Welcome back from Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, with leftovers still to spare to get you through a full work-week back. I even bought a few extra boxes of stuffing since that ran out fast on T-giv day! Got two or three meals left to go… God I love Thanksgiving!
And while I added several inches to my waistline, Draymond Green has been stuffing his stats even more! Back-to-back tripdubs over the weekend for #OccupyDraymondGreen, going 14/10/10/1/2 then 13/11/12/1/4 on Friday and Saturday. The multi-cat phenom hit two treys as well on Friday – averaging a career-best 1.6 3PTM a game on the season – while his FG% has continued to climb all four seasons as a pro, up to 48.2% this year. It’s almost like the Warriors have good players or something! The only knock is his TO are up, but even in standard 9-cat he’s bringing back top-15 value on BBMonster and top-10 on Yahoo. I remain a little incredulous that a lot of people thought 2014-15 was a fluke (I guess?), and I had to defend a “high” rank a few times in the comments. So after this Thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful Dray is helping our Yahoo F&F team be decent this year and that rank is working out… Because trust me, a lot has gone wrong. Friggin’ Rubio… Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy hoops, plus The 7 Ahead for week 6:
Michael Carter-Williams – MCW now stands for “municipal career waste.” I maybe should’ve worked harder at that joke, but my lack of effort mirrors MCW’s fall from grace. Kidd got so frustrated with him, he took it out on the refs earlier last week! MCW got benched yesterday afternoon in favor of Jerryd Bayless. In 15 minutes, MCW went 3/4/2/0/0 and still put his thumbprint on his stats with 2 TO, 1-3 FG and 1-2 FT. Bayless on the other hand continued his strong play in his start, going 11/6/6/1/0 with a couple of treys. He shot pretty poopy (4-14), but played 43 minutes as MCW is rendered useless.
O.J. Mayo – Also got flipped into the starting lineup, with Jabari Parker coming off the bench. Jabari was decent going 10/7, but only 17 minutes and Mayo played a whopping 44. OJ for 12/4/5/2/0 with a pair of treys, and worth a look in deepers. But it may go back to lite Mayo when Greivis Vasquez is healthy or there’s another line-up shake-up coming-up.
Elfrid Payton – After back to back dubdubs, including an awesome 22/2/10 game against the Bucks on 10-12 shooting, Elfrid put himself on Skiles shit list going 6/3/5/1/1 on 1-12 shooting yesterday against the Celtics. Fear that IT2/3 defense!
Victor Oladipo – Skiles is pulling his best player off the bench… But maybe he has some sort of idea working in that balding head, as RainbOladipo almost lived up to the name in 30 minutes against the C’s for 19/8/6/2/1 with a pair of treys last night. This theme of bringing the better players off the bench is getting a little weird…
Nikola Vucevic – Pretty soon Jason Smith might be starting! After some low-minute games, Vuc was much better yesterday for 18/10/2. No D stats, and after a hot start those have been drying up, but at least the 33 minutes are a sigh of relief.
Tristan Thompson – Well, that Obamacare got Timofey Mozgov healthier faster than expected, using Healthcare.Mozgov to heal up that shoulder. Even with Mozzy Bear back, Thompson has been fantasy usable, going 7/12/1 and 10/11/2 over the weekend. His FT shooting was still pretty bad and he had multi-TO in both, so he’s back into the streaming mixer. Not to be confused with The Catalina Wine Mixer.
J.R. Smith – Had a typical Friday Smiff game of 11 points of “meehhhhhh”, but then had some sort of crisis of character, going 6/5/1/3/4 with 2 TO on 3-12 shooting with 0-4 from deep and 0-2 FT. You’re “J.R.” Smith, not “Josh” Smith!
Jared Dudley – As the Wiz got absolutely embarrassed by the Celtics on Friday, Milk Duds went 19/5/1/0/2 with 3 treys and 6-7 FT. It was enough to give him a start on Saturday, and he was exactly what you’d expect in a 30 minute Dudley-Do-Nothing start: 7/4/2/0/0 with a trey. Like Milk Duds, they seem appealing the one or two times a year you want to eat them, but then you’re reminded at how annoying they are.
Jared Sullinger – It was a weekend for the Jareds, as Sully bounced back from a rough patch with a good game against Philly Wednesday, then 18/15/3/0/2 and a monstrous 3/11/2/3/3 rainbow line last night. 3 Pts is still a rainbow! All this Jared talk at first makes me want to make a jewelry store joke, but that’s been played out. Next would be Jared Fogle, but that might be inappropriate even for THIS site. We’ll just leave it alone…
Jae Crowder – Like Sully, bounced back from a cold spell for 17/5/3 and 12/1/3/1/1 over the weekend. The steals are drying up after he was leading the league in takeaways, but at least he’s not a Silent Bob anymore…
Gerald Green – After exorcizing his demons at his apartment lobby, Green is back to game-ready and had a solid start against the Knicks putting up 25 Pts. That’s 41 Pts now in two starts the past two Heat games, but not much else on the stat sheet.
Kristaps Porzingis – In that Knicks loss to the Heat Friday, Zinger had the only fantasy-usable game of 11/8/0/2/3. Is he the best Knick right now?! Followed it up with a 20/13/1/1/2 line against the Rockets, almost leading NY to a win over HOU without Carmelo Anthony (bad seafood).
Jose Calderon – After a stretch of en fuego, went back to being Ricky Martin.
Arron Afflalo – A-R-Ron got some extended touches with Melo out, and got mad hot for 31/7/4 on 13-19 shooting with a pair of treys. Pulling the NBA shooter card – any shooter in the NBA can get hot! Not getting too crazy for this one…
Kevin Seraphin – Got some extended run last night for 14/7/4/1/4, but Rolo is terrible and barely played and Kyle O’Quinn I don’t think plays 4 minutes vs. 32 for Seraphin most nights…
James Harden – Beard is back in business, even if he is missing all 7 of his treys last night. Got exhausted after the near quaddub against Philly, going 50/9/8 Friday night with that brilliant 9 TO. It’s exhausting turning it over so much! That’s what she said?
Clint Capela – Your new starting PF. I still have faith in Terrence Jones, so I’m holding onto him. But while Houston tries out this huge front line, Capela is must-own unless you have decent bigs and worried about your FT%. It’s almost like someone thought he’d be a factor this year…
Patrick Beverley – Back to being our favorite fringe-ownable Pbev! 5/4/1/1/3 against the Sixers and 7/3/2/5/0 against the Knicks, with only 1 TO in each. With Ty Lawson getting a DNP-CD yesterday, I’m owning Pbev in 12ers where he’s available.
Isaiah Canaan – Well, the T.J. McConnell show is now BACK to the Canaan show, in the Sixers futile mess at PG. McConnell is still chipping in some dimes, so he’s still 12er worthy on the right builds. Canaan is playing too well to ignore as well, going 17.4/2.2/2.4/1.0/0.8 the last 5 games, with an absurd 3.6 3PTM. Even in this hot run, he’s shooting 39.7% though… I’m not getting married to Canaan in D.
Robert Covington – I WOULD get married to Lord Covington! I dunno, all that British pomp and circumstance and the accents… Oh wait, yeah, he’s from Illinois… Anyway, Covington is showing Jae Crowder how it’s done, with 6, 8, then 7 steals his last 3 games. 7 steals a game the past 3! The TO are ugly again, but like Canaan, the past 5 have been absurd for 18.0/8.0/2.0/5.2/1.0 with 3.2 treys, 45% FG shooting and a pretty good volume 78% FT shooting.
Jerami Grant – I picked him up in a league or two when Covington went down, and didn’t hold… Eesh… 18/3/1/1/1 and 11/7/1/2/3 over the weekend with 4 total treys. JeraMI SO HORNY!
Nerlens Noel – His knee was so sore, it made him sick. Missed yesterday with knee/illness. Maybe it got gangrene.
Nikola Mirotic – After setting the world on fire and subsequently freezing it (he’s on the same career trajectory as Tugg Speedman), it looks like Miro has finally settled into his niche. 16.5/7.5/3.3/0.8/0.3 with 1.8 treys and 2.0 TO the past 4. All of that minus maybe an AST seems about right.
Kobe Bryant – Toke up mutherFers, it’s 4-20! That’s 20% from the field last night… Mental math!
Paul George – Ridiculous. 3 games the past week of 33+ points. At least my rank was right in the middle there. But remember my fight with commenters on if he was elite in 2013-14? THAT is what sounds ridiculous now! He’s pushing that top 7 or 8 territory for me, and nearing Kevin Durant land.
Kevin Durant – Speaking of, tore up the Pistons for 34/13/5/0/3 Friday night, and hopefully there isn’t any more bumps and bruises the rest of the way. I’m probably taking him over…
Anthony Davis – …who had a bad knee ouchie Friday, yet sucked it up and played Saturday. He must be looking at Razzball comments to gut through another injury! And he was phenomenal against the Jazz, going 36/11/1/2/3. But fragility indeed looks like a liability. Least cool rap lyric about an NBA player ever…
Ish Smith – No one else in that blowout loss to the Jazz showed up except Ish who remains one of the most improbable contributors this year. 13/6/6/2/0 in that one, and it was one of his worst games. We’ll see how Tyreke Evans crunches the minutes, with Evans set to be back this week.
Zach Randolph – Returned after nearly 2 weeks off with a sore knee for 17/11 last night. It must’ve just been a soreness issues if they risked playing him against the Sixers!
Kawhi Leonard – We all knew he was good, but not THIS GOOD, right?! Had a beautiful double-rainbow 25/7/6/4/5 line on Friday @DEN, and if I was at the game, I would’ve been higher than that guy in the YouTube vid gawking at a double rainbow… Followed it up with a solid Saturday in a 20-pt win against the Hawks. MVP talk? Maybe if not for those stupid Warriors winning everything…
Will Barton – I’ve consistently said I love his game yet hate the role, but after a terrible game last Tuesday against the Lakers, 12/9/2/2/0 and 14/8/4/1/1 on Friday and Saturday. After only 2 treys over a 5-game stretch, buried 4 on Saturday against the Mavs. Aight, must-own in 12ers, been too good. 10ers or shallower, he’s still streamable. Also helps Gary Harris suffered a concussion… Best wishes, G-Hair.
Stephen Curry – Also in the streaming class. No reason to hold onto him…
Leandro Barbosa – Surprising 21 Pts against the Suns on Friday, then back to Earth on Saturday for 5 Pts. That said, still a usable-in-deepers 5/2/1/3/0 with a trey. Captain Barbosa just never gets any older! Friggin cursed gold…
Harrison Barnes – Picked up a kankle against the Suns and sat Saturday. Apparently he was on crutches, which is just as scary as Brandon Rush becoming a starter and back into the fantasy discussion… 16/3/1 with 4 treys against the Kings, and could be in line for several more starts for as long as Harrison has the kankle (missing at least the next 3). Certainly a ThrAGNOF, but worth a look in deepers.
T.J. Warren – Wow, ancillary stats! Scoring like Wilt Chamberlain lately (double entendre!), and had a nice 15/11/0/1/3 line in a win at TOR. P.J. Tucker looks “super” boring with this nice Warren play.
Tyson Chandler – In the comments yesterday, Slim and I took the terrible Robin Lopez over him… Tyson has a bum hammy, but even with Alex Len looking good at the eye level, it didn’t translate to the stat sheet last night. Deeper leagues might wanna give Len a look though…
Jon Leuer – Mmmmmmmmm:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdyrVaob8uY
20/12/1 last Wednesday, a dud where they decide not to play him Friday, but 16/4/2/0/1 last night with a pair of treys. Deep league option.
Mirza Teletovic – Mmmmmmmmm:
Oops, wrong video! Was the EXACT OPPOSITE of that last night, shooting 7-9 including 6-7 from downtown. Deep league ThrAGNOF!
Gorgui Dieng – Another game with a handful of minutes next to Karl-Anthony Towns, going 14/10/2/1/1 in a super-efficient 5-7 FG 4-4 FT outing in only 25 minutes. Choo choo! The Dieng Train is coming back to the station!
Andrew Wiggins – In Slim and I’s favorite Rotoworld thoughts, McCollum keeps being annointed the second-coming of Michael Jordan, while Wiggins is the second-coming of Michael Olowokandi. Although I was pretty disappointed he had a steal and a block 3 minutes in yesterday, and didn’t add to them the rest of the game… Past 9 he’s 23.3/3.8/1.7/1.0/0.9 with 0.7 treys on 45% shooting a huge volume 78% FT rate. Metrics still hate his multi-cat line, because nothing is high volume but the PTS, yet he’s hitting all cats and there’s still improvement showing.
Zach LaVine – Can you get ankle transplants? Because right now, that might be a good explatory option for Ricky Rubio… He didn’t twist his too bad this last time, but the Wolves held him out the past two games for precautionary reasons. Any time you can nab LaVine off the wire for fill-in Rubio starts it’s paid off, with two great games over the weekend with a shiny 11:3 AST:TO. No steals, but everything else was there.
Rajon Rondo – Unsurprisingly had a bad game against the Warriors. But that was after going 16/4/16 against the Wolves Friday night, with nary a TO. LaVine is fun to watch and playing a good fantasy game, but his real-life defense has been Sixers-esque.
Rudy Gay – Was colder than David Blaine’s nuts when he froze himself in an ice cube, going 1-13 on Friday. Bounced back just fine from the field Saturday @GSW, but he’d really like DeMarcus Cousins back. Boogie is out with a backie. Needs a messagie.
Cory Joseph – Cojo with buzzer-beating mojo! Beat the Wiz on a buzzer beating trey, then 9/5/1/1/2 last night, with another trey. If he adds in threes and steals, he’s pushing 12er worthy!
Bismack Biyombo – After no blocks in his first JV fill in and first start, back-to-back 4 block games, minus Leuer’s posterization! The boards went down last night, but he’s been very usable for Boards-n-Blocks.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson – I literally wrote glowing stuff for him in The 7 Ahead, only to have to revise that part… 2/4/0/0/1 in a dud last night, but raw rookies sometimes have some E. Coli… I don’t think RHJ has as much as Costco though…
Brook Lopez – Multi-cat clownfoot! Double rainbowed last night in an uber-sexy 15/9/5/4/6 line against the Pistons last night. All these numbers makes me think it’s a time bomb counting down!
Darrell Arthur – 16/5/1/2/2 against the Mavs Saturday night, in one of the odder lines this season. I guess the playoff-bound Nuggets want to play their vets to keep in the race, and not develop their young bigs…
Zaza Pachulia – Had about as bad a performance as he’s had in his career last Wednesday (artichoke and anchovy pizza), but then was fantastic in a bounce back Saturday against the Nugs. 16/12/2/3/1 (meat lovers pizza). If that Wednesday 4/0/0/0/0 4-foul game scared anyone off, it might be worth checking if Zaza is on any of your wires.
Trevor Booker – Rainbow alert! Crazy game in a fill-in for Derrick Favors (personal), going 13/15/3/2/3. Well, it was against the terrible Pelicans, so there’s that… Favors was back at practice yesterday, so as that brainwashed Stormtrooper says in Star Wars, “move along… move along…”
Alec Burks – Hit a little rough patch, but nothing a matchup against the Pels can’t fix! 21/5/4 with a trey, and I still see it getting a tad better with the treys and dimes.
Jordan Clarkson – I love him… 19/3/4/4/0 Friday then 22/10/6/1/0 with 2 treys last night, without a single TO. As Kobe wears down and keeps shooting 20%, it’s going to be more love for J-Clark.
C.J. McCollum – Aight, aight, aight, he’s officially been better than I thought. But after that rainbow line last weekend, his past two are a little ThrAGNOFfy. Of course, he’s scoring too much to be “officially” a ThrAGNOF, plus some nice signs with the treys being heavy again the past 3 and the TO going down.
Al Jefferson – Strained his calf yesterday. It probably got pretty fat, but I don’t know who returned… Tyler Hansbrough played a few minutes! Although his return wasn’t long-awaited… I would’ve assumed Cody Zeller would be a big benefactor, but Spencer Hawes and the awful Frank Kaminsky also got C run… Three-headed monster is a nice way of saying “we don’t have a good backup C.”
Blake Griffin – Rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble!
The 7 Ahead
- 5-game week: n/a
- 2-game weeks: Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves
- Weekly League Streamers (by Y! ownership percent/games this week): Omri Casspi (12%/4), Raymond Felton (2%/4), Nikola Jokic (23%/4), Jerryd Bayless (28%/4)
- Stream day: Sunday
Overall Thoughts: A little bit of an odd slate going into week 6. A pretty heavy Thursday with 6 games followed by a light Friday with 6 games. I usually focus my streaming closer to the weekend, but I’ll be using a lot of my moves for Thur/Fri games. I honestly don’t know if anyone is worth playing in weekly from the two 2-game week teams, so be sure to factor in some other options if you own a couple guys on those teams. For my weekly streamers – that’s right, I went there! – Rayray is back to 12er fantasy relevance. J.J. Barea is out likely the full week with a kankle, plus the Mavs have Mon/Tues and Sun/Mon back to backs. Felton has been playing pretty well, and should get his busiest week minutes-wise.
Monday: BOS, DET, HOU, LAC, and MIL all come into week 6 on the second leg of back to backs. Dwight Howard has already been cleared to go b2b, so he should play tonight. No one else seems too risky opening the week. HOU@DET should feature a lot of pace and a fun one to start the week. OKC@ATL is another intriguing one, and GSW will look to go 19-0 @ UTA. DeMarcus Cousins is still ailing with a back issue, so I’d roll Omri Casspi out there again if streaming v. DAL. The Mavs are the only team heading into a b2b, so you might get some vet benchings tonight or tomorrow.
Tuesday: Heading into back to backs are LAL, NO, PHI, PHO and WAS. Not that anyone is very broken up about it, but Kobe Bryant is probably missing on of the two. Lakers are @PHI, if Kobe sits I like Lou Williams in a game vs. his former team, and he should be back with the team after a DNP-personal. Who knows how Brow will hold up in a b2b… WAS@CLE should be a great playoff atmosphere game.
Wednesday: As the busy week continues, DEN, IND, SA and TOR head into back to backs. In limited moves/RCL formats, I’m going to already use up a few moves if my lineups aren’t full Wednesday, to utilize some b2b on Thursday. Nikola Jokic’s minutes have taken a little hit, but I like him @CHI and @TOR for a big man stream. After being everyone’s favorite ThrAGNOF streamer, C.J. Miles should probably be owned in all leagues. But if he’s out there, gotta love the b2b filling out Thursday. I also like the Raps big men, and be on alert for your old Spurs as Pop has already flashed the DNP-old card. Could just call that an AARP card… In other matchups, the Bulls host the Nugs in what should be a nice game especially for Bulls bigs, I could see Joakim Noah actually being usable. Knicks host the Sixers, so play the NY Triangles with confidence.
Thursday: Pretty heavy Thursday with 6 teams playing, but none heading into b2bs. Friday is surprisingly light with 6 games as well, so it’s going to be a stream heavy here. BOS@SAC should be pretty fantasy-friendly to anyone that gets minutes (cough, F Stevens, cough), and Rajon Rondo should be on edge against his former team. If there’s still no Boogie, you can play Casspi again. DEN is right off @CHI then go to @TOR, I think the Raps blow them out of the building. IND@POR should have a combined score of like 230 or something nuts. Love everyone in that one.
Friday: As mentioned, only 6 games; a little odd for a Friday. CLE, HOU, MIL, and NY head into b2bs, but Saturday is a pretty heavy slate, so I’m not streaming too hard for Fri/Sat stacks unless Saturday has a lot of my guys on off days. CLE is @NO, and they have a monster game on Saturday, I bet your Cavs have lower minutes. The battle of NY has the Knicks hosting the Nets – as mentioned above, RHJ has been pretty good until yesterday’s dud, but is worth a look. HOU@DAL is always a great matchup. PHO@WAS should feature some crazy pace, T.J. Warren is also a hold, but if he’s somehow out there this late in the week, I think he should have a lot of shots.
Saturday: Heavy, heavy Saturday. GSW and SAC are your only b2bs – and there’s actually a lot of streaming options on both teams. If your Saturday isn’t full and you’re maximizing for Sunday, I’d take a look at who is on your wire from those two. So a little “behind the curtain”, I write each day before listing my stream picks, and yet again I’m going to point out Casspi. Looks like he’s a weekly streamer for me… GSW gets @TOR and @BKN, great fits to play Festus Ezeli, who has been usable even in lower minutes. As mentioned above, if Barnes is still out, you could give Rush a look as a ThrAGNOF in deepers. Leandro Barbosa has also been usable for deep league streaming, also mentioned above. With Boogie out, Kosta Koufos has been playing great, and was on an upswing even with Boogie on the floor. Both SG Marco Belinelli and Ben McLemore have been decent as well. For the non-b2bs, CLE@MIA is obviously going to be a ton of fun. Oh lord, it’s DEN@PHI… Over/under… 39 total TO?! Yikes.
Sunday: We wrap up with a light Sunday, with only 5 on the slate. DAL, DET, LAL, PHO and WAS all head into back to backs, so be careful with your vets (cough, old Mamba). Of course all those Mavs as well… DAL@WAS might be tough for the Mavs with the pace, so I kinda could see that one being a game where DAL limits minutes. Lakers go @DET – the Pistons lost to the Lakers earlier in the year; I think DET comes out strong. SAC@OKC will be a tough one for the Kings to keep up in, but they have all those nice streaming options listed in Saturday. GSW@BKN and PHO@MEM wrap up the slate, all those Warriors listed above should get nice run with the second unit in a probable blowout. The Suns are kinda blah playing against the Grizz, so I think you’re sticking with the regulars there.
I hope everyone had a great weekend and Turkey Day! It’s now back to the grind for a few more weeks until Christmas. Be sure to maximize your lineups this week, and good luck to everyone in week 6!
