Well, you might lose your patience after I plagiarized last week’s title and didn’t even have a rhyme-y pun in it! I’m like the Robert De Niro of short filmmaking…
But it is interesting that we’ve had back-to-back weekends of patience paying off. It’s like having to hold it in and thinking of baseball to make it last! Although when I think of baseball I think of Grey, so it’s not making anything last! The injuries have been ridiculously frustrating the past two years, but this last one was just a bad cut that Terrence Jones accidentally squeezed lemon juice in when he was making shrimp scampi. At least it wasn’t a leg or body part injury, so I remained firm in my Tjones love. A lot of commenters were asking about selling Tjones away for virtually nothing, and there was even some drop Tjones sentiment. After a pretty lowly return last Wednesday, Jones showed everyone how good he is when his run is normalized, putting up 23 Pts on Friday and Saturday, with 23/7/0/0/4 and 23/6/1/1/3 lines hitting well over 50% from the field with a combined 4 treys. I can’t think of baseball fast enough when seeing those numbers! As I quickly change my pants, it’s probably too late to swing some buy low offers and hopefully you own Tjones in several leagues to ride the wave. If anyone wants to pay top-30 or 40 value (doubtful), Jones does have the inherent risk of more injuries, so I might sell him off at that price. But I’m not looking at this weekend as a fluky, sell-high couple of games. Pateince is a Tjones! Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy hoops action, and The 7 Ahead for week 4:
Ricky Rubio – After a very late scratch early in the week, your 5 games of Rubio in week 3 became 1 with a hamstring strain. Went into two of those DNPs as probable, in one of the many things that frustrated me this past week. At least Zach LaVine played fairly well in 4 starts, playing pretty efficiently minus an 8 TO outing his first start. If you nabbed LaVine, I’d try and hold until we see Rubio back, and don’t let a probable tag before tip for Rubio mislead you.
Tobias Harris – Had one of his best games on the young season Friday (19/13/3/3/1 with 3 treys) in a tough matchup against the Jazz, then one of his worst against the Wiz (10/5/0/0/0 with 0 treys). Oh Tobias, you blowhard!
Amir Johnson – A crazy Friday outburst of 19/8/4/3/3, and perhaps more surprising than the 1.5 rainbow was 36 minutes. On the Celtics. Of course regressed a tad, but still 29:32 of 7/5/0/0/3 last night is usable in the deepers. Probably out there in a few deep leagues he shouldn’t be.
Marcus Smart – Even Russell Westbrook called it fluky!
Westbrook on Marcus Smart. pic.twitter.com/Rm4y0XxYJY
— CELTICS NATION ☘️ (@CelticsNation5) November 16, 2015
26/8/3/1/1, played with a ton of energy, but yeah – what Westy said. You’ve got a spot as a Razzball writer any time with that kinda analysis, bruh!
Jeff Teague – Suffered a kankle after Friday’s game, and Dennis Schroder picked up a start against the Jazz. Schrodes shot only 3-10, but ended up with a mad solid line of 11/6/9 with a trey and no TO. The German would be a must-add if Teague continues to be in Das Boot.
Joakim Noah – I think he’s actually the Frankenstein monster in that ridiculous looking James McAvoy/Harry Potter reboot about to come out. “HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE!!!” Crazy line of 3/18/6/1/1 on Friday night. Noah has some of the oddest stat anomalies I’ve ever seen… He’s averaging more rebounds than his other stats combined, he’s cut his career FT% by more than half (at 33.3% right now), and he was able to put up that 18 REB 6 AST line in only 23 minutes. He’s a great extra source of AST for a FT-punt squad!
Nikola Mirotic – Continues to be terrible. 4 of the last 5 have been utterly unusable, with the only good one in there against the Sixers. We said on the Pod to sell after that Sixers game if you can still get that inflated ADP value back!
Jahlil Okafor – Got rocked by the OKC interior D Friday (3-18 FT, 4 TO), but was better against the Spurs for 21/12/2/0/2. After only 4 blocks in his first 5 games, he’s been at 2+ these last 5. I thought that would be a struggling aspect of his game – if those stay high, he can bank in that FT-punt value.
Christian Wood – After pimping him in our NBA draft prep, he went undrafted and was kinda whiny about it. Then he picked up a quick training camp deal, was dumped and scooped by the Sixers (who else?) and had a nice 19 minutes against OKC for 15/8/0/1/2. He’s tall and looks quick for his size out there – I could see an expanded role for a flier pickup in deepers.
Russell Westbrook – While Kevin Durant is out, anything less than a triple double is a disappointment. Was awesome Friday! But that performance last night.. Droppable…
C.J. McCollum – You can look at a few stats and still say I was way wrong not to fully buy in, or you can look at a few stats and say I was way right. He was at 21.4 PPG and 2.3 treys Friday, and the 90% from the stripe volume has been nice, albeit off a 10-10 FT on Friday. But on the flip side, finally hit 7-14 for his first 50% shooting game in five games, 8 TO Friday giving him 4+ in 3 of 4, the steals are non-existant, and he’s only had 2 AST in each of the last 4. It looks increasingly ThrAGNOFfy! I wrote all that forgetting the Blazers played yesterday, and 16/2/4/1/0 was fine, but 5-18!!!!
Marc Gasol – After a mad slow start, 31/4/5 and 16/7/4 over the weekend. While his mid-range is still nasty, there’s still a lot of warts for Marcy Marc right now. Without a steal in 9 of 10 games (0.2 vs. 0.9 last year) and the BLK have fallen way off (1.6 to 0.6). Boards and assists down too. There should be some marginal incremental improvements, but I dunno if he gets back to 14-15 numbers.
Kobe Bryant – Continues to tank FG%, that’s been a constant, but back-to-back popcorn lines of 19/5/3 and 17/8/9 in a tripdub flirt last night. The opportunity cost? 10 total TO. Nice popcorn stats and horrific FG% and TO rates… A backcourt of Bryant and Tony Wroten would cause the universe to implode!
Reggie Jackson – A big reason why the awful Lakers won last night – R-Jax got benched for Spencer Dinwiddie through the end of the 2nd quarter and again down the stretch in the 4th. Jackson had some bad TO (5), but wasn’t THAT bad… League Pass was glitchin’ this stream like a mofo, so I didn’t see his all of his D though… Anyway, Dinwiddie went 17/2/4 in 24 minutes hitting 6-9 FG. And that was after not getting minutes for nearly two weeks. StanVan has talked about how bad the Pistons bench has been, and Dinwiddie appears to have overtaken Steve Blake. Not worried about Jackson, but for the deepers, Dinwiddie is the handcuff and one probably worth owning in 16-20 teamers.
Zaza Pachulia – Does what the back-end players on fantasy rosters should do! Destroys the great matchups, like going 18/16/2 against the Lakers garbage interior D. Cooled off a little Saturday (including an odd 2-6 FT for him), but he’s still been good enough for must-own.
Raymond Felton – The Mavs sat the two injury-recovering guys and the ol’ German, giving Felton some good run for 23/6/1 Saturday night. Like a pizza just delivered to Felton, you better get your slice now because it ain’t gonna last!
Dwight Powell – Even with the benchings, the Mavs started Charlie Villanueva rather than move Powell out of his bench role. Sometimes I hate doing fantasy analysis! He’s awesome, love him, love his future, he’s legit. But it’s all about the role, and just goes to show you that even with Dirk Nowitzki out, Powell isn’t going to be unleashed yet. Nice streamer, certainly worth owning, but I dunno about a “must-hold” in standard 12ers.
Will Barton – Ugh! I have to do it back-to-back. I’ve been talking about how I like Barton since he had a couple nice performances down the stretch in his rookie year for the Blazers, but I just can’t give him the definite must-own sticker. Awesome weekend obviously of 26/5/1/2/0 then 19/12/4/2/1, but he’s certainly not a 7-11 3PTM shooter like he was those two games, and that second line was in a game the Nugs were down 30 at half. And like Powell, they don’t want to start him for energy off the bench. Worth owning in virtually all leagues while hot? Sure. Must-own? Nah, it’ll go back down.
DeMarcus Cousins – Definitely awesome! When healthy… Last week I talked about some concern he can handle all the times he falls to the floor, and he took a 12-13 FT beating again Friday then 9-12 last night. Overall lines were nasty, but had yet another hard fall and got up really slow. He looks like Ben Roethlisberger out there…
Rajon Rondo – Had a 3 for 4 stretch of tripdubs, but 7/7/14 last night made it 3 of 5. Darren Collison seems to be closer, so sell sell sell!
Jarrett Jack – “Wahhhhhh, I’m Jarrett Jack!” What he’s screaming to owners who doubted him! Crazy weekend of 21/1/12 and 28/4/9. Hopefully he cheers up…
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson – It’s not going to be consistent, but he can have games where he’s the Joakim Noah of SG! 7/13/2/2/1 against the Warriors in that shocking game bringing it to OT. Then the Nets lost. Not shocking.
Blake Griffin – If I don’t mention Blake Griffin, people lose their minds! Say that last sentence in The Joker voice… This just in, BG is good at basketball when he’s not picking up pretty ticky-tacky technicals. Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin!!
Jamal Crawford – Rotoworld loves to shit on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but when a shooter gets hot, gets a screen literally every touch and off the screen takes one dribble and a fadeaway and makes a lot of shots, he can score 37 Pts. Pistons were running some awful help defense off the screens. Obviously the KCP addict is coming out a little here… Crawford showing he still got it!
Evan Fournier – The former Virgin got it too! 18/6/6 on Saturday, and if nagging injuries don’t cut into the numbers like last year, this could be a huge season.
Bradley Beal – Went through shootaround with his banged up shoulder on Saturday, but decided to sit one more out. Sounds like he’s close. Instead of Gary Neal, Garrett Temple got the SG start and threw up 18 Pts. Our own Peter Kap met him once at an airport. You can’t call Razzball not plugged in!
LeBron James – Had 6 treys on the season before Saturday night, then hit 5 against the Bucks. While super hot and putting up a 37/12/5/1/3 line, hit only 6-12 from the FT line. Take your FTs from the 3PT line, ya bum!
Jerryd Bayless – I obviously have an affinity for all JB’s, but 12+ Pts and 2+ treys in the past 4 seems a little fluky, especially with Michael Carter-Williams now back. Keeping him in the ThrAGNOF class.
Kyle Anderson – Kawhi Leonard had to miss Saturday with the “flu”, aka Pop benching his stud against the awful Sixers. Gave Slomo a start, and he plodded his way to a 10/7/3/3/1 line with a couple of treys. Super deep leaguers with Kawhi might want to consider Mr. Anderson as a handcuff.
Nik Stauskas – Handcuffed to the bench! His shooting woes continued, and came off the pine in the second half against the Spurs. I think it can get better, but you can go ahead and throw that Old Sauce out. Might have hit its expiration date.
Andrew Bogut – Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, F you, F you, F you! Gets a 4-game week, after missing two weeks shows up Tuesday right at the start of wk 4, decides to not get hurt in any of them, and caps it off with an 18 REB game, giving him 40 REB against my REL team. I have like voodoo magic going on against me…
Draymond Green – #OccupyTripleDoubles! #OccupyRainbowLines! #OccupyTHEWORLD!
Stephen Curry – Well, occupy the world is more for Steph right now… Even when he’s 5-16 from 3PT land he goes 34/4/6 and the Warriors win…
Kevin Seraphin – Razzball is fun, light, escapist… But just wanna say it was awesome to see him play so well yesterday, going 12/3/2/1/0 on 6-8 FG. I don’t know if there’s much of a consistent role yet, but I for sure was rooting for the guy.
Robin Lopez – Might help Seraphin that Rolo has been such trash! At least gave you a nice multi-cat line yesterday (0/5/3/1/2), but 14 minutes ain’t gonna cut it.
Anthony Davis – Awesome to see him back, ridiculous line against the Knicks (36/11/1/1/4 with 2 3PTM), but man the Pelicans still blow, and I would bet a ton right now he misses at least 2 games in the fantasy playoffs… If not all of them with some minor lingering thing to shut him down.
The 7 Ahead
- 5-game week: n/a
- 2-game weeks: Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards
- Weekly League Streamers (by Y! ownership percent/games this week): Will Barton (47%/4), Festus Ezeli (20%/4), Dion Waiters (25%/4)
- Stream day: Thursday
Overall Thoughts: Mmmmm, I should do a review of the streamers from the week before every week! Look how saucy! In a very odd anomaly, the Wizards head into a back-to-back 2-game weeks. Pretty nice timing for Bradley Beal to get that shoulder healed up, as he can play Tuesday and have another 3 days off. Like last week, pretty heavy schedule days except for Thursday Night Basketball, so be sure to maximize your streaming for the TNT games. All-in-all, minus the teams with 2-gamers, you’re mostly playing your best overall players in weekly.
Monday: BOS, LAL, MEM, OKC and POR finish out back-to-backs to start the week. No teams head into back-to-backs, so no big early-week streamers with two games early. Byron Scott already said Kobe Bryant will have his minutes “trimmed” tonight, so it sounds like he could be out there. Helps that the Lakers then have 3 straight days off. Speaking of the Lakers, their interior D is terrible, so Tyson Chandler should have a resurgent game. The Mavs just benched everyone, but I don’t expect a big return from any of the vets as they go @ PHI.
Tuesday: ATL, BKN, CHA, DEN, MIN, NO, TOR begin back-to-backs, so for RCL daily-tomorrow moves, it might make sense to do an early pickup or two especially if your Wednesday isn’t full. Schroder got the start yesterday for Jeff Teague; he’s worth owning right now for the possibility of Tues/Wed starts.
Wednesday: Above teams finish out their back-to-backs, with only the Kings heading into a b2b. If you don’t have a full Wednesday line-up and are looking for some D-stats, Willie Cauley-Stein could be a fun streamer for Wed/Thu games. Marco Belinelli could also be used as a ThrAGNOF. The Pacers play the Sixers, so that should be a fun fast-paced game, and the Thunder play the awful Pelicans so I like Waiters as above.
Thursday: Only GSW and LAC go into back-to-backs, not a surprise as there’s only 3 games. We’ve got MIL@CLE, SAC@MIA and GSW@LAC. First Warriors loss in that one?! Clippers would need Paul back… Matthew Dellavedova has cooled off with the assists, but could still chip in a handful against the Bucks. Jerryd Bayless should also get decent enough run as a streamer, which is still the class I think he’s in as mentioned above. Mentioned in Wed, WCS and Belinelli are nice streamers and Tyler Johnson continues to play well if you need some multi-cat.
Friday: DET, HOU, MEM, NYK, PHI and SA head into back-to-backs. Gulp. Spurs. Back-to-back… Also looks like a Clint Capela could pick up another start Fri or Sat for Dwight Howard. Hornets host the Sixers, so maybe you can consider some of the Charlotte bench. Jeremy Lamb would be a nice stream for me. But it’s a pretty full slate, so you likely won’t be streaming too hard until the weekend.
Saturday: Unzip your fly, think about waterfalls, and get that stream flowing! Nary a team plays on both Saturday and Sunday, so you won’t be able to stack a back-to-back weekend. The Wiz like to play fast, and it ain’t like the Pistons are slowing it down either. Any of the regulars unowned would be a good stream in that one. Same with the Pacers even if the Bucks try to slow them down. If the Bucks had 4 games, I would’ve put Bayless as a weekly streamer, I like him in that game as well. Heat host the Sixers on a back-to-back, lovvvvvve Tyler Johnson here. If you stream him Thursday, keep him until Saturday!
Sunday: On the finale day, we’ve got 6 games. I suppose I should define what “Stream day” means at the beginning of the section, let’s call it 5 games or fewer. I expect all the DAL regulars to be in action and play well @OKC. Lakers play the Blazers in an awful game, but that might mean some crazy fantasy goodness. Suns go to Nawleans, and run the Pelicans out of the building. Love your Suns there as well – if Chandler is available in a shallower league, that’s a couple nice matchups this week. The Suns play in a back-to-back though into Monday, so they might rest guys up though, if it’s out of hand. OKC also head into a back-to-back, but I don’t expect any DNPs unless Kevin Durant makes a miraculous appearance on Sunday. He is a deity on the court after all!
I hope everyone had a great week 3 and a great weekend! Let’s do dis week 4, Razzball Nation!
