Happy New Year to all Razzball fans around the world, may the New Year bring you health, success and happiness! Let’s all be a little less grumpy, a little more patient and a little more welcoming in 2024, it is very much needed in the era we live in. And if you need some New Year’s resolution or inspiration, take a look at the latest interview Nikola Jokic gave in the podcast of his teammate, Michael Porter Jr.
I found the part regarding the publicity he doesn’t like very interesting, as well as his plans for after his retirement and the emphasis he gives on being the best father he can be. It is definitely worth a listen and it is relatively quick, so I highly recommend it. Bonus points for suggesting that he wants to be a jokey for his horses as a 2.11m, 129 kg man, which seems like a less refined part of his future plans.
Regarding last week’s suggestions, we had 2 major hits with Andre Drummond and Tari Eason. The former is having a historic rebounding run with 25, 16, 23 and 17 rebounds in his last 4 appearances and must be rostered until Nikola Vucevic is back, while the latter benefited from Dillon Brooks’ absence and provided standard league value this past week. Finally, Alex Caruso had 2 good games and a bad one and his usability hinges on the return of Zach LaVine, so watch his play during the upcoming week. On the “Sell” front, Zach Collins was already worth a drop and his recent injury should be the final push you need to drop him.
Buy
Donte DiVinzenzo: The trade of OG Anunoby to the Knicks and more importantly the players that left for Toronto have opened up more opportunities for Donte DiVinzenzo, highlighted by a 38 points performance before Anunoby was eligible to play. Of course, his ceiling is not so high when Anunoby plays but his playing time should increase moving forward and his averages should follow. I like him as a standard league add to see what happens, as he was already producing borderline standard league value (38% owned).
Larry Nance Jr: It is that time of the season again. That inevitable time frame during each season that Larry Nance has inexplicable value with playing time that should not produce that. Since returning from his injury and despite averaging 22.7 minutes, Nance is ranked inside the top70, mainly due to his rebounding (8.3) and steals (2.3). His shooting is also excellent with 64.3% from the field and 83.3% from the line, albeit with limited volume. He seems to be locked in a timeshare with Jonas Valanciunas so if your team needs a boost in the aforementioned categories, give him a look off the wire (23% owned).
Jaden Ivey: After a very slow start to the season and some trips to coach Monty Williams’ doghouse, Jaden Ivey is starting to figure it out in Detroit, helping them snap the historic losing streak with a win against Toronto. During the last 2 weeks he has been a positive contributor in all of the counting stat categories and if your team can take a slight hit in the ft% department he is worth an add in standard leagues for now (55% owned).
Sell
Jonas Valanciunas: Jonas Valanciunas was featured in the “Sell” column a while back, due to his then increased block rate, which has indeed dropped to more sustainable values. Now however he finds himself here again for a totally different reason and that reason is playing time. As mentioned in the Larry Nance portion before, the last 2 games have been a time split at center with Valanciunas playing 20 and 25 minutes. Although his production was still good and he will still be relevant with those numbers, there is no way he maintains top50 value, like he is ranked currently. A preemptive sell high is in order here, so I would suggest exploring just that in your league.
