Happy New Year and welcome to our first offering in 2022. As we flip the calendar and leave the 2021 portion of the season in our rearview, there is a sense that January marks the beginning of something new in fantasy basketball. Is it the fact that the trade deadline becomes clearer in sight? Maybe. Is it the feeling that, there has been a significant sample size that GM’s feel compelled to make moves via the trade market? Perhaps. Gm’s are bored? Quite possibly. In all likelihood, we experience a combination of those things at the turn of the new year and, as a result, people look to shake things up with regard to roster construction as they have become convinced that whatever they have tried to this point simply is not effective enough.

We are back at it again, in the kitchen cooking up a delightful dish that will satisfy your picky palate. As always, I am here to offer you fantasy goldmines whenever possible that allow you the opportunity to gain some footing as you climb the ranks in your respective leagues. The value of any player will often be subject to many factors, however, and I always look towards a conceivable path to improvement when evaluating an underperforming player such as minutes, trends, and player history to name a few.

Happy Holidays to all of my loyal Razzball followers! In between the time spent gathering with friends and family or taking some well-deserved time for yourself, the policy remains the same; Make time to improve your fantasy basketball team at all costs.

Our beloved NBA is under siege now from the so-far undefeated Covid-19 Omicron variant with more players being added to protocols on a daily basis. Commissioner Adam Silver has assured us that the NBA has zero plans of locking down or putting any sort of pause on the season like their NHL brethren. Instead, Silver has stated that the NBA will find ways to live with the pandemic while keeping the season moving forward as intended. Teams will be signing players from 20 leagues beneath the sea if they have to in order to fill out a roster on a nightly basis and cobble together a team to usher onto the court. All of this means we can expect the season to continue and therefore we will be steadfast in our pursuit to find value that improves our fantasy situations.

We head back to familiar territory, to the town where parquet floors were made popular, and the franchise is one of the most winningest (is that a word) in the league. Grab a hot bowl of clam chowder and read on as we head to Boston where you can still smell the incense from Kyrie’s pre-game ritual.

Welcome my avid Razzball readers to the weekly installment of Underperformer of the week.

I am experiencing a sensation of déjà vu as variants rip through our beloved NBA and cause many players to miss time as a result of Covid-19 protocols. This is reminiscent of a time not so long ago when fans were not permitted to be in arenas and were forced to watch games from the comfort of their homes or a favorite watering hole with capacity restrictions. I hope that we do not get to that point this time around but regardless of that outcome, we must continue to search for value that will provide us with an advantage to excel in our respective leagues.

It is time to peel back that curtain and take a closer look at this week’s feature player.

Welcome, Razzball Nation to our weekly deep dive into a player who is falling short of their potential. For my first-time readers, let me explain what it means to be a player that finds themselves featured here. While many players are not meeting their perceived ADP, merely falling short of pre-season value is not the only requirement needed to target a player. There also needs to be a reasonable pathway to increasing their current value, such as a prolonged shooting slump by a consistently respectable shooter. We also look for players who have earned a defined role as well as a healthy dose of minutes that supports a high usage. There are some players who were thought to have increased value this season but have not done so nearly a third of the way through the season.

Welcome back Razzball Nation to another edition of the weekly column to assist in your quest for league dominance. I’m dedicated to bringing you the goods week to week and I would say if you’ve been following my lead then you’re likely doing well, with the exception of Michael Porter Jr. My bad. Not every player targeted here is going to be a homerun win and not every player is going to offer 50 or more ranking spots of value. As the season wears on it becomes increasingly difficult to find large margins of value but remain strategic in your approach and you will be able to finesse a beneficial deal that provides a high-upside player. Luckily, we are still in the early stages of the season when some players are still performing below their ADP so that managers could be feeling the itch to pull the trigger on a deal.

This week we look into the production of a player who in my opinion, is only a few minor tweaks away from becoming the player managers drafted within the top 40 and possibly higher depending on the format. My guess is he will not qualify as an underperformer for too much longer but before we get ahead of ourselves let’s “back that azz up” and take a trip to the French Quarter.

Welcome, Razzball Nation to your weekly dose of insight needed to help you gain the advantage in your respective leagues.

We are seeing more than a few players stumble out of the gates and perform well below their pre-season projections and ADP. While it still remains early in the season with teams only having played between 9-12 games it does provide a sample size that could make an anxious owner willing to test the market for their underwhelming star. Let us keep in mind, there are plenty of players not performing well this season but just being bad at basketball right now is not the only criteria to consider here. If that were the case then I could talk about a player like Chris Boucher this week. I absolutely will not, though, because there also needs to be a path towards improved play and that does not exist for the slim duck and others throughout the Association who are not living up to pre-season expectations.

We are in Bean Town to ask, “What have you done for me lately?” (Might be the new name of this post, stay tuned).