Who is the hottest team in the NBA right now? The Pacers are surprisingly playing well and OKC is still winning through injuries, but those Utah Jazz are as tough to score on as the bookish chicks in college!
5-1 since the trade deadline, the Jazz have wins against Portland, San Antonio and now Memphis in that span (their loss was against the Lakers, but we’ll overlook that), and other than that fluke Lakers game, no one has scored over 82 points. And we all know the key to the Jazz D is Rudy Gobert. Moving into the starting line-up, Gobert has been playing unreal with a 15/24/1/0/0 line last night on 6-10 FG and 3-4 FT. He was on a 6-game streak of 3+ blocks, so a random outlier of 0 last night isn’t a biggie especially since Marc Gasol loves his mid-range.
I’ve seen a few comments of owners looking to trade for FG% and a big man boost, and I would be all-in on trying to bring Rudy to those squads. Even his FT% is improving at 11-15 from the stripe the past 3! And the Jazz have that oh so saucy 4/4/4 playoff sched. Yesterday on the Podcast, I asked Slim if he would take Gobert or Hassan Whiteside first in next year’s drafts. It’s really really close and comes down to a points need (Whiteside) vs. steals need (Gobert). It’s crazy that probably the biggest value change during the deadline was just the stubborn Jazz finally unleashing the beast that is Gobert. Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
LeBron James – With a 27/3/5/3/1 line, LeBron passed Ray Allen for 21st all-time in NBA scoring. Let’s hope his career winds down better than Kobe’s! He also hit all his FT after that Biedrins-esque 3-11 against the Rockets. Blame it on blue balls!
Timofey Mozgov – Another low run with only 20 minutes as the starter, but this game being such a blowout didn’t help. 10/6/3/0/3 hitting 5-6 from the field as he dominated Boston’s interior.
Brandon Bass – About the only Celtic to show up going 15/5/1 on 7-15 shooting. Not huge, but only Isaiah Thomas‘ 11 points on 4-13 shooting also broke double-digits. Stevens ran every active Celtic 12+ minutes. Ewwwwww.
The New York Poppycockers – Went full Poppy last night! Can’t really use the other part of that word, this is a family blog! Had their worst loss of the year (which is saying something) to the not much better Kings. I honestly don’t think there’s a single must-own on the Knicks. Langston Galloway has had two straight bad ones, Andrea Bargnani is one more hilarious play from making another hilarious internet video, and Tim Hardaway Jr. is a ThrAGNOF.
Alexey Shved – Led the Knicks in minutes (?) with 32 (????????????). 15/7/3/1/0, and while the dimes weren’t huge, I think in deepers he could chip in a few here and there.
Shane Larkin – A decent 13/3/6/2/0 line getting a little extra run in this joke of a game. When he gets the run he has some deep league usability, but who knows which games that’ll be…
Derrick Williams – A pickup in all leagues! Hah! 17/3/2 with 3 treys, and 5% of the time D-Will does something good with his minutes every time.
DeMarcus Cousins – Oops, well I said on the Pod he was doubtful but twas probable! And unshockingly tore apart The Poppycockers for a 22/10/3/2/2 rainbow hitting all 11 FT. Took the time off to work on the FT stroke!
Ray McCallum – I thought this would be a huge start for Ray Mac against a D-League team, but only went 6/3/4/0/0 with 2 TO in 28 minutes. Andre Miller filled out the other 20 and didn’t do much either. It’s a big avoid.
Jeremy Lin – Slim wouldn’t let me play him in the F&F league and he won’t hear the end of it this afternoon! 23/6/8/2/1 on 9-16 shooting (3-4 3PTM) in 30 minutes. He’s been red hot and is tough to leave on the wire right now. Dare I say, it’d be Linsane!
Jordan Clarkson – Lin’s running mate had 33 nice starting minutes of 19/1/4 as the Lakers are running some mad combo guard sets out there.
Wayne Ellington – Remember this Daily Notes title?! 7/1/0/0/0 with 3 TO. And in 37 minutes at that! Other than a random 10 board game and a few with 5 dimes, hasn’t done much the past 6.
Mo Williams – I’d rather own Mo than Reggie Jackson right now! Best traded PG… 20/3/13 with a couple of treys. Been a money add.
Al Jefferson – Man, monster game for 21/16/1/3/1 and tremendous doing that with no TO, but where da %s at?! 9-19 FG and 3-7 FT. “Is that goal regulation size or what?!”
Corey Brewer – Got the start for James Harden and struggled for 8/3/2/1/0 on 4-14 shooting. I was about to start with a “No Harden, no problem” but the Rockets blew that 18 point lead pretty hard there in Hotlanta!
Donatas Motiejunas – Running the O through Motie! 7 dimes tied Patrick Beverley for a team high, going 14/8/7/3/0 with three treys. He’s put together another really good 6 straight.
Jason Terry – Your hottest Rocket! I almost said reddest rocket, but yeah… 21/4/2 hitting 8-13 including 4 treys. Long live the headband! And long live Terry on your wire!
Jeff Teague – Got a day of rest and made it count with a huge 25/2/6 line last night with two treys and 9-11 FT. Against that tough D of PBev at that! It didn’t stop…
Dennis Schroder – …from still being awesome too! 27 minutes of 16/4/8 hitting 6-14 (2-4 3PTM 2-2 FT), leading the bench in minutes played. Of course, the Rockets playing Jason Terry a ton of minutes helped Coach Butthole play the combo PG together, but there may be some combo G sets that makes The Blonde Spot an interesting add in even 14ers.
Tony Snell – We said on the Pod we liked Nikola Mirotic as an add over Snell, and Tony S for only 11/3/2/1/0 on 4-12 shooting while Miro for 23/8/0/0/1. Both with three treys, except Miro with that monster 8-11 FT. Coach Tibs played Snell those Jimmy Butler minutes (40), but Miro is the guy to have while Taj Gibson remains out.
Aaron Brooks – Any time he touches it, he’s shooting! Hah, he’s not Nate Robinson! 22/2/8/1/0 on a whopping 8-23 shooting. The % hurts, but look at all dem dimes! I don’t expect those to climb as a trend, but he can offer that kind of upside in AST here and there.
Joakim Noah – Rainbow alert! And I’m not talking about what he sees when Nene hits him in the face! 14/12/5/2/3, albeit with 6-10 FT shooting and 5 TO.
Nene – Speaking of Nene, had a lot of nonos. That flagrant amongst the personals fouled him out in 20 minutes with no points. He might hate the refs more than the Bulls!
Bradley Beal – Another rough shooting night coming off the leg issue (6-18), but played 35 minutes and looked solid at the eye level. Almost rainbowed! 13/4/2/2/1.
Derrick Favors – Not that he wasn’t awesome in his rainbow (21/6/3/2/3) or that Gordon Hayward‘s tripdub flirt wasn’t nice (21/8/6/3/0), but the game recap on Yahoo saying “Hayward, Favors lead Jazz past Grizzlies” is so misleading! It’s Gobert as the team MVP!
Kosta Koufos – Started for Zach Randolph (illness) and got 34 minutes of 6/10/1. I imagine against most teams Jon Leuer would get more run at PF, but the Jazz’s twin towers mean you gotta bring the beef! Sorry, I mean the lamb…
Courtney Lee – It’s been a little while since there’s been a scoring outburst, but a nice 18/5/1/1/0 with a couple of treys as he continues to get mad minutes. Not a must-own or anything, but I like his chances over some of the scrubbos out there given he plays so much.
Kenneth Faried – No more Shaw, drop the confetti! And Faried delivers right away, going 14/14/0/0/2 in 32 minutes. That said, he’s still so friggin undersized at center, and going against lank-machine John Henson and scrubby Zaza Pachulia wasn’t exactly the hardest challenge. Still think he’s back to must-own territory though, but going against Gorgui Dieng (and Nikola Pekovic if he plays with the bad ankle) will be a much stiffer test tonight and I’m reserving great expectations until he gets past those Dickens.
Danilo Gallinari – Gallo’s usable even in shallows! 26/7/0/1/1 hitting 8-16 (4-9 3PTM 6-6 FT), and a 5-straight nice run. He’s already up to 60% owned, which seems about right since he’s a smidge ThrAGNOFfy, but if you need the scoring he should certainly be scooped up.
Will Barton – Well the scoring and %s were poopy (2 Pts on 0-2 FG, 2-5 FT), but made up for it with a near rainbow! 2/3/3/2/1, and still lead the Nugs in bench minutes with 22. He’ll waffle, but still kinda like this waffle. I mean, who doesn’t like waffles?! I feel like I brought up waffles the other day… My subconscious is telling me something…
Joffrey Lauvergne – DNP-Coaching Decision. Let’s hope interim coach Melvin Hunt isn’t a distant relative of the Starks!
Michael Carter-Williams – Meh. Like I said before, I’m kinda hoping the Bucks somehow fall out of the East playoffs after their Brandon Knight trade, and they lost to the Nugs. 11/4/5/0/1 last night on 4-11 FG and 2-4 FT. At least only 2 TO. Again, meh.
Khris Middleton – The Duchess is so good! 20/7/6/2/1 in a near rainbow with no TO. Hit three treys as well. Taken a lot of steps forward this year, especially if you compare the per-36s.
Ersan Ilyasova – Keeps up his nice roll with a 21/3/2/1/1 and is ownable in nearly all leagues these past 5 games. I’ll let him be a 6-foot-one Turkey!
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Jason Thompson (3% owned) – What a terrible, boring pick! But the Kings get the Spurs who is always an oppo to play low-end bigs against, and 3 games ago, JT went 12/11/2/0/1 against them. Won’t offer much besides dubdub upside, but that’ll help some teams.
D.J. Augustin (32% owned) – Yes I know Russell Westbrook sounds likely to play with a mask tonight, but A – it wouldn’t be surprising if he sits since it’s against the Sixers and 2 – even if he does play – it’s the Sixers. Should be a blowout and I expect Augustin to get good run either way.
Be sure and set your best line-ups tonight in a very important heavy slate of games, and we’ll catch you tomorrow Razzball Nation!
