily Notes until Jan. 4. Holidays hitting the Fridays hard this year! But I’m always around for comments and looking forward to 2016!
