The tennis balls are off the legs, the HurryCane back in the closet, the pre-game meal eaten at 5:00 AM at the early bird special – we’ve got Kemba Walker back!
After a month and a half off, Walker came off the bench last night for the Hornets, and looked like Louis C.K.’s nethers. Rusty. 2-9 from the field for 6/1/2/0/1 with a TO in 16 minutes. While there’s no need to be harsh – we expected some rust after knee surgery – but Mo Williams played pretty well with 8 dimes and Gerald Henderson shocked the world with a career-high 11 assists. Ok, “shocked the world” may be a slight overstatement, I could say “it was so shocking it blew all his hair off!” It’s certainly interesting he had a previous career-high 9 dimes just last Sunday, so now there’s two facilitators to battle with. Makes me worried about Kemba’s assists upside, and he’s kinda looking like an Isaiah Canaan clone. Wait, I said I didn’t need to be harsh! That said, Kemba is healthy and has a lot more upside, so obviously worth owning everywhere. I just wouldn’t be shocked (unlike Hendo’s dimebag!) if he’s towards the end of the line if you’re killing Pts/3s and need to stream a stat at the end of week one of the playoffs… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
Ish Smith – Well that’s not annoying… Got the start over Canaan, who apparently had an illness, but Canaan still played 30 minutes off the bench… Weird. Anyway, both were the only O that Philly had in an OT loss with Ish for 23/2/6 with 3 treys and Canaan 20/3/0 with 4 treys. Can’t trust Philly for anything! I’d still rather Canaan, but yikes.
Robert Covington – Anddddd, Philly started Jason Richardson over Lord Covington. Somebody call the magistrate!
Thomas Robinson – Whoa, rebounds Mcgoo works for you! 7/15/2/1/1 in only 18 minutes. But shot 3-10 FG and 1-4 FT. At some point raw stays raw.
Aaron Brooks – Well, I wish I had more steadfastly stuck with Brooks over Canaan! I’ve been a little admittedly waffly (too many adverbs!), but Brooks had the monster last night for 31/4/5/0/0 with 3 treys. Usage is going to go your way when Joakim Noah isn’t running the point-C!
Tony Snell – He dubdubbed, but I care about that ugly 7. Not The Magnificent Seven. The Dirty Seven. Which is like a porno title where no one really tried… 10/10/2/1/0 but 7 TO. For a guy that’s at 1.2 TO in per-36! And only shot 2-9. Way to taint a dubdub. With numbers that smelled like a taint.
Ray McCallum – Whoa, look at Ray Mac with the near-dimebag! 6/4/9, but shot only 1-7 and split PG minutes down the middle with short-shorts Andre Miller. Nah.
Ben McLemore – 20+ points in 2 of 3 now with a 27/2/2 line last night and 3 treys. I thought he looked awful last year, but has really impressed this sophomore season.
Al Jefferson – Pop goes the weasel calf. I was never that good with barnyard animals… I always guessed wrong on that animal sound spinny thing. Left early last night and said he felt a pop in his calf muscle. Yikes. Bismack Biyombo should get a tad more run, but if Cody Zeller is still on your wire in 12ers, he becomes mad interesting. He was out last night with a shoulder sprain, but it sounds infinitely less severe than a calf pop. Which kinda sounds like a meaty popsicle. “Negative, I’m a meat popsicle!”
Marvin Williams – If Jefferson misses prolonged time and Zeller shifts to a lot of C minutes, it would get Starvin’ Marvin a little bit of an assured role. Got 32 minutes last night for 13/7/1/0/3 with 3 treys. The blocks and treys combo isn’t the easiest to find!
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – His game has become overrated for fantasy purposes, but put together a monster 23/9/2/1/2 line last night on 9-12 FG (5-8 FT). Plus only 1 TO! If he can start chipping in the steals and blocks like we previously expected, MKG would be great to use again.
Mike Conley – Everyone falling apart! Sprained his ankle but was able to return, then was badly limping after the Grizz lost to Boston. Talk about a bad night! Probably going to miss a few if I had to guess, as he’s already using Das Boot.
Tony Allen – Rainbow alert! 16/5/2/2/2 hitting 7-9 FG. He’s always been a force on D, but is at a career high 2 steals a game. Plus has 11+ points in 5 of 6. I’ve definitely been overlooking it – he can help a lot of teams.
Kelly Olynyk – Olynyk of Nazareth hath finally been resurrected! 15/6/3/3/0 with a couple of treys in by far his best game since coming off the kankle. Still only played 20 minutes though, and I don’t think he’s a must-own in every single league. But probably most 12ers.
Isaiah Thomas – IT2/3 sat with bruises to 2/3 of his body. Brad Stevens, aka the worst coach ever, said it’s very likely Thomas misses Friday and Saturday. In Slim and I’s F&F league with weekly locks, we had Brandon Knight and IT2/3 get hurt on Monday. Geez.
Chris Andersen – Whoa, Birdman got a new talon! But hat’s off to Rotoworld, they killed it with the headline “Birdman or (The Unexpected 18-14 Dub-Dub).” Seemed at first like he might miss the game, got a questionable tag, then officially active and tore apart the terrible Nets. 18/14/1/1/1, but it’ll go back to roost with Hassan Whiteside returning from the suspension next time out.
Jarrett Jack – Nice line from “Wahhhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack!” for 18/4/4 on 5-8 FG (1-1 3PTM 7-8 FT). Did a lot of “Wahhhh”-ing driving to the hoop to get those FT! Deron Williams was fine, but had 6 TO in his 32 starting minutes. Eh, Jack had 4 himself in only 22. It’s kinda a rich-man’s Kings backcourt going on…
Khris Middleton – The Middletit Duchess is just on fire right now, hitting 12-17 FG (4-4 3PTM 2-2 FT) 30/3/5/2/0 with only 1 TO. I mean, that’s like a top 15 or 20 line on the year! What a beast in the second half.
Michael Carter-Williams – Rainbo[MC]W! Eh, too contrived… Anyway, 11/9/6/2/2 with those typical 5 TO. At least hit 3-4 FT!
Chris Paul – Couldn’t get to 10 assists?! What a schlub! Droppable everywhere. 33/4/9/3/0 hitting 11-19 FG (5-8 3PTM 6-7 FT). Carrying the Clips pretty well (understatement of the year!) without Blake Griffin.
Matt Barnes – Nice bounceback from tattoo Matt for 22/3/1/3/2 with no TO hitting 6-8 FG (6-7 3PTM 4-4 FT). It’s just so hard to trust on a night-to-night basis in shallowers…
Russell Westbrook – Booo, no tripdub! Almost a quaddub though! 24/9/7 with 10 TO. Just wasn’t an OKC night…
Kevin Durant – …but at least KD has some optimism! Will be back in “1-2 weeks”. I wish in the corporate world I would work with that kind of time frame. “Yes sir, I’ll have the report done ASAP! Expect it in 1-2 weeks!”
Steven Adams – Second game back after missing a month with a broken hand, and got 22 minutes for 2/5/2/0/3. It’s low end and he had another game of foul trouble (5), but for the deep leaguers desperate for a big? Could do a little sumthin sumthin.
Atlanta Hawks – Slim laughed at me when I said the altitude might get to em! And they got blown the F out, even though the final score wasn’t so bad. And Coach Butthole really spread the minutes thin. Ugh.
Danilo Gallinari – Tough to know how things will shake out this early, but I think he’ll be a big sleeper for me in 15-16. 23/5/5/1/0 last night on a mad hot 8-12 FG (4-5 3PTM 3-3 FT), and it’s easy to forget he’s only 26. I mean, like, Adreian Payne is 24! Gallo looks healthy and the injury concerns/low numbers due to getting eased in might scare off drafters.
Will Barton – Ya know, he reminds me more and more of Alec Burks. 16/6/5/1/2 making 5-14 FG (1-4 3PTM 3-3 FT) with 4 TO. He’s slashy and flashy, they call him Will the Thrill, but 33 minutes last night usurping time from Randy Foye‘s 19 starting minutes, and I think this being a blowout aided that. I don’t really trust either.
Joffrey Lauvergne – Oh man, I can really put any Joffrey meme right here! “How dare you call that a foul, IMP?!” 4 fouls in 10 minutes on 0-3 shooting with 2 TO. Yikes.
Justin Hamilton – Whoa, look at this run J-Hamil got! Although J-Hamil could be misconstrued as J-Hammel the Cubs pitcher, and now I’m all sorts of confused… Anyway, 28 minutes of 15/3/0/0/2 hitting 7-12 FG with a trey, and looked really good out there. Shocker – Nikola Pekovic had renewed soreness and lasted only 8 minutes, and Kevin Garnett sat with old man syndrome. Hamilton could be interesting for the really deep leagues for some 3s/Pts/Blk combo.
Markieff Morris – Patience is a virtue! “Shut up JB, you’re lame and I’m not reading this anymore!” 24/3/2/1/1 hitting 10-15 FG and all 4 FT. Slim and I mentioned on the Tuesday Pod he was not performing to what we hoped, so I’m glad we could give ya some bulletin board material, Kieff!
T.J. Warren – Ya know, looked like a good NBA scorer out there in his career-high 17 points last night. Hit 8-10 in 19 minutes. Marcus Thornton played decent as well putting up 14 in 22 minutes, and Gerald Green was a healthy (I think, haven’t seen an injury) DNP. Gerald’s gotta stop hitting on Mrs. Hornacek to ever see game time again! It’s the only explanation I can think of…
Andre Drummond – From the depths of a horrible mismatch on a better team’s home court, comes the Goromotaro! 22/27/0/2/2 hitting 11-25 FG. My question is, how the hell did Drummo miss 14 shots?!
Reggie Jackson – Not huge or anything, but nice bounce back for 14/2/9/0/0 hitting 7-15 FG with 4 TO. Man, Slim was right, the absence of threes or steals is no bueno.
Andrew Bogut – I guess Kerr felt he needed their best bruiser against the giant Pistons big boys, but Bogut playing 30 minutes?! 12/6/3/0/2, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had something amputated after the game…
Patrick Beverley – Man, it just never happened did it? 5/8/4/0/1 hitting only 2-12 FG, and now only 2 steals in the past 6 games. Time to go! As in, drop nearly everywhere, not trying to amp PBev up!
Arron Afflalo – Man, ending today from bad to worse! 2-13 FG for 9/5/1/1/0 with 3 TO. I’d probably let him go in 10 or 12ers unless you were a desperate for treys.
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Cole Aldrich (7% owned) – I don’t really wanna go Alexey Shved here even though he’s a great play, since Shved I think is more a hold. Aldrich can be a quick add though, and is 17/20 with 5 blocks the past two games plus can hit his FT.
Beno Udrih (1% owned) – Memphis likes to split PG minutes between Beno and Nick Calathes when Conley is out, but I’m leaning Udrih as the stream tonight with Conley all kankled. Calathes hasn’t made a shot his last two games and I think they’ll want a vet on John Wall to start the game.
Thanks for reading Razzball Nation, and let’s hope you’re making a good push in the final regular season week!
