Boogie Nights

December 7, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 69 Comments

If you had a time machine, when/where would you travel to? Use the space below to write down your answers, then print, and finally frame it.

You never know. A philanthropic time traveller could visit one day and offer to take you on three trips. On the condition that you can name the destinations in five seconds or less. Since you already have it printed and framed, you good to go. My first destination would be 25 years into the future Biff Tannen-style. The Sports Almanac from 2017 to 2042 would be the most logical thing to get. Then, I’d go back to the time of Jesus. I have to know. Finally, I’d want to see Wilt Chamberlain play. Since 1963, there had been 152 instances in which a player scored at least 40 points with 20 rebounds in a game. Wilt had 74 of those. The crazy thing is the query on basketballreference.com only went back to 1963. Wilt started his NBA career in 1959. I could go into the game logs for those years, but I’m lazy and we are not here to talk about Wilt. We are here to talk about DeMarcus Cousins aka Boogie.

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
40	22	4	0	4	6	2/6	12/25	14/21

Make that 153 times a player has gone 40/20. Boogie now has two two of them, with the other one back in October of this year. Now, we know that Anthony Davis is out for a while. In the games that he’s missed, Cousins’ usage rate has been 46.4, 30.1, and 44.0 last night. If you’re a Cousins owner, dance with the boogie get high ’cause boogie nights are always the best in town.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Game, Blouses

November 3, 2015 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 49 Comments

by: charlie

After making history this weekend with arguably the best Halloween costume from an NBA player of all time, LeBron James made his way into the NBA record books becoming the youngest player to score 25,000 career points. Despite the record-breaking basket coming against the hapless Philadelphia 76ers, the feat nonetheless is one of the most impressive in recent memory. With all the scrutiny surrounding the potential decline of the Artist Formerly Known as King James, tonight’s performance was an instant reminder of how effectively he can impact the game not only on the hardwood, but the fantasy box score as well.

Registering 22 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks on 9-19 shooting, James had his most well-rounded performance of the season. Moving forward, James should begin to impact other areas of the box score (assists, rebounds, steals, and FG percentage) as the Cavs offense clicks.

As the Cavs begin to realize the full potential of their All-Pro floor spacer in Kevin Love, James ability to facilitate and control the pace of the game will open up his true fantasy potential. Pencil him in for at least 20 points, 8 boards, and 6 assists on .500+ shooting. All hail the King.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

C.J. Stands For “Calm The Juck Down!”

October 29, 2015 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 129 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

Flashy player. Ridiculous opportunity. Buzzy preseason. A lot of times it ends up fizzling out, sometimes it works out OK, and one time it’s C.J. McCollum.

C.J. went absolutely bonkers in his 15-16 debut, hitting 14-22 from the field including 6-9 3PTM for 37/6/1/1/0 and no TO. Video game numbers! So he’s a shooter, and he does what NBA shooters do – keeps draining em when they hot! But I think we need to take a step back and consider a few things: Other than massive Pts and treys it was fairly empty. This was against the Pelicans, who without Brow, might look worse than the Sixers; they look horrific. And the third thing that no one seemed to mention while anointing McCollum the next big thing in combo guards this preseason – he’s got a pretty extensive injury history. He’s at the pinnacle of a sell high for me. Do I think he’ll be hot garbage all the sudden? Of course not. But do I think he scores 37 again this year? I don’t. Well, unless they faced the Pelicans every night… I’d shop around in the 40-50 range of ADP and see if you can get lucky. As with all fantasy takeaways off one game, it’s always good to keep from overreacting. Compared to fantasy football, we’re at the same point as about 9 minutes into the first quarter of week 1. Still a long way to go. Here’s what else went down during the first full slate of fantasy basketball action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Twas The Knight Before Christmas

December 24, 2014 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 141 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

It’s Christmas Eve! Santa is doing some last-minute shopping at the outlet mall, popping some speed to get over those procrastination eggnogs last night. Or maybe he was celebrating a big night from his fantasy PGs!

Just a reminder that this is the last Daily Notes for the week, which I hope doesn’t bring any coal to my stocking… Then again, no action tonight and then the light-slate Christmas Day games, so you won’t miss me too much! As always, all comments welcome through the weekend which I will get in between opening all my Brandon Knight memorabilia presents for Christmas!

Point guards just went nuts – like, chestnuts on an open fire nuts – all across the league last night. My boyfriend leading the charge! 34/2/5/1/0 for Knight, shooting 13-21 FG (4-7 3PTM 4-4 FT). To say he’s been up-and-down is an understatement, but right now he’s this kind of up! 20+ Pts in 5 of 6 and 4+ dimes in 5 of 6. The steals have come back down to earth a bit, but he’s only had 3 games on the season without a trey. Three! And that high-volume 90% FT shooting is oh so sexy. My advice has been to hold onto Knight all year (unless you could’ve sold high for something ridiculous a week in), and not get too worried about the ebbs and flows. Or else you would’ve missed out on a Christmas present like last night’s line! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Cubans Can Now Buy American Products, Like Rajon Rondo

December 19, 2014 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 122 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

The embargo is lifted! I can’t wait to buy some cigars… If you missed it, Obama has opened his front door to Cuba while continuing to backdoor the Canada oil pipeline. Hey-o!

And Mark Cuban has opened up his roster for some international trade, bringing Rajon Rondo into Texas. The Mavericks are reportedly changing their team name to the Dallas “You Don’t Mess With Texas!” Huge move in real basketball, but who cares about any of that?! Rondo takes a pretty substantial hit to his value, as Monta Ellis is going to sap a lot those assists with his slashes. But it’s nothing to panic about, as his atrocious 40.5 FG% will go up and the 3.4 TO should go down. And maybe a coach there can teach him how to hit a FT…

The rest of the swapperoo is Jameer Nelson, Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder and a first-rounder to Boston for Rondo and Dwight Powell with a swap of second-round picks thrown around in there just to make it look fancier. I guess if you still had Nelson in a 12 or 14er, he’s droppable. I could see Tyler Zeller lose some PT to Wright, but who knows. Chapel hill centers, reunite! The obvious big impact here is Marcus Smart, who was at 30% owned right when the trade broke (somehow got him in both RCLs!). That only shot up to 40% right when this posts, so he’s still available in several leagues. Boston has no reason to start Nelson over him in order to get a ton of development time for their rook PG. His fantasy game is really limited – I still don’t think the treys are going to come around in a huge way this year and we’ll be happy to see half the assists Rondo was getting a night. But he should be plenty good enough for all 12ers. Smart stashers feeling smart! Here’s what else went down last night in NBA action:

[Psyche! Quick note that I’m off next Monday, then Thursday and Friday due to Holiday scheduling. So Daily Notes will only be out Tuesday and Wednesday next week, along with our Holiday special Razzball Basketball Podcast on Tuesday. But I am of course always here for comments, even on Christmas, so if you need to get away from screaming kids in order to scream about how Batum has been awful, we’re ya spot!]

Please, blog, may I have some more?