Woooo-ie! When I think about why I’ve had such a bad past four weeks, it became easy to forget just how good Kawhi Leonard is! My deep league REL squad (20 team, 340 players owned) couldn’t handle the loss and I went into a Nicolas Cage Leaving Las Vegas tailspin of drinkery. But I’m back baby! Unfortunately not with Elisabeth Shue though…
Hitting the glass harder than a Coloradoan at a dispensary, Kawhi gobbled down 15 boards in a 17/15/3/2/1 line hitting 6-13 FG, three treys and 2-2 FT. All is right with the world! No fear in that hand, and no other Spurs player had more than 5 boards. Box out, Jamba Jus! I’ve been a big Kawhi fan his whole career, and I’m still eagerly awaiting the day Pop decides he will finally run Kawhi for 35 MPG. Hasn’t gotten to 31 in his three games back from the hand injury, and while the minutes are up this year, it’s still only 32 MPG on the season. Give him the Jimmy Butler treatment! And then we’re talking some no-brainer first round shizz. Maybe the big workload will happen once the vets are gone and Pop will be forced to play his superstar, but maybe Pop likes playing his hockey line changes. At least we can look back on Tim Duncan who was playing 39 MPG his first 6 seasons. Let the stars play! Either way, it’s just good to have Kawhi back. Here’s what else went down on a short night of NBA action:
Hassan Whiteside – Oh no. Sprained his ankle last night, left immediately, and has a Grade-1 ankle sprain. Was playing great too! 5-5 FG and a swat. I wish ankle sprains worked more on the hippie college professor scale. It’s a pass or fail! No grades! Grade-1 is the least severe according to Ask Jeeves, but he’s already out for tonight’s game at Charlotte. That said, it was a one game road trip, then back home Friday and he could be back by then. I wouldn’t make a rash move.
Dwyane Wade – One guy gets hurt, another returns. Real circle of life situation we got here in Miami. Bounced back from being hamstrung for 18/2/6/1/0 on 8-18 FG and 2-4 FT. Not great, but not awful. A healthy Dwyane Wade always seems like playing with house money, so after a hot streak I would pound on that trading block again.
Luol Deng – Had some sniffies but gutted through it for a typical Deng line of [stats not found]. He’s also not traveling to Charlotte tonight, but it seems like the Heat are giving anyone that needs it a little break, so maybe Spoelstra doesn’t travel either…
Shabazz Napier – Played a lot of the backup G minutes early, but Norris Cole came in and played those minutes in the second half. With Wade back and Mario Chalmers starting (and back to being full scrub), there’s just no reason to own Napier and Cole unless in the deepest of leagues.
Dion Waiters – Ewwwwwwww, “it smells like a diaper full of Indian food!” Couldn’t get anything going in 26 bench minutes for 1-9 FG, 1-2 FT 3/0/0/0/0. A lot of goose eggs in there! Waiters slammed the Cavs a little for not letting him get enough rock, but tonight the Cleveland side is feeling smart!
Reggie Jackson – Well, while R-Jax and Anthony Morrow were going off from the bench last night, Waiters was not invited to the party. 16/2/1 on 7-9 shooting for R-Jax with a few treys, so maybe a little more work will come his way. Even though Waiters inexplicably played more minutes yet again…
Kevin Durant – 19/8/8/4/1 without a single TO. Beastly! But struggled from the field shooting 9-24 and 0-8 from deep. Get it together, KD! Unacceptable!
Serge Ibaka – Another ewwwwww. 9/4/0/0/1 with 4 TO and had a little foul trouble with 5 personals. He’d been playing better lately, and a flurry of blocks is right around the corner, I can feel it! I can feel it, Razzball Nation!
Kenneth Faried – Well, Manimal gobbled up all the big man stats that were supposed to go to my stream J.J. Hickson! 26/14 for Faried, who if given 37 minutes every night would be studly.
Jusuf Nurkic – Jamba Jus! Gave us a little more life for 10/9/2/0/0, but where dem steals and swats at?! Nice to see 26 minutes, but Nurkic had a few rebounds spray out of his hands, looked a little slow, and this was a dream matchup against the soft Spurs interior. I still am holding where I can, but bleh.
Jameer Nelson – Well, at least the other stream call went well! 8/3/6 from Nelson with 4 TO and no threes. Yeah, I read it! I guess that’s not too great… Looks like the heavy dose of minutes is legit though. Trade bait!
Randy Foye – Second game back wasn’t all that much better. No reason to stash him through the easing in process.
Manu Ginobili – The assists resurgence! 8 last night, and a little hard to believe he’s at a career-best AST mark.
Aron Baynes – “Yesssssssss!” (in the Tom Hardy voice) 15/4/0/0/1 on 3-3 FG and 9-9 FT. Yessssss, Baynes had 9 FT in only 15 minutes. Some Australian haters on the Nuggets!
Danny Green – Rough, rough one for the Tarheel Triple, hitting only 2-12 from the field (2-8 3PTM) for 6/2/2/1/1. At least hit all the cats! The low TO and multi-cat makes him a metrics darling, but I still think he’s sometimes a little underrated. I would shoot some buy lows if owners are looking green in the face.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Langston Galloway (7% owned) – Returning to his old stomping ground! The Knicks go to Philly where Langston played 4 years at St. Joe’s. Great matchup with a little bit of that “behind the scenes” narrative flavor – yeah I think he will have a niceun.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (17% owned) – Well, I’m going with a ThrAGNOF I’m streaming in a league tonight, and just a feeling in my KCP addiction ravaged gut that he has a nice one against the Magic. 2+ treys in 3 straight and oddly a block in 4 straight. Mostly hoping for 18 Pts, 3 treys, and a little something extra to ice the cake.
I hope everyone is having a solid week, and thanks for stopping by!
