Wealth is a relative thing. I live in Los Angeles, where the average per capita income is $42,042. In Malawi, though, the per capita income is $250. An Angeleno would look like a king to a person from Malawi. That same Angeleno would be a peasant compared to any of the 103 billionaires living in New York City. This is where Forbes magazine comes in. With the Forbes 400 and Forbes Global 2000, there is no debate as to who the richest Americans and what the world’s top companies are. In addition, it includes countless articles on finance, investing, and marketing topics. “The Capitalist Tool” is money in the bank. So, it’s only fitting that Bryn Forbes did this last night:
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 24 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5/5 | 8/14 | 3/3 |
A ceiling outcome, no doubt, but money is money. With that said, the 25-year-old, third-year guard has started all 28 games this season. The minutes have been all over the map, as Pop does what Pop do, but he’s averaging a tick under five threeecolas and cashing in two per game. Unfortunately, Forbes does not have a diversified portfolio, so don’t expect much other than points and threeecolas, but he does play and it’s likely he trips into a few rebounds and assists from time to time.
Here’s what else I saw last night:
Al-Farouq Aminu
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 10 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2/4 | 4/8 | 0 |
Aminu is a low usage player who derives much of his value from rebounds, threeecolas, and steals. For the season, Aminu is a top 90 player. Over the past six games, though, he’s been a top 40 player because he’s been shooting a ridiculous 66% from the field.
Jusuf Nurkic
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3/9 | 9/10 |
Nurkic provides points, rebounds, steals, and blocks. He also shoots a good percentage from the free throw line. The only knocks on him are that he doesn’t contribute any threeecolas, only averages 26 minutes per game, and can morph into Casper the friendly ghost some nights. With that said, he’s a top 50 player.
Damian Lillard
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 34 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4/7 | 12/25 | 6/7 |
Top 10 player for fantasy. Y’all know what time it is….
CJ McCollum
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 22 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/5 | 10/21 | 2/4 |
CJ is so meh. He plays a ton of minutes, drains threeecolas, and jacks up plenty of shots, but doesn’t do much else. He does have a ceiling game once in while, though, and is still a top 70 player.
Clint Capela
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 13 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6/11 | 1/5 |
Only played 27 minutes due to fouling out. C & C was not a music factory last night.
Chris Paul
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0/4 | 2/12 | 7/8 |
The past four seasons, Paul has finished as the number 9, 8, 6, and 4 player for fantasy. During those years, he never shot below 46% from the field. So far this season, he’s shooting 42% and, over the past six games, that number has been 36%. There are always injury concerns regarding Paul, but if he remains healthy, I’ll trust the career numbers.
James Harden
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 29 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4/9 | 10/21 | 5/7 |
Two years ago, Harden messed around 22 times. Last season, he did it four times. So far this year, he’s done it once. That does not get me Harden excited.
Eric Gordon
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 14 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/5 | 6/13 | 2/3 |
Replaced James Ennis III in the starting lineup and played 39 minutes. Gordon is shooting 30% from downtown and 36% from the field. His career numbers are 37% from beyond the arc and 42% from the field. I told you the Osman Outbreak went airborne!!!
Daniel House Jr.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1/4 | 4/8 | 3/4 |
Played 19 minutes. With Ennis going down with a hamstring injury, we may have to raise the minutes roof for House. Watching him, the stroke looks good, yet he’s only a career 25% shooter from downtown.
TJ Warren
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 23 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/5 | 9/16 | 4/4 |
Still regulating on the regular.
Mikal Bridges
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2/6 | 3/8 | 0 |
Continues to start and played 32 minutes. The usage rate is low at 14, but he is a 3 & D fantasy asset.
Josh Jackson
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1/4 | 2/14 | 2/2 |
Played 35 minutes and got the start. It’s painful watching JJ play. He is just not a good player and jacks up some horrific looking shots. He’s starting and getting crazy run, though.
Deandre Ayton
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 12 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6/10 | 0 |
That’s three straight double-dubs for Ayton, which is nice. What’s Ayton better, though, are the blocks: 2, 3, 1, and 1 the past four games. He’s also dished out 4, 3, 2, and 3 dimes over that span. Deandre does need Ayton of work to refine his game, but he’s still only 20 years old.
De’Anthony Melton
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 17 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3/7 | 7/16 | 0 |
He had some bad turnovers, but he’s composed and moves smoothly around the court. The shot looks good as well. The Suns would be well-served if they play him along Devin Booker when he returns.
Jawun Evans
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2/7 | 0 |
Played 26 minutes off the bench. Elie Okobo was sent down to the G-League, so Evans is the backup PG, at least until Booker returns.
Trevor Ariza DNP-CD. The trade rumors are floating around, so Ariza is more than likely getting traded sooner rather than later.
LaMarcus Aldridge
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8/16 | 2/4 |
Only played 24 minutes, as the Spurs blew out the Suns, 111-86. LMA-O!
DeMar DeRozan
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 5 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2/6 | 1/2 |
HaHa HaHa.
Jakob Poeltl
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 8 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4/7 | 0 |
Poeltl gets the offensive rebound, turns around, looks, then fires the ball into the scorer’s table between two teammates. Now I get why Pop has issues with Poeltl.
Marco Belinelli
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/4 | 5/12 | 0 |
Hey a Marco! A Belinelli! Shoots a threeecolas! Has scored double-figures in three straight games and jacked up 12, 9, and 8 shots in each. His role is to shoot. It’s nice when role players know their role.
The Raptors slashed the Clippers, 123-99.
Kawhi Leonard did not play. Toronto did not deem it necessary to utilize their valuable asset on a team unworthy.
Serge Ibaka
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 25 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1/3 | 11/18 | 2/2 |
In 24 minutes! Iblocka is back! Well, not quite, as there was a time when he swatted away 3.7 per game. Those were the days. Anyways, we’ve discussed this more than once, but fewer threeecolas and more movement from Ibaka have led to more rebounds and higher efficiency (54% vs 48% last season).
Kyle Lowry
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4/8 | 8/13 | 1/1 |
Nice bounce back game for Lowry, as he had been dreadful the past….not one…not two…not three…not four…but five games. 0-for-5. 1-for-8. 2-for-8. 1-for-7. 4-for-14. He hasn’t been completely useless, though, as he was dishing out dimes and contributing the D. He was approaching top 10 value earlier in the season. The past five games, he’s been a top 150 player. Good thing for Lowry owners that this is not a split-it-down-the-middle scenario. Lowry should settle somewhere in the top 30 range.
Fred VanVleet
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 5 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1/2 | 2/5 | 0 |
VanElite. Shoutout to EMac, who is now at Awesemo, but used to work for FanVice for that nickname. Got the start with Kawhi out.
Jonas Valanciunas
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 16 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 7/12 | 1/2 |
Played 18 minutes. JV is a per-36 monster. He just doesn’t get the minutes, as he’s averaging 19.2 per game on the season.
When you get smoked by 24 at home, with the best player on the opposing team not playing, that usually calls for, NO BLURBS FOR YOU!! Thank the three-game slate.
Danilo Gallinari played 21 minutes and scored 11 points. Tobias Harris played 23 minutes and scored 10 points. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played 22 minutes and scored 7 points.
Avery Bradley
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/6 | 0/3 | 0 |
He was so impressively bad, that he gets a stat box and a blurb. Congrats!
Boban Marjanovic
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 18 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7/9 | 4/4 |
Boban is Valanciunas on steroids.
Tyrone Wallace
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 15 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0/1 | 6/11 | 3/4 |
Played 24 minutes. That’s how bad it got for the Clippers. Wallace had played 4, 7, 3, and 11 minutes the prior four games.
