So I know what you’re thinking – where is Matty this morning?! He’s been awesome! Well, I’m here today to fill in while Matty takes a Canadian spa day. What happens is you go to this facility and everything is made of poutines. All you can eat is poutines, all the liquid you intake is gravy, the spa pillows are made of cheese curd… Wait, why am I making fun of this, that sounds like the best day of my life! Matty – true Canadian hero.
But back here in The Colonies, Klay Thompson has become MY true AMERICAN hero! Going 13-21 from the field including 10-16 from deep, Thompson had a monster breakout going 39/7/6/0/1 against the Pacers, leading the Warriors to 23-0. And speaking of “and-0s”, look at JB taking the 1-0 lead on the 30-point challenge board! Looking like another season where I’m going to trounce Slim in the 30-pt challenge. It’s not official yet, but I’ve heard mumblings that the IQ test will soon be phased out for the 30-pt challenge as the most accurate test for intelligence… Anyway, it’s funny how perception and time can change a player’s analysis. I went from slamming Thompson for being a ThrAGNOF, to finally buying in, and then defending his cold start suggesting making buy low offers. All the sudden after last night, all he’s missing is 3.5 Pts and half a steal from having nearly identical stats from 14-15. Of course as all of this unfolded last night, it ended with a monster cliffhanger after Klay got a kankle and looked like he was in some serious pain on the bench. X-rays were negative, and luckily Klay says it’s not too bad and should be back in a few days. Whew! Let’s hope this doesn’t slow down his reacharound! I mean turnaround! Here’s what else happened last night in fantasy basketball action:
Al-Farouq Aminu – Al Puke Aminu! If you haven’t figured out Razzball Hoops is a high-brow fantasy site by now, then you haven’t been reading enough! 4/5/0/0/1 in 31 minutes (?!), and he’s been in the single-digits of scoring without any interesting stats in 6 of the past 8. Feeling pretty good staying off that bangwagon!
C.J. McCollum – Speaking of bandwagons, dammit McCollum! Yeah, I probably should’ve ranked him a few rounds higher, and of course I joked I would shave when he shoots over 50% and now my face is cold… 10-19 FG (4-8 3PTM) 24/3/5/2/0 with a bearable 4 TO. Ugh, look at the mix of CLE guards though! If there’s any cold water I can find for McCollum, you better believe I’ll use it!
Damian Lillard – Awesome. Say Amen to The Omen.
Ed Davis – Well, that ended abruptly… 6/4/2/1/0, and after at least 10 Pts or 10 Reb in the past 5 with nice D stats, we got another game where the role showed why he’s untrustworthy. Unprepared. Unloyal. I’m just putting “un” in front of Boy Scout words…
LeBron James – Picked up that DNP in the high-profile game against his former Heat, but showed he’s just fine for a 33/10/3/2/3 rainbow. Hit a trey and a 4 of his FT. Gotta love that Puke Aminu defense!
Matthew Dellavedova – 37 minutes as a starter, going 17/3/3 with Mo Williams coming off the bench with his sore knee. Mo didn’t do much and there was even 35 minutes of nothingball played by Jared Cunningham. Shocking that McCollum could hit some shots!
Stephen Curry – Doesn’t even have to try very hard to flirt with 40 Pts or triple doubles virtually every night… 29/7/10 last night, taking a “backseat” with only 11 3PTA to KT’s 16.
Andrew Bogut – 14/10/1/1/2 in 23 minutes, which deserves three golden “OIs!” for being only his second dubdub on the year, and first since Nov 14. Oh yeah, that was when I played him in REL and barely lost rebounds…
Andre Iguodala – 6/3/5/5/1/ and 9 steals the past two games. Still pretty blah overall, even with Harrison Barnes rehabbing his kankle…
Paul George – Well, he tried to get the Pacers to make it a game, but that run the Warriors went on to close the first quarter just proved to be too much (I think they scored like 22 in a row?!). 33/8/6/3/1 and playing every bit like a first-rounder.
Monta Ellis – Yeah, it’s not been very good… 9/2/5/1/1 and a horrific 6 TO in 38 minutes. I might have some REL-bias as a Monta owner, but I gotta think there’s still some gelling going on, plus he’s been banged up. Also his worst FT% since his rookie year just seems fluky. He’s not taking too many treys and his FG% is at a career-worst as well. I think this starts coming together a little better and the STL have been there until this last 5-game stretch, when he’s been a little hurt. Find your groove, Monta! I want to write a headline that says “How Monta Got His Groove Back”!
Rodney Stuckey – Had a nice run with the low(er) run/injury time Monta missed, but came to a screeching halt last night. I do appreciate his shorts are at about his knees while Monta looks like he’s wearing MC Hammer pants. “Those are Mahinmi’s shorts, Monta!”
C.J. Miles – 24 Pts and 5 treys, but the ancillary stats have really dried up. Only 1 steal and 6 dimes the past 6 games. Back to the ThrAGNOF we know and love!
Marcus Thornton – I found it shocking no one took The Bayou Bomber for 30 pts last night! Who DIDN’T see that coming?! 32/6/3/3/0 on 12-18 shooting for a shocking game. Making the most of added run with…
Trevor Ariza – …leaving with a “lower back bruise” after a hard fall, and I’m guessing the area was sore because he just got a tramp stamp. He should be fine once the bandage comes off and we can all see that butterfly fly!
Terrence Jones – JB Bickerstaff is giving JB’s around the world a bad name. I’ll give him my bicker-staff, ya wankah! 16 minutes of 5/3/2/1/0 for Tjones, while only James Harden and Corey Brewer played big minutes. Uggggghhhhhh. Ya know what, the Rockets DESERVED to lose to the hapless Nets last night.
The Beard – Was weird. 10/3/9/3/0, taking only 9 shots?! And also chipped in a nice 7 TO. Brewer took 16 shots off the bench! Weird game…
Patrick Beverley – 5 steals. You’ve been Beverley’d!
Joe Johnson – It hasn’t been pretty, but I held where I could. Game-hich 43 minutes last night for 22/5/8/3/0 and after a lull, the out-of-position dimes are coming back. Of course we need to see scoring like this more often, but a nice start.
Thaddeus Young – 20/12/5/3/0 and he’s having an under-the-radar ridiculous year. He’s only been over 6.0 REB once (7.5 in 12-13 in Philly) in his career, and he’s at 9.0 so far this season. Hasn’t been over 50% from the field since 12-13 either (given he’s cut out the 3PTA), and he’s at 53.1%. Providing some crazy value right now, and he’s an unconventional big man to maybe trade for if you need conventional big man stats (well, minus BLK).
Brook Lopez – There’s your blocks! 5 swats last night and at a career-best 2.3 thus far. With all these nice stats, you’d imagine the Nets would be better!
Bojan Bogdanovic – 19 Pts, and with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson reportedly going to miss 10 weeks, BoBo is in that ThrAGNOF mix.
Shane Larkin – Eesh, looks like he got… Lawson’d?! Let’s hope not! 4 TO and a rough game, but in deepers he’s a strong hold.
Kevin Durant – What a boring game… For OKC that is, nice 32/10/6/3/0 for the Slim Reaper, with a crazy efficient 11-14 FG (4-5 3PTM 6-6 FT).
Russell Westbrook – 16 dimes in 25 minutes. A march of dimes.
Mike Conley – Remember the Conley debates this summer?! Well, just to recap, Slim and commenters were like “Rabble rabble rabble! Contract year! He’s still good!” And I was like, “Rabble rabble rabble, he’s terrible now!” 0/0/6/1/0 shooting 0-7 last night. The AST are up a handful with a few less TO from last year, but everything else is way down – %s, STL, complaints about my low Conley rank… All down.
Marc Gasol – Speaking of down, left with a kankle. It doesn’t sound like it was too serious and this was an epic blowout, so hopefully it was precautionary.
Mario Chalmers – Cliff notes on the Grizzlies – they were all awful except a little spark from Chalmy Chalm. 19/2/1/2/1 on 6-8 FG and 7-8 FT, but I imagine a good bit of that was in junky junk time.
Will Barton – I saw a 30-pt challenge pick for him, and when I saw the Nuggest barely scored 30 AS A TEAM, I was bracing myself for a bad Willy B game. But alas! 23/4/1/4/1, taking a crazy 23 shots making 9 of em and scoring 31% of Denver’s points. He’s the best G on that team, so the shots are just gonna keep comin’ like a Jon Hamm Emmy party.
Kenneth Faried – Lordy, what are you doing shooting 2-12 from the field?! Your shot chart should look like a bunch of dots around the rim like a hemorrhoid exam! Ew. 7/11/3/1/2 was at least some multi-cat, but let’s get The Manimal some Preparation H!
Andrew Nicholson – Team-high 14 REB in only 21 bench minutes. Aaron Gordon sat with a kankle/slept with Skiles wife, but it didn’t change much for St. Nich’s role. 8/14 and no other stats but 3 TO. Bleh.
Nikola Vucevic – D stats keep on flowin’! Rainbowed for 18/13/3/2/2 shooting 9-14 from the floor. At least Skiles has done SOMETHING good for fantasy, emphasizing the D play.
Evan Fournier – Noooooo, he’s reverting back to having his V-card! The Virgin for 3/2/1/0/0 in 26 really uninspiring minutes. Maybe we need to re-name him “Mr. November”.
The Bookworm – Dubdub machine! Trevor Booker for 12/10/1/1/0 in 27 minutes off the bench, as the Jazz stubbornly start their worst players at PG and PF with Trey Lyles doing nothing in 18 minutes.
Omri Casspi – Mazel Tov! 19/10/4/1/0 with 3 treys in a whopping 41 minutes. It’s not quite to must-own territory, but I’m loving my new term – “must-consider” territory. I’m nothing if not a confident call-maker!
Rajon Rondo – 17/7/13, and you have to ask, how the hell are you letting Rondo score 17 on you, Utah?! 6-7 FT last night ALMOST got Rondo up to 50% FT shooting on the year! Sigh.
Thanks for dropping by everyone, and I’ll be back with the Daily Notes on Friday. Catch ya then, Razzball Nation!
