Well, one outta three of the letters in MCW is in efficient… That makes sense seeing as he usually shoots 33%!
In his debut for the Bucks, Michael Carter-Williams looked solid against his former Sixers for 7/0/8/2/0 in only 17 and a half minutes. All with only one TO! Shot 3-5 from the field, did split his two FT, but a mad efficient game in his new colors. Off the toe sprain, I’m not surprised his minutes were kept in check as the Bucks unsurprisingly took it to the Sixers. Full tank! Yesterday on the Podcast, Slim said even a great game wouldn’t have him change his MCW valuation too much, and he’s the logical one. But I’m antsy and loved what I saw! I don’t think he’s suddenly the top-50 guy I thought he’d be, but I think he’ll keep the %s in check with that decent MIL supporting cast, and he won’t make you want to kill yourself. And if that isn’t a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is…. Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball:
Jusuf Nurkic – Mannnnnn… Was having a good game but suffered a really bad ankle sprain and had to get wheelchaired to the locker room. X-rays were negative, but there’s no way they let him come back with any sort of haste… I’d hope to wait for a timetable before making any moves, but I think this is a multi-week sort of injury.
Hassan Whiteside – I talked about a little worry that he was looking fatigued, but looked better last night especially in a physical matchup against Nikola Vucevic. 15/13/0/0/3 on 5-8 FG ad 5-8 FT to make his stat line look like an Escher drawing.
Henry Walker – Becoming the MIA 6th man ThrAGNOF! 10/6/2/2/0 hitting only 3-13 from the field, with 2-11 shots from deep. Gives him 15 treys attempted through his first two games, and the weirdest thing – 33 minutes last night! They’re loving going small with Luol Deng at the 4, but then again it’s not that small with Whiteside in the post! Walker is worth a look in deepers.
Victor Oladipo – Nice 13/13 dubdub, but the 13/13/4/0/0 line with 4 TO on 4-13 shooting without a 3PTM is surely NORainbOladipo. Only 4 steals the past 5 games and through Feb before last night – 3.9 AST:3.3 TO, only 1.4 steals/per and the scoring/FG% have gone down. Looks like I mighta gotten the sell-VO-high call right!
Dennis Schroder – The villain of the TMNT! 17/0/4 hitting 7-15 including 3 treys. Geez what a Hot PG combo in Hotlanta (it was snowing).
J.J. Barea – Got the PG start while Rajon Rondo took a PTO day. I wish I could yell at my boss and only have to take one day off! Jk – I like my boss if you’re reading! Barea for 13/5/7 with a trey, while Devin Harris only played 20 minutes for 10/3/2 but had a nice 6-6 FT. I still had some D-Hair on some rosters from streaming, so I will be shaving that D-Hair right off.
Bernard James – Unfortunately this Barnard isn’t a Star. Astronomy jokes! 7/11/3/0/2 with Tyson Chandler out with a hip bruise. Still sounds like it’s not a for-sure thing Tyson is OK, unlike what was hinted yesterday. Hopefully old man Tyson is aight.
Evan Turner – Miss Turner! It’s all flashy with the tripdub, but once you go underneath the corset, it’s pretty empty kinda like Keira Knightley’s chest! 10/12/10, hit 5-9 FG, but no 3s, no FT, 1 TO and no steals and blocks. Emptiest tripdub ever!
Jonas Jerebko – What in the world?! 20/5/2/1/0 hitting 7-10 FG and 4-6 3PTM. Meh.
Jae Crowder – Everyone except the starting Brandon Bass and Tyler Zeller went ham for Boston, including the third straight nice one from Boston Clam Crowder for 18/6/4/1/0 hitting 3 treys. I see even 12er-streamable relevance until Kelly Olynyk is back.
Andrea Bargnani – Welcome back Il Diva! 17/6/1/0/2 and has got to be asking himself, “why didn’t I get the showcase like this before the trade deadline?! He has 11+ plus points in 4-straight and a block in 4 of 5. Gus Ayonin’, deep leaguers!
Jose Calderon – Left late last night with Achilles soreness, but it was a blowout. Not like anyone would notice anyway…
Quincy Pondexter – Wooooo! Who woulda thought my REL’s best player last night would be the Q-Pon, giving discount shoppers a career-high scoring 25 in a shocking 25/5/2 line with 4 treys. Very, very deep league ThrAGNOF and that’s about all I can say… He’s a Lone Ranger! Lone as in, rightly owned in 1% of leagues.
Alexis Ajinca – Nice stream call from AA! Rainbow stream! It’s what a clown calls his piss… 10/4/2/2/2, but another 4 TO giving him 9 the past two games. Reign it in, Frenchy!
Thaddeus Young – Has got to be starting soon, with Mason Plumlee playing a horrific 13 starting minutes. The Impaler (Thad, not a Duke lacrosse joke) for 19/5 on 8-12 shooting with a trey.
Jarrett Jack – Returned from his hammy, but came off the bench. Still got 28 minutes for 15/3/3, so I wouldn’t be dropping him just because the Nets started the ghost of Deron Williams. Given D-Will looked pretty bad starting again non-conventional PG there in NO, I think Jack will be starting again as he’s eased in.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – Who had MKG as the Hornets leading scorer last night?! 18/12/1/1/0, but the D stats just still aren’t comin’. He’s a SF Zach Randolph! Which is fine and all…
Joakim Noah – Whoa, totally slipped my mind to think about how the Derrick Rose injury makes Noah so much better! 4/11/8/1/3, and those C-dimes should come back strong.
Aaron Brooks – Got the starting nod and 28 minutes, with Kirk Hinrich off the bench paying 20. Brooks for 12/0/4/2/1 and no TO hitting a trey. Very flukey 3-8 FT, but otherwise a usable enough game.
Tony Snell – As I suggested yesterday, Hinrich getting PG minutes should give a little more concrete role for Snell who went 10/3 in 28 minutes with a trey. Even 14ers might get enough value with the run.
DeAndre Jordan – So close to yet another Goro! 22/19. Geez, he must be close to a top-10 guy in FTM/no FT% leagues. Turning into old-Dwight!
James Harden – Ruh roh. Suffered a kankle but played through it, yet was gimpy when all was said and done. Might pick up a DNP if the swelling doesn’t bring the kankle back down to an ankle.
Corey Brewer – Man, starting to think that 50-point outburst last year wasn’t as fluky! Well, strike that, yes it was… 20/6/2/1/1 with a couple of treys and an utter beast for a bench guy.
Terrence Jones – Easily the best big man on the Rockets, injured or non-injured! 14/8/1/0/5 and even though I was late to the party, just great to see him healthy. Also will make him an easy sleeper call for 15-16.
John Henson – With Ersan Ilyasova and Zaza Pachulia both healthy and drawing starts, Henson came off the bench but went full Muppet. 9-12 FG in a 21/9/2/2/3 rainbow. That said, against the terrible Sixers. Deep-leaguers sell high!
Thomas Robinson – Made his 76ers debut for 7/6/0/0/0, 1-3 FT and 2 TO. Yup, seems about right.
Isaiah Canaan – Nice to see the minutes go up to 33 in a 11/2/6/1/0 line with a trey. Did have the 5 TO and I still would lean Brooks over him, but I like he boosted the starting minutes with Ish Smith only playing 15 off the bench.
Jerami Grant – Rainbow alert! 10/2/4/2/2 and can help a lot of 14er+ teams.
Jason Richardson – Hit 4 treys and scored a team-high 16. Got 25 starting minutes which might be his max and he’ll get a lot of back-to-back DNPs, but deep league ThrAGNOF boner-meter is half mast!
Kevin Garnett – Woooo, the Wolves are unbeatable with KG! 5/8/1/2/1 in 19 minutes.
Washington Wizards – Lost their powers! Were up 18-3 I think it was, then ended up only scoring 77 and losing by 20. Absolutely fell apart.
Will Barton – Whew-ee, look at WB! I’ve always liked Warner Bros, even if he never looked too refined, but had a good one last night off the bench for his new Nuggets for 22/8/3/0/1. With Gary Harris starting and Wilson Chandler out just for the short-term, not much you can do with Barton still…
Joffrey Lauvergne – The French Lasagne! Nickname? Because his stats have a lot of layers?! No? Anyway, 11/9/1/1/1 (also hit a 3, but 2-5 FT – it’s so Alphabet-ish!) and the 6’11 Frenchy could play some stretch 5 like he did at times last night in Nurk misses time. Plus Darrell Arthur came out after only 3 minutes as the starting PF hurting his knee.
Danilo Gallinari – Galo starting is probably going to stick, and he hit 5 treys but had 6 TO last night. In ThrAGNOF land! Which could be close to Sardinia, I dunno…
Brandon Knight – Best game as a Sun for 19/3/6 with 3 treys. Still no steals and only 2-2 FT which we hope goes up, but nice to see ascension.
Jordan Clarkson – Well, the ebbs were ebby and the flows were flowy! As is to say, will be very up and down, and after a long trough is peaking again. 22/4/3/2/0 hitting 10-16 FG and a trey. Picking apart that bad PG defense of Utah!
Jordan Hill – Nice O from Hill hitting 7-12 FG for 16/5/1/2/1 and 2-2 FT. I ain’t scurred he off the bench!
Ed Davis – Also played well, as the Lakers bench is the better unit (well, minus Clarkson). 12/9/3/1/3 hitting 6-8 FG. Certainly helps that these two…
Rudy Gobert – …played off the bench and didn’t have all their minutes sucked into the defensive vortex that is Monsieur Elbow! 16/14/2/1/3, and I think I’m easily taking him over Whiteside next year. Makes Gobert a top 30-40 kinda guy.
Jason Thompson – How did the Kings beat the Grizz last night?! About the only anomaly was JT bringin’ sexy back with a 10/11/1/1/4 game. Fluke alert! Trap game for Memphis… A bear trap!
Darren Collison – Well, looks like my sell-high quips thinking he might get traded may have been the wrong premise but right argument. His hip injury is rumored to cost him the rest of the year, which would be a huge blow given it didn’t seem too serious when it happened. I’m not dropping him just yet until there’s a firm report/team statement. Ray McCallum makes for a great spec add in deepers, but not quite to the Brooks/Canaan level yet.
Kawhi Leonard – The line wasn’t monster, but 14/8/3/4/1 with a trey and looked better than he has the past few weeks. Last chance for some buy lows.
Tony Parker – Man, ESPN was slamming Parker all night! 1-8 FG 2/2/4/1/0 with 4 TO. Twasn’t good.
Wesley Matthews – Ham alert! Started 0-6 but then made 11-12 to go 11-18 FG 31/5/3/3/0 with no TO and four treys.
Nicolas Batum – I know he didn’t deliver what you hoped for on draft day, but still shocked he was dropped in so many leagues. 6-8 FG (3-5 3PTM) 15/4/9/2/1 and looked like a full length baguette out there.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Brandan Wright (16% owned) – Only two games tonight so it’s a little Slim Pickens, but Wright looked pretty good last night off the bench (8/6/0/0/3) and should have a shot at nice minutes against the OKC B unit especially if the Thunder blow em out.
Marreese Speights (18% owned) – The ace of Speights! Scored 16 the last time out, and the Cavs love to go to smaller line-ups when Timofey Mozgov is subbed. That mid-range of Speights could see another double-digit FGA.
I hope everyone that got snow last night (it was like 8 inches in NC!) is safe and (hopefully) enjoying a snow day, and we’ll catch ya again tomorrow Razzball Nation!
