It’s always nice to see the deep league guys you love turn into Mr. Planters and go nuts!
After 22 minutes, many of which trying to play through it, Jimmy Butler finally waved the white flag and checked out with a shoulder injury. He first hurt it last Sunday, and that black tape stuff (that I still don’t completely understand how it works) didn’t keep Buckets’ shoulder together. Maybe the black tape is more a statement. Like, “Yeah brah, I got a jacked up shoulder but I’m still gonna go ham!” Either way, it opened up some huge run for Tony Snell, playing 41 minutes. And they were 41 heat check minutes! Made his first 6 from the field including 4 treys, ending up with a career-high 24 points in a 9-11 FG (4-6 3PTM 2-2 FT) 24/2/2/1/0 line with no TO. Snell going full Mr. Planters! Even with Mike Dunleavy returning after nearly a month-and-a-half off, you can’t suppress the sense of Snell! I keed of course, this is an anomaly type of game, but Butler could easily get tomorrow night off against the Cavs to rest that shoulder through the ASB making Snell a very interesting end-of-the-short-week streamer (only the one game Thursday night). Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy NBA action:
Jodie Meeks – Mr. Aggression! 10-10 FT in a 18/3/1/3/1 line with no TO. Bug spray for the Hornets! Had 2 steals the previous 5 games and it was his 3rd block of the season, so not too much to buy into here.
Brian Roberts – Well, you can close the book with this dud! As we chatted on the Pod yesterday, the Hornets picked up Mo Williams and Troy Daniels from the Wolves, giving up Gary Neal and a 2nd round pick. Wolves were ready to take anything! B-Rob for 3/2/5/0/0 on 1-6 shooting in some of the emptiest 33 minutes this side of a reality-TV show. I mentioned yesterday that I think Mo-Will is worth a look in all leagues. The Hornets need offense, they need creativity, they just plain need a decent PG while Kemba Walker is out!
Lance Stephenson – Talk about ready to take anything! Looked terrible out there for 0/3/4/0/0 in 19 minutes with 5 TO and 4 fouls. Eesh! Hard to have any optimism in virtually any leagues especially with Williams coming to town.
P.J. Hairston – If you told me in October that Hairston would be outplaying Stephenson at this point, I would’ve said you’re high as balls! 16/2/1 on 6-16 shooting with 4 treys last night. Deep league ThrAGNOF!
Ramon Sessions – Ew. Got another spot start with Darren Collison hipless, and got smothered for 3/1/2/0/0 with 2 TO in 22 awful minutes. Ya know, I caught the end of this game and Ray McCallum looked pretty solid. If Kings go full tank/blowup like I’ve suggested, Collison and Sessions could both be on the block and we could see some Ray-Mac development. Of course it all depends on how George Karl assesses his newly inherited Kings.
Rudy Gay – Mein foot ist goot! How they say it at orthopedists in Germany… 24/7/5/1/0 hitting 10-18.
DeMarcus Cousins – Also was solid in most respects, getting a near tripdub at 15/8/8/0/1 and only 2 TO, but turned into a Biedrins at the FT line hitting 5-10. Those Bulls foam fingers are mad distracting! Remind me of Chicago dogs.
Pau Gasol – Even though Snell went ham, this was Gasol’s game hitting 11-15 FG for 26/16/3. Was sinking tons of outside jumpers! Trying to prove he’s the best Gasol.
James Harden – MVP! MVP! Sorry Curry, but I’m with Slim now. 40/12/9/3/1 hitting 13-23 FG, 3 treys, and 11-14 FT which is actually bad for him! Slim said preseason he would take Beard over Bron, and who could argue that move right now?!
Patrick Beverley – Had a nice night in 30 minutes, but couldn’t get a steal from the myriad of Suns PG. 15/6/6/0/0 hitting 3 treys. You’ll take it though!
Josh Smith – While I usually stick by my biases, it’s more fun, I guess I have to acknowledge Smoove had an all-around great game given his limitations for 20/6/3/1/1 hitting 2 treys, shooting 8-15 from the field and 2-3 from the stripe with only 1 TO. %s remain awful, but 2 or fewer TO in 7 of 8? Maybe fewer minutes against second units is finally working…
Eric Bledsoe – Dedicated this one to his son! 32/4/4/2/1 hitting 2 treys and 12-13 FT. But wasn’t quite enough from mini-LeBron over full-Beard.
Miles Plumlee – Proved he doesn’t need many minutes! 5/7/0/2/4 in 17:29, making it 4 straight with at least a steal and a block. Unfortunately, it sounds like Alex Len is about healthy and the Suns are done until after the break. Plus Hornacek hates big men. Ignore Sr. Prof Plum.
Jarrett Jack – “Wahhhhhh, my hamstring…” Tweaked it yesterday, but said he would’ve returned if not for the ASB arriving. He should be fine, as long as he’s not traded into a wasteland.
Mason Plumlee – The Nets are so weird… Jr. Prof Plum has one of his most efficient games of the year (6-10 FG 3-3 FT 15/14/1/3/0 with only 1 TO) and he gets benched to start the second half. Maybe Nets are trying to go the tank route!
Mike Conley – Geez, a much-needed break for the faux hawk! 1-8 FG for 2/0/4/3/0 in a struggle through 28 minutes. I obviously expect him to pick it back up for tomorrow, but if it’s another clunker then I would be hitting up the Conley owners hard to try and buy low.
Carlos Boozer – “Ahhhhhhh, and one!” I just felt like eschewing my inner-Boozer and yelling about how this is annoying and unfair. 21/10/4/1/0 hitting 8-15 and there’s no reason he should be this good. This is obviously one of the higher end Booze cruises, but still, it’s better than a lot of guys out there…
Jordan Clarkson – The line was… Ok… But man his defense was catastrophic. 7/1/7/0/0 with a trey shooting 3-11 with only 1 TO.
Wayne Ellington – 18/4/0/0/0 with 2 treys. ThrAGNOF!
Nick Young – I have no clue how old this news is, but I had no idea he was dating Iggy Azalea until last night. About all TNT wanted to talk about! Hey, Iggy, there’s like – a million better basketball players you could go after! Did you see what Tony Snell did?!?!?!
Ed Davis – Has been playing well, but with Booze going for 30 minutes it kept Big Ed to a small 22. Still hit all the cats for 6/5/3/1/1 with no TO, but should’ve gotten more run! Jordan Hill sounds like he’s progressing nicely, so you can give Big Ed the big ax after tonight.
Kenneth Faried – Speaking of the big ax! 2/5/0/1/0 and the brutality continues. In Mortal Kombat terms, this would be a fatality! But he’s a Manimal, so a bestiality! Wait, I mean it was animality…
Jusuf Nurkic – Well, I guess Shaw didn’t wanna push the Jamba Jus after the big 34 minutes against the Thunder on Monday night, so he kept Nurk to only 19 last night. The Jus still delivered! 6/5/1/1/4 hitting all 3 shots from the field. Maybe an All-Star Break revilitalizion will help, but he’s playing in some sort of world stars BB-FU Compass crap. Let the Jus rest!
Ty Lawson – Best for last! Played with reckless abandon like he was drunk dr – – Wait, I shouldn’t joke about that. Just torched the Lakers and that terrible Clarkson D for 32/3/16/2/0, hitting 12-20 FG and 7-8 FT. His flukishly low FT% was bound to come up, and he’s 41-48 his past 10 games, good for 85.4% in a fairly high volume. Ironically enough, that’s been the stretch since his DUI arrest. Maybe increased his Focus, ala Will Smith.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Al-Farouq Aminu (9% owned) – As I mentioned yesterday, I’m all about streaming Mark Cuban Jr. Both Monta Ellis and Tyson Chandler will be out, opening up some big run for Aminu to rack up the D stats for you in a shortened week.
J.J. Barea (7% owned) – I’m lazy! I said on the Pod yesterday these two replacement Mavs might be my stream calls, and I’m having trouble finding better sub-10% owned options. Without Monta, Devin Harris might have to play some 2 giving Barea good run at point. Low TO, nice dimes and treys, I like el pequeno conquistador!
Good luck in the final big slate of games for Week 16 if you play in a non-combined All-Star Break schedule, and we’ll catch you for the recap tomorrow!
