No Super Bowl hangover in the NBA, that’s for sure! A full helping of action with 11 games on the slate, starting with a phenomenal national game on TNT to kick off the next 2 months, where there’s nothing but NBA going on. Well, hockey too, sorry Viz! And college basketball! Dammit, well, basketball isn’t competing with NFL or MLB for a bit, and the face of the NBA let everyone know, with a preposterous buzzer-beater to get the Cavs in OT and eventually beat the Wiz (snapping their 17-game home winning streak):
That Wizards fan says it all! Who says LeBron James is old?! 32/7/17/2/2 in an unreal performance on national TV, in a game the NBA couldn’t have scripted to go any better the night after the NFL got their best game ever played. Well, maybe a little hyperbole, but it was OK… Along with that line, he hit 6 treys and 12-18 from the field, but only 2-5 FT!? Wouldn’t have needed that buzzer beater if he could just hit his damned FT!!! He actually fouled out early in OT too, but Kyrie Irving then took over as the alpha, scoring 11 of his 23 in OT in an otherwise disappointing game. Then there’s of course Kevin Love, who went OFF for 39/12/3/3/0 with 6 treys and 11-11 FT. Needed every bit outta the big 3 to beat a hot Wizards team on the road! During the game, Frank Isola (who you may know from Around the Horn and ish) reported LeBron is pushing the Cavs management to trade Love for Carmelo Anthony. LeBron then went all Trump on his ass in postgame. “Fake News!” But ya know, fighting the rumors off in a less dictatory-way, even as The King… Here’s what else went down last night in a busy Monday of hoops action:
Russell Westbrook – Was like, “C’mon, Dipo, lay off my boards this time!” 27/18/9/1/2 with Victor Oladipo only getting 5 rebounds. “Stay off my glass!”
Andre Roberson – Back to back nice games now, going 11/11/1/2/2 on 5-8 shooting. If only posterizations counted as a stat cat, he’d have a big ol’ point for this one!
Lavoy Allen – Got another start for Thaddeus Young (who I think might be a while with the wrist issue), but was pretty bleh in the follow up, going 2/5/3/0/2 on 1-4 shooting and 0-2 FT. But I did like to see the 30 minutes.
Brandon Ingram – Turning the page is starting to happen! Started at the 3 with Luol Deng coming off the bench, with Ingram going 14/7/2/1/0 with 2 treys.
Ivica Zubac – The savior of the world! Nay, the galaxy! THE UNIVERSE! 10/7/0/1/4 on 5-9 shooting with no TO in 17 orgasmic minutes. Maybe after Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Baby Groot can be grown up and be recast with Zubac… I’d let him guard my galaxy, if ya know what I mean!
Larry Nance Jr. – Another nice outing, getting 31 minutes of 10/10/2/3/0. That said, Julius Randle was back, although somehow managed to foul out in 17 minutes.
Willy Hernangomez – One of the hottest adds over the past week, he out-minutesed the starter Kyle O’Quinn 24 to 16. KOQ was a little flaccid – eh, maybe I’ll give him half-mast – but Willy came out to play! 8/13/1/2/1 and looks like he could be a ROS option, even when Joakim Noah comes back (if ever).
Brandon Jennings – Back off the bench with Derrick Rose returning, but D Rose was terrible (5/4/3 with 3 TO) and Jennings made the most of 28 minutes, going 16/3/5/1/0 with a trey. Need to switch these two, Hornacek! Super fast!
Bradley Beal – Not to be overlooked in the tough loss, 41/5/8 with no TO and 6 treys on 16-28 shooting. Had a chance to tie this up on the last possession in OT, but came up just short off the front rim. Still, great outing.
Derrick Favors – He’s back, baby! 20/10/1/3/2 on 10-12 shooting in only 26 minutes. Vintage Favors! After a terrible 10 minutes the game before, hopefully you were able to sneak in a buy low.
Tim Hardaway Jr. – Really not much doin’ for the Dirty Birds, losing by 25 at home. Not a fun stretch for Hotlanta! Coldlanta! 14/3/3/1/0 for Timmay J though, who continues to be consistent enough for a ThrGANOF hold.
Jahlil Okafor – Another start with Joel Embiid trusting the healing process of his knee, going 16/4/0/1/0. Which is fine, but 2-7 FT ain’t! Apparently Oke is getting some offers from CHI and NO, but it’s into rumor mill season. Just be careful when you talk Cavs trade rumors, Frank Isola!
Reggie Jackson – Oop, whooooops!
I think T.J. McConnell might have slipped on some Dapper Dan right there… “Is that… Is that, hair gel?!” 14/2/6 in an otherwise ho-hum game for RJax.
Blake Griffin – Gets his first tripdub of the season. Better late than never! 26/11/11/1/0 with 2 treys, but the Clip still dropped this one in Toronto… Better a good line than not….?
Austin Rivers – Off an awful game where a lot of people mighta dropped him, 22/2/0/0/1 with 4 treys. But meh, 4-7 FT, it’s pretty empty… Bleh, you’re probably not regretting it that much if you lost him.
DeMar DeRozan – What kankle?! 31/5/2/1/0 on 11-22 shooting with no TO. Seems to me that kankle might be good to go now!
Cory Joseph – Back into the rotation, with the brief shimmer of Fred VanVleet going back to DNP-land. 8/6/1/3/0 – not huge, but in the deepest of leagues, he mighta been cut.
Jonas Valanciunas – Damn, way to step it up against one of the tougher matchups! I had to be sure DeAndre Jordan actually played in this one! 21/12/2/0/1 on 9-13 shooting for the Luminescent Lithuanian.
T.J. Warren – Had one of his sporadic scoring outbursts, but also brought some multi-cat! 20/4/1/2/3 in a near rainbow, but he’s scored 20+ in 3 of the last 7 games, then 10 or fewer in the other 7, with the D stats usually missing. Mannnn, I was putting all my chips in here before that head injury…
Anthony Davis/Jrue Holiday – Your two-headed Pelicans monster (sounds horrifying!) had it going last night, with Brow for 34/9/1/2/5 and Jrue for 30/9/7/1/3. Hopefully humpty dumpty can keep it together for these two! If that made any sense…
Goran Dragic – The Heat can’t lose right now! 33/2/9/1/0 for the Dragon, leading the Heat to a hard-fought, 2-point win at Minny. 13-17 from the field, with 7-9 from deep… Someone get the fire extinguisher!
Dion Waiters – Ugh, well this sucks though… Left the arena in Das Boot after picking up a kankle at some point. Still played 33 minutes so this could be more precautionary, but you never wanna see a hot player in Das Boot…
Brandon Rush – Man they miss LaVine… 33 minutes with 5 points, yeesh.
Karl-Anthony Towns – Did his best to carry the torch for 35/8/0/2/1, but twasn’t enough. Do we think the Wolves blow this up a little? Or carry their bets the young team will be even better in 17-18?
Yogi Ferrell – Yeah, this seems a little closer to what we can expect, going 15/2/5/2/1 with 2 treys. Which is still pretty damn good! Deron Williams was a game-time decision a day before the game, so his aching body is looming… If you’re in a mad active league, you might wanna try a sell Hot Yogi high if you can.
Dwight Powell – Rainbow alert! 14/4/2/2/2 with no TO on 6-8 shooting. This was a blowout, and he got 26 minutes though… Last 5 games – 10 minutes, 29, 10, 8, 26… Ugh.
Will Barton – William the Thrilliam! 31/8/5/0/2 with 5 treys in an absolute monster of a game, finally shaking off the rust of injuries and stepping up with Danilo Gallinari out with a groin. Do Roosters have groins?! Gallo is gonna be out another week+, so be sure Barton is owned in your league if you have a spot open.
Gary Harris – Hey look, a pretty good game! 20/5/1/2/0. 4 treys and 6-6 FT make it pretty damn good, I concede that. What’d Courtney Lee do last night?!??!?!
LaMarcus Aldridge – 4-19 from the field, as the Spurs had their lowest points (74) in a long while. I’m not gonna fact check how long it was, I’m kinda pissy with the Spurs right now. Kawhi Leonard a late scratch I barely missed before line-ups locked?! Very love/hate with me and the Spurs…
Marc Gasol – Yeah, this:
Dear lord he’s awesome… Glad that iffy foot thing ended up healing up nice, would be a shame to not have this talent be fully realized again.
Vince Carter – 4 blocks. Spurs keep getting blocked outta the gym! I know he used to be Vinsanity and all, but his trademark Nike shoes are made outta concrete these days!
Dwyane Wade – Seeing LeBron with the big game probably amped him up, and he helped the Bulls stave off a furious Kings comeback, going 31/6/3/1/2 with no TO.
Michael Carter-Williams – Wow, back to back good games, right after falling out of the rotation! Feels like Hoiberg is still kinda throwing spaghetti on the wall… 21/6/4/2/1 with a trey and 4-4 FT, also with no TO…
Robin Lopez – More like BloPez! Wait, that’s the brother… Anywho, 17/6/2/1/0 as he’s actually on a nice little run the past 4 games, with the Bulls 3-1 in that span. Maybe they’re figuring something out. Rolo was probably dropped in a ton of leagues, so I’d see if he was on your wire.
DeMarcus Cousins – It wouldn’t be the Kings without some drama! 18/14/5/1/1, but picked up his 15th+16th techs (already), and will be suspended for a game.
Ty Lawson – Combo guards still rollin’! 22/4/7/0/1 for Lawson in 35 minutes, with Darren Collison playing 36 yawwwwwwwwwwwn minutes of 14/1/5/2/0. 2 treys and no TO though… So yeah, both usable.
Matt Barnes – On a nice little run, going 19/9/5 on 7-10 shooting with 3 treys, including a big one late to almost swing this game. Although be careful when you start using the word “swing” around Matt Barnes! With Boogie out their next game, he might be able to keep this going if you wanna do some streaming. I said streaming, not swinging!
I hope everyone had a great start to their week 16 in this big slate of games! Drop by in the comments with your thoughts and preguntas, and hope to chat with ya there!
Good day JB! thanks for the updates this morning.
12 team 9-cat H2H league for the ROS do u prefer Wily at PF/C or should I pickup Okafor, Henson or Olynyk instead? Also I’ve really bought into the hype on Caris Levert a few weeks ago but he has been a DNP too frequently lately. For ROS Should I drop him for a TJ Warren, Ingram, Matt Barnes, E.Turner, J.Murray, Iguodala, Lawson or E’Twaun?
Thanks and fire up the duck boats!
@Tony C: Morning man, thanks for reading! Probably sticking with Willy, maybe Henson has more BLK potential, but can’t trust Kidd for nothin’.
Yup I worried LeVert was getting overhyped. Would add…. Turner I think? Maybe Warren and hope this nice game gets him going? If anything, can stream that spot for sure.
Hah, “duck boats”??
@Tony C: @JB Gilpin: Haha I get the duck boats now, had to look up what the hell people were talking about haha
Hey, Is Tyreke Evans dropable in a 10 person league? He doesn’t seem dependable at all.
@Shut Down: Most definitely. I’ve been pretty anti-Reke because I knew the mins would be rough
Good Morning JB!
I have Tyreke Evans and I’m just about done with his inconsistency. Hold on and hope or drop him for Murray, Henson, or Nance? Thanks in advance!
@Vin: Morning man! Yup he can go, would much rather take a shot on any of those. Well, maybe not “much rather”. I’d prob take Henson if needing a big
Hey JB,
1.) Drop Bebe and use waiver on Zubac in my 10Team punt FT?
2.) Drop Chriss, Tyreke or Tucker for Darren Collison? Locked for playoffs
@Tyler: Yo! 1. Definitely! 2. Ummmm, yeah I think Tyreke can still go, I think I’ve been sayin that for ya for a while, but seems you wanna keep him around 🙂
Hey JB,
I’m in a 14-team H2H league. Currently 1st place
Should I swap Deron or Cody Zeller into IR to activate Khris Middleton? Or drop one of the other players in my team.
My other players include: anthony davis, john wall, bledsoe, myles turner, crowder, george hill, wade, bazemore, mason plumlee, seth curry, and willy.
Thanks man!
@Michael: Hey man! Awesome news on middleton, right?! Yeah might as well stash someone, prob put Zeller there, Deron seems close. If you do Deron, then it might have your roster stuck by mid week. Any time!
How would you rank ROS…Broggy, Yogi, Zubac, Nerlens. Sounds like a Nickalodeon kids show. Thanks!
@miles proudfoot: Hahaha, I was about to say, I think those are the names of the Teletubbies… I kinda wanna go Zubac, Nerlens, Broggy, Yogi. I know I’m letting my rookie nookie for Zubac shine through tho haha
@JB Gilpin: I jumped on the Yogi band wagon Saturday night and dropped Broggy for him out of those options. If possible I may switch back. Was just thinking of Middletons return and the rookie wall / playing time with a competitive team as compared to the Mavs situation. Thanks!
@miles proudfoot: Yeah short-term, Yogi is prob at top of list. I just worry about PT when Deron is ready
Would you drop Ersan or Bogdanovic for Matt Barnes.. ?
Also, Great to see the Lakers finally bench MozBum!! ZuMania is a thing again!
Duck boat time! Carrying the Goat!
@BILL BLAST: Ummmmm, hmmmm. If you can then stream it again in a week or two, then sure, can get a hot Barnes over BoBo.
ZuMania indeed man! and yeah, i had to look this up, but I get the duck boat thing now haha
JP – in a standard 9-cat H2H weekly league who would you rather have ROS: Kristaps or Whiteside?
@Gregarious: Er….obviously meant JB!
@Gregarious:
whiteside
@Gregarious: @fantasy god: Hah no worries! Yeah with the Heat playing a little better and Whiteside looking better, I think I would go Whiteside too
hey JB. got an offer for my schroder for his harrison barnes. its a 9 cat h2h. the rest of my team looks like this: steph, kemba, lillard, porzingis, gobert, dieng, tobias, crowder, yogi, wade, deangelo. waiters.
i think i could use the extra scoring. from harry b. he said hes also willing to trade steven adams instead for schroder.
@justin:
you’re good on pgs. i’d do that.
@justin: @fantasy god: Yeah your PG depth is unreal. I think I’d prefer to bolster your bigs over scoring, I would take Adams
@JB Gilpin: ok cool. Should I worry about playoff schedule that much? Harry b got 3/4/4. While Adams got 3/3/4. I’m just slightly worried about Adams free throws.
@Justin: Meh, you’ve got good FT volume guys and only real ding is Gobert, I think it’s fine. One less game in the semis I don’t think swings me
Hey JB! I’M sitting in first In a twelve man 9 cat. Currently stashing pau Gasol and Chris paul. Beverley and Zeller were just dropped in my league should I drop McConnell or Hernangomez for one of them!? Would have to use 6th waiver slot
@Michael Shoesmith: Hmmmmm. Sounds like your AST will likely be solid once you get to the playoffs with Paul back. I’d swap him out for PBev, but kinda wanna ride out Willy, see what you get there
@JB Gilpin: cool thanks!
Hey, JB. Wilson Chandler, Covington or Middleton ros in a head to head points league? Thanks!
@Jerry: Whewwwwwww. That’s a great – yet annoying bc its so hard – question haha. I’ll lean Middleton. I worry about a Chandler trade. And I think Middleton brings the best numbers in playoffs
I have been offered Marvin for G Harris. I like Marvin’s lack of turnovers but he is pretty meh. But my team is tied for first so this is a back end of the roster move where steady can help. Four games each week of the playoffs is a plus.
Harris has nice steals and just seems to have more upside to me with their pace and hopefully he stays healthy. Thoughts?
@Johnc: Agree with your second thought, I would hold Harris. More upside, they might move Chandler, and keep giving him more and more touches
Pick the two players that I should play:
Zubac @DET
Willy @LAC
Tjones @UTA
@Dante Green:
Thinking of sending a buy low offer on Avery. Would you trade Schroder for him? I really don’t need Schroder even for this week. I don’t see him making any impact for my team.
@Dante Green: Gimme Zubac and Willy. Tjones against a better matchup might be more intriguing.
Sure, that seems like a good offer, def a little risky though given Avery just got ruled out the next 4 games already
@JB Gilpin:
The guy whom I tried to get Avery from is the same guy who sent me Jokic awhile back, so he declined thinking that he’s making a huge mistake again but he’s not. He’s currently 2.5 a games behind team #6 and is currently down 2-7. He’s definitely not making the playoffs if continues to hold onto Bradley. Haha The swap would’ve been a great help for him but unfortunately he doesn’t it that way. Lol
@JB Gilpin:
Would you drop Zubac, Parsons or Tjones for one of these guys:
Brogdon
Harkless
Richardson
Danny G (ugh)
Henson
Nance
Chriss
@Dante Green: Hah gave you a shout for the bad call last night 🙁
Hah yeah he’s gonna bring down his team if he doesn’t get warm bodies in there!
Parsons looked OK, and ASB is soon. I kinda wanna hold your 3 right now
@JB Gilpin:
Hahaha Yea, I just saw it! I did sit out Tjones in favor of Zub! But the kid still got me 2 blocks and I’m now leading that so it’s aight. Hah
Yea I wanna hold onto Parsons still, he’s slightly turning the corner.
Your thoughts on Brogdon ros with Parker out? I’ve been really wanting to trade Schroder away because I had turned my team into a punt-assist, but if I could nab another PG off the wire who could provide decent assist numbers then I may not need to move Schroder. However I’m still not sure if that pairing of Schroder and Brogdon is enough to win me the assists category. What do you think? My initial move was to offer him and Tjones for Klay or Love (looking for an elite 3 pt gunner and low to guy), and pickup Richardson but I’m not sure if the owner’s going to bite. Here’s a recap of my team:
PG1 McCollum
PG2 Schroder
SG1 Hayward
SF1 Jae Crowder
SF2 Tobias H.
SF3 Parsons
PF1 Jokic
PF2 Tjones
c1 Karl-Anthony Towns
C2 Ivica Zubac
C3 Willy Hernangomez
If the KLove/Klay owner doesn’t bite the Schroder+Tjones offer then I will need to drop either Zubac or Willy. Though I really wouldn’t want to break up my big man build now! It’s just that I can’t seem to move Schroder so I’ll just find a guard to pair up with him. Ugh
@JB Gilpin:
I just saw Batum, better 3-point shooter than Schrod and has the same average in assists. Would you trade Schroder and Tjones for him? Then pick up either Brogdon or Josh Richardson. I’m just making my 3s ultra competitive, and my assists and steals will also improve in the process.
@Dante Green: Hah that’s true, ZuBlock still lived up to the name! Mehhhh, I dunno if Brogdon really changes much, not huge on him, I like the idea of packing Schrodes for Klay or Love tho. Well no need for Batum if you’re punting dimes, right? I dunno if it’s a huge help, but I’d be OK with the Batum move
@JB Gilpin:
True, yeah, I may not need Batum. I think I’m just gonna go ahead and totally punt assist. I need to land Love or Klay, or Beal. Then pickup Richardson. Thanks bud
@Dante Green: Yeah I like that plan as well, hopefully a deal can happen!
I have David Lee and PJ Tucker. Would you swap either for Henson, Nance, or Warren? Thanks
@marimon: Harkless also available (Turner out with broken hand)
@marimon: Hmmmm. I kinda wanna swap both hah. If you need a big man, would get Henson. If not, Warren. And add Nance first, I really like the upside. I’ll pass on Harkless, it could be more run for Crabbe too
Planning ahead for the playoffs, how would you rank these guys? thanks JB!
Brogdon
Lin
JRich
Levert
@JJ:
lin
brog
jrich
levert
@JJ: @fantasy god: I’m gonna be very different, I don’t trust Lin at all. He’s on a pretty team friendly deal, I bet they barely push him.
I’ll go JRich, LeVert, Lin, Brog, but they’re all very close
@JB Gilpin:
What do you mean by Team friendly deal for lin?
also nance jr or chriss?
@james: As in, there’s no reason to push him and risk him for next year. They wanna see what they can get in a full yr 2. With playoffs locked in, gimme higher upside of Chriss
Harkless or Parsons ROS?
@Sud: I think anyone over Parsons at this point in time haha. Forget his potential talent when healthy – he’s just not a good fit on that team. He doesn’t have that same kinda attitude the other 4 starters have. And Mike C and Marcy Marc work so much better with the ball in their hands than giving it to Parsons to run the show. I just don’t see him fitting at all..
@Sud: @Lasandro: I’m still pretty low on Harkless though… I know Turner got hurt. Meh, I’m on the fence. I would keep owning Parsons probably and see what Hark does next POR game (see if he starts/plays well) then would swap if so
hi JB,
I already secured my place playoffs in my league. And just trade my EGordon with Cpaul. Cpaul owner is fighting for a spot for playoffs. The other teams are crying and plan to veto the trade. What do you think? Is it a fair trade with the injury risk of CP?
@Trul: Oh nice!!!! I love the deal for you, but it’s what teams fighting for a playoff spot need to do. That is 100% fair, and if vetoed, I would leave your league. Vetoes make me go nuts, they should be outlawed in fantasy (obviously if there’s collusion, OK, but there’s obvi not here)
Hey JB,
Marvin Williams just dropped in my league, not sure who I drop to make a claim, Ferrell or McConnell? Not sure about Ferrell once Deron comes back, but also some uncertainty for McConnell when Simmons returns. Liking Ferrell as the hold more due to the 3s. What do you think?
My team (16 team 10-players H2H):
Harden, Bledsoe, McConnell, Yogi, G. Harris, Fournier, RoCo, Noel, RoLo, Gobert
@Larry: Hmmmm, yeah all 3 are in that same range. I worry more about Ferrell with Deron back than McConnell. But tough to drop either… Yeah you have good dimes for a deep league, I’d be OK with McConnell being your drop
Hi JB!
I´m in a dinasty-12er-roto-11cat
My team is:
Steph Curry – Bledsoe – E. Gordon –
Hardaway Jr -Bazemore – C. Parsons – Valentine – J. Anderson – James Johnson
Ibaka – Griffin – Jokic – Dieng – Kanter – Maker
I´d like to know your thoughts for the next year about my forwards.
And if you give Kanter to add Harrison Barnes.
Some other recommendation?
Thanks!
@Toni Vidal Ribes: Def could improve the forwards, I do think Parsons can bounce back though. Hopefully he can have a healthy offseason and get back to form. And yeah, i think the scoring, especially to help right now, is worth getting Barnes for Kanter. An extra though might be to try and find some more dimes. Any time!
@JB Gilpin:
If I trade Barnes for Kanter, the next good movement could be Bazemore + Hardaway JR for Elfrid?
@Toni Vidal Ribes: Oh hell yea! I would love that deal!
Beal, Myles, PBev and Booker for Porter, Adams and G Harris. Which side you like?
@Johnc: I’ll stick with Myles side, I think he’s the best in the deal and I don’t think there’s enough back on the Porter side