It’s been a year long punching bag. Larry Drew sucks, he has no idea how to grow a young team, and because he plays guys different minutes every night the Bucks are atrocious and have no cohesion. But that’s nothing new, as he was awarded the first Razzball Worst NBA Coach Razzie. It’d be a wonder if he could do anything right! Yesterday, I said Ramon Sessions might be the best player on that team (and he got a ridiculous 20 minutes to show for it Sunday), and Larry Screw actually paid attention to my advice! Sessions started last night against the Clips, played 44 minutes, making the most of it. Shot a ridiculous 13-21 (2-3 3PTM) for 28/6/7. While this game was nice, and I maintain he’s probably the best fantasy asset on the Bucks right now, he’s not necessarily the best pickup. The Bucks have only two more games this week, Thursday against the Lakers (which you obviously love) then Sunday against the Heat (not so much). Plus it’s the Bucks and we all know how Larry Screwballs can jack things up. I picked him up in one league just to lock down that Thursday game since it’s a light slate with only four games. If you can afford to do that, Sessions is your man. Here’s what else I saw last night in fantasy basketball action:
Terrence Jones – Been such an enigma this year. So much so, I want to give myself an enema this year. Even with Dwight Howard returning, put up 18/7/2. You love the 9-15 FG, but this was a little bit of an empty line. Also have to like the 32 minutes. But he’s tough to trust given McHale’s noodling.
James Harden – The beard starts you off right nice! 31/3/5/1/1 with four treys. What the elites do for ya.
Kevin Durant – Ditto. Even thought a rough shooting night from downtown (1-7), 27/4/8/2/0 to start the week. Did have 5 TOs, but small complaint.
Reggie Jackson – Got the start for Russell Westbrook who sat with his iffy knee, and R-Jax delivered! I’ve been a little down on R-Jax, but this perked me up. This tweaked my nipples. 16/3/11/3/1 with an incredibly efficient shooting display of 4-6 FG 3-3 3PTM 5-6 FT. I still think it’ll be a little tough to trust him in Westbrook games, but if you can pick and choose when you know Westbrook will be out, he’s a huge streamer option.
Caron Butler – Took an absurd 19 shots. This was a blowout, so I guess it’s OK to give Butler a green light… Not a fantasy option.
Steven Adams – Lurrrrrrrch! Huge game from the New Zealander who went all Lord of the Rings on us with six steals. I have no idea what that means, but roll with it! 10/6/1/6/0 in only 23 minutes. The swipes were more a fluke than anything else, but man, Lurch is teeming with potential. Slim might pull a JB and rank him next year like I ranked the Luminescent Lithuanian!
Randy Foye – Why I hate Foye. When he’s cold behind the arc, he’s absolutely awful. 4-14 FG (3-9 3PTM) 11/1/4/1/0. Has been a beast over the past week with the treys, and fits right into the streaming principle for building your 3-pointers. So you can cut him loose – only two more games this week, and both against defensive juggernaut San Antonio who give up the least amount of treys a game in the NBA (6.4 per). I think he’s cuttable in virtually all H2H leagues in the playoffs.
Timofey Mozgov – I streamed him last night for a nice 12/9/1/0/1 game shooting 5-8. Not huge, but a limited upside double-double option made him attractive. Only two more games this week against SA does not. I am moving on.
Gerald Green – You so, so ThrAGNOF!
P.J. Tucker – 8/11/4/3/0 with a trey, and remains underrated. Only 29% owned with three more games this week against WAS, NYK and LAL. Them some saucy matchups.
Pero Antic – In my RCL playoff tilt, I was sticking with Antic for one last game since he was playing on Monday. 5/8/2/2/0 with a trey worked for me Another 3 TOs though. I don’t get why a big who shoots treys and only plays mid-20 minutes can rack up so many TOs! Since RCLs are limited moves leagues, I’m still holding Antic for Wed, Thurs, Sat games, and he might be my last move to drop on Sunday.
LeBron James – Lump him with Harden and Durant. It’s fantasy playoffs time, and that’s the main reason they’re stepping it up. Obviously.
Mario Chalmers – Went down in a heap and I thought he mighta tore something in his knee. I saw this happen and I was scurred. But he was able to return, still logged 31 minutes, and had an 11/6/3/3/0 night with a trey. I know a week or two ago I said he was streamable. Well, where I had him I didn’t have any better options so I held steadfast. Well, that wouldn’t be the best word. Begrudgingly? Nope, too negative. Content to hold! Oh man, I’m about to kill the SATs with this vocab range!
Chris Andersen – Wowzer. 13/11/0/1/2. I’m still not a buyer for consistency, he was under 20 minutes the previous two games, but in the Kyle O’Quinn class of boards and blockers pretty freely available.
Mo Williams – Got a lot of buzz this week as a widely available option to benefit from the Blazers 5-game week, and started really strong with 17/4/2/2/0 last night with a couple of long balls.
Tyreke Evans – Whoa nelly! Absolutely gashed the Nets with slashing drive after slashing drive. 13-19 (1-2 3PTM 6-10 FT) 33/10/7/3/0. Just a ridiculous start to his week. Did rack up 7 TOs, but there was just no stopping him. This game reminds me of what Victor Oladipo was doing when he was really hot. Great penetration, multi-cat numbers, high TOs.
Mason Plumlee – Going against the Brow is no easy task, and came out with a decent 6/11/0/0/1 line. But the biggest number to me was the 31 minutes as they keep extending him deeper and deeper into games. This was an OT game, but still, if he can hover close to 30 minutes per, it’s tough to see him staying on wires.
Paul George – Just can’t quite lump him with the elites, can ya!? 21/7/1/4/0 is fine, shooting 8-22 isn’t. Did have the trip-dub over the weekend, but is brutally ice cold shooting the ball. About as cold as not quite being Catfished, but getting fake Catfished. Which is pretty effing funny.
Joakim Noah – Pretty safe to say you can lump him with the elites. 10/8/8/4/3 in a gorgeous rainbow. You won’t hear the word gorgeous in a Noah blurb that often, but when it comes to the stats, I’m dropping my pants.
Taj Gibson – Very solid 23/8/1/0/1 off the bench shooting 9-15 and 5-5 FT. Giving you good production down the stretch.
D.J. Augustin – Ugh. Rough start to DJ’s week shooting 2-8 for a horrendous 4/1/3/0/0 line. Conversely, Kirk Hinrich turned in one of his best outings in a while. Don’t read too much into it though.
Roy Hibbert – I just dropped him in a shallow league. Yup. 3/5/0/0/0 shooting 0-5 with 3 TOs. It’s been on the decline for a while, but two straight bad games with foul trouble. I don’t recommend dropping him in most leagues, but since it’s so shallow and I’m stacked with bigs, it seemed only logical.
Gorgui Dieng – Wow. Just, wow. Is he DeAndre Jordan/Andre Drummond-lite right now? Uh, doy! 11/17/1/1/0, no blocks this time out, but playing like a monster and no reason to rush back Nikola Pekovic, who is still without a timetable. Dieng is an obvious own in all leagues, I think he starts the majority of the week, at the least.
Gregg Popovich – Hey, Gregg. JB from Razzball here, how you doing? So you know how you get really angry at your players during games? You get all redfaced and crypt-keeperish? Well that’s how the entirety of the fantasy community thinks of you! Thanks for sitting Tiago Splitter, Danny Green and Tony Parker for no reason. Well, they were playing the Sixers, so I guess that’s a reason. With the Spurs on absolute cruise control right now, don’t be surprised if you get killed by Spurs DNPs.
Austin Daye – Hit six treys against the awful Sixers. I don’t know which of these two is the lesser of two evils…
Henry Sims – I mentioned I actually liked him a lot a few weeks ago, and coming true! 10/7/7/2/0. This might be the only situation he could thrive in, but ride it while it lasts!
Will Bynum – Another 9 assists. Now an absurd 9+ assists in four straight. Do something big once and it’s no big deal. Twice and it’s, “hey now, you saucy goose!” Three times and it’s, “Yo playa, this for realz?!” But four times in a row it’s, “Aw shizz, gimme somma dat!” Even crazier than whatever the hell I just wrote is he kept the streak alive last night in only 17 minutes.
Blake Griffin – Maybe not “elite” in a fantasy-sense with the Hardens/LeBrons/KDs, but it’s tough to think of a guy more trustworthy in the tier of players below that. Coming up on his third year out of four playing 80+ games, hasn’t scored under 20 points since January 18th (!!!!!!!), dramatically fixed his FT shooting through his career, just needs to get to over a swat a game like we know he’s capable to really be elite. But the safety and overall improvements have me thinking he might be a first rounder next year. Emphasis on might, I’ll have to take a looksy at that.
Next Game: TNT OT on Tuesday! OKC @ DAL then NYK @ LAL. A great one followed by someone in the scheduling department getting fired. So if you’re checking out some highlights/watching the games anyway, hit the link, see my work, and hit me up on twitter if I jacked up the spelling of Dalembear or something! Good luck tonight in the light slate of games, pickup your streamers, and may the fantasy gods be forever in your favor!
