No Nicolas Batum, no problem!
The Blazers went nuts in the first half last night, putting up 84 on the hapless Nuggets through 24 minutes. Indiana won last night at Miami scoring 81! All your usual suspects had some good games, but who was the Keyser Soze? The greatest trick bench players have ever pulled was convincing the fantasy basketball world they don’t matter! But Chris Kaman is off yet another brilliant game, putting up 16/7/2/1/2 on 6-8 shooting (4-5 FT), and needs to be owned in virtually all leagues. Was a little in junk time? Sure. Is he better than Robin Lopez? Who isn’t?! Will he start any time soon? Well, no, but dude has grabbed at least 5 boards in every game and averaging over a block and a half a night. The minutes are going to be there all year, as several NBA teams needing a starting big man have got to be mad they didn’t float Kaman a little offerewski. And he’s a must add for RoLo fantasy owners, as while he had a good game last night scoring 19, zero blocks, only 5 boards, and most importantly only 21 minutes. Blowout induced, yes, but topped 30 minutes only twice this year after averaging 32 a game last year. He’s down 4 MPG from 2013-14 as Terry Stotts is utilizing the Blazers’ vastly improved bench, but thus far RoLo’s numbers are nearly identical from last year, and I don’t see that continuing with such lower PT. So sell RoLo high! And when other owners try to figure out why, tell em because you got high. Here’s what else went down in fantasy action last night:
LaMarcus Aldridge – I thought I was high when I saw he was at 6 blocks! I watched some of this game, and easily should’ve had a 7th on Kenneth Faried, but Manimal got bailed out with a foul call. 12/7/3/0/6 shooting 4-11 (1-1 3PTM 3-3 FT). L.A. had 6 blocks on the season through 8 games before last night! Blocks and threes be the bees knees.
Steve Blake – A very usable 6/5/5 with a three. He can do that a lot of nights – even when it’s not a game where you’re up 30 at halftime and without Batum. Likey some Blakey ears.
Ty Lawson – Well the ankle issue concern has to be satiated a good bit here! 32/3/6/2/0 hitting 4 treys shooting 11-17. The performance hasn’t been the issue, but 42 minutes when this game was over right after tip?! Let us gently touch our tips!
Arron Afflalo – What in the…? Did he admit to sleeping with Brian Shaw’s wife right before we gently touched our tips?! Only 10 minutes of nothingball. And you don’t want to win the fantasy title of nothingball.
J.J. Hickson – Looks like JaVale McGee mighta been in on that Mrs. Shaw action with Afflalo! McGee reportedly still has a minutes cap, but even to a 17-year-old dude losing the V-card on prom night, 4 minutes isn’t enough! Looks like Hickson has truly inserted and thrusted himself into a big role again with back-to-back O-faces going 14/11/4/0/0 last night on 7-11 shooting. But that FT%! What has happened to him at the stripe?! 51.7% last year after being in the mid-60s his whole career and 2-6 so far this season in an extremely small sample. He also doesn’t block, so he’s behind the Ed Davis’s and Kamans of the world for me. Plus who knows if this was a true look at the C rotation given the game flow.
Brandon Jennings – Was straight ballin’ out there! 32/3/10/2/0 on 11-19 shooting hitting 3 treys. Happy to see the big minutes coming his way, as 34 minutes on prom night is plenty for that 17-year-old gettin’ the BJ!
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – He’s so good. I really wish they’d let him penetrate. Sheesh, I need to calm these euphemisms down, it’s like I just watched Caligula or something! 20/2/0/0/1 hitting 8-14 and 4-6 from deep. Like my refusal on the Pod yesterday to believe Carlos Boozer has any value, I refuse to believe his steals won’t come!
Andre Drummond – Ouchie. 2/5/1/0/2 with 2 TO. Two straight pretty uggo ones in a row if you’re a Drummo guy and don’t own him in your league… Buy low window is rolled halfway up.
John Wall – He’s pretty good at basketball. 13-16 from the charity stripe as he was attacking all night. The Pistons kept hitting a Wall!
Kris Humphries – Ugh, another year where he shows marginal fantasy value… Three straight good games with his best thus far last night for 12/9/1/0/2 on 5-10 shooting. With Drew Gooden‘s minutes trending down all the way to two straight DNPs now, it’s time to get your Humphries on in deepers and hope those Ray Js keep fallin’!
Rasual Butler – Business NOT as usual! No Tom Jones, it IS unusual! Shot 7-8 for 18/1/1/1/0 hitting two treys. Hey, it’s the NBA, anyone can get hot. His 27 minutes and 18 Pts are likely both highs for his season this year.
Paul Milsap – Needs to drop an L from his name permanently! Get Chad Ochocino on the phone, Millsap’s agent! We need the number for the name changing place! Breakout game for Millsap, going bonkers for 30/17/3/2/2 with 4 treys shooting 13-23. Other than like, half of Anthony Davis‘ games, might be the line of the year! Misspelled jersey and playing against his former Jazz were all the motivation he needed…
Al Horford – I mentioned numerous times in preseason that both Horford and Millsap’s best month last year was when they were together, so I’m not worried this Horrific Horford game is a trend when Millsap goes off. Only 8/4 with a block for Medium-sized Al, but I’m shooting out the buy lows like bad Mets contracts.
Jeff Teague – Concerns over getting benched last game can be put to bed, as T-Money for 20/2/8/3/0 last night. Dennis Schroder didn’t do much in 18 bench minutes, so Teague owners can stop having nightmares of that piano dude from Peanuts.
Derrick Favors – Rainbow alert! 20/6/3/2/2 shooting 9-11. Our Yahoo Friends & Family team got a double rainbow line from our bigs!
Trey Burke – Well, that was a horrible call on prematurely shooting my wad on Dante Exum‘s ascension earlier in the week… 35 minutes for Burke for 11/3/11/3/0, and Exum can join Afflalo on Team Nothingball. Burke still couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if he was living inside it (5-15 last night), but racking up a dimebag and 19 dimes the past two is encouraging.
Anthony Morrow – The Celtics were up 18-3, then just absolutely fell apart. “Somebody gaurd this Morrow scrub!” That’s B-rad from the C’s bench… 28/5/1/0/0 hitting 11-16 with four treys from Morrow. Klay Thompson‘s last game was 29/5/4/1/0 hitting 9-17 with 4 treys. Yes, why you can ThrAGNOF!
Lance Thomas – Wow, crazy line from Alpa Chino’s boyfriend. 7/13/6/0/0 hitting 3-5 shots. Well, he had 8 dimes on the year before last night, so really not much to take from this… Just played with a lot of Booty Sweat last night!
Reggie Jackson – 28 Pts and 8 dimes. Sell, sell, sell! Always be closing!
Jared Sullinger – I said several times last year he was an underrated passer; the numbers never really bore that out, but 14/11/6 last night and 4+ dimes in 3 straight. Tough to get too many assists with Rondo Rondo-ing, but still nice to see it starting to come true.
Rajon Rondo – Speaking of Rondo, put the screw on the Thunder! 20/9/12/2/0 and why I liked him so much before his broken hand – hit four treys.
Donald Sloan – Still useful! 15/6/3/1/0 shooting 5-10 (3-5 3PTM 2-2 FT). Playing hotter than Ferris Bueller’s girlfriend. I’d skip school for that!
Chris Copeland – 17/5/2/1/1 hitting three treys. Just needed Slim’s terrible Heat to break out of a slump! Now has 3 total blocks and 3 total steals on the year… I mean he’s useful, but I’m not getting attached. Just a speed dial on my waiver wire booty calls.
Roy Hibbert – Season high 15 boards in a 16/15/2/0/3 line. He’s looking pretty good out there, but I don’t doubt the big possibility he hits a wall. This would be his career season thus far…
Luol Deng – Ferried his way back to awfulness. 5/7/0/2/1 shooting 2-10. That stifling defense of Chris Copeland, who got mocked for it by the Pacers radio crew last Indiana game! Yikes. Hope you sold higher after he dropped 30 the game before!
Norris Cole – I’ve been pretty steadfastly against the Heat PG, but 7 assists last night in a game where the Heat scored 75. At least someone was creating! 16 dimes the past 3. Pretty nice to see.
Evan Fournier – The Fournier-Year-Old-Virgin with a career-high! Huge night for 28/2/2/4/0 shooting 8-14 (2-4 3PTM 10-14 FT). Hitting 3s and slashing hard to the rim?! The French Pony is winning me over… Worth picking up everywhere to see what happens with the rotation when Victor Oladipo is back, which could be as soon as tomorrow. Fournier is still only scooped up in 35% of Yahoo leagues, a number that should go up after this one.
Elfrid Payton – Got you the dimes, but 0/3/8/0/0 and only 23 minutes isn’t going to do it. Like Slim mentioned yesterday, I’m worried with how well the Virgin is playing Elfrid might be put on the Magic Shelfrid as a backup G.
Samuel Dalembert – A very Hatian Aberration kinda game, for 2/7/4/0/5. Four dimes?! Five blocks?! I’m still bitter I streamed him for blocks when he got benched for 5 and a half minutes on Oct 30… Old grudges die hard, ya schlub!
Kobe Bryant – Keeps jackin’ em up like trucks in the South! 33/4/5/1/0 shooting 10-28 hitting 5 treys. The volume is out of control! But that line makes me the clear winner for my second Guess the Kobe Stat Line award this year! My 33/5/3 guessed line was superb, I have so many people I’d like to thank… First and foremost, the German weirdo scientists that healed him faster in their human experiments and Ashton Kutcher for his philosophically charged performance in The Butterfly Effect that gave me the luck of the draw to pick this one right. We’ll be back with Guess the Kobe Stat Line tomorrow!
Ed Davis – Might be the most consistent bench player for fantasy purposes thus far… 8/11/0/0/2, at least 5 boards in all 8 games and multi-blocks in 5 of those. Shooting over 70%, albeit in low volume. A good one is rather owning Davis or Kaman… I’m narrowly leaning Kaman, but both should be owned.
Tryeke Evans – Out-of-position dimebag! 19/5/11/0/0 shooting 8-16 and hitting two treys. Wow, back-to-back dimebags. That’s gettin’ higher than Brad Pitt in True Romance! Only 3 TO the past two games racking up the 21 dimes, and while his FG% overall is still a killer, I might’ve been wrong to pump such hard Evans sell-highs. But I think you can still strike while the iron is hot.
Gerald Green – Green? Super green! 28 points hitting 3 treys and going 11-12 from the stripe. The Suns second unit took over, as Isaiah Thomas also scored 20+ off the bench. Not much to read into it, Hornacek like’s horning the hot hand.
Eric Bledsoe – It’s becoming a bedrock principle, not a theory. One Suns PG HAS to have a bad game every night. 11/4/3/1/0 shooting 4-5 with a trey, all fine, but 7 TO while doing that in 23 minutes?! Somebody call Josh Smith and get him to teach Bledsoe some efficiency!
Goran Dragic – Had a lot of panicking through the first three games, but has been rock solid the past three. 18/3/6/0/0 hitting another 3 treys for the second straight game, and had 5 steals the previous 2 games so not worried there. I wish some of my lowball dragon offers were taken…
Kevin Garnett – Another double double. I imagine his offseason training went something like this. I also think Lionel Hollins and the Nets coaching staff are playing Jenga with KG. Another 27 minutes?! He’s getting wobblier than when you have to start taking the 2nd brick out of the latticework!
James Harden – Oh man, gave everyone a huge scare! Landed on Frankenstein’s fat foot (well, Shabazz Muhammad‘s, but ya know) and turned his ankle. Luckily a quick gordita there in Mexico City amped him back up. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him miss a practice though…
Donatas Motiejunas – Won the coveted “most impressive to JB” award from NBA action I watched last night. 8/7/4/1/2 in a near rainbow shooting 4-9 and just looked smooth. Next game is tomorrow against the 76ers?! You can go ahead and grab him for that start!
Dwight Howard – His best game… I’m guessing ever. Mostly because he hit 4-5 FTs. “Is this basket regulation size or what?!” That’s Flip yelling at the Mexico City arena’s official. “It’s like Dwight is throwing a hot dog down a hallway!”
Zach Lavine – Looked just as raw as I expected, yet put together a 8/3/9/0/0 line. Shot only 2-9 and I was surprised he only had 3 TO. I thought he looked a little out of control. But there’s no question he’s the PG to own in Minnesota, and got 34 minutes of burn last night as well.
Streamer Picks:
Devin Harris (25% owned) – We talked about him on the Pod yesterday, and with Jameer Nelson a question mark with his bad hammy, Harris might get all the minutes he can handle. Which isn’t too many, but still! Playing a lot better than anyone would’ve expected with 4.6 dimes a game and should be a great play with a quick pace of play. It also helps the already-TO prone Michael Carter-Williams returns tonight, and likely will be rusty.
Bojan Bogdanovic (6% owned) – ThrAGNOF! Has played 32+ minutes the past three games, hit 2 treys in all of them, and off his best two games of the year. In a game where the Nets will need some explosiveness, look for Bojjy Boggy to get a lot of looks on the perimeter.
That concludes a busy recap of Wednesday’s action, be sure to set your line-ups and scour the wire on a short Thursday slate and we’ll see you tomorrow!
