Man, the question posed in the title there is a real toughie… I need to make a pros and cons list. I mean, more like a pros and D-league list…
First to last night – how can you call a throw right there?! Is Brad Stevens calling plays for the Seahawks all the sudden?! Ugh, enough football, but we’ll tie one more NFL reference here in the open if we can…
The Cavs went into Minnesota on Saturday night, and Kevin Love‘s return to Minnesota wasn’t exactly a metaphorical hug. I love the random ginger at 0:55… He has no idea what to do! He’s like, “boo!” wait, I mean, maybe I should clap? It’s like the end of Air Bud where both the creepy pedophile looking dude and the annoying kid try to call for the emotionally conflicted dog. Anyway, Cleveland got to see both of their #1 picks from the last two years, and spoiler alert! Andrew Wiggins did better. A cool 31/1/1/4/0 on 14-25 shooting and absolutely no issues with Kevin Martin back in the line-up. And still no Ricky Rubio, who is back tonight! All of Wiggins’ damage done with recent-signee Lorenzo Brown playing all 48. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s “other” former #1 pick Anthony Bennett played 13 minutes of nothingball. 0/1/1/0/0, and as we mentioned on the Pod with Andy Behrens the other week, Draymond Green went in the second round of that draft! Hopefully Kevin Costner had nothing to do with this Cleveland team’s Draft Day. That movie bombed harder than the Manziel pick! Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball action:
Tyler Johnson – Who? Exactly. Rainbow line out of nowhere! After tearing up the D-League, the undrafted rook with a rainbow line last night of 13/9/4/2/2 and is primed to be the second Heat breakout signed from the Minors. It’s like a Chicago Cubs farm system up in hurr! That said, I like the kid, he’s a solid player, but he’s no Langston Galloway. Langston is more the mother kangaroo Galloway, Johnson more the Joey Galloway.
Hassan Whiteside – “Hiss-ant!” “It’s pronoucned ‘Hassan’, it’s French.” “Did JB just pull out a Corky Romano reference!?” So what if I felt I had to explain that one since no one ever saw it! Chris Kattan’s career fizzling out worse than Greg Oden. Too soon, too soon… Anyway, Hiss-ant for 20/9/0/0/3 last night (after a dominant 16/24/0/1/1 Friday night), hit 10-17 from the field including some jumpers, and might be the best offensive option on the Heat right now. Chris Bosh burn!
Mario Chalmers – Ugh, 10 TO the past two games with middling stat lines. Get this guy a giant mushroom, he’s on life support in the non-Dwyane Wade stint!
Jared Sullinger – This is what you get for buying any Celtics investments. Why I’ve been very anti-Marcus Smart, who should have been starting a month ago. But then yesterday we see arguably the Celtics’ most consistent player this year get benched, and another clump of my hair pulled out. Sure Smart had 9 dimes off the bench, as even the worse Evan Turner got benched in the second half, but I want nothing to do with this franchise. Bostonians have plenty to be happy about.
Jordan Hill – Initially reported as a quad strain, Hill said it’s more a hip issue that knocked him out early yesterday and he’ll miss a few days or a few weeks. If only my PTO at the Razzball office worked that way. “Yo, Grey, I’m going on a bender – might be a few days, maybe 3-4 weeks, who knows?!”
Tarik Black – MVP! MVP! If you heard chants for “Black MVP” it must’ve been me since I’m the only one! You’ve gotta check out the REL recap out in a few hours for more there. Anyway, one of my fav cheer guys for 2/4/1/0/0 off the bench in 18 minutes even though he wasn’t supposed to play, but should get some run whilst Hill out. He started the second half and is Byron Scott’s BFF when healthy.
Wayne Sellington – What I told ya! Had back-to-back good games before going ice cold against the red hot Knicks. Nee Poppycockers! Hopefully if Ellington was valuable in a deeper, you could sell fast.
Louis Amundson – Is this real life?! 6/13/2/0/2, and now at least a block in all 8 games for the Knicks with multi-blocks in 5 of those. He’s signed up through the rest of the year, and is he really that different that say, a Timofey Mozgov? Sadly, no!
Lance Thomas – His first game after getting signed for the year as well was an atrocious 15 minutes of 2/1/0/1/0. Proves that if you’re signed on longer than a 10-day deal you’re subject to be ignored!
Gorgui Dieng – After a nasty rainbow of 14/10/2/2/3 Friday night, got benched Saturday! Only 20 minutes, but still stuffed the stats for 4/3/3/1/1. Don’t worry Razzball Nation, stay strong with the Dieng Train!
Nerlens Noel – The Dieng Train helmed by Captian N! Solid battle of the rainbow bigs Friday night! Noel for 14/6/3/4/6, one dime away from a double rainbow! Nasty. Shot 7-8 from the field with only 1 TO, and followed it up with 5-8 FG 11/10/0/0/2 and 3 TO Saturday. A little disappointing in that one, but still loving the improvements.
Michael Carter-Williams – For the love of tripdub! 17/10/10/1/1 Friday night, another 5 TO is par for the course, but only 3 TO on Saturday for 13/6/8/2/0 and a couple treys in a close-ish game agaisnt the Hawks. FT% from Dec-Jan jumped from 57.1% (ugh, I know) to 68.2% and the TO fell from 5.1 (ugh, I know, I KNOW!) to “only” 3.8. Taking some strides without that Tony Broken.
Kent Bazemore – Ya know, really annoying weekend for REL free agents I was hoping to sneak from the league! I had Tyler Johnson all queued up, plus Bazemore – who I thought could surprise with some runs late in the year if they pull some DNPs – gets 40 minutes Friday night (12/5/3/2/1)! DeMarre Carroll sat out with a sore Achilles and he’s getting an MRI on today, then Thabo Sefolosha hurt his calf early and will be out 6-8 weeks. Bazemore should get a little run for the deeper leaguers, as well as a handful of minutes for John Jenkins (who scored 9 in 21 minutes Saturday night) if Carroll miss a few more. And deepers should also monitor Shelvin Mack (still out for now with a calf) who has played his share of SG minutes for the Hawks.
Dwight Howard – D12 to miss at least 12 more games. His knee will cost him the next month, and you can cut him in virtually all 9-cat leagues. Pts and 8-cat Roto… Eh, it’s tough! Depends on your desperation level; if it’s seeking Susan then sure.
Terrence Jones – Ya know, Donatas Motiejunas is looking like a must-own in 12ers, even worth a look in shallowers, but the under-the-radar news with Howard going down is the help T-Jones should get for some run. Only 3/5/1/0/0 Saturday in 19 minutes, but 3 blocks on Friday night and I have a little more optimism for him now.
Jarrett Jack – “Wahhhhh, JB killed it on this one!” Career-high 35 points in a crazy 35/8/13/1/0 line, hitting 13-30 from the field and 8-8 from the stripe. A three and a steal on top of that craziness! Love ya Slim.
Brook Lopez – Ewww. Also had 35 points off the bench. Nets are like, “See, he’s worth two first-rounders, told ya [fill-in GM’s name]!” Chipped in 3 steals and 3 blocks which was a little fun, but meh, I don’t see much ROS. Brolo is playing each Net game like yolo.
Eric Gordon – No Brow, no problem! 28/2/7/1/0 and 5 treys and you couldn’t sell him faster and he’s an injury risk and some egg rolls and thennnn, and thennnnnnn, and then and then and then and then!
Anthony Davis – Set to return tonight. At least he should give you a full week this time out!
Charlie Villanueva – Puts up 20 and 6 treys on Friday night. I’m like, “F you dude, I own you in the REL for a month and you don’t do shizz!?” I side with Kevin Garnett now…
Rajon Rondo – Richard Jefferson went all Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on him and kicked him in the face. “Richard Jefferson – ruining NBA franchises one player at a time” What his campaign slogan should read… I would doubt Rondo misses much time, even though he’s already ruled out tonight, unless there’s a concussion involved. But the hit didn’t look good and could easily be the case. As much as I’d like to recommend Devin Harris or J.J. Barea as streams tonight, it was Monta Ellis who took over facilitating, racking up a dimebag with 13 dishes.
Klay Thompson – See, ultimate ThrAGNOF! The treys don’t fall and it’s an atrocious 12/2/0/0/0 line on 5-10 FG on Friday night. Yeah, kidding of course, how is Klay gonna only take 10 shots in a loss against the Jazz?! Weird. Must’ve been a lot of Pete Carroll play calls… Was much better on Saturday (22/3/4/0/2 with 3 treys).
Rodney Stuckey – Of course as soon as I get stucky on Stuckey it goes all yucky. Only 19 minutes too, in what was a 5 point loss. Yikes.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Whoa, talk about a major rush in my KCP addiction! It’s like finding a bag of something illicit on the road on a college campus (really happened to me once, true story! I thought I was about to be on Punk’D or something.) 28/5/4/1/3, no TO, and shot 10-21 with 6 treys. KCP! MVP! Even with some duds, kinda liking the upside with D.J. Augustin (28/2/12) runnin’ the show. Or is it my addiction talking!?
Kevin Durant – I’ve seen some sell KD comments, and off another injury playing as bad as he did Saturday night, I get it. But this was against that tough Memphis D, a team ballin’ maybe as good as they’ve ever been as a franchise. Not hitting any panic buttons or going in any panic rooms. I don’t wanna mope with Kristen Stewart!
John Henson – Do you know the Muppet man?! “The one that lives on ‘The Bucks, the team that drafted me, hates me’ lane?!” Well, it took injuries/suspensions to the #1, #2, #3 and #4 PF/Cs coming into the year for the Bucks to start him (thinking Colonel Sanders, Jabari, Ersan & Zaza Arms), but 14/8/1/0/4 Saturday night, and that funky hook shot was looking sexy. This is the Bucks and Henson we’re talking about though, and any marriage between the two I trust about as much as one from The Bachelor. So not fully buying in long-term. Maybe a little margarita-fueled fling and a naked dip in the ocean.
Cody Zeller – I like this big more! Rainbowed against the Nugs for 21/8/3/3/2 with no TO and hit 10-11 from the field. Outdid Al Jefferson! Definitely worth a look in 12ers.
Brian Roberts – So, so bad. 0/4/6/0/0, nice to have 6 AST to no TO, but shot 0-7 in 23 minutes. Lance Stephenson came off the bench with a dimebag (4/5/13/2/0), but 3 TO and shot 2-10 including 0-2 FT. And why does this schlub STILL take threes?! 0-2 from deep, and now 9-63 on the year. Needs some glasses or something – that’s a cool and collected 14%. I have a better chance of hitting the lottery than Lance does hitting another 3…
Jusuf Nurkic – Look at dem D stats coming back for the Jamba Jus! 6/7/0/1/4. The blocks won me the cat in one of my RCLs, so holding strong where I can.
Danilo Gallinari – 24 starting minutes of a messy Italian, a sex move I picked up in Naples. Trust me, I shot about 5-16 too! And ended up as empty as Galo’s 15/4/2/0/0 with only one trey.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
John Henson (30% owned) – Ya know what, why not heed the advice of the above?! With Jonas Valanciunas playing as inconsistent as anyone right now, this should be an interesting matchup – beefy Eastern European vs. finesse lanky McGoo. Of course, if Zaza Arms is ready to go with his calf injury, I would probably stream elsewhere since the Bucks hate Henson.
Andre Miller (1% owned) – John Wall is all sorts of banged up, and the Hornets worst position by far is PG. Thank Brian Roberts and his atrociousness for that. So if it makes sense at any point to give Wall a DNP-rest, now is the time. You’ll have to stay tuned here, but I could see the ageless one racking up a few more dimes on the top-10 All-time assists list.
I hope everyone had a fantastic Super Bowl Sunday and we’ll catch ya tomorrow!
