I think we can all agree that NBA athletes have said some wild things throughout the years. Sometimes it is trash talk that gets out of hand, others it is baffling comments regarding the actual game and some other times, my personal favorites, are quotes that have nothing to do with their job but are still pretty mind-blowing. Don’t get me started on flat earth Kyrie again…
This week, we had an all-time quote from Mitchel Robinson, explaining why the basketball has the brown color that it has.
Mitchell Robinson to @FredKatz on why basketballs turn brown: “It’s got dirt and bacteria. People here don’t wash their hands. There’s a few people in this league that wash their hands. A few of them. But I can. I do. I wash my hands”
More science: https://t.co/F5IqXsaFkU pic.twitter.com/hCU7gsGfrh
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) November 28, 2023
I don’t know from where to start with this, so I will not start at all and let you be the judge of the above priceless quote. Wash your hand kids, just as Mr Robinson does!
Regarding last week’s suggestions, it was not a particularly good week as both Alex Caruso and Norman Powell were mediocre, with the former also missing a game and the latter having only one standout performance against the Pelicans. Things were better on the “Sell” front though, as Jonas Valanciunas still performed OK, but my warning regarding a decreased block rate has held true, as he has only 1 block in his last 4 appearances, while Benedict Mathurin has done nothing to convince me he is not a clear drop in standard leagues.
Buy
Simone Fontecchio – Omer Yurtseven: This will be a deeper league article and we start things of in Utah, as it has been confirmed that Lauri Markkanen will miss the upcoming 2 game roadtrip of the Jazz and a chunk of his playing time has gone to Simone Fontecchio. The Italian has started the last 2 games, both wins against the Pelicans, and can be a good streamer for some point and triples. An added bonus is that the Jazz play 3 times in the next 4 days (counting today’s game) so you can get a lot of mileage for a single add from the wire (5% owned). Omer Yurtseven is a similar suggestion, but with the asterisk that Walker Kessler has returned to action and will be ramping up to get some of his minutes. He will most likely not play both games of the back to back, so give Yurtseven (7% owned) a chance if you need big man stats.
Nicolas Batum: Sometimes in fantasy basketball, it is not all about how many games a player plays each week, but when he plays them. This is exactly the case with Nicolas Batum, and all Sixers players by extent, as they play today and on Friday, both very low volume match days. That means that you can utilize him as a streamer without having to sit anyone on those high-volume days and on top of that, he has been productive since traded to Philadelphia, averaging 1.9 triples, 0.7 steals and 0.8 blocks (12% owned).
Isaiah Jackson: An even deeper league suggestion, Isaiah Jackson is a player who can be a major blocks contributor when given playing time and that will be a tad easier with Jalen Smith suffering a heel contusion in Indiana’s last game against Portland. He will presumably get the majority of the 15 minutes allocated to Smith, if he can stay away from extreme foul trouble and he is available almost everywhere to provide elite blocking and good rebounding numbers (4% owned).
Sell
Bobby Portis: It has not been a good fantasy year for Bobby “Crazy Eyes” Portis as he has seen his minutes reduced to 23.6 for the season and they haven’t improved significantly in light of the Jae Crowder injury. Apart from turnovers, his only positive category is rebounding, with 6.3 for the season, and I’m sure you can get those kinds of stats in abundance from the waiver wire. He is still owned in 71% of yahoo leagues but I would much rather stream his spot in standard leagues and I suggest you do the same.
