As we’ve talked about in some of our intimate, 1-on-1 comments, Razzball Basketball is here to be your fantasy basketball therapist. We coddle you through the bad breaks, get you through some SKIIIIIIIILES! frustration, help you be able to cut ties with injured players… We’re a giant, comfy couch, and we want you to be comfortable and tell us why the fantasy gods hate you!
Well, in the same vein, you know I like to whine sometimes. REL posts are great for that for my REL team, I sometimes get Kristaps Porzingis in 4 of 5 matchups in a hot week, etc. etc. And I even pull in some real life whining, like today! So, not for the first time, or the second time, but for the THIRD MF TIME in the past month, the Razzball Basketball studio’s internet got ripped from the house because a dumbass in an 18-wheeler-size Estes truck decided it was smart to drive it down our tiny side street. That AND our good friends at Time Warner Cable assured us that the second time this happened, that it would be high enough to avoid large trucks. The level of incompetency is unparalleled… Well, I take that back, it’s about as competent as Mike Malone running his Denver rotations. We talked about this in the comments that maybe he needs to become MALLLLLLLLLONNNNNNEEE! …or something to that effect. Just like ripping out a millennial’s life blood by taking out my internet, Malone has a team ritual every night, where he snatches up a fantasy basketball player and ties him up in the Denver locker room, and right before every game chants “KALI MA! KALI MA!” and rips the poor guy’s beating heart out. Depending on how many beats it has left is how long he plays Jusuf Nurkic. Dude was playing fine last night! 11/3/1 in 17 minutes, with an efficient 4-6 FG and 3-4 FT – did have the 2 TO – but doesn’t play the final 22 minutes. Even the poor Kenneth Faried owners got wrapped up in this mess, as Manimal played the opening 4 minutes, then didn’t play the rest of the first half, and got only 11 minutes total. So you’re thinking big Nikola Jokic game right?! 21 minutes… Joke was solid though, going 14/11/3/0/1 on 5-7 FG and 4-4 FT. This is such a Temple of Doom, that even though it’s pretty common knowledge you should’ve been getting out ASAP, now it’s time to get out ASAP-er! Drop Nurk, trade Joke off this game, I’m probably even dropping Faried. Maybe in 12ers or limited-move RCLs you can give it one more game, but this was a good matchup against the Mess (even though Brook Lopez is playing on the perimeter now, maybe that screwed some stuff up), and if Malone has Faried in his doghouse, watch him start Darrell Arthur or some junk next Denver game. Frustrating night! Since I’m rushing through the notes at a Starbucks, this is going to be a lighter Daily Notes, so apologies for the brevity! But I’ll be around for comments as always, so if something big happened I missed/you want to talk about, shoot your thoughts below! Here’s what else happened last night in Fantasy Basketball:
Marcus Smart – Got the start for Isaiah Thomas, who missed last night due to a groin injury, which was like a kick to the nards for my REL chances this week. Only 23 minutes of 13/3/3/2/0 on 5-7 shooting. I was really impressed by Terry Rozier – 16/5/2/1/0, no TO, on 6-13 shooting. Obviously the line makes it easy to be impressed, but he just looks bigger and more spry every time I see him. Celtics really need to try and consolidate some resources…
Elfrid Payton – Obviously his big start to the week wasn’t going to last, but got another 28 minutes and went 10/4/4/1/0 on 5-8 shooting. It was OK. The 0-2 FT blows though…
Andre Drummond – Goromotaro! The Hornets have decent bigs, but no like – plower. Did that make any sense?! 26/20/1/0/2 on 11-4 FG and 4-7 FT. Maybe they shoulda tried banging the Drum slowly!
Marco Belinelli – Continuing to provide ThrAGNOF usability, going 13/5/1/2/0 with no TO and a trey. Even though his value is decent over the last few weeks, still only a 12er streamer.
Marvin Williams – Returned after nearly 2 weeks off from a knee bruise, and went 26 minutes of 12/5/0/1/0 with 2 treys. I wouldn’t be cutting major assets, but if he was dropped in a 12er, I’d most likely snatch him back up. Frank the Stank now goes Frank to the Bench.
Tyler Johnson – Whoa, Tyjo taking off! 27/2/5/1/1, no TO, on an absurdly efficient night shooting 8-16 FG (4-5 3PTM 7-8 FT). If only he was on a winning team, he would be the cock of the walk!
Wayne Ellington – 41 minutes of “if you can walk and you’re on the roster, you’re playing!” 19/3/2/0/0 with 4 treys, and I’d certainly ThrAGNOF him while hot, but I don’t see this continuing…
Hassan Whiteside vs Dwight Howard – Wow, old man Howard winning this round! Although it’s crazy that these two are only 4 years apart! Outta high school, immediate impact Dwight vs. took-forever-Hassan. Anyway, Whiteside for 8/12/0/0/1 and 4 TO in an off night, with Dwight going 23/17/1/1/2 on 9-11 shooting and an absurd 5-6 FT. Of course it’s only the Heat, but this was a nice bounce back win off a losing streak.
Paul Millsap – Rainbow alert! 21/9/2/4/3 on 8-12 shooting. So trill…
Thabo Sefolosha – Looking at some added PT with Kent Bazemore out at least the next few games with a knee issue. 29 minutes of 10/5/5/1/0 – it’s low end, but if you need steals in your matchup this week, Thabo it!
Emmanuel Mudiay – The curse of Malone isn’t explicitly for big men! 18 minutes of 6/2/1 on 2-10 shooting. Jameer Nelson got 19 shots in 29 minutes! Ew. But 14/5/5/2/0 is usable! I’m sticking with Jameer in 12ers.
Wilson Chandler – 27/15/0/1/0 with 6 treys. Went from unreliable bench guy, to out all last year with a bad hip, to most reliable player on a team of fun young talent. Someone get me a joint!
Sean Kilpatrick – I love him… That is all. Well fine, if you have to ask, 6-10 FG, 8-8 FT keeping the FT volume up, 22/6/3/1/0 with 2 treys. Mmmmm.
Trevor Booker – Yahoo has him a top-30 player. The Book Worm! Boarding like Rodman… 15/12/5/1/0 in 37 minutes. Coach Asshat actually ran a pretty tight rotation with his starters! He just wanted to show off he’s competent against Malone…
Lou Williams – When you’re hot, you’re hot!
That was too fun not to GIF! That shooting form is like when a 7-year old is trying to shoot 3s. 24/1/0/3/1 with 2 treys – including that one that should be worth, like 5 points – but 6 TO and the Lakers got pounced…
Patrick Beverley – PBev getting full Lakers matchup AND D’Antoni effect! Love it! 10/7/12/3/0 with 2 treys, but the 5 TO is annoying. More TO than James Harden last night?! Unfathomable!
Clint Capela – Rainbow alert! 12/9/2/2/2 on 6-10 FG and no FT attempted. Way to keep your sheets clean!
John Henson – Bleh. 25 minutes of 7/6/0/0/2 and 3-6 FT. At least he got better at the stripe! Went 0-2, 1-2, then 2-2 in his FT sets. Jabari Parker just decided to ball hog it and take 23 shots. Pompous Dookies…
Malcolm Brogdon – Adam mentioned Brogdon in his RazzWired article, and the expanded role is a little interesting! 13/1/3/2/1 and certainly worth a look in deepers.
Mason Plumlee – Lots of rainbows last night! 10/10/4/2/3 in a solid evening. Much more of a statesman, this Dookie.
Tristan Thompson – 20 rebounds! 3 points… Lord, the Cavs just slaughter the Knicks when they play them, just like opening night…
Brandon Jennings – Because of course my REL team would get a nice 31-minute-long BJ with Derrick Rose out! Ugh! 16/4/3/0/0 for Jennings in a spot start, but it’s a back issue for Rose that could linger. I might give my RCL teams a few BJs.
Dwight Powell – Oh good lord, this was the game I watched the most of last night. LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH! It didn’t look much better than my 5 AM pickup games at the Y… We debated the Mavs unleashing Dwight Powell, and even though the line was “OK” (6/5/5/2/1 no TO), he really had a lot of lapses on defense and just got demolished inside. Also poor 7’2 Salah Mejri got some horrific foul calls against him, including having his face get in the way of DeMarcus Cousins‘ elbow, and Mejri was called for the foul. He complained, got a tech, and on the way to getting subbed out for his 3rd foul in the first half, Rick Carlisle yelled at him “What the f*$% are you doing!? SIT DOWN!” It was awesome. Mejri had to leave with 2 fouls early, got the 3rd pretty quick in the 2nd, and the 4th early in the 3rd quarter and never got back in the blowout, giving him 11 minutes. But 7 boards, and I think they want him to be the main C-starter still… I think it’ll be bumpy at best for Powell in 12ers, and just seeing how bad this got without Mejri and hopefully a nice “coaching moment”, I think you could add Mejri in like deep 14ers or bigger as a board-n-blocks source for the ~month Andrew Bogut is out.
Jonathan Gibson – More REL bias! 28 minutes and was a little off (3-12), but should’ve had like 3-4 dimes if the Mavs didn’t miss wide open shots or layups when he was facilitating, and unlike Mejri, was talking with Carlisle calm and collected on FTs, and just seems like he could become a “Carlisle guy” as this season goes further in the dumper. Star him in anything deeper than 12ers.
Garrett Temple – Got a little extra run as the Kings ran away with this game in a 29-12 3rd quarter. 17/3/3, although I was surprised he’s still playing so many minutes, despite not doing much. Just hit his 3s this game (4-4)…
Paul George – Weird, I just had a dream last night that I only remembered when I got to this game this morning, that the Hornets traded for Paul George and I became a huge Hornets fan again. Mannnnnn, I wish that was real! 25/13/1/3/0 and good to see him healthy.
Alex Len – 2 blocks, but only 16 minutes as Tyson Chandler continues to play “fine” as a 30+ MPG starter. His little stint with Tyson out was only a Len’s flare! Somebody call J.J. Abrams…
Stephen Curry – We’d been missing the steals, and he gets 7 last night! Against the Clippers of all teams! 19/4/6/7/0, did go 0-8 from deep, but it’s just awesome he’s getting his stats back up to norms in a 5-game week against my REL team. Ughhhhh, told you it was a whiny post!
Blake Griffin – 7 TO. I imagine he just never saw the double-teams Steph was flashing his way. His Kia doesn’t have good rear-view mirrors!
Thanks for stopping by everyone, and I hope you had a solid Wednesday night of action! Adam has the daily notes tomorrow, but be sure and shoot your comments on the RCL recap or any of my posts through the weekend. Have a good one, Razzball Nation, and be sure your internet cables are nice and fastened!
