2020 Fantasy Basketball

Joe Bernard

Underperformer of the Week

March 3, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | Leave a comment

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As we approach the All-Star break it is likely increasingly difficult to find value either in a trade or off the wire. No matter what format you play in, be it weekly, head to head, or rotisserie, one of my favourite strategies is unearthing a player who is playing below their potential and executing a deal to obtain said player.

At this point in the season, rosters become hard-wired and GMs may exercise patience with their underperforming player as they have a large sample size of production to reference. However, if you are persistent and do your due diligence you will discover value in your league. This column’s intent is to be a curator of sorts, doing some of that research for you to deliver a player that I believe can be a positive contributor to your team and help increase your position as you move towards your championship aspirations.

My hope for you is that this player is one you are able to obtain before the break and have with you for the second half of the season.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

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JalonsWorld

Hoopers of the Week 02.22-02.28

February 28, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 1 Comment

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Over the course of the last two weeks, there has been a word that NBA Twitter has been shouting at the top of their lungs: Snub. For those who are unaware, the word “snub” in the NBA refers to players who were wrongfully passed on and, in some ways, disrespected in regard to voting for things like All-Star game participants and All-NBA teams.

This season we had multiple cries of “snubbing” take place. First, there was Luka Doncic being voted over Damian Lillard to be a Western Conference All-Star starter. Then there was Devin Booker and Domantas Sabonis who were left off the reserves list before eventually being elevated due to Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis being listed out due to injury. Now there is a new bone to pick with the NBA All-Star voting.

That gripe is with the fact that these two young stud guards are the driving forces of their teams and barely even sniffed a chance at the big game. The two guards in question are Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But in spite of the All-Star voting results, they both responded with a handful of big games that displayed why they should have gotten more consideration for two of the 26 available All-Star slots. That is why this week these two are the Hoopers of the week coming out of the Eastern and Western Conference.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
PB

Midweek Guidance – H2H Categories

February 25, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 4 Comments

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Welcome to your midweek guidance for week 10! It’s time to identify the competitive categories in your matchup and fortify the categories in which you already have an advantage. Based on various punt strategies, I’ll be profiling a few stream options that will increase your chances of winning the week.

Last week’s recommendations featured some players who boosted your win probability (Robert Williams III, Saddiq Bey, Jae’sean Tate) along with a dud (Grayson Allen), so hopefully you were able to find the players that helped your specific situation.

The players listed below players have two or more games remaining in the current week and are rostered in 50% or less of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
everywhereblair

The Viennese RAPTOR: Jakob Poeltl

February 25, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 2 Comments

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I kid you not, I’ve spent a good chunk of my life learning foreign languages, have visited Austria (shoutout to the Mozartstübe in Vienna), and when I was browsing 538’s RAPTOR looking for unknown fantasy basketball values, I had no idea how to pronounce Jakob Poeltl’s name. Seems like it rhymes with “Myrtle” or “Yertle the Turtle.” As the backup big man on the San Antonio Spurs, it might be fair to title the article “Jakob Poeltl the Turtle” but with last week’s article about a McConnell, I figured I had used up the ration of my turtle jokes for the year. So! Let’s move on to dinosaurs, and the guy who is dominating the “on” side of the On/Off Defensive Leaderboard on 538’s RAPTOR system. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Joe Bernard

Underperformer of the Week

February 24, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | Leave a comment

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Razzball Nation, once again it’s on! We are well into our fantasy season and if you are in a rotisserie format, you may find yourself on the outside looking in on a run to championship glory. Perhaps you are among the league leaders and looking for opportunities to improve your roster without going through a complete overhaul.

No matter where you stand, in this column you will find opportunity and, if you’ve been following my suggestions up to this point, in all likelihood you have experienced an element of success.

As always, the players highlighted here are not going to save your team from purgatory if you did not draft particularly well or have been bit hard by the injury and/or Covid-related absences. Instead, I promote under-the-radar moves for the shrewd GM who can take advantage of frustrated owners who may be prepared to move on from a player with potential at a discount.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Keith

The Cork Report: A 9-Cat, 12-Team League Breakdown

February 22, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 3 Comments

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Yep, I’m going to subject you all to my friends and family league yet again. We’re at the midway point of our regular season after today, so I wanted to go back and see where my predictions from the preseason were right and wrong, and which fantasy players are performing better or worse than their average draft position (ADP).

What I hope you can take from this is how to better formulate your strategy in your own leagues, and what seems to work best for people in a relatively average league. Our league is listed as a “silver” league on Yahoo!, which isn’t really scientific but indicates our team levels combined are slightly below the average of “gold.” We have two platinum, one gold, four silver, and five bronze managers. It’s a top-heavy league, which is the case in most scenarios as the people who run the league seem to be far more invested.

Anyways, the below records and rankings are based on if the scores stay the same as they are at the writing of this article. Those are subject to change, but not by much.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
JalonsWorld

Hoopers of the Week (02.15-02.21)

February 21, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 1 Comment

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It is that time of the year again for NBA fans: All-Star Weekend. We all know the 2021 NBA All-Star game is less than two weeks away and the starters for both conferences were recently released.

Like every season, there are some wrongs that were righted and snubs that need fighting for. This year the wrong that was righted was Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal, who was wildly left out last season, will represent Washington as a starter out of the Eastern Conference. But of course, there was an outlandish snub that upset the apple cart. Dallas Mavericks phenom Luka Doncic snatched the second starting guard position from Damian ‘Logo’ Lillard as the fans helped him commit highway robbery.

Although it may not have been as egregious as Beal missing the big game last season, it was still an eye-popping snub right off the bat that stuck out like a sore thumb. So, it seems only fitting to show these two guys some love as Beal passes the baton to Lillard as a new member of the 1st team All-Snub club. With that, my Hoopers of the Week are Bradley Beal in the Eastern Conference and Damian Lillard in the Western Conference. Let’s get into it!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
PB

Midweek Guidance – H2H Categories

February 18, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 6 Comments

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If you’re in a H2H categories league, you know by now that the direction of your matchup usually starts to come into focus around this time each week. For those of you in ultra-competitive leagues, you’ve also probably learned that victory is often found on the margins, and winning or losing can hinge on a single rebound, block, or free throw. Although the week’s final few days always bring some plot twists, you can help yourself out by identifying players on the waiver wire who will help you carve out a path to victory.

To help out, I’ve listed a few punt builds that are common across the fantasy hoops landscape, and provided some recommendations for player additions based on those scenarios. For instance, if you have a streaming spot and find your team getting mercilessly bludgeoned in threes, assists, and FT%, check out strategy 1 for players who can provide value in your more winnable categories.

The players listed below have two or more games remaining in the current week and are rostered in 50% or less of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
everywhereblair

A McConnell You Can Trust

February 18, 2021 | 2020 Fantasy Basketball | 6 Comments

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Looking through the Basketball Reference page for Indiana Pacers guard T.J. McConnell, it tells me his nickname is “Floor General.” Is that even a nickname anymore? I thought that was a ranking in Space Force. It’s like showing up for your first day of work and your boss calls you “Coffeeboi” and for the next year you smile cheerfully while you pour the Folgers, always wondering what could have been had you brought donuts on your first day. Yet, T.J. “Floor General” McConnell is the kind of guy you’re not supposed to get excited about. He’s the kind of guy you plug in when you’re a month into the season and D’Angelo Russell is missing his 10th game due to bilateral leg weakness, which is absolutely contagious in Minnesota. So! Let’s dive in and see what the backup guard on the Pacers is going to do for your fantasy basketball team. 

Please, blog, may I have some more?