Ah, the All-Star Break. The week where fantasy basketball goes to die, but fantasy basketball writers get a few days off! Hah, sorry I probably shoulda had this post go up yesterday, but I was lazy, OK! Speaking of lazy, did you see what kind of horrendous offer the Kings caved on to deal away DeMarcus Cousins?! Well, of course you did by now, that was the world’s most rhetorical question! Kings dealt Boogie and Omri Casspi to the Pels for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans (reunion!), Langston Galloway, and a 1st and 2nd round pick in this summer’s draft. I mean, it’s not THE WORST deal in the world, but the first round pick being top-3 protected is a little rough. Wouldn’t it be HILARIOUS if the Pels go in like 11th or 12th for the lottery, end up drawing one of those top 3 picks, then pair one of these elite guys going pro with Boogie, Brow and Jrue… Still feels like the Kings could’ve gotten more… Wait, what was that Vlade Divac?! You DID have more on the table?! Yeesh, the Kings get this brand-spankin’ new stadium, only to have their superstar dealt mid-season with the GM openly admitting he took a lesser deal…? Did Jeffrey Loria buy the Kings too?! Meanwhile, Pels fans be dancing like this:
I actually don’t think Anthony Davis takes too big of a hit here, and remains your primary guy. He’s only taken a range from 12-24 shots the last 9 games, which doesn’t seem tough at all to maintain even with a USG-whore coming to town. I actually think it might even HELP Brow, as his TO rate has soared to 2.6 this year, and we all know Boogie is a TO vortex. Boogie is who the big hit here; his range the last 9 games is 14-30 shots (given the 30 was an outlier in that surprise win over GSW), plus he’s playing with a much better facilitating PG in Jrue Holiday. I’d expect Boogie’s AST – 4.8 on the season and spiking as of late – to drop closer to the 3.0 range. It’ll be an interesting pairing, and suddenly the Pelicans look like they could make a little noise in the playoffs. We’ll have to see if they can get out of this 23-34 hole they’re in… Wait, the Kings at 24-33 have a better record, and made the sell out for the future deal?! Hah, NBA man, NBA… GMs must be bored during the ASB as well! l Here’s a few other notes from the last few days during our NBA respite:
Buddy Hield – Coveted by the Kings owner, which seems like a primary reasoning for this trade.
Source familiar w/ Kings’ thinking: "Vivek thinks Buddy [Hield] has Steph Curry potential.” Am told that fixation was a key driver in deal.
— Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) February 20, 2017
Well, Vlade Divac is apparently just the puppet! Good thing the Kings have a fall guy, amiright?! This roster looks horrific now, so Hield should have no issue taking the same amount of shots as Curry! Maybe Vivek meant potential in just USG and FGA! Hield is at 39.2% from the field on the season, although he’s at 36.9% from deep and maintaining a pretty low TO rate. He’s gonna be pretty ThrAGNOF, but I’d be spec adding him in 12ers.
Willie Cauley-Stein – Yeah, apparently he’s got the big buzz in this, and I’m right there with the bandwagon. Over his last 14 games, 9.7/4.4/1.1/0.7/0.7 hitting 77% from the FT line in only 18 minutes a game. Minus the rebounds, maybe Andre Drummond potential AND being competent at the FT line?! Damn, wish I had nabbed him in a few more RCLs, I was BLOCKnof streaming him in one league and luckily held on…
Matt Barnes – With the roster crunch, got cut. Hopefully he’s not at the same club as Vlade Divac the next few nights! Damn, sucks for my REL team, he was actually a nice REB source! He’ll get a reserve job somewhere though…
Tyreke Evans – Welcome back! So his injury-riddled body is now going to get more minutes again… I don’t mind adding him now, but I’m not so sure he’ll survive a bigger role…
Anthony Tolliver – REL bias again! Damn, why do I own two Kings?! Well, down to only one now… Obviously could be dealt, but last 21 games he’s 8.8/4.2/1.0/1.1/0.2 with 1.8 treys and shooting 44.8% from the field. A little ThrAGNOFfy, but a couple boards and a steal along with it, and now maybe a few more shots to boot? Actually a smidge interesting if he stays on the team.
Pelicans Wings – Hah, pun police! So it would seem both E’Twaun Moore and Solomon Hill are starters now… Maybe Dante Cunningham gets SF starting nods as well… But ugh, talk about a top heavy team… Should all get a little minutes-bump, but there’s not really much to see here.
Russell Westbrook – Both he and Brow gave Slim and I points for their All-Star “Game” performances on the 30-pt Challenge board, with Westy going for 41 and Brow an ASG record 52. Is it just me, or is the “game” becoming more and more of a joke? Globetrotters vs. Generals seems like a more competitive game these days!
Eric Gordon – Won the 3-point contest, which is fitting. I love the headline this blog put up for it though, Saturday was indeed a dumpster fire!
Glenn Robinson III – Won the dunk contest that I haven’t even bothered watching highlights for yet. With headlines like this, does Robinson feel like he actually “won” the thing?! I’d rather lose in a good one, than win something this way!
Yeah, that’s about all I got. The rumor mill is obviously turning like a dreidel at a bar mitzvah, so we’ll just have to see what actually gets done. All signs point to it being a pretty exciting trade deadline, especially with this Boogie deal as a precursor! We’ll obviously have coverage through the deadline, and Slim and I will be back with a Pod breaking it all down up Thursday night. Until then, be sure your teams are locked-and-loaded for the second half, and try to have in mind what roster spot you’re going to cut if you have to make a knee-jerk reaction to a trade situation… Happy All-Star Break, Razzball Nation!
