Ugh, rebuilding teams are starting to rebuild earlier, which is good for the waiver wire hounds, but sucks for our stars! I wish teams would avoid the backlash of the shame they get by just shutting guys down like 2/3 of the way through the season. Suns even did that more-or-less with Tyson Chandler!
Last night we got word Eric Bledsoe wouldn’t be starting, then after the game we got confirmation the Pee-nix Suns are shutting him down for the rest of the season with “knee soreness”. Here’s Bledsoe’s response:
😒
— Eric Bledsoe (@EBled2) March 16, 2017
Hah! Well fantasy owners’ emojis would be a lot angrier than that! A few commenters have posted about a Bledsoe shutdown, but I certainly didn’t think it would be this soon… Redraft leagues you obviously have to cut him; in keepers – at anything beyond about a 3rd round value – you’re holding on. Which brings us to one of the of big nights from emerging must-adds from Wednesday’s action – Ulis S. Great! Big night in the start for Tyler Ulis, going 13/1/13/2/1 in 39 minutes in the youthfest against the Kings. Yeah, he’s pretty much must-own now. Above Cory Joseph, Malcolm Brogdon, all those iffy PG that are hanging around as your last roster spot or two in 10/12ers. So be Great, and add Ulis! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
Hold up there, Speedy Gonzalez! Before you keep reading, be sure and fill out your Razzball March Madness Bracket! Brackets are due by noon and we’re giving out a $50 Amazon Card, create yours this morning if you haven’t yet!
Frank Kaminsky – Man, the Hornets were TERRIBLE last night! At least we saw Frank the Tank get over Frank the Shoulder and lead the team with a 20/4/1/1/0 line off the bench. Still only shot 1-8 from deep, but the team shot 3-23 from 3 point land! Damn!
Paul George – F’in A! My pick for 30 points on Tuesday night went for 39/5/3/3/0 with 6 treys one game later. Saving himself for the Hornets! Scrub.
J.J. Barea – Whoa, wait what?! After returning mad under-the-radar, blew up for a big dimebag last night! 6/2/13 in only 20 minutes, without committing a single TO. Yogi Ferrell only played 25 minutes and committed 5 fouls, and I feel like in comments through the past few weeks, I’ve been advocating for Ferrell because of perceived “safe” playing time. Oops! As the Mavs fight for a playoff spot, I could see more and more JJ. Barea is definitely in that fringe-PG mix now.
John Wall – Scary, scary moment when he limped off the court, and got X-rays on his sprained foot, which came back negative. He came back into the game but said he’s pretty sore, so we might be looking at a DNP on the Fri/Sat back-to-back this weekend. Ugh.
Ricky Rubio – What in the?!?!? Led the Wolves in scoring?! Who let this happen?!?! 23/3/7/1/0 on 8-14 shooting. He’s scored 22+ and shot 53%+ in 3-straight games. The world is officially upside down.
Nemanja Bjelica – Was on a strong run, but rolled his ankle last night. It apparently wasn’t a very clear roll when it happened, but he’s getting an MRI today. Obviously you just go ahead and move in on virtually all leagues.
Al Horford – Better late than never?! Hasn’t really had the season we hoped – minus those awesome dimes – but wow, actually as I write this, I semi-recant. He’s had a pretty exciting season! And gave his owners a 20/9/8/0/2 line last night with a trey. Horf and Giannis – your Ast/Blk guys!
Rudy Gobert – Add Monsieur Elbow to that list too!
12/9/5/0/4 for big Rudy.
Rodney Hood – Tried to play through some knee soreness, but only made it through 9 minutes. He’s already doubtful for today, so if he’s somehow on any playoff rosters, you can probably let him go. Joe Ingles hit 4 treys in 27 minutes in his stead, and if you need a little ThrAGNOFfin’ tonight and can make same-day moves, sure!
Reggie Jackson – Another turdmuffin, but not that surprising against the Jazz. Back-to-back blowouts for the Pistons against top-flight teams, so I still think he can get back to 30 MPG soon. Ish Smith cleaned up with 28 minutes for 16/3/3 in junktime.
Goran Dragic – 33/5/2/1/1 with 5 treys in a rip-em-to-shreds effort. The Heat are only 2 under .500 now, this is ridiculous. We were pairing them with the Mess for worst team in the NBA early on!
Wayne Ellington – Why you ThrAGNOF! I have him on a couple RCLs, and he hot right now! 19/2/1/1/0 with no TO and 5 treys.
Nikola Mirotic – Hit another 3 treys on a 14/5/2/0/2 line. While the Bulls didn’t win this one, hanging with the Grizz is still better than Chicago did in that losing streak while DNPing him…
Ivica Zubac – Poop. Got into bad foul trouble, and had a tough time defending the Houston pick-n-roll. Now as a starter, he won’t get minutes in horrible blowouts! Hah. Sheesh, losing by 39, LA?! Hold strong with Zubac if you can.
Julius Randle – 32 points in a 39-point loss. That has to feel encouraging for the franchise!
D’Angelo Russell – Also has to feel good for Lakers fans to see one of your “future cornerstones” now come off the bench and go 5/2/2/2/0 on 2-10 shooting with 7 TO in 25 minutes. I’m puking purple and gold, I knew I shouldn’t have made Goldschlager and grape juice cocktails!
Lou Williams – Revenge game! 30/4/7/2/1 on 11-17 shooting with 7 treys. I bet a team change never felt better than during this game…
Trevor Ariza – If you’ve survived with him this far, he may be finding his shot again! 7-9 from the field with 4 treys after a brutally long cold streak. Summer is comin’!
Damian Lillard – After losing Tuesday night to the Pels, held a team-only meeting, then goes out for 36/3/4/2/0 and hits every critical FT down the stretch as the Blaze beat the Spurs on the road. The Omen is real!
Kawhi Leonard – Tried to do everything he could on his unreal rainbow line of 34/9/6/3/2 with 4 treys, but twasn’t enough. Man, he had 2 big dunks towards the top of the NBA Top 10 plays, but the Spurs lost.
How anti-Spurs is that?! Highlight reel plays but they lose at home! Hah the game ended so funny too – the Spurs were down 3 and they fouled Manu Ginobili, who rattled an in-and-out trying to MAKE the first FT, then intentionally tried to MISS the second, threw it hard at the back rim, and it somehow bounced in. Hilarious.
😂😂 Sorry Manu pic.twitter.com/MGLMTtdCyE
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 16, 2017
LaMarcus Aldridge – Asked the Wizard of Oz for a heart, and got one! All kidding aside – awesome to see his issue was nothing serious and he’s back on the court. Definitely didn’t think he’d be back nearly this fast. 19/7/4 in his return, but was a rusty 9-24 FG.
Malcolm Brogdon – 26 minutes as the starter in a win on a 11/2/5/1/0 line with no TO. Matthew Dellavedova gets 32 minutes with 3 treys and 12/2/3. Yeah, I hate Jason Kidd.
DeAndre Jordan – Dude, what is going on?! Rubio and DJ lead their teams in scoring on the same night?! 22/17/2/0/2 in a huge game for Jordan, AND hit 4-5 FT! FT-punt playoff teams might get a lucky extra cat at this rate!
Skal Labissiere – Aight, best for last! As in, the worst game for last, but so much fantasy goodness to be added last night in Sac @ Pho! Skal showing some straight Skill, going 32/11/0/2/0 on 11-15 FG (1-1 3PTM 9-11 FT). I immediately scoured wires for him, but man, it’s tough to give him an add on most of my RCLs. He’s gonna get a shot to score, but inconsistent in D stats and treys, and well, minutes too.
Willie Cauley-Stein – Hopefully you stayed true with WCS like I did! 14/11/5/4/4 in an epic double-rainbow!
“I cannot believe it! It’s a friggin double-rainbow! Oh my gosh!” Yeah, be sure WCS is on a roster in your 12ers. Obviously he’s not gonna get the lowly/young Suns every night, but the Kings want to feature him a ton. Oh, and the 2-6 FT is annoying – he was improving there lately, so hopefully just a fluke.
Buddy Hield – With all the youth on display last night, suddenly Hield only got 21 minutes of BARFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. Move along to hotter ThrAGNOFs.
T.J. Warren – No Bledsoe is going to open things up HUGE for Warren, who didn’t disappoint going 24/9/3/1/2 on 12-16 shooting. Meh, he was already 70% owned in Yahoo – I thought it would be less – but he’s a clear, CLEAR, must own now.
Marquese Chriss – We’ve been saying it for months now! Stash him for the playoffs! And whatya get?! 17/7/2/2/5. Unreal. So happy to have him in a few of my RCLs.
Alan Williams – Also didn’t disappoint off the bench, bringing all sorts of sauce on a 14/11/2/1/2 line. Shot only 6-16, but seeing the Suns run a pretty tight 6-man rotation and Williams destroying Alex Len in minutes (31 to 17) is really encouraging for Big Sauce.
Man, we’re over humpday already – only 4 days left in the first round of the playoffs! Hopefully you’ve started strong, and looking like you’re advancing to the semis! Drop by with your thoughts on last night’s action and streaming decisions for the rest of the week, and be sure to fill out those brackets! We’ll have a Podcast for you tomorrow morning as well!
