Yesterday afternoon was a frenzy! A frenzy because no Mozzy! About as crazy as I was last Saturday about Fozzy! Go Panthers!
Our prayers have been answered with Timofey Mozgov getting shipped out to Cleveland for two first round picks. Two first-rounders?! For Healthcare.Mozgov?! Well, they’re like controlled picks from Memphis in some sort of hooblah where all that matters is they’re not going to be very high. Not as high as say, Afroman! Or 16th! That’s where Jusuf Nurkic went in the first round this Summer, originally picked by the Bulls then traded. Good thing for Nurkic! It originally seemed really muddied there in Denver at C, but JaVale McGee just can’t get healthy, and Mozgov couldn’t go 3 minutes before getting multiple fouls. So out ya go TinaFey, and huge role ahead for Nurkic! At least 35 minutes every night given how good he’s been! Andddddddd, only 22 minutes for 8/4/3/1/2 last night. Still respectable numbers though! Given one of his made FGs was this. To quote my favorite sound from 90s gaming, “Oopsie!” Or whatever he really says… Anyway, J.J. Hickson is still there to give us a headache, as he went 11/10/1/2/1 in 30 solid minutes. Yikes. I still love me some Nurkic, and to the patient man goes the spoils! Something like that… Kinda lost in all of this yesterday was Hickson’s deep league value shooting up. He’s not a terrible player for some Pts/Reb relief in a very poor man’s Zach Randolph kinda way now that minutes should be coming. While many owners are mad they didn’t scoop Nurkic up quick enough, shoot out some buy lows with who you would’ve dropped, and maybe last night’s dud is enough to sneak Jamba Jus into your Mini-mall. That sounds so wrong… Here’s what else went down on a busy night of NBA action:
Kyrie Irving – Uncle Drew feelin’ blue! Goes bonkers for 38/2/3 on 15-26 shooting but the Cavs still lose. It’s like an old Iverson game! Even the immortal PBev couldn’t slow him down.
LeBron James – Says he’s feeling better. Sounds like he’ll be back in a week as he said he would be playing if it’s the playoffs. Good thing they’re in the East, any team with a pulse makes it in! Can take his time…
J.R. Smith – The savior of Cleveland! 0-5 FG 0/1/0/1/1 with 2 TO in 18 laughable minutes. Laughable to LeBron at least, because I have a theory as to what’s making him feel better – #VisitingColorado.
Trevor Ariza – Still in a shooting slump (3-10 3PTM last night – now 5 for his last 28), but providing elite steals with 14 his last 3. Might be worth a steal with a low-ball trade offer – a lot of Ariza owners seem upset.
Dwight Howard – Near Goro! 17/19/2 but only the 1 block, 4 TO and 5-11 FT. Ouch.
Josh Smith – The red hot Josh Smith! Let’s play where the “where did J Smoove hurt you game”, which kinda sounds like a sequel to To Catch a Predator… 7-10 FG, whoa! nice!, 16/5/2/0/2, solid!, only 2 TO, acceptable!, then there it is… 1-4 FT. Awful! [applause]
Zaza Pachulia – Dubdub machine! 11/12 for his 3rd DD in 4 games with 7 dimes on 5-10 shooting. Did have another butterfingerish game with 4 TO, but until Larry Sanders decides he wants to play again, hit it and quit it!
John Henson – Only 16 minutes. Made em count for 4/2/2/1/4, but 4 TO! It’s like a light Dwight Howard night! The Bucks still hate Henson…
Michael Carter-Williams – What is Pennsylvania in 1787? One of thirteen! 5/5/5/1/1 for MCW on 1-13 FG and 4 TO.
Tony Wroten – 4-19. At least he made more than one! Wroten, MCW, Henry Sims and Robert Covington combined for 7-51 from the field. Somebody put saran wrap on the rim! Wroten has some buzz he might get traded to the Clippers. 4-19 becomes 1-5!
Langston Galloway – Got a semi-surprising 17 minutes in his NBA debut for the Poppycockers. 7/2/3/1/0 with no TO on 2-8 shooting hitting a trey. Eyebrow. Raised. Especially if that schlub…
Jose Calderon – …gets traded. Still hot garbage even if he did score 17. 17/3/4/1/0 on 7-14 shooting with 4 TO. Pass. Something he isn’t doing much of!
Cole Aldrich – After two straight under 21-minute games, good to see a lot of run again tonight for AldRichie AldRich, going 11/7/2/1/0.
Nene – What, Quincy Acy isn’t a defensive powerhouse?! Nene for 20/6/4/1/0 on 8-13 shooting in 24 “I’m the one that’s going to take advantage of the tanking Poppycockers” minutes. A little fluky, so not reading too much into a resurgence like it’s 2008.
Eric Gordon – What in the….?!?!?!! I’m going to abuse all the punctuation marks I choose after seeing what Gordon f#$&ing did last night! 14/2/4/1/2 in A – almost the world’s most improbable rainbow line and 2: in 39 minutes played. I didn’t think Eric Gordon could go on a brisk walk for 39 minutes. 🙂 Hit three treys as well, so if you can sneak any sort of value out of him, sell now. $3LL $3LL $311!
Jrue Holiday – Quite the opposite! Does get the rainbow (16/6/9/2/2), hits a couple treys, and it gives him rainbows in 2 of 3 and 3 of 7. So many multi-block games! Holiday is sort of the best-case scenario anyone could’ve seen for Eric Bledsoe right now, if that makes any sense.
Kemba Walker – Taking over. Hit a game-winner last night, 30+ points in three straight, some blocks are filtering in (although this isn’t filtering in, this is slamming in!), and the TO have gone down (9 in the last 5 games). While medium-term I could see him being fairly beastly, whence Al Jefferson gets back, it might not be as pretty near playoff time.
Gerald Henderson – Ugh, the ghost of Gerald Henderson… 16/7/6/0/1 last night in 36 really solid minutes, and now 14 dimes the past two games. Someone has to pass it to Kemba! There’s still no timetable for Lance Stephenson, but given Lance’s contract, they have to play him some… Hendo won’t fetch much in deep-league trade markets, so probably a case of ride-it-out.
Evan Turner – Tripdub alert! 6/8/7/2/0 on 3-9 shooting, somehow nary a TO. Kinda a funky good game for Turner, but this experiment at PG reminds me of what Joe Ingles did the other day with Trey Burke hurt. Eerily similar 8/9/7/2/0 line on 4-10 shooting. Any time you’re being compared to Joe Ingles, it’s probably not a good thing…
Jared Sullinger – It’s like a cocaine trip with this dude. The highs it’s like he’s a god and the lows it’s like waking up under a dumpster. 2/6/3/1/0 on 1-7 shooting in 26 minutes.
Tyler Zeller – In the coin flip of which Boston C you want, last night it was TZ for 18/6/4/1/1 on 7-14 FG and 4-4 FT. Don’t discount that great FT stroke from a big (77%). Kelly Olynyk did have 5 fouls, so maybe his baby line got hurt there.
Jeff Green – Rumored to be heading to Memphis. They play in green too! Different kind of green… Would make him unownable in 12ers if it happens, not that I have Green anywhere anyway…
Jarrett Jack – These weren’t the droids I was looking for! 15/4/4/0/0 with 4 TO on 7-13 shooting with a trey. Pretty “Wahhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack!” if you asked me. It should get better and with Deron Williams hurt with a thorn in his side, I still like me some Monterrey Jack.
Brook Lopez – Back to the bench, and playing really, really hard. “Lunch has been cancelled today due to lack of hustle!”
Mason Plumlee – Reaped the rewards with a 16/12/3/0/2 line. Had his usual adventure at the FT stripe (6-11), but didn’t have a TO. If Brolo keeps playing with one broken foot out the door, Prof. Plum is gonna get lots of run.
Rudy Gobert – Rudy-sanity! Monsiuer Elbow going nutso against the Bulls for 11/14/0/2/5. Just unfair out there! The Jazz shockingly blew out the Bulls at home by 20. Enes Kanter is a cancer! That’s mean to say… But as I commented yesterday, Kanter is kinda like the Jazz’s Josh Smith. Ship him off! Kanter was in Das Boot only a few games ago with his kankle, so he will likely miss a few more games; short-term I like Gobert even over my Nurkic. Long term, it’s Au Jus over The French Dip.
Trevor Booker – Solid 15/8/1/0/1 on 5-10 FG in 23 minutes. Kanter injury opening up some minutes! And of course I’m going against both these last two guys in REL. Kinda unreal the timing of things every… single… week…
Jimmy Butler – The Bulls get bamboozled, balopped, brokeback mountained at home and still Jimmy Buckets is an elite stat-stuffer. Put 16/11/3/2/0 on the Ledger and 5-13 FG (2-4 3PTM 4-5 FT) in the Gyllenhaal. There’s no way that…
Derrick Rose – …could be the issue, is there?! 3-15 FG for 7/4/2/0/0 with 3 TO. Eek.
D.J. Augustin – As opposed to what I said in yesterday’s open, Stan Van WILL flip-flop! He flip-flops about flip-flopping! Now I’m confused… Went away from Brandon Jennings late as DJ was turning up the music for 26/1/2/1/0 on 9-16 shooting including 4-5 from downtown. All of that in 22 minutes! BJ still got his 26 minutes… Hopefully you got a Sportscaster-aided sell-high trade done yesterday!
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – After leading the Pistons in minutes Tuesday night, played 17:33 yesterday. I hate the Pistons.
Nate Robinson – Starting SG on my “all-annoying” team which could be coached by Stan Van. Or Brad Stevens… Apparently the Magic were as annoyed by him as I am! Out of nowhere 10-10 FT, especially considering he was 0 for his last 3 at the stripe. He’s actually had 3 really good games in the last 5, with some atrocious duds mixed in there.
Victor Oladipo – Wow, so some dimes late… 17/1/6/3/0, but it wasn’t that nice most of the game. Hit 7-13 FG, and a lot of this late surge is in the steals. Deal the steals!
Kyle O’Quinn – Can’t catch a break! Channing Frye lays a Tatum, but Andrew Nicholson gets some run for an inexplicable odd reason and goes 11/4/1/1/0 on 4-10 shooting in 21 surprise minutes. Did hit 3-4 from deep, but so weird. Hadn’t played since Dec 30, and Dec 17th before that game. Eh, we’ll see if any sort of role emerges here.
Gerald Green – Heat check! Man was this game fun, as Green hit some terrible-decision jumpers, like a few leaning forward 3-pointers. All while…
All 3 Suns PG – …have useful games! Hooray!
Alex Len – Another big helping of swattage! 9/8/2/0/5 and looked solid out there. Even tried a 3-pointer! Missed it, but now has 5+ blocks in the past 3 of 4 games. Still taking French Dip and Au Jus over him, but Len is getting up there.
Andrew Wiggins – The 6 TO is squiggins, but 25/4/2/3/0 is a-biggins! Hit 10-16 FG and 4-5 FT. He gud.
Mo Williams – Aight, maybe I was wrong to discount Mo a little bit on this recent binge. 23/3/11/1/1 hitting four treys. Unfortunately, he sprained his ankle in the final minute, and limped off. Rotoworld said it didn’t look gud, but I was watching and he handled everything under his own power, so maybe it’s not too bad a kankle. If it is, it’s back to Zach LaVine and his 4 TO in 13 minutes last night!
Anthony Bennett – 14/10 in a solid 22-minute showing. Man, he’s otherwise been brutal… Worst 1st pick in NBA history?
Thaddeus Young – Tons, and I mean TONS of drop Thad questions. Gotta hold Razzball Nation! Sometimes you get decentuns like 13/8/4/2/1 and a trey like last night.
Serge Ibaka – Iblocka! So close to the Iblocka tripdub! 11/10 with 8 blocks. It coulda been even more if not for A – foul trouble and 2 – OKC benching everyone the last few minutes as the Kings whooped up on em.
Dion Waiters – Debut was… Not so hot. 1-9 FG in his first game in Thunder blue, for 4/2/1/1/1. Love the multi-cat! Gonna need more.
Klay Thompson – The bane of my existence. Had like a 13/0/0/0/0 line with a single three at half or something like that, then goes bonkers in the second half to end up with 40/4/2/1/1 on 14-25 FG (6-11 3PTM 6-6 FT). I was all existed to write some tounge-n-cheek ThrAGNOF shizz, then he does this while being against me in REL. Unreal. I think from here on out I’ll list the roster of my REL opponents and you can bank on them having huge weeks. My other teams are all doing just fine this week too!
Andrew Bogut – Returned to action for 4/8/0/0/0 in 15 minutes. Not all that shabby for a first game back. Marreese Speights still started, and had a hot shooting hand for 18/3 on 8-12 FG. Then David Lee went back down to under 20 minutes after 3 straight over. Who knows how this mix will play out, as this was a blowout too… Lee is for sure the one to own right now though.
Draymond Green – Another game, another near rainbow line in the first half. 7/9/3/3/2 with a trey is where he ended up, top-20 might be where he ends up at the end of the year.
Roy Hibbert – Ruh roh. Hurt his leg going up for a board, which sounds a little worse than your standard kankle roll. Let’s hope I never order a kankle roll at the sushi bar… Hibby has been healthy most of his career, so we’ll see if this is anything serious… But sounds a little scurry.
Lavoy Allen – Lavoy, ya boy! 12/9/3/0/0 on 5-6 FG and 2-2 FT in 33 minutes. Certainly wouldn’t become a must-own, but in deepers for a spec add while we await Hibbert’s prognosis, I like Allen as a quick add.
Donald Sloan – 14/5/5 in 20 minutes off the bench. Give him a chance, Vogel!
Blake Griffin – Near tripdub! Huge night against those awful “other” LA basketball players for 27/9/8/3/0 with no TO and 9-13 both from the field and from the FT line. Assists over 5 a game, with the TO down from 2.8 to 2.5 this year. It’s been at the cost of some boards and FG%, but tis good to see.
Kobe Bryant – I guess if we know he’s playing tomorrow against the Magic we’ll do a Guess the Kobe stat line, but man, it’s just gonna be near-impossible! Horrific 4/8/7/1/0 showing last night, hitting only 2-12 from the field and racking up 6 TO. Time to hang the sneaks!
Ronnie Price – Had to sit out with BOTH a fractured nose AND the flu. Oh dear lord, nobody should have to go through such suffering! Sniffly nose with it BROKEN! I hate the flu when it’s UNBROKEN (still out in theaters for your consideration…)!
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Corey Brewer (37% owned) – I was able to grab him in both RCLs (I think in both, at least in one, it’s late!) and excited for some big steal upside against the Poppycockers and their cobbled together team. It should be an easy blowout for Houston, so Brew Crew should get a nice dosage of minutes.
Patrick Patterson (24% owned) – I know he’s been brutal, but the Hornets play nothing but stretch 4s with Al Jefferson out of the mix (only Bismack Biyombo plays down low, and he barely even plays!), and I could see PitPat finally putting something together.
Thanks again for stopping by everyone, and we’ll catch you again for Friday! Be sure to check out today’s Pod for a special guest!
