Monster.
Beast.
Man-child.
Demigod.
The list of superlatives that can be applied to Andre Drummond is a long one. The Pistons big man went berserk on Tuesday night with his second straight 20/20 game. To be precise, he went for 25 & 29 – the second 25/25 of his career. For perspective on just how good he’s been so far this season:
- Only player since NBA/ABA merger to have 75 points and 75 rebounds through his first four games
- First player since Kareem with multiple 20/20 games in his first four games
- No other Piston has had a single 25/25 game in the last 30 years
Drummond had 11 offensive rebounds tonight which was more than any other player had in this game…combined. If the points and boards weren’t enough, he also tossed in three steals and a block for good measure.
The one knock on AD has always been (and will continue to be) his poor free throw shooting. At .403 FT% for his career, it’s quite the albatross. But this season – early as it may be – Drummond is up to .576 (19-33), making owners who thought they were punting the category feel pretty darn good about their chances across the board.
The stars seem to have aligned for Andre to post a truly special season. Lane-clogging Greg Monroe is gone. Stan Van Gundy isn’t afraid to play his starters heavy minutes and the team is winning (i.e. rewarding this approach). A summer of work with a shooting coach is paying immediate dividends at the foul line. At this point, the only thing that could conceivably derail this train is injury…and Drummond has only missed one game in the last two years, so there are no concerns about chronic or lingering ailments.
Now on to the rest of the happenings from an eventful Tuesday night of round ball…
THE GOOD
Jimmy Butler – In an utterly non-competitive game that was over by halftime, Jimmy Buckets was the only Bulls regular rotation player to contribute meaningful (positive) stats for his fantasy owners. After making only 9 of his last 29 FGAs (1-5 from deep) coming into the game, Butler found the range and poured in 26 points on 10-16 from the field including four triples. Two more steals brought his 5-game total to 13 on the season. Unfortunately the boards (one) and dimes (one) weren’t there tonight and he uncharacteristically shot only 2-5 from the charity stripe, taking a bit of shine off an otherwise nice outing. Also of note is the fact that Jimmy had his third turnover-free game of the young season tonight and only has two giveaways on the year. Total.
Jeremy Lamb – Earn that money, young man! Fresh off a three-year contract extension at $7 mil per, Lamb brought a flamethrower to this game. The 23-year old went 9-10 from the field, drained two triples, and threw in four boards, three dimes, and a couple steals for good measure. We’ll need to see him do this a few more times before considering a pickup, but it was a Curry-esque shooting performance and Lamb is making a case for more minutes on the wing in Charlotte.
Jeff Teague & Goran Dragic – JT (26/6/9/1/0, two triples, 9-18 FGs, 6-7 FTs) and GD (19/5/2/3/1, three triples, 6-11 FGs, 4-4 FTs) both posted really nice lines with the former getting a big W on the road. Dennis Schroder played only 16 minutes and if it wasn’t clear before, it sure is now – Teague is the alpha point guard for the 4-1 Hawks.
Hassan Whiteside – If not for Drummond’s massive night, Whiteside’s dominance might’ve been the top takeaway from this seven-game slate. His 23 point, 14 rebound, 4 block line with only one miss on 12 FG attempts was absolute dynamite for his owners. He’s now 23 of his last 27 from the field over his last two games with 29 total rebounds and nine combined steals/blocks. Dude is gonna get paaaaaiiiiid this summer.
Evan Fournier – The Frenchman dropped a 30-burger on the Pelicans with four longballs, five boards, four dimes, and two steals in 43 minutes of terrible hair but terrific basketball. This will likely be Fournier’s high water mark for the season, so give yourself a pat on the back if you had him in active lineups tonight or rolled him out there in DFS.
Kyle Lowry – Looks gooooood. 27/5/10/3/2 with four triples, 9-15 from the field and a perfect 5-5 on his freebies. Huge line. Only a small blemish with four turnovers, but stuffing the other eight cats more than covers that up. Raps are 4-0 for the first time in franchise history and they owe a ton of it to Skinny Lowry.
Luis Scola – 19 & 12 with two steals and a trey? He normally only plays that well when he’s wearing an Argentina jersey. In 26-28 MPG he could have low-end value, but he’s not going to get it. Tonight felt like a fluke and Scola should see minutes in the low-20s more often than not. I wouldn’t be running to the wire to pick him up.
Danilo Gallinari – 23/8/3/1/1 at 50% from the field and 9-10 from the stripe. What really stands out is that none of Gallo’s 12 attempts from the field were from long range. I’m not sure when the last time that happened was…but I’m guessing it’s been a while.
Jordan Clarkson – There wasn’t a whole lot of defense played in the Lakers/Nuggets game, so JC went off for a career-high 30 on 12-19 shooting. Added to that nice efficiency was four treys, a couple dimes, and a steal. Methinks Clarkson owners will take that and run with it every day of the week.
THE BAD
Nikola Mirotic – Niko was a big contributor – and not in a good way – to the Bulls getting run out of the building on Tuesday night. In 24 lackluster minutes he hit on only 2-11 FGs (1-5 behind the arc) and had no steals or blocks. He’s been hot to start the year, so this is just one of those throwaway games. Look for him to bounce back in a primetime matchup against the Thunder on TNT this Thursday.
Derrick Rose – Continues to get worse at the game of basketball. 18, 15, 8, 6, 4 – those are Rose’s point totals, in order, for his five games so far this season. Anyone with eyes can see that he’s heading in the wrong direction, and after another 0-fer from 3-point range on Tuesday, he has now hoisted eight attempts with no makes. Unless you desperately need the assists (five vs. the Hornets, averaging 5.5 APG on the year), it’s time to see you can get anything of value via trade…and if not, I wouldn’t hesitate to cut bait in 12-team leagues (especially considering the Bulls don’t have another 4-game week until December 7th).
Stanley Johnson – StanJo couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean, sitting in a boat. 0-5 from the field, 0-1 from deep, and bricking both free throws is the type of performance that can have a rookie questioning his shot and becoming hesitant to pull the trigger. We’ll have to see if this was an anomaly or if Johnson starts having confidence issues in the next couple games.
Aaron Gordon – Four minutes. Four. SKILES!!!
Rajon Rondo – Did Rondo things. 2-10 FGs. 1-4 FTs. Five points. Oh, and Darren Collison poured in 18 off the bench. Double-R’s days as the starting PG in Sactown are numbered.
THE NOTEWORTHY
Bobby Portis – In just 10 short minutes, Portis showed why he’s the best player who simply has to be left on the waiver wire. 10 points (5-7 from the field) and two boards with a +8 rating on a night when most of his teammates finished in the negative double-digits. Unfortunately, Bobby P won’t have any sustainable fantasy value until there’s a frontcourt injury or trade. Click that star next to his name and keep him on your watch list in the event any one of Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah or Niko Mirotic move out of the rookie’s way.
Marvin Williams – The waiver wire pickup-du-jour had a mixed bag of production in the blowout win vs. the Bulls. The 10 rebounds and three assists in only 25 minutes were nice, but four points (2-6 FGs) with no treys, steals or blocks wasn’t exactly what his new owners were looking for. With the game out of hand early, this line isn’t indicative of Starvin’ Marvin’s value moving forward.
Paul George – PG13 was his own version of “good, bad & ugly” during the Pacers win. The good – 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals, two triples, a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. The bad – four turnovers. The ugly – 5-17 from the field, bringing his season average to .333.
Bad shooting, good peripherals – Marcus Morris (3-11, one triple, two steals, two blocks), George Hill (5-12, two triples, four steals, one block), C.J. Miles (2-9, two triples, two steals), Paul Millsap (4-12, three steals, one block), Chris Bosh (4-14, one triple, three steals, two blocks), Anthony Davis (3-12, one steal, five blocks), Ryan Anderson (4-15, three triples, three steals, one block), Emmanuel Mudiay (3-13, three triples, one block, one steal).
Dwyane Wade – Battled migraines for much of the second half but did return to help the Heat make the game interesting late. His 21 points were nice, but it was an otherwise lackluster stat line for D-Wade. With a history of dealing with migraines, it’s definitely a situation to monitor as Justise Winslow and Gerald Green (who missed Tuesday’s game with an illness) would become interesting streamers.
Marc Gasol – Left the game in the first half after a collision and was ruled out shortly thereafter. Brandon Wright (10/6/3/0/4, 28 minutes) gets a sizable value bump if Gasol is going to miss time, so pick him up if he’s sitting on your wire. (Also keep an eye on JayMycal Green who posted 12 & 12 in 20 minutes against the Kings.)
Kenneth Faried – Played a whopping 40 minutes out of necessity, as each of Jusuf Nurkic, Nikola Jokic and Joffrey Lauvergne were in street clothes. The Manimal parlayed all that floor time into 28 & 15, including a perfect 8-8 from the FT line. No threes, steals or blocks, plus four TOs soften the impact a bit, but I don’t think too many owners will be complaining after this one.
OPPORTUNITY IS EVERYTHING
Players who saw over 36 minutes of floor time on Tuesday:
Paul George (38), George Hill (36), Marcus Morris (39), Andre Drummond (43), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (42), Paul Millsap (36), Chris Bosh (39), Evan Fournier (43), Victor Oladipo (36), Anthony Davis (36), Eric Gordon (38), Kyle Lowry (37), Deron Williams (36), Kenneth Faried (40), Jordan Clarkson (37)
That aught about do it for the Tuesday wrap-up. If you want to chat waiver pickups, DFS plays, or anything else fantasy hoops, drop me a line on Twitter @moneyballmatty. Cheers.
