I was watching last night’s game between the Spurs and the Cavs and it was hard to guess which was the team that was missing their superstar, as Cleveland suffered another defeat and are now 3-12 in their last 15 games. Something has to change in C-town and fast, as they have been atrocious on the defensive end (ranked 29th for the season) and their rotation is erratic at best. And no, bullying Kevin Love and implying he was faking an illness is not the way to go. Tyronn Lue stated that a lineup change is coming, so stay tuned.With that said, maybe Jason Kidd was just the first of many Eastern Conference head coaches to be fired this season.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Buy/Sell: What Sport We Playin’ Again??
January 17, 2018 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell | 5 Commentsby: Kostas
The spirit of Mohamed Ali must have gotten into a lot of NBA players this past week as it was apparently a brawl bonanza. The first incident happened in Toronto, where Serge Ibaka came close to finding out first hand that James Johnson was undefeated in seven MMA matches and is the proud owner of a black belt.
Then the infamous Clippers-Rockets match provided one of the weirdest post-game incidents I can remember. Per reports, the Rockets players were angry with Blake Griffin and Austin Rivers so they came up with a masterplan to get into the Clippers locker room. They sent the imposing Clint Capela to knock from the front door while Chris Paul, James Harden, and Trevor Ariza tried sneaking from the back…. As we here at Razzball pride ourselves in our reporting work, here is a world-first look at the blueprint of the Rockets plans that night.
And to end the week, Arron Afflalo came just a bit short from connecting with a huge punch on Nemanja Bjelica, who promptly locked him up.
Kudos to Bjelica who genuinely tried to diffuse the situation when he could have reacted differently.
Ok folks, this was your boxing recap for the week. Let’s move on to the fantasy basketball review.
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: Trade AD Today, Save Your Hair Forever
January 10, 2018 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell |by: Kostas
We are at the midway point of the NBA season and I’m sure team strengths and standings are beginning to solidify in your league. It’s a great time, especially in roto leagues, to check if you are way ahead or behind in a category and plan your trades accordingly. And for God’s sake, don’t invite the guy that traded Jimmy Butler when he was slumping for Darren Collison or the other inactive guy that hasn’t changed his lineup since Carlos Boozer’s hairline looked like this:
If you look closely you can see the reflection of the ceiling scoreboard…Talk about a bad hair day…or should I say a bad hair dye…
Ok, enough with the Boozer bullying, let’s look at last week’s suggestions from the past week. Tyus Jones has been kind of a disappointment, as he never got it going as a scorer and facilitator during Jeff Teague’s absence. On the other hand, Trey Lyles continued his excellent form with four great games and looks like the real deal. Marquese Chriss and Caris Levert suffered minor injuries so they didn’t play enough and Nicolas Batum had only one game this past week. I still believe in him, as you will read in a bit for this week’s new suggestions…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Although kinda late due to the fact it’s a Wednesday column, I wish to all you Razzball readers a Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true and your fantasy teams win it all this year. Except if you play in one of the leagues I also play…. If you do, I wish a happy Second Place and a great drafting position for next year’s draft.
Imagine an extra circle above the last zero in Chuck’s glasses because I lack the Photoshop skills to put it there myself and let’s review last week’s calls. Both Ish Smith and Bismack Biyombo have been on fire since getting the starting job, with Biyombo especially returning top 25 value during these games making me very happy for the calls. They were in fact so much on fire as Vangelis Ioannou, a Greek sportcaster, suggests in the video.
Jaycee Carroll’s face says it all…I admit we Greeks are not world-renowned for our English pronunciation skills. Moving on, Jordan Bell and Willie Cauley-Stein were also productive and look to maintain their value going forward. Finally on the sell front, Jonathon Simmons has seen his usage decline and has taken a backseat to Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier, while Dirk Nowitzki was solid but I still stand by my advice to sell. Let’s take a look at this week’s candidates now…
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: Christmas is Here, My Weighting Scale is Not
December 27, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell |by: Kostas
Merry Christmas Razzball nation. Hope you guys had a great time with your family and friends and continue to enjoy the holiday season! I always felt weird watching NBA games on Christmas Day, as they felt like the absolute contrast. On the one hand, you have elite athletes competing against each other in high-paced, tiring games while there’s me, contemplating whether I should stop on the fourth or fifth refill of my dinner plate.
Anyways, me and my five extra kilos will review last week’s calls, as always, before we move to the new suggestions. Both Nikola Mirotic and Josh Richardson continued their excellent play, rewarding owners that were quick enough to add them. The same can’t be said for Larry Nance Jr., who saw Andrew Bogut get the majority of Brook Lopez’s minutes while Alex Len continued his musical chairs winning streak and had an above average week. Lastly, I am pretty happy with the Jonas Valanciunas call, as his recent success was indeed matchup-dependent and he returned to his usual underwhelming self last week, firmly closing the sell opportunity for his owners.
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: The Phoenix Suns’ Rotation Conundrum
December 20, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell |by: Kostas
Why did you do this to me Jahlil?? I trusted you. I placed my faith in you to turn your career around in Brooklyn. I even criticized the Sixers for not wanting to develop you and what is the return? Three DNP-CDs and a meh 10 points/4 rebounds game in 23 minutes played. I rushed to pick you up everywhere but dropped you in all but one very deep league. Even his coach admitted he is out of shape and that it is going to “take some time to integrate him more into the system”. The vegan diet doesn’t seem to work that well….
I think I support Ron Swanson’s opinion on this matter more…
Thankfully, the rest of last week’s calls were much better than the gentleman above and Marvin Williams, who was also below average. J.J.Barea and Yogi Ferrell continue to hold down the fort until Dennis Smith Jr returns, Taurean Prince had a great week averaging 15.0/3.3/5.0/2.7/0.7/1.0/2.3, Lebron James’s Fg% dropped a bit as predicted, and Andrew Wiggins continues to disappoint so much that he was ranked 264th in per game value for last week.
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: Not Another King Hater, Just a Prince Admirer
December 13, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell |by: Kostas
One third of the season has already passed…Let that sink in. How time flies when you are doing something you enjoy. Just compare it with the offseason, when basketball fans even try to analyze meaningless exhibition games to feed thier addiction. Now is a great time to reflect on your team and decide your next steps. Are you in a dynasty league and far from competing? Start thinking about rebuilding and trade your veterans for promising younger players. Are you in a redraft league and falling behind in the standings? Make aggressive trades and pickups. It doesn’t matter if you end up last or 8th, it’s all about the championship baby. Is your team comfortably in the playoffs and looking to stay there? Maybe trade some of your immediate production for an injured player to stash for the last portion of the season. Analyzing your team’s direction and reacting accordingly separates the good from the great team owners. But why should you listen to any of my advice you ask? Because I self-reflect every week on the calls I made last week.
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: A Man Bun a Day Keeps the Good Rubio Away
December 6, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell | 5 Commentsby: Kostas
Welcome to the Kawhi Leonard-return waiting room. We hope you enjoy your stay. Leonard is getting close to returning to action and it can happen as soon as this week. But as the gods of basketball always seek to keep balance, the gods both giveth and taketh away. Unfortunately, both Stephen Curry and Devin Booker went down with injuries that could likely keep them out for an extended period of time. Even my boy Tim Hardaway Jr and his $70 million contract caught the injury bug and will be reevaluated in two weeks. Maybe this is a good opportunity to buy kinda low on these guys, if you feel comfortable you can make the playoffs by giving some immediate production for them. As for last week’s calls, Rudy Gobert was eased back into action but the fact he beat his initial 4-6 weeks timetable by a week is a great sign. Pascal Siakam pulled a Houdini and disappeared, while Wesley Johnson is bringing great defensive stats with awesome consistency (nine straight games with at least a block and a steal), but his shooting is off. The attempts are there so be patient and he will eventually start making them. Moving to the sell candidates from last week, Justin Holiday’s window of opportunity to sell high will remain open for a little longer as Zach LaVine’s return got pushed back to January. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope came back to Earth, averaging a more realistic 12.3 attempts from the field and Rajon Rondo has actually benefited from Anthony Davis’ absence and his usage warrants a pickup. Before the prologue gets into the “too long didn’t read” category, let’s get to this week’s Buy/Sell suggestions…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Another Wednesday, another Buy/Sell column for you good folks. As established in the last post, I will start by briefly assessing the performances of the players I included last week. Will Barton has not yet taken off with two underwhelming games to end the week, but I still believe he is the one to benefit the most from the Millsap injury. Bojan Bogdanovic is on a THRAGNOFy streak for the ages and, in the past three games, is averaging 17.0/1.0/1.7/0/0.3/0/0.7. I can’t believe that a player averaging 36 minutes in those games has so little peripheral stats, but he is the wing scorer Indiana needs and trusts. Denzel Valentine is filling up the stat sheet and has been more than useful. Kris Dunn had his breakout performance yesterday with a career-high 24 points and as Son says, “the PG competition in Chicago in Dunn.” Finally, Lord Covington’s shot started to fail him as predicted (35% in his last five games), so I hope you capitalized on the sell high opportunity. Without further ado, let’s look at this week’s candidates…
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: Millsap Down, Self-Reflection Up
November 22, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell | 11 Commentsby: Kostas
Welcome back to another Wednesday Buy/Sell column. I strongly believe that self-reflection is key for improvement, so from now on i’ll be reviewing my calls from last week’s piece. Derrick Favors has predictably improved his play sans Gobert and even posted a 25/0/11/3/0/2/1 gem against Orlando. Since starting at the 5, he is returning fourth-round value and will look to keep it going until Gobert returns. Donovan Mitchell remains consistently inconsistent with his shooting, but all the other stats are juicy. This guy going number 13 in the draft was highway robbery. In other news, Spencer Dinwiddie and his funky name is the best call from last week. Hope you rushed to your wire and got him cause he is averaging 19.3/3.0/3.7/9.0/1.0/0.7/1.0 in his last three games. Ryan Anderson’s sell window remains open as he had himself a great game against the dream matchup that are the Suns. Derrick Rose is still injured and not worthy of a roster spot on your team. I already feel like a better person. Thanks, self-reflection!
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: No Country for Old Men
November 15, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell | 8 Commentsby: Kostas
It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s time for our weekly Buy/Sell candidates. Last week, the Butler actually did it with with two strong games in a row and finally started getting to the line with 23/26 during that span. Hallelujah!!! Hope you capitalized on the buy low window, as it appears to be closing fast. This week, injuries have created interesting opportunities for some players, while the contributions from some of your aging veterans is declining. Let’s look at them in more detail…
Please, blog, may I have some more? Buy/Sell: The Butler Will (Eventually) Do It
November 8, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Buy/Sell | 8 Commentsby: Kostas
It’s the third installment of Buy/Sell and I’m already out of prologue ideas. That’s not good. And I’ve just burned the “I don’t have a prologue” prologue. Hmmm, to divert your attention let’s talk about some of the calls from last week. TJ McConnell has been more than serviceable, Lillard predictably started knocking down his shots (shutting down his buy low window in the process), and Moore and Crowder were blah. The controversial Murray pick confirmed his inconsistency scoring. Six, 26, 20, 24, three, nine, and four points in his last seven. I remain optimistic, but the dud against the Nets (one of the worst teams defending the PG spot) definitely hurt. Boogie and the Virgin continued dominating, but I stand by my advice to sell. The best call may end up being Henson who, with Monroe going to Phoenix, has a great opportunity to maintain his value for the rest of the season. With all that out of the way let’s look at our new candidates.
Please, blog, may I have some more?