If you want a guaranteed chuckle, watch this Al B. Sure! video. Ha! Gotta love the late-80s and early-90s. As much as we clown now, though, Al B. Sure! was a star back then. The above song was No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and he was nominated for Grammy and AMA awards. There’s another Al that gets clowned on as well: Al Horford. Why? Click HERE. Ha! Too funny. He also seems to be underrated and underappreciated in the fantasy community. Well, last night he reminded us all why he’s so damn good…
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2/6 | 8/21 | 3/4 |
Over the past four games, Horford has been the #6 player in fantasy. On the season, he’s top 25. Many view him as a better real-life player than fantasy asset, yet since 2010, Horford has ended as a top 20 player five times and has never finished below #43 on a per-game basis. Al B Good for Sure!
Here’s what else I saw last night:
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 23 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4/9 | 8/16 | 3/4 |
Got the start and played 41 minutes, as Mikal Bridges was shifted to the bench. Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton are the foundation pieces for the Suns, but Oubre has been the best player over the past month or so. Obviously, if he continues to start and get close to 40 minutes of run a game, then his fantasy value will spike up. Oubre will contribute points, tres, boards, steals, and decent percentages.
Tyler Johnson
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 5 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0/2 | 1/7 | 3/4 |
This Johnson has been quite limp from the field, as he’s been shooting 20% from the field over the past four games. Almost as good as abstinence! With that said, he’s starting and getting over 30 minutes of run per game. He’s a career 43% shooter from the field, so he’ll eventually heat up. I just realized that he went from the Heat to the Suns. Ha!
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 30 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3/9 | 10/20 | 7/9 |
Booker has scored over 30 points 14 times this season, but he’s also been held to under 20 points 11 times. And no 40 or 50 burgers! Bah humbug. He’s increased the assist number by almost 2 per game from last season. I like to see that progression. Anyways, Booker has the ability to go ballistic on any night and is a top 60 player on the season.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 0 |
Played 24 minutes off the bench. A huge blow for Bridges if he’s relegated to the bench now, as he needs the minutes and volume to be fantasy viable.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 16 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3/8 | 6/13 | 1/2 |
Got the start and played 22 minutes. That’s what all you Love owners have been patiently waiting for. Was it worth the wait? Did you use protection?
Cedi Osman
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 19 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5/8 | 7/12 | 0 |
Played 34 minutes and led the Cavs in scoring. Cedi doesn’t contribute much in the D cats, but he provides points, tres, boards, and dimes. And he hasn’t been tanking the field goal percentage. Osman! Acutally, the efficiency has been very good, like close to 50% good over the past two months.
Ante Zizic
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7/9 | 1/2 |
Got the start and played 26 minutes. Ante up if you want excitement in your life, as you never know what he’s going to do and how many minutes he’s going to get.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0/4 | 7/9 | 0/2 |
Played 29 minutes off the bench. Just play him!!!
Al-Farouq Aminu
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3/4 | 4/6 | 0 |
Consistency is often boring yet underrated. Missionary again? Hey now, it’s still sex. When I say Aminu contributes points, boards, and tres, you best believe you are getting points, boards, and tres. And not much else, but I never mentioned that he would.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 27 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0/1 | 10/15 | 7/8 |
Brooklyn is one of the juiciest matchups for centers, and Nurkic did not disappoint. The main thing to glean from last night’s performace was the minutes distribution with Enes Kanter in the mix. Kanter played 20 minutes and scored 18 points with 9 rebounds, while Nurkic played 28 minutes. That will likely be how the minutes are allocated going forward.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 13 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2/9 | 5/21 | 1/1 |
Y’all know how much love I have for Lillard and Dame Dolla. So good on both fronts, but I wanted to talk about his comments over the All-Star break about how he wouldn’t sell out to win a championship. I respect it and that mentality makes me love him more. With that said, I always understand and respect the Kevin Durant/Anthony Davis perspective as well. Don’t mind me. I’m just chilling on my little fence hoping that I don’t turn into Humpty Dumpty.
C. J. McCollum
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1/6 | 9/19 | 2/2 |
Top 60 player on the season. He’s so meh, but every once in a while, C. J. will morph into M. J. and keep him in our consciousness.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4/7 | 4/4 |
Only played 23 minutes due to foul trouble. As a result….
Ed Davis
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6/7 | 3/3 |
Mr. Ed is an Aminu clone without the tres. Played 23 minutes, but don’t get your panties in a bunch, because this horse rarely plays over 20 minutes.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 4/11 | 3/4 |
Got the start but only played 21 minutes. The Nets will likely monitor his minutes, as he continues to recover from the injury. He did play 31 minutes in a game before the break, but that was a close affair, so game flow may dictate things going forward. The main issue is that the Nets are healthy and could realistically play 12 players now.
Allen Crabbe
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3/8 | 7/13 | 0/1 |
Played 29 minutes. Atkinson loves him some Crabbe. I’m a lobster guy myself, but I get it, as Crabbe is a marksman from downtown. His minutes have been secure in the 29 minutes range, but we’ve also thrown him back into the ocean multiple times this season.
Dwyane Wade
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 19 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0/1 | 8/18 | 3/6 |
Played 31 minutes off the bench. April 9th cannot get here fast enough.
Dion Waiters
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 18 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2/7 | 7/16 | 2/2 |
Dion Waiters for no man, as he was right behind Wade in scoring and shot attempts. Over the past four games, he’s been a top 100 player, contributing points, tres, boards, dimes, and steals.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/3 | 7/13 | 0 |
Continues to start and played 29 minutes. Olynyk has started the last six games. Will it continue? Shrug emoji. I have no idea what Spoelstra is going to do. If you are really hard up for the Kelly O, he’s been averaging 23.7 minutes, 9.4 points, 1 tres, 4.6 boards, 2.4 dimes, 0.4 steals, and 1 block.
The center shituation continues to be a shituation, as Hassan Whiteside played 21 minutes, while Bam Adebayo played 17 minutes. Whiteside contributed 4 points, 5 boards, 2 dimes, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. Bam provided 6 points, 2 boards, 2 dimes, and 2 steals.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 23 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3/7 | 8/15 | 4/6 |
Led the Sixers in scoring, as Joel Embiid (knee) did not play. Since arriving in Philadelphia, Harris has been a top 55 player, as opposed to the top 25 player he was with the Clippers. The scoring is down by 2 points, the shot attempts are down by 1.6, and the usage is down but 1. Everything else is the same.
Boban Marjanovic
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 19 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 6/7 | 7/10 |
Got the start and played 27 minutes. You don’t mess with the Boban! While with the Clippers, Boban never received more than 23 minutes of run in any game, so it’s a good sign that the Sixers gave him 27 minutes last night.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 9/19 | 3/7 |
Over the past five games, the boards (9 to 4.6) and dimes (7.8 to 5.8) have plummeted. Small sample size for sure, but something to keep an eye on.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 18 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0/2 | 5/14 | 8/8 |
The best kind of help is the one that you don’t even notice. Like, go to a restaurant and the cups are always filled, the table is cleaned, and the dessert menu is handed to you without asking. That’s Butler’s season in a nutshell. The quietest top 20 performance in recent memory.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 17 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 7/13 | 2/2 |
The usage (22 to 24), minutes (31 to 33), shot attempts (13.4 to 14.5), and rebounds (6.3 to 8) have all ticked up over the past four games. Top 60 player, which makes Channing very, very happy.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 22 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4/8 | 9/27 | 0 |
Played 41 minutes. It’s all about health for Kyrie. When healthy, he’s been a top 10 player for fantasy. Unfortunatley, he’s missed six of the past 13 games.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3/4 | 6/9 | 0 |
Played 24 minutes off the bench. Brown is averaging 25.9 minutes, 1.2 tres, 4.3 boards, 1.4 dimes, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks. He’s shooting 45% from the field and 68% from the line with a usage rate of 22.2. The numbers are very similar to last season, although he’s playing five fewer minutes. From a real-life perspective, that’s positive, but doesn’t do much for fantasy.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 30 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1/2 | 11/19 | 7/10 |
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3/6 | 5/14 | 2/2 |
It’s all about the shooting efficiency for Middleton. He contributes points, tres, boards, dimes, and steals, but there are times when he shoots in the low-to-mid 30s. When he shoots in the 40s, then he’s able to reach his ceiling, which is top 25-30 player. So far this season, he’s been more like a top 70 player.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3/6 | 6/14 | 0 |
Outside of G, Brogdon has been the steadiest Bucks player. Should we rename him Malcolm Middleton? Top 50-ish player who won’t contribute much in the D cats, but will provide excellent percentages with points, tres, boards, and dimes.
Eric Bledsoe
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0/4 | 2/9 | 1/2 |
Man, it must’ve been one helluva All-Star break for Bledsoe.
Nikola Mirotic
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2/6 | 3/7 | 0 |
Only played 14 minutes, as it was the first game back from a calf strain that forced him to miss 11 games. He should be a vital piece when he gets healthy. The only question is how many minutes will he get.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6/9 | 0 |
The Music Factory is once again open for business, as C & C got the start and played 33 minutes. Kenneth Faried, who had filled in admirably while he was gone, played 18 minutes off the bench and contributed 13 points, 6 boards, 1 dime, 1 steal, and 1 block. As long as Capela is healthy, he will get the majority of the center minutes.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 23 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3/5 | 9/15 | 2/2 |
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallmost messed around. Played 35 minutes and looks to be back. Paul has missed 23 games this season, but on a per game basis, he’s been a top 25 player with room for growth. Since 2010, he’s finished as a top 5 player five times and has never been outside the top 10. Crazy!
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 30 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2/10 | 11/24 | 6/7 |
Trade him! He stinks!
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 29 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0/4 | 11/23 | 7/10 |
Played 40 minutes and Primetime LeBron has been activated. As long as the Lakers have a shot, LeBron is going to play a ton of minutes and do his thing. If they slide into the abyss, though, he’ll be memorizing his lines for Space Jam 2.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 27 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0/3 | 8/16 | 11/14 |
Played a team-high 41 minutes. Is it happening? Love the aggression, especially on the glass. The free throw shooting is the eye-opener, as he often languishes in the sub-70% zone. With that said, he has a long way to go in order to be a top 100 fantasy player.
JaVale McGee
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4/8 | 3/3 |
Only played 20 minutes, as Primetime LeBron has been activated, so lots of small ball with LeBron playing the 5.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 18 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2/4 | 6/14 | 4/6 |
Top 100 player for fantasy. Fox provides plenty of dimes and steals, but the efficiency isn’t great.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 19 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2/8 | 8/19 | 1/1 |
Buddy is fifth in the NBA with 434 tres attempts, fourth in tres percentage at 44%, sixth in tres per game with 8, and fourth in tres made per game at 3.4. He also rebounds well for a guard, pulling down 5.1 per game.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 14 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1/4 | 5/10 | 3/3 |
Got the start and played 31 minutes. The Kings went with a starting lineup of Fox, Hield, Bogdanovic, Barnes, and Cauley-Stein. Me likey. The efficiency isn’t great, but BogBog negates that somewhat by contributing a little something something across the board.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 28 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1/2 | 8/19 | 11/14 |
Played 34 minutes off the bench. Bagley is a monster who will contribute in points and boards. I’m not sure I buy into the free throw proficiency, as he’s been sub-70% for most of the year, but I’m not one to completely dismiss improvement, so I’ll be keeping my eye on that. For as athletic as he is, MB3 doesn’t contribute much in the D cats. Hopefully that comes with time. And hopefully he continues getting over 30 minutes of run a game.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 28 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1/5 | 10/20 | 7/7 |
777! Jackpot! Durant is so ridiculous, but for some reason I feel like he’s going to go overlooked when people talk about the greats in the future. I hope not because he is so freaking good.
DeMarcus Cousins
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 17 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1/4 | 6/12 | 4/4 |
Played 27 minutes. Kerr did say that he may start playing Cousins more, so that’s very encouraging and something to monitor. As it stands, he’s been playing 27-28 minutes per game over the past five. Per minute, he’s been a monster, so any increase in playing time is going to be a boon. I was wrong on Cousins. I shall perform seppuku for what seems like the millionth time.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 36 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 10/16 | 12/23 | 2/2 |
Milwaukee allows the most three-point attempts per game. Guess who’s 29th? The Sacramento Kings, so last night was a match made in heaven for Curry. Plus, they play at the third-fastest pace in the league and are poor at defending the point guard position.
