PGs depth suddenly overfloweth from the wire, with a lot of guys on their choppers… chopping(?) their way onto fantasy squads. Listen, I would make some sort of better parallel with that show, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. Takes a lot of effort to plow through a show! I friggin’ had to stop the new Arrested Development in season 4. Yikes. And speaking of arrested development, the Clips sure got a buster when Chris Paul went down with a separated shoulder Friday night, and through a series of updates will be out “up to six weeks.” The trainer asked Paul if he was filing for divorce with his shoulder, but nah, just separated. Huge blow to the Clippers, but it was a “rush to your nearest internet device” moment for fantasy owners to add Darren Collison. On Friday night, in JB’s RCL 2 I missed out, then when deciding who to drop for him in RCL 1, I missed him by about 10 seconds. Thank’s a lot Your Mom Says Hi! A Hill ‘O Beans bout to be refried! Yeah, terrible smack talk, I know… If you’re not checking out the comments every night, all sorts of updates get fantasy spins throughout the evening, like El Burro breaking the news while watching his Clips’ title hopes get separated. I like Collison a lot, and unless you singularly need assists, I like him over the other big breakout PG from the weekend. I think he gives you 16/3/6/2 a game until Paul is done with marriage counseling. The 35 minutes he’ll play a night should make those numbers pretty realistic. Here’s what else I saw over the weekend in hoops action:
Kendall Marshall – Did I get you to click the article just to see who the other big breakout PG was?! Eh, unless you watched nothing but NFL playoffs, you probably could surmise. Racking up huge dimebags that make Steve Blake look like James Franco compared to Marshall’s Walter White, the new Lakers starting PG went 20/15 and 9/17 on Friday and Sunday. As a Chapel Hill fan I of course like Marshall a ton, but I would rather Collison’s all-around game to the big dimebag numbers. I was actually shocked Marshall had 2 treys in three straight before only one last night, as he wasn’t that great of a perimeter shooter at UNC, but hey, people change! Hairstyles change! I’ll miss you most of all Scarecrow! 10 points if you know that reference…
Pau Gasol – Playing like he wouldn’t mind going to Cleveland. Not sure if they lied and said Cabo, so when he steps off the plane – if it goes through – it’ll be a rude awakening. But hey, if Gasol goes to the Cavs, a Kyrie Irving, Gasol, LeBron James core in Clevelnd next year? Gus Ayonin’! Huge 23/17/8 from Gasol on Friday and 25/10/5/1/3 on Sunday. Could not be more of a sell high in fantasy leagues.
Jon Leuer – Whoa, welcome back! After dropping Leuer and Leuer on the Grizzlies depth chart, got 22 minutes for a 23/8/1/1/0 line with two treys shooting 8-13. This was a blowout, but 16 points were dropped in by halftime. Ed Davis has been playing well (17 mins for 17/11 last night and usually plays more than Leuer) on top of James Johnson showing great versatility and Marc Gasol returning soon from knee injury has me wanting none of these guys (other than stashing Gasol) in a 12-teamer right now. Johnson gave us a nice run, and if there’s injuries would be a no-brainer pickup again.
Jerryd Bayless – Traded for Courtney Lee. Since JB can’t hit threes (that JB! I’m a pretty good shooter!), the Grizz get Lee to pop some treys and Bayless can roam around and show off a Celtics green headband. Not much of a fantasy impact, although as of this writing I put $1 on Nick Calathes in our REL league who might get bigger PG minutes for those in 20-teamers like we do.
C.J. Miles – Playing well lately with double-digit scoring in 4 of the last 5 games and 21/6/3/3 last night. I’m not a huge fan, but could give you some spot scoring should Jarrett Jack (back spasms) and Irving (knee) be out again tomorrow. The trainer was like, “hey Jarrett, where does it hurt?” and Jack was like, “wahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I’m Jarrett Jack!”
Amir Johnson vs. Jonas Valanciunas – I feel like only one of these guys can have a good game at a time. Amir with a big bounce back of 17/7/2/0/2 on Friday and 17/8/2/0/3 last night while Luminescent Lithuanian goes only 7/7/0/0/0 and 17/5/0/0/1. Right after a great LL run too… What are these Craptors doing to me?!
Andrew Bogut – Just like how the Warriors can’t lose, Bogut can’t stop multi-cat. Rainbow line! 15/11/2/2/4. I love Bogut. I would go down under. Hah – too far…
Perry Jones – I mentioned last week I thought he had a little James Johnson upside and a decent 6/2/2/2/1 line in 21 minutes for the Thunder last night. Given it was a blowout, but he’s a guy on my radar (who can also pop threes), especially if Kendrick Perkins and/or Nick Collison go down.
Tyson Chandler – Apparently breathing the same air as Pau Gasol and also got an upper respiratory infection. “Hey, tall guys, how’s the weather up there?!” I was taught to spit on them and tell them it’s raining…
Tim Hardaway Jr. – I’ll let Slim address this. Sad he’s getting phased out…
Shawn Marion – Limped around after the game. It was a rough one for him after a nice stretch. Stay tuned on his injury status throughout this week.
Kenneth Faried – Welcome back Manimal! A really rough stretch for a long while from Faried. The solution? Go against a Mike D’Antoni team. Sheesh. 17/13/1/2/2 near rainbow. All in only 27 minutes. Manimal beast mode!
Timofey Mozgov – If you didn’t peruse the 137-115 box score from the Nugs/Lakers, there is a lot of crazy. Like Healthcare.Mozgov going for 20/7/1/2/2, only one away from a rainbow himself! Shot 8-10. And, not to undersell, he took an effing 3-point shot! I don’t care if it was a halfcourt heave! Hilarious box score.
Darrell Arthur – When it rains, it pours, and the Denver D.A. was a stat away from a rainbow as well. 4/11/6/1/2. Man the Lakers need a new defensive mind…
Brandon Knight – Had one meh game on Thursday, then a great game on Saturday for 8-12 FG (1-1 3PTM 8-9 FT) 25/4/8/1/1. Dem fightin’ numbers! Pieces keep coming together with nice FG%, lower TOs (although he did have 4 in this one is under 2 a game the past 8) and the out-of-position boards – enjoy the ride! And you better not jerk him around, Drew!
Reggie Jackson – A career-high 27 Pts for a 27/2/2/1 line last night. Shot 9-12, hit all 3 treys, Maury Ballstein goes “That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”
Steven Adams – Love this guy. Hurts his ankle, then tweets out “Just a flesh wound.” Man, I hope that’s a Monty Python reference!
Tiago Splitter – Out 3-5 weeks with a shoulder injury. Basically you can copy and paste what happened to Chris Paul. Really not much in the fantasy implications, Boris Diaw should get a tad of a boost though, and should be playing tomorrow after getting strep throat. Who he Frenchin’, Tony Parker?
Larry Sanders – 7/2/0/0/1 with 3 TOs and Gary Neal yelled at him saying Sanders should try and earn his money. Boom! Gary Neal talkin’ smack! Sanders then took a swing at him and went after him with a broken champagne bottle. He’ll undergo another thumb surgery and is out 4-6 weeks.
Chris Douglas-Roberts – Is somehow starting. Went 10/4/2/0/1 in 36 preposterous minutes. Preposterous in that he was out there that long. But hey, the Bobcats won and he looks to be the guy for right now. Worth a look in the deepest of leagues.
Pero Antic – Had a big game on Friday for 16/7 with trey treys, then 9/7/1/0/1 with three treys on Saturday. Consistently playing 20+ minutes and can give ya some big man ThrAGNOF.
Gerald Green – Speaking of ThrAGNOF, the poster child is back! Eric Bledsoe is out for a week+, so Green will get a couple of starts with 24 Pts/4 treys upside like what we saw Saturday. Racked up 5 Stls too, plus 4 on Thursday. Racking up the swipes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – See, this was what I was worried about… Drew getting all rookie-angry as he counts down the days until he’s fired. Only 14 minutes on Saturday for 0/3/0/0/0 and 4 TOs. Yikes. I’ve always said I like him and his upside, but just knew nights like this would happen and why I haven’t recommended him as highly as some other fringe-guys.
Alexis Ajinca – Bigs from Europe – attack! 17/7/1/1/1 in 32 minutes on Saturday. Has looked good the past few Pelicans games I’ve seen him play and with Jason Smith out with a shoulder injury and Ryan Anderson recovering from a scary cervical stinger, Ajinca could be pretty useful in deeper formats.
Next Game: I’ve got Golden State at Milwaukee tomorrow. Over/under win margin for GS? 17? I’m crossing my fingers to see another great Brandon Knight game. I hope everyone is enjoying getting back into their routines and good luck in week 11!
