Geez, open the triage, we might not have any beds open in our Fantasy Basketball Infirmary after this weekend! Way to sully the excitement of players debuting on new teams…
I guess an injury that made a lot of people surly is a year with no more Sully. Stress reactions have been claiming lots of games lately, and Jared Sullinger will be shut down for the year with lingering issues in his foot. I blame Brad Stevens! Gives me stress reactions…
The Celtics have been anything but consistent with rotations, but Kelly Olynyk should be primed for a little consistency whence he’s back from his kankle. Right now it’s Tyler Zeller manning the 5 with Brandon Bass at the 4, and those three should split most of the big man minutes. Zeller’s nice %s with the big man stats can be usable on a lot of teams and Bass, who went 15/5/1/0/2 on 7-11 FG in 40 minutes last night always seems to be underrated. Olynyk of Nazareth is the guy to own, but he’s not miles ahead of the other two. I wouldn’t mind a spec add for any of the bunch, but not dropping anyone of too much value. Here’s what else went down over an injury-plagued weekend of fantasy basketball action:
Anthony Davis – Ughhh. Re-injured his shoulder when trying to hitstick Hassan Whiteside, and advantage Whiteside. I mean, Hassan weighs like 4 times as much! MRI luckily was clean, but he’ll miss 1-2 weeks with a shoulder strain.
Ryan Anderson – Got hurt minutes later, falling very awkwardly in a non-contact resulting in an MRI sprain. Definitely thought it was worse watching the game. His timetable is 2-4 weeks, but with the Pelicans so banged up and falling further out of the race, I’d bet it be even over 4. A drop in virtually all redraft leagues.
Alexis Ajinca – I guess he’s your spec pickup with these guys hurt, but Dante Cunningham should move to some 4 minutes and Omer Asik will play a bajillion minutes. I’m not going after Ajinca particularly hard in any leagues.
Jason Richardson – Man, it’s like some cosmic alignment or something, with J-Rich back on the court and everyone else getting hurt! He actually looked decent for 7/7/2/2/1 in his debut, but disappeared for 7/5/1/0/0 last night. Hit a trey in both and will have minutes limits, but actually deserves a look in deepers.
Rodney Stuckey – Whoa, back-to-back 30-burgers! Better late than never with that sleeper call, amiright?! Exactly 30 in both, hit 2 treys in both, and hit nice FT in both. It’s nothing to get too excited about beyond the points, but multi-treys in 4 straight and 15+ points in 5-straight.
James Johnson – D-Fense! Or would I have to spell it D-Fence? I dunno, either way JJ went bonkers Saturday night for 27/5/0/4/4. Now, it was a blowout loss, no Lou Williams, and both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan were mad cold, it was JJ’s career high, and had 2 steals and 2 blocks Friday but only 5 combined steals and blocks the 8 games before that. I’m not too excited yet.
Caron Butler – Shifted into the starting line-up for 20/4/3/4/0 on Friday night, but fell back down to Earth yesterday for 7/1/2/1/0. No TO in either though, but unless you’re in a deeper you’re grasping at straws.
Reggie Jackson – Welcome to Motown! 17/5/5 in his debut, no steals and shot only 7-18 with 3 TO, but looked mad good out there. And Detroit beat the Wizards! Really excited.
Spencer Dinwiddie – Picked up the spot start after the Break before R-Jax was ready for 12/3/9/3/0, but shot only 0-6 yesterday in 18 bench minutes. That said, had another 7 dimes and could be a deep league assists-streamer.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – I was yelling “he’s on fire!” during the whole game yesterday afternoon. 26/2/1/2/0 hitting 10-20 FG with 6-13 from deep. Super ThrAGNOF! And I just took such a big hit of KCP and trippin’ balls back on my KCP addiction.
Shabazz Napier – Speaking of trade-depleted minutes! ‘Bazz for 18/7/6 in 34 minutes off the bench Friday, but had 7 TO in that one and went back to a low-minute bench role Saturday.
Goran Dragic – Welcome to Miami! And just like the end of Dexter, booed out of town… 12/3/1/1/0 hitting only 4-11 FG and 3-6 FT. It will get better, so if anyone is panicky, try and sneak out some buy lows.
Mario Chalmers – Quaddub alert! 13/6/7/8/0 blowing out the lowly Knicks Friday night. Flukedub alert!
Chris Bosh – As I mentioned when it broke Thursday night, he indeed has blood clots in his lungs and will miss the rest of the year. Awful, awful news. No big asset emerges fantasy-wise either. Whiteside should continue to develop and Dragic should be a monster, at least let’s hope!
Langston Galloway – The Harlem Renaissance with pretty good lines in the post-Carmelo Anthony era going 19/3/4/2/1 Friday and 13/6/5/1/0 Sunday. Nothing is going to pop out and say MUST OWN, but across the board production with low-ish TO is a renaissance indeed…
Tim Hardaway Jr. – Hit some 3s Friday and was decent, then was cold Sunday and wasn’t… ThrAGNOF!
Shabazz Muhammad – Yikes. Out for the year with finger surgery, and Anthony Bennett is out for two weeks as well. We only had the one Wolves game Friday night, so we should see an interesting bench rotation tonight and I think it’s Adreian Payne time! Was a rough 0-6 in his Minnesota debut, but tried 2 treys and had 2 blocks.
Gorgui Dieng – Also in line for more assured minutes even though he didn’t get the start after the Thaddeus Young trade. Still went Dieng train on the Suns though! 15/12/1/0/2 on 6-8 FG. Choo choo! About to get a wild ride aboard the Dieng train!
Alex Len – Look at dem minutes! 35 mins on Friday for 11/10 with 6 blocks, then another 34 Saturday for 8/11/1/0/1. Tons of minutes on a back-to-back! Entering must-own territory – looked really good on Friday night during portions I watched.
Brandon Knight – Pretty empty 13/0/5/0/0 in his Suns debut, but came off the bench against a tough defensive team there in Chicago. Gerald Green has really struggled since IT2 and Dragic were shipped off, so Knight should get big minutes as he gets more Allen Iverson-time in.
Rajon Rondo – Man, he’s like possessed by some sort of Trey Burke demon or something! Horrific weekend with 10 TO to only 7 AST in 2 games with 1-4 FT. You probably couldn’t even get a Mondo for him in a trade!
Chandler Parsons – Heard a “bing” when he twisted his ankle. Out the next three games, and look for Al-Farouq Aminu to pick up some PT and be a much, much worse shooter.
Jusuf Nurkic – The Jamba Jus is open for business! Huge rainbow Friday for 11/15/2/2/3 with no TO. Struggled a tad yesterday against the Thunder, but man is his dynasty stock climbing faster than Apple the past 10 years! Apple Jamba Jus!
Ty Lawson – What everyone loves to see on a shortened week, a star getting benched for missing practice. Well, we all know he got that world class UNC edumacation!
Randy Foye – Well, looks like this possibility was a bust. The Nuggets keep starting the way oversized Danilo Gallinari at the 2, and spoiled alert! Lost both games that way…
Rudy Gobert – It’s Gobert’s world and we just live in it! Got a glimpse of what kind of defensive powerhouse Utah could be in a 4/7/2/0/5 line. Not huge, but only played 24 minutes fighting foul trouble and the real-life impact was huge. Monsieur Elbow!
Avery Bradley – Monster weekend, and played 83 minutes! 28/3/6/4/1 Friday and 20/5/3/3/0 last night, and not a single TO in either. Mr. Efficient! And Mr. Almost hit a buzzer-beat to move last night into OT.
Isaiah Thomas – Came off the bench in his debut for the C’s, and looked solid for 21/5/3/2/0 with 3 treys in 25 minutes. He was a little sick and should play more, if not overtake Marcus Smart.
Evan Turner – Bootstrap’s bootstraps! 12/6/12/2/0, and while IT2 can be an engine for an offense, he’s never been a 10 APG guy. Should keep the popcorn stats-a-rollin’! But Turner shot 5-19 FG and had another 4 TO…
Omri Casspi – Somebody box out! Casspi goin’ ham (which might not be kosher…) on the glass for 7/12/6/1/0 Friday and 11/17/1 Saturday. Played 59 minutes in those games with a trey in both. Looking like a big part of the Karl system.
Deron Williams – “Wahhhh, my hamstring!” Jarrett Jack missed Friday and is doubtful tonight, so D-Will got to turn back the clock and is another example that the planets of Jupiter are in some retrograde shizz or somethin’… D-Will is healthy while no one else is?! 12/4/15/2/1 against the lowly Lakers and Jordan Clarkson‘s inconsistent defense. Short-term fine, but not buying a D-Will renaissance.
Jordan Hill – Welcome back, and the hips don’t lie! 5-15 FG 12/10/1/1/1 in a little bit of a rusty return Friday and only 10/5/1/0/1 in 19 minutes Sunday. I still think he should be scooped up by any team needing a big.
Kevin Durant – Sigh. Had a procedure to switch out a screw in his foot and will be re-evaluated in a week. “He’s more machine now than man.” Now you have to hold… It’s like being stuck with shizz cards in poker. Don’t fold em!
Enes Kanter – Well, at least somebody is happy KD is out! 10/13 in his debut then 8-12 FG 20/12 Saturday. Looks like he will have a run here of putting up numbers similar to what he did in Utah.
Serge Ibaka – Look at that improving FG%! 18-32 over the weekend, 36/20, and 11 swats. Comin’ around!
Russell Westbrook – M!V!P! Gus Ayonin!
Mo Williams – I was huge on the move, and he’s straight ballin’! 24/4/12 with 5 treys in his debut Friday, then 22/1/3/3/0 with 3 treys last night. Mo starting minutes, mo championships!
Corey Brewer – Saturday is Brew night! 26/10/2/5/0 on 12-19 shooting. Who woulda thought when Brewer was picked up he would ever lead the Rockets in shots or points in a game?!
Terrence Jones – Getting some buzz after 11/9/1/0/3 Saturday and 9/9/2/1/4 Friday. Even in 27:20 MPG last year, TJones was only a 1.3 BPG guy, so a 3.5 BPG weekend seems fluky and the looming Dwight Howard still scares me for minutes ROS.
Austin Rivers – “Daddy, it’s a blowout, can I shoot a lot now?!” “Sure son!” 28/1/2/3/0 on Saturday night when the Clips dethroned the Kings. More like defiled!
Stephen Curry – You just can’t depend on anyone anymore… A late DNP with a sore foot, but sounds like more of a precautionary move. Horrific blow to shortened-week-Curry teams though… It burns!
Klay Thompson – Tried to carry the Warriors with 39 points, but it was at the cost of virtually no other input. Get well soon Curry!
Nerlens Noel – Captain N getting the big swatters out! 12/9/0/4/9 in a monster line Friday then a rainbow 10/3/5/2/2 last night. It’s all coming together…
Isaiah Canaan – Wasn’t exactly a monster in his Sixers debut, but 14/4/3/0/1 with 4 treys is a pretty solid start. Other than Robert Covington, was the only Sixer to take over 10 shots. He’s going to get some mad usage.
Arron Afflalo – 8/4/2/1/0 in his Portland debut. Later AA!
LaMarcus Aldridge – Yeah, everyone is missing time! Late scratch with his thumb issue, and this could be something that crops up here and there ROS. To Live and Die with LA…
Streamers/Cheap Daily League Picks:
Trevor Booker (2% owned) – A little bit of a dart throw, but you play your bigs against the Spurs. With Gobert a foul trouble risk and the Jazz likely needing a little O, I could see a niceun from Book.
Patrick Patterson (30% owned) – There’s some other cheap options I might like better, but Pit-Pat is tough to hold onto long-term & no questions asked, which is why he is streamer bait! It’s like jail bait, but with less arrests. In what should be a blowout in Nawleans with all their injuries, Pit-Pat should get some extended run.
I hope everyone had a healthy weekend and we’ll see ya back tomorrow!
