Happy MLK Day! NBA Has Day Games!

Happy MLK day!  Sorry the notes were a little late this morning, I have the day off work and decided to sleep in!  Holidays be holidays!  And this is a great one – not only for the message and for one of the most influential men of the 20th century – but for the day-NBA we’re about to get!  Hell yes, day games!!!  [email protected] Poppycockers starts it off at 1:00 PM EST and games stagger their way through 10:30 tonight.  So be sure and set your line-ups early this morning/afternoon, and get ready for early action to kick off week 13.

As you all know, I write with an extreme stream-of-consciousness-ness (as you can tell by that mastering of the English language there), and I’ve decided I’m too excited to turn this into a standard open!  Big stuff happening in the REL (update up in a few hours), I’m about to watch the NBA all afternoon with a day off work, and Grey put out his top 10 for Fantasy Baseball this morning!  It’s like Christmas for me in fantasy sports land!  Then in the down time between games and Razzball writing, I’m going to spend my day off playing Rocket League, which I just got addicted to.  This is turning into the best day ever…  I guess I need to get to some daily notes at some point, ahhhhhh!  Here’s what went down over the weekend in fantasy hoops action:

Cody Zeller – After a little bit of a dry spell in production, mixed with a concussion and DNPs, Zeller has been tough to hold on to in 12ers, but the Sixers are the magic elixirs!  16/10/1/2/1 in the Hornets last outing on Friday – be sure he’s owned.

Nicolas Batum – Returned on Friday after only missing 2 games, going 19/5/2/2/0.  Now, the Hornets lost to those magic elixirs, but at least they got their starting 5 healthy again!

Brook Lopez – Well, even though Ol’ Clownfoot is healthy, we’re just going to keep DNP-resting him!  Where has this approach been for Bradley Beal?!  20/3/5/1/1 Saturday – must’ve been tired from hitting that glass so hard – giving Justin Hamilton the start yesterday.  Hamilton went for 11/3/2/0/3 in his 18 minutes, on 5-7 shooting with no TO.  Wait, why did he only play 18 minutes then?!  Ugh, Mess.

Lucas Nogueira – Hey Bebe!  Big minutes, Bebe!  10/9/2/0/4 against those very same Mess in 30 minutes Friday, then 4/4/1/3/1 last night in 35 minutes.  Raps going big!  Big Bebes!

Kelly Olynyk – Olynyk of Nazareth got hot in Hotlanta – probably felt like he was wandering the desert again!  26/8/3/1/9 in 9-11 shooting with 4 treys.  Last 4 games have seen a tiny uptick in minutes getting 22+ in all of them, with decent-enough back end production.  That said, rolled his ankle in practice yesterday, so might not play today.  I don’t know how many times I have to tell him to not practice in those damn old sandals!

Marcin Gortat – Saw Gerald Henderson flying at him and was probably like, “Ease up, Gerald, I’m not Tyler Hansbrough!”

Man, what a great weekend to be a Heels fan!  Big win against a good Florida State team, Henderson got shamed…  Then even worse by Kelly Oubre less than 2 minutes of game time later!

Shame!  Shame!  Shame!  Eat that, Gerald!

Tim Hardaway Jr. – Ahhhhh, the ups and downs of a true ThrAGNOF…  23/3/3/3/1 on Friday with 3 treys in a great showing against the C’s, but bleh 6/2/1/1/0 with no treys last night.

Kent Bazemore – A big reason for less TIMMAY! might’ve been Kent B actually making some buckets!  8-13 from the field with 4 treys, 4-5 FT, 24/2/1/2/0.  I was getting excited for his chances to break out of it with some stability at wing minutes, but then mother truckin’…

Mike Dunleavy – …who was whining after getting traded, comes outta nowhere for 20/3/2 off the bench yesterday, with 4 treys.  Dammit, they replace Korver with Dunleav, just to be sure they have an old white dude 3 point shooter!  Ack!  I still might give Bazemore flier ownership in 12ers again…

Malcolm Delaney/Dennis Schroder – Wait, when did THIS become a thing?!  Pretty much the worst weekend imaginable for Schroder owners, as he got into foul trouble and only got to 4/3/3 in 22 minutes Friday in a 2-point loss to the Celtics.  Delaney was going ham, for 17/4/6 in that game with 3-3 treys and a +23 over Schroder’s -23.  Ouch.  Schroder wasn’t much better yesterday for 6/2/6/0/0 with 5 TO, and Delaney got another game with more run, going 9/1/9 in 26 mins.  It was a blowout at least and the Hawks finished junk time strong, but again -9 for Schroder and +24 for Delaney.  This would probably have been my lead if this wasn’t so depressing…  I’m happy today, dammit!  Stay strong with Schroder, I think he bounces back just fine.

Eric Gordon – Returned from his toe injury for 13/1/1 on Friday with 3 treys (bleh), but then back to ultimate ThrAGNOF yesterday for 24/3/3 and 4 treys at the Mess.  Toe-tally wicked!

Patrick Beverley – Been in a little bit of a funk with a bad wrist, but playing the makeshift Mess is another magic elixir!  16/7/6/2/0 with 4 treys and no TO yesterday.

Josh Richardson – Eeeeeeesh, yeah this is no bueno.  The already talent-poor Heat lose JRich.  We are the 99%!  Except there’s no Heat occupying much of American Airlines Arena these days…  Spo said it’s a matter of weeks until JRich is back, and in the meantime he’s still in Das Boot.  No IL in most redraft leagues?  He’s gotta go.

Luke Babbitt – The Velveteen Babbitt!  16/4/2/0/2 with no TO in 32 starting minutes Friday night, and might be in the ThrAGNOF streaming class.  Not a ringing endorsement though, hah!

James Johnson – Engine of the team right now?!  10/2/12/0/2, and as I mentioned on the Pod, seems like he’s becoming a captain of this horrible team.  Whatever holds it together from utter chaos like D’Angelo Russell sending videos from the locker room out!  Somebody keep an eye out when Udonis Haslem starts talking about his glory years!

Michael Beasley – After blowing up last Tuesday and single-handedly beating the Spurs when Giannis Antetokounmpo was too sick to play much, has been surprisingly usable.  11/7/2/1/1 Friday on 5-5 shooting, then 11/3/1/2/0 last night.  That said, 21 then 18 minutes.  Will be tough to even consider except in the deepest of leagues, with that kind of bench run.

Nikola Vucevic – Was huge against the Blazers, and I’m starting to think POR is a great matchup for your streaming bigs.  I’m behind today, but will work with JG on that theory…  30/10/4/1/2 Friday, but kind a blah 15/8/3/3/0 last night.  Although it was against the Jazz, definitely one of the worst matchups.

Elfrid Payton – Put this on your Shelfrid!

I thought the Jazz were supposed to be GOOD on D! 19/4/7/1/1 then 28/9/9/2/1 games over the weekend, the latter against the Jazz.  I’ve made a lot of bad calls, but sticking with The Shelfrid is paying some mad dividends right now!

Kyle Korver – Finally did… Something.  4 treys for 18/5/2/2/0 for the Cavs against the Kings Friday.  Bleh.

Rodney Hood – Had a huge Friday for 27/4/2 against the Pistons with 7 treys, then decent 14/4/2 Saturday, but hurt his knee at the end…  Got diagnosed with a bone bruise and a hyperextension, so might be missing a few games here…

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Nooooooo, hurt his shoulder, my addiction is in dire straights!  Luckily it’s only a rotator cuff strain, but he’s going to miss a little time.  I’d like to take this chance to thank Yahoo for being prompt and putting him on IL for that…  Oh wait, it’s Yahoo.  Still “Out”.  Crooks.  Anyway, the Pistons went into panic mode, and started…  Aron Baynes for KCP?!  No joke!  Moved Marcus Morris to SG!  Well, that was the move for Friday, yesterday they started Reggie Bullock, who just stood around (29 minutes for 4/1/1/0/1).  This team, and well, I need KCP back, desperately!

Andre Drummond – Bruh be shootin’ treys now!

Look at the form, just sitting there ready on the perimeter, perfect BEEF when releasing the ball, and even more perfection with the 3 fingers celebration.  Picture perfect!  15/17/2/3/1 in a strong, shoulder-hair powered night against the Lakers yesterday.

DeAndre Jordan – Accomplished the Goromotaro!  24/21/0/1/2 on 12-13 FG in the Battle for Los Angeles on Saturday night.  #MozgovBoxout.

Tyreke Evans – I’ve always liked Reke as a player, loved that Kings rookie season, but I just never bought into him contributing enough/staying healthy this year.  After the big breakout Thursday night (29/4/3/4/1 – but against the Mess!!!!), 14/1/6/1/0 Saturday.  I mean, it’s good!  And only 1 TO is great!  But I think the latter is still going to be way more typical than the former.

Jimmy Butler – Pounded a ton of Halls Defense and ate a lot of chicken soup to get off his illness, going 28/8/6/4/2 for a rainbow Saturday night, then 16/8/6/3/0 yesterday in the back-to-back.  At least finished the week strong!

Doug McDermott – A popular streamer last week when half the Bulls got ruled out, McDermott decided that right when everyone got back was when he’d play well!  Was dreadful during the week with a big opportunity, but 31/6/0/1/1 out of nowhere last night, hitting 9-16 FG and 10-11 FT.  This was against the normally stout Grizz D as well!  No way I’m trusting much off this though…

Kawhi Leonard/Devin Booker – In the battle out West between epic SG games, we have the powerful Spurs gang, a powerhouse over the past ~20 years led by gunslinger Kawhi, who went nuts for 38/4/3/1/0, but the West is won by…  Devin Booker?!  One-upped Kawhi for 39/2/2/0/0 on 12-22 shooting with 12-12 FT in a shocking win for the Suns in Phoenix Saturday night.  What a game that was!

Jahlil Okafor – Well, proved he still has a pulse!  26/9/0/1/1 on 1-16 shooting in 35 minutes against the Wiz Saturday night, filling in for Joel Embiid resting his EMBIIIIIIID.  But flanking this game for Oke was nothing but DNPs.  Can the Trade Deadline get moved up already?!

T.J. McConnell – Runs away with the starting PG role, and hurts his wrist.  Sixers fans are like, “what, another PG with wrist issues?!”  If you can make same-day adds, Sergio Rodriguez is interesting today!

Dirk Nowitzki – 17/6/2/0/3 against the Wolves yesterday, and I mean, who is letting old man Dirk swat them these days?!  Take out the blocks and he’s still big man ThrAGNOF, but proving there’s still gas in his old Volkswagen tank!

Russell Westbrook – Quaddubbed Friday!  21/11/12 with the 10 TO, woooo!  Shot 7-23 that game on Friday, with another horrific 1-10 3PTM.  But maybe he has a reason for shooting all these MFing 3s lately!  They’re close to falling more often!  4-5 from deep yesterday on a 36/11/10/4/0 line.  Previous 3 before that, he was 2-24 from deep.  Lord give me strength!

Victor Oladipo – [almost] RainbOladipo!  23/1/2/2/2, just needed one more stupid board in his 40 minutes!  40!  And one rebound!  Sheesh…

Steven Adams – …and it’s not like Adams was out there, gobbling em up, Adams had to leave with a possible concussion last night…  Hopefully he can pass the protocol and play, but if not…

Enes Kanter – …Kanter is playing godlike right now.  Career-high 29 points when pressed into service last night, for 29/12/2/1/1 on 10-19 FG, 9-11 FT.  His post play right now is a wonder to watch.  If there’s no Adams for a few games, Kanter might go on a sexy run.

Darren Collison – 21/1/2/2/0 in an efficient 7-9 shooting last night in that game against the Thunder, but more importantly Ty Lawson only got 21 minutes before leaving early with a kankle, as they split PG down the middle.  Let’s hope Colly can fend Ty off, and he may get a default, added-helping of minutes if Ty misses games.

Michael Carter-Williams – Ya know, still looks OK out there, and there’s something to be said for just flying under the radar and not trying to do too much!  27 minutes, 14/7/3/1/1 last night, 4-5 FT, 2 TO.  It’s not huge, but it’s fine!

Speaking of flying under the radar and not trying to do too much, that’s gonna wrap the notes!  Haha, jk jk…  Whew, what a big weekend!  I hope you ended week 12 on a high note, and pumped to start watching some NBA this afternoon.  Drop me some comments, Razzball Nation, and catch you tomorrow morning!