Sure, we don’t want to delve too much into existential despair, but the play on words in the title was very low-hanging fruit. And what is the point of low-hanging fruit other than to reach for it and then eat it? If only Adam and Eve had made this argument, Harambe would still be alive today people. And speaking of despair, the “North” has had some recent health issues with both Kyle Lowry (toe) & Pascal Siakam (knee) which will likely open up minutes for this week and quite possibly more. With that in mind, and still no solid prognosis for what might be substantial time out for Siakam specifically as of this writing, we’ll be taking a look at Aron Baynes, who was a fringe streaming/bench piece before, but will have elevated himself to starter since Sunday. Now, if only I could find a pun that works with Kelly Oubre and existential crises…crisisies…crisisiest? I’m sure they all work…
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Author: Jay
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
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Rolls Royce, Trusted to Deliver Excellence
January 18, 2021 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 3 Commentsby: Jay
Is it just me or does O’Neale need one less “E” or one more “L”? Otherwise I’m just going to read it like he’s the Irish Nelly. Sans the light racism question mark (you’d have to ask Nelly, and I guess Ireland), we’re continuing the trend of discussing players to plug and play because apparently the year we’re having is just a continuation of 2020… and if there’s anything we’ve learned from 2020, it’s that we probably all just died and the past year or so has just been our synapses firing randomly the entire time. I mean, why not? But if you ain’t here for the existential crisis, you’re probably here to read about Royce O’Neale. Or you googled “Irish Nelly”. Either way, I’m sure you’ll find what you were looking for…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Okay, so first thing’s first, this post will not cover Vanderbilt University nor its fight song, but I only wanted to mention the amount of work I put in to take a player in Jarred Vanderbilt, Googling the lyrics of the Vanderbilt University fight song, and then combining the two for a relatable and cohesive title. Look man, I care. Regardless, the cat is out of the bag (who put the cat in the bag though?) and we’ll obviously be focusing on the humble emergence this Timberwolves player, someone who is currently one of several players in the leagues who are emerging through the expansive and growing amount of minutes available due to rosters performing a unique form of seppuku.
Please, blog, may I have some more?You wouldn’t believe how much time I spent on Google trying to figure out if I should refer to Tyus Jones as Mr. or Mister according to philosophizer and hobo-relic-of-the-past in Counting Crows front man What’s His Face (totally his name), but even if you did, I doubt I could find a prize worthy for such special powers. Let’s just say the number is north of a minute, way longer than any of us would want or hope for, and move on to bigger and better things. Like talking about the emergence (eh?) of one Tyus Jones. Tyus? I don’t even know knots maaaaan…
Please, blog, may I have some more? Batum? I Don’t Even Know Him!
December 28, 2020 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 2 Commentsby: Jay
As the holidays bring some hopefully non-COVID cheer (those caps are official, which makes sense. COVID should always be yelled), we can all celebrate some measure of happiness that the NBA is back and games are being played. And with the start of the season, we have actual games to start actualizing what our team does and what we can start to expect. Now, it’s still early yet, of course, but the past couple of days have already revealed some interesting choices available to you right now. A player that has piqued some interest for me thus far is none other than Nicolas Batum.
Please, blog, may I have some more?It wasn’t so long ago we were taking a look at what the Clippers achieved (uh…) in the Bubble and what we’d expect moving forward in the upcoming season. The usual suspects were all touched upon sans for one Luke Kennard. While I admit that its much easier waxing poetic about how good Kawhi Leonard still is (but not how good he is at using a middleman), or how Pandemic Paul should probably just uninstall IG, or how the Serge Ibaka contract adds the proverbial cherry ontop the shedding of Trezz to the Lakers. Admidst all that, plus the resigning of Marcus Morris, just so many words and so little space for content. I mean the internet is almost full I heard. Regardless, as was requested by commentators, we’ll take a look at Luke Kennard. What’s more interesting is how I’ll tie Paul Newman into this post to make the title work. Hint: It won’t.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Gordon Hayward’s rise in the NBA when only considering economics is quite the precipitous one. This last doozy of a contract appears to be the bookend to what was an interesting tenure with the Celtics, and I say interesting because, well, he got a pay raise while shedding his prime years. While fantasy isn’t really driven by these factors, I think its worth noting that one of the most non-performing-performers received such a contract, and I think its worth asking: Is Michael Jordan seeing something in Gordon Hayward that we aren’t? While the simple answer is probably “No, Jordan is just a sh*tty GM,” I did want to try and elaborate on what we can expect from Hayward in a Hornets uniform and whether or not a four-year deal of over $120 million fully guaranteed is justified. Spoiler alert! It’s not… but maybe you shouldn’t care? Let’s find out after the jump!
Please, blog, may I have some more? 2020-21 Houston Rockets Preview
December 15, 2020 | Houston Rockets, Team Previews | 4 Commentsby: Jay
Chronologically, I wanted to preview the Rockets first, but at the time, the draft and free agency were starting to go full bore, so it seemed better to wait and see what would go down in Houston. And much like fast-forwarding through the movie Titanic (the only thing missing is the great Billy Zane), this franchise is set to try and recover what it lost in the Bubble. Which was basically everything…
Please, blog, may I have some more? 2020-2021 Los Angeles Clippers Preview
December 5, 2020 | Los Angeles Clippers, Team Previews | 8 Commentsby: Jay
I dabbled with the other Los Angeles team last time, so that there is balance in all things, we now turn our gaze toward the Clippers team and organization. And quite the time its been for this team the last few years. Going from the beloved “Lob City” era to the gritty blue-collar iteration that managed to take some games of the Warriors in the playoffs just a little over a year ago, to becoming vaulted title contenders with an offseason overhaul that brought both Kawaii Leonard and Paul George to the team. So there’s been plenty of transition, exorbitant expectations, and sweet-sweet failure. But not all is lost! Just one year into this new look Clippers and with a new head coach leading into the 2020 start of the season, there are two ways to look at what lies ahead for the Clippers. One good, one bad…balance! We’ll go over both perspectives after the jump…
Please, blog, may I have some more? 2020-2021 Los Angeles Lakers Preview
November 30, 2020 | Los Angeles Lakers, Team Previews |by: Jay
Well look, there’s no where to go but down for this team, but in all fairness, I’m not sure LeBron knows what that direction is or what it looks like. Which is probably why the Lakers Lebrons are continuing their roster escalations with the Clippers in becoming the fastest L.A. team to be called the Raptors. Putting the the past few days of furious free agency implications aside for a moment, the fact of the matter is that this team was going into the next season as favorites in the West once again no matter what happened during the off season, but instead of going through the majority of last season as a team that was good enough to get to the playoffs, but not great enough to win a chip, the perception of this team right now is a title contender, and deservedly so! And all that was before adding the fragile but scoring-minded 2020 Sixth Man, another separate big man with probably one of the highest IQ’s at the five (the signing is likely at the time of this writing), and the Lakers have still managed to keep Kyle Kuzma. Impressive to say the least. More specificity follows, and I promise not to call it specificity again…
2020 Golden State Warriors Preview
November 23, 2020 | Golden State Warriors, Team Previews |by: Jay
Despite the Warriors attempt in further cementing their place among the historically great franchises in all of sports, the speed bump of having half your team’s knee explode was almost as a traumatic experience as learning that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were going to be teammates. But after this past season’s freefall, a bright future awaits with returning stars and three picks in this year’s draft.
Please, blog, may I have some more?A state known for facing adversity in many forms, Michigan has seen many battles defending its heart and soul. The auto-industry bailout many years ago, poisoned drinking water, seeing Justin Verlander naked, and of course being a Pistons fan the last decade. But all is not lost! (Probably?) With an encouraging offseason cap outlook, the NBA Draft fast approaching, and some healthy returning pieces (you know who you are), the Wolverine State may finally see their basketball team contend for, well, something other than not the playoffs. That is, of course, the most optimistic view in the midst of this rebuild process, but I guess it can’t get worse than this past season. (Probably?)
Please, blog, may I have some more?