Oh Washington. Like the great Linkin Park song, you tried so hard and got so far (not that far), but in the end it doesn’t even matter. The John Wall/Bradley Beal combo looks so good on paper, but they never really got the complementary pieces to make it work. Ownership tried to cobble together something resembling a good team, but they could only get second rate players, afterthoughts, and Dwight Howard. I feel for teams like them. You know they’re not going to win a championship, but they’re still pretty good. The timing was all wrong. A bunch of players who were great at certain times in their lives, just couldn’t all be great at once. Ok, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, John Wall was out for the Wizards and Bradley Beal went 4-40-11-15-0-1-8 on 17-of-33 shooting and 2-of-2 FTs in a mind-boggling 54 minutes of triple-overtime glory. He could be headed to the Lakers or elsewhere, and no one on Washington is really safe from being traded, so for now, Wizards fans are just going to have to enjoy what they have. Pretty much what they’ve been doing for their team’s entire existence… Hopefully, you had some players on the Suns or the Wizards.
Jeff Green– 2-20-8-0-1-0-0 on 4-of-8 shooting and a perfect 10-for-10 from the line. Mean Jeff Green is ownable in 12-ers, but not super exciting. I mean, he’s only the third best Green in the league, and the it’s debatable that he could be fourth.
Thomas Bryant– 31-13-2-0-0-1 on 14-of-14 shooting and 3-for-3 from the stripe. I’m pretty sure he set some kind of team record for most points without missing a shot. That aside, If he could get 30+ minutes a night he could be something, but he usually hovers around 20.
Tomas Satoransky– 2-17-4-9-1-0-3 on 6-of-12 shooting and 3-of-4 FTs. If Wall gets traded, he’s the guy to pick up, but you already knew that.
Trevor Ariza– 1-14-7-7-3-0-5 on 5-of-18 shooting and 3-of-4 FTs. I think the trade can only help his value and he’s gotten 12 steals over his last three games. I’m seriously regretting not drafting him. He’s one of those guys that can win you steals for the week and he probably got taken around round 9.
TJ Warren– 3-28-8-4-2-2-1 on 9-of-18 shooting and 7-of-12 FTs. Does he ever not get 20?
Mikal Bridges– 1-5-4-3-2-1-0 on 2-for-4 shooting. Started and played 33 minutes, but since the game went into triple-OT, it’s hard to tell what the minutes will look like moving forward. He has a lot of potential, but four shots in 33 minutes is too timid for most fantasy owners.
Kelly Oubre Jr.– 3-20-5-0-1-0-1 on 6-of-14 shooting and 5-for-6 FTs. Came off the bench, but played 42 minutes. I’m guessing this trade helps Oubre as well and his usage could go up.
Devin Booker– 2-33-4-14-1-1-4 on 12-of-28 shooting and 7-of-8 from the line. Lots of career-highs in this one and Booker got his dish on in 55 minutes. Kind of expected more points given the extended time, but 33 is nothing to sneeze at.
Jamal Murray– 1-18-3-2-1-0-1 on 6-of-16 shooting and 5-for-5 from the line. His numbers have slightly regressed from last season, but he’s getting more assists and scoring a bit more on average. Owners probably have bigger problems on their hands though. In other words he’s only been a slight disappointment.
Malik Beasley– 11-4-1-5-0-0 on 5-of-14 shooting and 1-for-1 from the line in 25 minutes off the bench. He’ll have nice games like this occasionally, then totally disappear for a few games. Even with all their injuries, the Nuggets are still crazy-deep.
Danillo Gallinari– 3-21-4-2-1-0-0 on 7-of-11 shooting and made 4-of-4 from the line. Daaang Dan G!
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander– 14-2-6-2-1-0 on 6-of-10 shooting and made both his FTs. He’s got a weird playing time thing going on as he starts, but sometimes doesn’t close close games out, and gets more run in garbage time, for the learning experience. I think Doc should just play him like a regular starter because the Clippers aren’t headed anywhere anyway, besides an early playoff exit, but NBA teams don’t function that way.
Montrezl Harrell– 20-10-0-0-1-0 on 9-of-11 shooting and 2-for-3 FTs. After a quiet three game stretch, he’s had four pretty nice games in a row. He’s been a steal if you drafted him late.
Pascal Siakam– 26-6-2-1-0-0 on 11-of-21 shooting and 4-for-4 FTs. Speaking of draft day steals, he could be the biggest.
Kyle Lowry– 2-20-6-5-1-1-2 on 6-of-16 shooting and 6-for-6 FTs. He’s a free throw and assist maestro. Kawhi sat out, so the line could have been bigger, but the Raptors lost by 25 for obvious reasons.
JJ Redick– 4-22-3-5-0-0-0 on 7-of-12 shooting and 4-of-6 from the line. Typical JJ line minus the missed free throws. The JJ stands for just jump-shots.
Jimmy Butler– 12-7-7-3-1-2 on 4-of-10 shooting and 4-for-4 FTs. I think his numbers have taken a dip on the Sixers, but he’s still putting up useful lines every night.
Ben Simmons– 26-12-8-0-1-1 on 11-of-13 shooting and 4-of-6 FTs. Man, if he could score like this every night…well, he’d probably have less assists. Keep it up Benny!
Khris Middleton– 2-18-7-4-2-0-4 on 7-of-18 shooting and made both FTs. He’s so consistent, there’s just not much to say.
Giannis Antetokounmpo– 9-13-3-0-2-4 on 3-of-12 shooting and 3-of-4 FTs. The Heat put the clamps on the Bucks. Weird stat: Giannis has only two steals over his last seven games.
James Johnson– 1-11-6-4-2-1-0 on 5-of-9 shooting. This is kind of what people were expecting from him when they picked him up.
Dwyane Wade– 13-8-3-1-0-0 on 4-of-9 shooting and 5-for-6 FTs. The Swan song continues for the man known as Flash…Just retire already!
Rudy Gay– 2-13-8-5-0-0-1 on 4-of-9 shooting and 3-for-4 FTs. Having a nice bounce-back season. People forgot that he used to be a very good player. Players only last in this league if they are useful to teams and we crap on guys like Gay for not being that good, but he was one of the best for many years. Put some respect on his name!
DeMar DeRozan– 28-7-8-1-2-1 on 12-of-24 shooting and 4-for-5 FTs. Six is the number of threes DeMar has made this season. Think Pop told him something? He pulled him close and whispered in his ear, “Just be yourself”.
Clint Capela– 21-23-2-0-1-3 on 8-of-11 shooting and 5-of-8 FTs. Goro over here. I believe JB used to call the 20-20 line something like that… RIP in Peace JB. (Not dead)
James Harden– 7-39-4-10-2-0-3 on 7-of-19 shooting and 8-for-9 FTs. No CP3. This is what you want. This is what you get.
Eric Gordon– 4-18-2-6-0-1-2 on 7-of-20 shooting. Trust the Gordon 3-point man! If you get that, you know your ads.
Bryn Forbes– 2-12-5-1-0-0-1 on 5-of-10 shooting in 29 minutes. Turn it up! Bryn the noise! Is it Bryn or pronounced like Brian? Anyway, he’s like JJ Redick-lite.
Wesley Matthews– 7-25-3-4-1-0-2 on 9-of-15 shooting. He was a big reason the Mavs actually kept it close with the Dubs last night.
Jalen Brunson– 2-10-2-3-3-0-3 on 4-of-10 shooting. Started and got 24 minutes. Action Brunson has been getting a few more minutes lately, but he’s not really an add.
DeAndre Jordan-12-23-5-2-1-1 on 4-of-8 shooting and 4-of-10 FTs. 22+ boards in three of his last four is winning you some weeks. It feels good that he’s missing some free throws, like the world is back to normal.
Draymond Green– 2-14-10-5-0-2-3 on 6-of-11 shooting. Ah, the MVG is back: Most Valuable Green. Sorry Danny, Jeff, JaMychal, and Gerald in that order.
Jonas Jerebko– 2-23-6-3-1-0-0 on 10-of-12 shooting and made his lone free throw in 21 minutes off the bench. He’s probably the happiest guy in the NBA.
Paul George– 5-43-14-6-5-1-3 on 15-of-25 shooting and 8-for-10 FTs. Back-to-back 43-point games? Calm down PG!
Russell Westbrook– 8-12-9-3-0-6 on 3-of-17 shooting and 2-for-2 from the line. Oof…
Derrick Favors– 1-16-5-3-1-2-1 on 7-of-15 shooting and 1-of-2 FTs. Savor this Favors. This is kind of a ceiling game with Robert in the starting lineup.
Joe Ingles– 3-13-4-8-3-0-2 on 5-of-12 shooting. J. Ingles Bell Rocks! Would have been the clunky headline if the Suns and Wizards didn’t go into overtime.
Ricky Rubio– 2-12-7-14-3-0-4 on 5-of-11 shooting. The Ravishing Rick Rube with the fat dime bag! It’s sad that he never really became the dynamic player everyone hoped for, but he’s a nice late-mid-round point guard.
Donovan Mitchell– 2-20-9-6-1-0-4 on 7-of-17 shooting and 4-of-6 from the line. Mitchell and Yess! Haven’t been able to break that one out this year. He’s one of the bigger disappointments this year, and the Jazz have got to be the biggest disappointment in the NBA this year so far.
Have a Merry X-Mas! Thanks for reading! See you next year! https://i.redd.it/xrxnztxwta701.png
