After a pretty quiet first week, we’re all the sudden getting ravaged by injuries and late DNP scratches. LET STEROIDS BE ALLOWED AGAIN DAMMIT! No one wants to see Austin Rivers start an NBA game… And then to top it off, the Clippers started a backcourt with daddy’s boy Austin alongside Pablo Prigioni… Who is certainly old enough to be Rivers’ daddy too…
But before that travesty in Phoenix, the Wolves decided to scratch Ricky Rubio after calling him probable. To be fair, it was probable they were going to get bludgeoned by the Warriors, then again they played Golden State pretty close… Mitchell probably thought this was a loss anyway, but who knows if Rubio would’ve made a difference over the Zach LaVine start and the out-of-nowhere minutes for Andre Miller. Then to just make assists even more a lost cause for fantasy owners, Chris Paul was suddenly questionable then ruled out with his groin strain. Maybe his groin injury is some sort of cosmic karma for punching Julius Hodge in the nuts when at Wake Forest… Isn’t cosmic karma an ice cream flavor…? Whatever, anything to keep me from saying groin again! There isn’t much of a fantasy spin on these frustrating-as-hell DNPs, other than Rubio indeed looked like a massive sell-high after that opener and CP-3 needs to re-nicknamed CP-DNP. Both will be managed and it will hurt their overall value, so if you can sell for per-start stats, I would. And just like the trend we’re seeing in all the other major sports, players will be managed through minor bumps and bruises, especially injury-prone and older players. LET STEROIDS BE ALLOWED AGAIN DAMMIT! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
Gordon Hayward – Even though he only made a third of his shots from the field, we got a nice bounce back from his lowered FT rate so far this year (10-12 last night) in a solid 24/11/3 night. Although he didn’t quite give me a hard part without any 3s, STL or BLK…
Rudy Gobert – Monsieur Elbow sat with a kankle. The Stifle Tower needs some renovating. It’s The Leaning Tower of Gobiza.
Trey Lyles – Got the start, and Slim texted me “over/under 20 minutes?” I took the under. Can that finally score me a point on the 30-Point Challenge board?! 17:39 of yawwwwwwwwwwwwwwn.
Derrick Favors – He’s just ridiculous… Had to completely man the post to guard Whiteside, and was one of only two Jazz players to shoot over 50%. 10-18 FG (5-7 FT) 25/12/2/3/7. Gobert transferred some of his shot-blocking fairy dust to Favors’ limbs to make Favors an ultimate Frankenstein of fantasy big man goodness.
Alec Burks – Woooooo! Sometimes it’s good being #1… And, ummmm, sometimes it’s not… But here it’s looking solid, with Burks making some crazy difficult layups and joining Favors as the only other Jazz player shooting over 50%. 9-16 FG (3-3 3PTM 3-4 FT) 24/3/2/1/0, given his final trey was at the buzzer in a 4-pt game. Sure after that 8-dimer a few back the AST haven’t been huge, but they’re improved the last three and he’s got 7 treys the past 2 games after only 3 in the first 6. 21+ points in 3 of 5 as well. It’s all comin’ together!
Trevor Booker – Somehow fouled out, even though he jumped over Chris Bosh’s back knocking him over and somehow avoided an over-the-back call… I’m just struggling to say anything else interesting about the Jazz…
Tyler Johnson – I certainly had something interesting going on in my Johnson during this game! We talked about streaming him for last night’s game on the Pod, and he delivered for me in all my RCLs (plus my REL squad) for 17/4/3/1/2 hitting 8-12 from the field and making his only trey. He’s an energy guy that just keeps seeming to deliver, but Dwyane Wade was a last minute DNP (personal) and Gerald Green is still either recovering from a bender or suspended or whatever the hell is going on there, so there was a big void Johnson could fill… And I expect him to fill it well when give the chance…
Josh Richardson – Technically got the start at the 3, and while he hit three shots early, faded into oblivion. Starring Tom Cruise.
Chris Bosh – Just looks awesome – great to see after the health scare last year. Boshasaurus for 25/8/4/0/4 with a trey on 9-18 shooting.
Hassan Whiteside – Got hammered in the post with a lot of Favors traffic, then it seemed like he was hammered at the FT line with an annoying 1-4. Looked like he mighta had this sorted out before 4-10 the past two games! Even though he didn’t have his normal FG% explosion, 9/14/0/1/5 is just fine.
Goran Dragic – A lot of frustrated dragon owners. Everyone really wishing the Heat knew how to train their Dragon… Even with no Wade siphoning off all that usage, 14/3/4/2/0 with no 3s and 4 TO, shooting 5-12. It still just HAS to get better, but man it’s tough right now with Tyler Johnson outshining him…
Zach LaVine – Poor Rubio getting clowned by the TNT guys at half for not playing… I bet it wasn’t Rubio’s decision, lay off Shaq! LaVine gets the start, and cuts down on both the TO but also the AST (8:8 AST:TO to 1:2 last night, ummmmm, awesome…). 13/2/1/1/0, but at least chipped in a nice 7-8 FT. I am guessing Rubio plays tonight after going in last night probable, but with the Wolves, you just never know right now…
Gorgui Dieng – Looks goood! …when he plays… Was part of a nice spark towards the end of the 3rd/early 4th for the Wolves, but still only got 18 minutes for 11/4/0/1/1. Choo choo! The Dieng Train is steaming off into the sunset…
Karl-Anthony Towns – 5 TO and no blocks in a tough matchup. Did still dubdub shooting 7-15, so despite the bad game, always manages to land on all fours… Like a KAT!
Shabazz Muhammad – 16 Pts off the bench without much else. If you’re going to actively punt games this early with a decent record, even if it is against a possibly historic Warriors team, go ahead and Chapter 11 K-Mart already! No Kevin Martin would make Shabazz close to a must-own in 12ers…
Nemanja Bjelica – Started pretty slow, but still had a usable 8/9/3/1/0 line with no TO and a trey. Did hurt you with the shockingly odd 1-4 FT, as his FT% woes press on through this early-going to his NBA career. Fluky.
Andrew Wiggins – Calmed down a little, but 19/2/5 with only 1 TO and shooting 7-17 with another trey is a decent enough outing. Hopefully this is still towards the lower end moving forward.
Draymond Green – Wooooooooooooo, #OccupyDraymondGreen baby! I can’t believe that we had to YET AGAIN lead the bandwagon for the DrayDray occupation. Of course we were bested by just one spot by one ranker this year after having him 10 spots higher than the field last year, but again, more-or-less leading the torch. Shun the nonbelievers! Or um, ya know, block them I guess… Ya know, to continue the hashtag/Twitter thing…? No…? Anywho, 23/8/12/2/2 on 8-10 FG (2-3 3PTM 5-5 FT) in one of the more monstrous lines this season. Why anyone was thinking 2014-15 was a fluke is beyond me…
Festus Ezeli – Continuing to start over Andrew Bogut, and while hit a nice 5-6 from the field, no blocks and didn’t make it another Festivus… Back-to-back games with 0 blocks and 4 fouls. “Hey ref, no blood no foul!”
Klay Thompson – Even with the 9 attempts from deep last night (made 3), overall 3PTA volume remains lower than last year, as does the percent. Both are climbing, so there’s still a buy-low opportunity.
Stephen Curry – O-VER-RATE-ED! boom boom boomboomboom O-VER-RATE-ED!
Markieff Morris – Left after only 6 minutes with a “mild” left knee strain. Not to do any panic reporting, BUT WILSON CHANDLER HAD A MILD HIP STRAIN! And we all know how that went… Kieff should be fine, and remains in the basement of value. Buy him low! Crazy to think that brother Marcus might be able to get you Kieff… Although I honestly don’t know if I’d do it! I might hold Marcus Morris! Jon Leuer had a low-end dubdub, but he’s only worth a look as a spot-streamer in deeper in the non-Kieff games, if there are any.
T.J. Warren – Tied a career-high with 18 Pts, and surprisingly chipped in a steal and a block. Through the first 7 games, had 3 steals and 0 blocks, with 3 3PTM. Why you don’t want Warren. He’s Enes Kanter without the rebounds…
Brandon Knight – Mmmmmmm, just needed some Austin Rivers in his life! Tied a career-best with 37 Pts on 14-22 FG (6-10 3PTM 3-4 FT) 37/2/4 with only 1 TO. This time it was…
Eric Bledsoe – …acting as the TO vortex! Nearly quaddubbed! 26/10/6/2/0, but with that 8 TO in there, it’s a cloudy line. Not a shock that this was by far the best backcourt game for the Suns going against that horrific lineup the Clips threw out there…
J.J. Redick – A lot of the Clips ineptitude last night was Redick not playing due to back spasms, I believe caused by his flared up bacne.
DeAndre Jordan – 5-13 FT in an awful game for Dre owners. FT punt without the nice other stats! He did bang his shoulder a little bit, but the Cilps think he’ll be fine. Although 5-13 is 38.5%, so it actually raised his FT% to 35.0% on the year. Maybe the training staff should intentionally bang up the other shoulder too!
I hope everyone is enjoying a winning week 3, and we’ll catch you on Monday to preview week 4. Have a great weekend, Razzball Nation!
