Cue the epic guitar solo! Hayward’s owners can lay their weary heads to rest. Don’t you cry no more! Last night Gordon Hayward went 4-30-9-8-2-0-2 on 8-of-16 shooting and a perfect 10-of-10 from the stripe in 30 minutes off the bench. Hopefully, this marks the beginning of the return of Hayward to his old self. It has been pretty miserable owning him this year, but this could be a turning point for him. He’s still getting his confidence/sea-legs back and was averaging only 10.3 points coming into this one. This was on the heels of a back-to-back as well which means Brad Stevens is confident enough in Hayward’s health to give him big minutes. Many owners used a 4th/5th round pick on him, so if he can return to any semblance of the player he was in Utah, his owners will be happy.
There were seven games on the slate last night in the NBA so let’s dive on in to the Daily Notes!
Jayson Tatum– 3-19-9-2-1-0-2 on 5-of-10 shooting and made both FTs. Man, he is boring to own. No knock on him, but none of his stats really jump out at you. That being said, he’s a solid glue guy for any fantasy team. He doesn’t really hurt you in any way, but he’s not going to single-handedly win you a category for a week.
Marcus Smart– 2-6-2-3-4-0-0 on 2-of-4 shooting in 28 minutes as a starter. Boston fan: “You hear Smahht got the stahht last night? I’m picking him up in my fantasy league”
Other Boston fan: “Oh, you’re wicked Smahht now?” On the reals, I’m thinking about adding him for the steals, treys, and assists.
Robert Covington– 2-17-10-0-4-0-2 on 4-of-11 shooting and 7-for-7 FTs. He’s tied for the league lead in steals, although Harden and Butler are averaging more. He’s really living up to his namesake: Rob.
Andrew Wiggins– 2-17-2-3-0-0-2 on 5-of-12 shooting and 5-fo-6 FTs. He’s not terrible. That’s the nicest thing I can say about him. He’s been pretty disappointing as a whole for his career.
Derrick Rose– 2-26-0-4-1-0-3 on 11-of-18 shooting and made both his FTs in 29 minutes off the bench. The Rose Renaissance continues. I’m really in disbelief. I had left him for dead, but if he continues at this pace, we’re going to be talking about drafting him in the early-middle rounds.
Dario Saric– 7-4-1-0-1-0 on 3-of-7 shooting and 1-of-2 FTs in 20 bench minutes. Dario has been disappointing. That’s my expert analysis. He’s a hold, but I could see dropping in 10-teamers.
Jabari Parker– 1-21-12-2-1-1-4 on 8-of-15 shooting and 4-of-5 FTs. He’s not giving you much besides points and boards. I’m on the sell-high train, but do what you will.
Justin Holiday– 1-11-3-1-4-1-4 on 4-of-13 shooting and made both his FTs. Can you believe he’s ranked one spot higher than his older brother in Yahoo! right now? 3.0 3’s and 1.8 STLs per game are unreal for a guy you most likely got in the very late rounds or off the wire.
Zach LaVine– 2-29-4-3-2-2-2 on 11-of-17 shooting and 5-for-5 FTs. Zach ‘The Machine’ LaVine, rebounded from his dud last night, but it wasn’t even close to enough to beat the Rockets last night.
Lauri Markkanen– 2-10-4-0-1-1-0 on 4-of-14 shooting in 26 minutes off the bench. This was his long-awaited season debut, so there’s not much to take from this line, but I’m sure his owners are happy just to see him play.
Clint Capela– 18-15-0-0-1-0 on 7-of-11 shooting and 4-of-7 FTs. Kind of a ho-hum night for him, but it wasn’t a huge slate so I’ll give him the mention. He’s been crushing it lately.
Chris Paul– 2-12-3-13-2-1-4 on 4-of-11 shooting and made both FTs. I feel like he hasn’t been able to get into a good rhythm all year, due to injuries and the Rondo incident. Maybe Rondo has him with a magic loogie and cursed him. He should be fine, but I could see this being his worst year in a while. His numbers right now look close to his stats from his rookie year. Just food for thought.
James Harden– 6-30-6-7-1-1-7 on 9-of-16 shooting and 6-for-7 from the line. I don’t think he was even trying against the lowly Bulls…
Kawhi Leonard– 3-34-9-2-1-2-1 on 11-of-21 shooting and a flawless 9-for-9 from the line. The rest days are the only thing holding him back. Hopefully, the Raptors will still have something to play for down the stretch.
Fred VanVleet– 1-15-3-4-1-0-2 on 5-of-12 shooting and 4-for-4 FTs. He’s still borderline ownable in 12-ers for me.
Danny Green– 3-15-7-0-0-2-1 on 6-of-9 shooting. This is him in a nutshell. Well, pretty much every game is him in a nutshell. Okay, pretty much every game from any given player is that player in a nutshell.
Tristan Thompson-18-19-3-1-0-0 on 6-of-15 shooting and made 6-for-6 FTs. TT hitting the free-bies!
Colin Sexton– 10-2-2-0-0-3 on 5-of-12 shooting on 26 minutes. He started alongside George Hill who went 1-8-1-1-0-0-0 on 3-of-5 shooting and 1-of-2 FTs in 19 minutes. #TradeGeorgeHIll
Jordan Clarkson– 1-18-2-2-1-0-1 on 7-of-17 shooting and made all three FTs. Averaging a career-high 16 PPG, but pretty much everything else is lower than his career averages. He’s really embraced his role of scoring and nothing else.
Alec Burks– 1-13-6-0-1-0-2 on 5-of-13 shooting and made both FTs in 24 minutes of action off the bench. Might be worth a spec add. I’m waiting one more game though.
Spencer Dinwiddie– 8-2-8-0-0-3 on 3-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 from the line. He’s been consistently good this year, but this was his first clunker in a while. Nets were coming off a brutal double-overtime loss to the Grizzlies on Friday and put up a really lackluster performance against the Wizards. Not much to like in the box score.
John Wall– 3-30-5-9-1-0-2 on 12-of-24 shooting and 3-of-5 FTs. You can’t really complain about this line, but I’m going to any way. Did he forget how to shoot free throws, or does he just not care that much?
Otto Porter Jr.– 7-11-2-3-0-0 on 3-of-7 shooting and made 1-of-2 FTs. I think this Wizards team is just sick of each other. They gave it a good try, but they know they’re not winning a championship. It’s time to move on.
Markieff Morris– 2-20-7-2-3-2-2 on 9-of-12 shooting. 20+ points in three of his last four, with a two-point clunker in between.
Stephen Curry– 3-27-5-3-2-0-7 on 10-of-21 shooting and 4-for-4 FTs. Curry made his return after missing three weeks with a groin injury. The seven TOs are unusual, but chalk it up to rust.
Kevin Durant– 1-28-6-7-0-2-2 on 9-of-19 shooting and made all nine FTs. This is pretty much his floor. Buy-low!
Klay Thompson– 1-21-8-1-2-0-1 on 10-of-20 shooting. The Big Three had solid, yet slightly underwhelming nights and they lost to Detroit. This is not the Golden State I remember.
Blake Griffin– 2-26-6-5-0-0-2 on 9-of-22 shooting and made 6-for-6 FTs. Six games in a row without a steal or block! Detroit is 5-1 over that span! Keep it up Blake!
Andre Drummond– 16-19-0-3-2-4 on 7-of-14 shooting and 2-of-8 FTs. I wonder if Rae Sremmurd were just really wasted talking about Andre Drummond when they came up with their name, because that’s all I can think about when I read about Drummond. And the fact that he’s averaging a ridiculous 16.4 rebounds per game.
Stanley Johnson– 3-19-7-2-0-0-1 on 8-of-16 shooting. Three out of four solid games for Stanley, and that ain’t bad. Go ahead and scoop him if you want, just don’t expect a ton.
Giannis Antetokounpo– 33-19-7-3-2-6 on 10-of-17 shooting and 13-of-16 FTs. I love watching this guy play, but he’s hurting you in TOs and FT%, and not helping you in 3-pointers. He’s sitting at six makes from downtown on the year. So out of 579 points, 18 were from 3’s. Fun with numbers! I’m kind of off him as a mid-first rounder until he can improve one of these cats.
Brook Lopez– 3-13-9-1-1-2-3 on 5-of-11 shooting and 0-for-2 from the stripe. Nearly double-doubled, and I can’t remember the last time he did that! (It was last season.)
Eric Bledsoe– 3-27-5-7-2-0-2 on 11-of-18 shooting and made both his FTs. After a dud against Chi-Town, came back to drop a season-high 27, albeit in overtime against the Knicks.
Malcolm Brogdon– 4-22-6-4-1-0-2 on 9-of-12 shooting. Shooting 52.5% on the year. He’s so under the radar… 29 teams are regretting passing on this guy. Malcolm’s in the Middle of a career year.
Noah Vonleh– 3-15-5-1-1-0-2 on 6-for-6 shooting. Started and got 35 minutes. This game had some huge lines, but Vonleh’s actually been pretty good for most of the season. Nothing really jumps out at you, but he can get a little of everything with low turnovers. He’s going to hurt your FT% a bit though.
Enes Kanter– 8-7-2-0-0-1 on 4-of-6 shooting and missed his lone FT. He got 26 minutes, but the Big Turkey ran a-fowl last night. That’s A+ material right there. Kanter will bounce back, but I might not…
Emmanuel Mudiay– 4-28-3-7-1-0-3 on 10-of-18 shooting and 4-for-5 FTs in 36 starter’s minutes. He’s the type of guy that over five games, three will be really good, and two will be really bad. That being said, I think you have to pick him up for the potential. Also, Trey Burke may be missing a few games.
Tim Hardaway Jr.– 3-21-4-8-0-0-3 on 8-of-22 shooting and 2-of-4 from the line. The shooting has been off over his last five. Hopefully, he’s not hiding an injury. Still, not a bad line.
Kevin Knox– 5-26-4-4-1-1-2 on 9-of-20 shooting and 3-of-5 from the line. Career-night for Knox in his young career, but his percentages are going to be all over the place. Not for me, but the upside is huge.
Damyean Dotson– 5-21-5-1-1-0-0 on 7-of-9 shooting and made both his FTs. After four consecutive DNPs, he’s averaged 18 PPG over his last three. Hard to doubt a guy with Dam! Yea, Son! In his name.
Thaddeus Young– 14-4-1-1-0-2 on 6-of-8 shooting and 2-for-3 FTs. I’m still holding on to Thad. He’s not gonna wow you, but to me he’s still more useful than most of the guys floating on waivers. Double-digit scoring in seven of his last eight has finally pushed his average up above 10 per game. Thad-Not-Bad.
Bojan Bogdanovic– 2-27-3-0-2-0-3 on 10-of-19 shooting and 5-of-6 FTs in 37 minutes. Got a little boost with Victor Oladipo missing another game and is quietly having his best season as a pro. He doesn’t look like your typical NBA star with his little bald spot, but dude can ball. Had an amazing finish at the rim in this one too.
Myles Turner– 14-12-4-0-3-2 on 6-of-10 shooting and 2-for-3 FTs. This is who he is! He just doesn’t seem to have that alpha scoring mentality. He hasn’t gone over 18 once this season.
Darren Collison– 2-11-4-12-6-0-6 on 3-of-8 shooting and 3-for-3 from the line. Collie with the dime doggie-bag. Woof!
Domantas Sabonis– 6-7-5-0-2-7 on 3-of-7 shooting. Not his best night, but he’s been a steal for his ADP so I’m not complaining. He’s not getting slept on next year so enjoy him now.
Doug McDermott– 2-14-1-1-0-0-0 on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-for-3 from the line. Averaging 16.5 PPG over his last four, but I’m sure no one owned him during that span. He could be a 3-point streamer if someone is out for the Pacers though.
Willie Cauley-Stein– 17-13-3-1-0-3 on 8-of-13 shooting and 1-for-4 FTs. Did you know that if you Google his full name it’s actually Wilfred Cauldron-Steinbeck? He’s one of the worst free throw shooters in the league, but if you paired him with Drummond, your team could be dominating boards and FG%.
De’Aaron Fox– 15-4-6-4-1-6 on 4-of-16 shooting and made 7-of-7 FTs. He’s like Giannis-light. Both are fun to watch, but when you dig deeper, they hurt you in a few ways almost every night.The free throws were nice tonight, but he’s sitting at 70.9% on the season on 5.8 attempts per game, and that my friends is a drain.
Buddy Hield– 2-18-5-4-0-0-2 on 6-of-16 shooting and made all four FTs. He kind of froze out Bogdan late in the game when he was calling for the ball and just chucked up a three. Since Bogdan’s return, Buddy’s come back to Earth a bit, so if my eyes don’t deceive me, there’s something going on around here. Joe Jackson.
Bogdan Bogdanovic– 3-20-2-6-2-0-3 on 7-of-12 shooting and 3-for-3 FTs in 31 minutes off the bench. 20+ points in his last three. I love this dude’s game and he looks cold-blooded out there. I want all the Bogdanoviches on my team! Hopefully, you stashed him.
