Happy MLK Day! NBA Has Day Games!

January 16, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 34 Comments

Happy MLK day! Sorry the notes were a little late this morning, I have the day off work and decided to sleep in! Holidays be holidays! And this is a great one – not only for the message and for one of the most influential men of the 20th century – but for the day-NBA we’re about to get! Hell yes, day games!!! ATL@The Poppycockers starts it off at 1:00 PM EST and games stagger their way through 10:30 tonight. So be sure and set your line-ups early this morning/afternoon, and get ready for early action to kick off week 13.

As you all know, I write with an extreme stream-of-consciousness-ness (as you can tell by that mastering of the English language there), and I’ve decided I’m too excited to turn this into a standard open! Big stuff happening in the REL (update up in a few hours), I’m about to watch the NBA all afternoon with a day off work, and Grey put out his top 10 for Fantasy Baseball this morning! It’s like Christmas for me in fantasy sports land! Then in the down time between games and Razzball writing, I’m going to spend my day off playing Rocket League, which I just got addicted to. This is turning into the best day ever… I guess I need to get to some daily notes at some point, ahhhhhh! Here’s what went down over the weekend in fantasy hoops action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Russell Westbrook. Period.

January 6, 2017 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 44 Comments

by: Adam

Half man, all amazing. Or something like that. 49 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Oh yeah, he also went 8-15 from deep. He had 5 TOs, but I feel like we can forgive him with all of the extra 3s tonight. The assists and boards have been off his triple double place, but man can this guy ball.

Jeff Teague – Absolutely slaughtered the depleted Nets backcourt with 21 points and 15 assists. Throw in 9-13 shooting, and this tells you more about the bad defense than the good offense.

Myles Turner – Also dominated with a 25/15/0/1/5 line. It’s sweet, but expected. Dude is a beast.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Do Us A Favors, And Don’t Push Yourself When You’re Hurt!

November 15, 2016 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 153 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

As I try to do in my opens, I pull in some real-life news or experience to try and humanize the open. No one wants robot reporting! Just ask Mark Cuban. And that whole situation seems like such a cop out, “I’m going to ban reporters, and the reason why is that I want more human reporting!” Something else is going on there…

Anywho, for this open, I actually have relevant life experience! As previously mentioned regarding Derrick Favors, I too have suffered from IT Band Syndrome. It’s an inflammation of a thin band of nerves that connect from your hip bone on the outside of your leg, past your knee, and connected to your lower leg. Sometimes it can manifest itself in a mad sore hip, but usually it impacts the outside of your knee. When it flares up, it feels like a bone-on-bone “catching” on the outer part of your knee, like you have some horrific scar tissue from a torn meniscus (something I’ve also had). The real annoyance of the injury is you can feel awesome for a few days, then it flares up out of nowhere. You’re just walking normal, and all the sudden that “catch” makes your knee feel like you re-tore something. It’s pretty friggin’ frustrating.

So when I heard Favors was starting last night despite a flare up of knee soreness again on Saturday, I wasn’t the most surprised. I bet it felt great in warm-ups! Then at some point, I’m guessing he felt that same nerve irritation, and he ended up leaving early. I know his frustration. As a nerve thing, this isn’t really a consistent pain-tolerance thing, or a sprain to play through. It feels fine, then a sudden flare up makes your knee feel unstable. I didn’t watch any of this game, but he apparently didn’t look right, and went only 6/2/0/2/0 in 21 minutes. As I mentioned on the Pod, I nabbed some shares of Trey Lyles on Sunday given Favors’ knee issues and knowing this could be a long-term thing, getting rewarded with an 18/5/2/2/0 line with a trey. A trey from Trey! With leaving games early a persistent issue now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Favors gets treatment for a few weeks, and I would take the flier on Lyles where I could. It took me about two months of rehab and a session of dry needling to stimulate the nerves to finally shake my IT issues. Don’t watch if you don’t like needles! Here’s what else happened in fantasy hoops action last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Dynasty Deep Dive: Getting Down With The D

November 12, 2016 | Dynasty Deep Dive | 9 Comments

by: Craig Bozic

nba_development_league_logo-svg How is it going Razzball Nation? Another week down and what a week it has been both in and out of the NBA. The nation voted, The world waited and BOOM!!………………But let us take a break from politics and let your good buddy Craig guide you through some more NBA development news.

The season is just a few weeks old but boy do I need to take stock and catch breath. We saw it rain 3’s for Stephen Curry against the Pelicans; We saw it rain assists for James Harden, putting up 72 in his last 5 games,;We have seen it rain blocks for Anthony Davis, putting up 3 or more blocks in 7 of his first 9 games; and seen the Hornets reign the East in the early part of the season with an impressive 6-1 record.

So where do we start today? Well with the D-League having started last nigh,t what better way than to highlight a few guys whose progress I will be tracking throughout the season. The D-League may seem like a glass ceiling of a graveyard for some, but often presents opportunity for players to showcase their talents in the hope of impressing for that elusive rotational run in the NBA. Back in 2014 we came across a guy called Hassan Whiteside, whom after being drafted back in 2010 by the Sacramento Kings with the 33rd overall pick, got signed with the Miami Heat after 3 seasons in the D-League……………The rest is history.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

As Our Faith In Democracy Is Rattled, We Can Finally Revert Back To A Monarachy And Lord Covington

November 10, 2016 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 98 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

It’s been over 24 hours now. The sun rose. The sun set. People played basketball.

Regardless of how you felt through Tuesday night, I think pretty much everyone can agree it was morally exhausting. My wife actually wanted to watch the SNL Election Special last night that we DVRed, and all the laughing I did through the year plus of skits just got no response from me this time. Well, the Jay Pharoah as Ben Carson was still pretty boss… But it was a poor DVR choice!

With all the divisiveness and vitriol flying around, I just don’t know if democracy is working any more. Bring back a monarchy! Hell, The Walking Dead is doing it… (I think I’m going to make Nene‘s nickname King Ezekiel, but I’ll work on graphics for that later) No more Healthcare.Mozgov, it’s time to [re]embrace Lord Covington! His followers were jumping off the bandwagon like they were in Paris in 1789, but now we need a strong leader to get behind! 23/6/1/1/1 with no TO for Robert Covington against the Pacers for by far his best line on the season, hitting 8-16 FG with 5 treys. Just needs to get in more uptempo games! Honestly, I know I lost some RobCo faith, but I’m back on the bandwagon. I’m a flip flopper! Sue me! So be sure he wasn’t cut in your 10 or 12 team leagues, and scoop him up if so. Looks like his shot is back. It is worth mentioning that USG-whore Joel Embiid got a DNP though, so that might have helped things open up, but then again Embiid tweeted this yesterday.

Embiid 2020! If it becomes a contest of which candidate – Embiid or the incumbent – is bigger in the downstairs, we all know who would win that one!

Apr 15, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) during warm ups before a game against the Miami Heat at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s what else went down in Fantasy Hoops last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Round 3: Jamba Jus Gives Slim The W!

November 1, 2016 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 161 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

Ahhhhh, our epic Jusuf Nurkic vs. Nikola Jock Itch debates. 16-17 might become remembered as the year of the Nuggets big men Civil War. I wanna be on Iron Man’s side!

In a gutsy battle with the Craptors, the Nugs almost pulled out a great road win, putting together a huge 3rd quarter and getting a lead for most of the 4th. We the North still ended up notching the W, and so did Slim and the Nurk > Joke contingent! I still feel like I have to remind everyone that I ranked Nurk ahead of all experts, and was middle-of-the-pack-to-slightly-below-consensus on Jokic. But alas, I did think Slim was a little crazy saying he wanted Nurk over Joke outright, and after last night, it’s looking like it’s going to be a coin flip any given outing. The real head-scratcher is Nurkic lead the team with a preposterous 38 minutes. Lunacy! Ended up going 13/18/1/1/5 in a great line, but did struggle with the %s, shooting 5-14 FG and 3-7 FT. He’s just so big out there… Look at poor Pit-Pat trying to block him, what are you doing Pit-Pat?!

I think this matchup made sense, as Nurk is a good fit to D up The Luminescent Lithuanian, and with his size and D presence, can help out on the Lowry and DeRozan iso drives. Erstwhile, I thought Nikola Jokic looked pretty good, but only played 22 minutes, going 12/4/1/0/0. Shot 6-9, but 4 TO?! The Nugs only had 8 TO as a whole, so friggin’ Jock Itch had half their giveaways, plus had 4 fouls in that limited run. Just wasn’t his night.

So what to do with these guys? I think you gotta just deploy them as usual, and hope the coin flips your way any given game. As long as it doesn’t pull a Watchmen and land standing up. I think that was Watchmen, I know it was in the dumb movie Ed too, about Joey from Friends teaching a monkey to pitch. Hahahaha, how terrible. I just had to link the trailer, because I watched it for 30 seconds to be sure I was citing the right movie, and holy crap. This is the most fantastic 2 minutes of my life:

If that doesn’t make you laugh, nothing will! I’m all over the place this morning… To wrap that metaphor, I guess Kenneth Faried would be if the coin landed straight up, and at least he only saw 15 minutes. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if Nurk gets 22 minutes next time out, Jock Itch 35, and Jock Itch has the big game. Going to be frustrating game to game. But for last night, Slim gets to gloat! Here’s what else happened last night in fantasy basketball action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

300 Pound Hams!

October 27, 2016 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 239 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

What an incredible NBA Opener for big men! Maybe the Sixers aren’t as crazy after all…? But the bigs across the league went absolute ham; they were big hams! It’s why in Supermarket Sweep the people would always go for the hams first. Why did they never go to the wine section?! Just nab the best ish there and start a party!

Myles and JV go for 30, Embiid has an epic debut, but it was Anthony Davis who takes home the best line of the openers thus far, going an absurd 50/16/5/7/4! I mean, it could literally be the best line of the season… Double rainbow, 7 steals?!, shot 17-34, and hit 16-17 FT. After taking a little flack keeping him #1 last year, Brow started the 15-16 season going 18/6/2/0/3 shooting 4-20 (420!) and 10-15 FT. Dude, apparently the Pelicans medical staff – in all of their immense glory and wisdom – should’ve taken a hammer to his ankle before last season! Hard to believe a mere 1.5 weeks ago his status for the opener was in question off a kankle, but we’re seeing the ups and downs of what it’ll be like to be a Brow owner. Especially the dread of seeing him play 41 minutes in a loss… I nabbed him in one league, and might try some preposterous sell highs. But the allure of lines like that are tough to ignore. We just all know we’re one horrific Pels medical staff decision away from this happening to him walking out of the training room. Here’s what else happened on our first major slate of NBA games of the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

2016-17 NBA Team Previews: Brooklyn Nets

July 19, 2016 | Team Previews | 16 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

As we prepare for the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season, I’ll be taking a look at each NBA team with their major adds and drops to see if we can pan for any surprise rotational gold. This open is especially witty for the Nuggets. We’ll be counting down from worst NBA regular season to the best, mainly because I’m still figuring out how to rank the Warriors…

Brooklyn Nets (21-61)

Nets

Key Acquisitions:

G Jeremy Lin

F Trevor Booker

G Greivis Vasquez

F Luis Scola

F Anthony Bennett

G Randy Foye

G Chris LeVert (Rookie)

C Justin Hamilton

G Isaiah Whitehead (Rookie)

Key Losses:

F Thaddeus Young

G/F Joe Johnson

G Jarrett Jack (wahhhhhh!)

G Shane Larkin

G Donald Sloan

The Fountain of Youth

Ewwwwww, the Nets. I still can’t fathom how anyone could be a fan of this team. It just exudes boredom. Nothing exemplifies this better than what they did at PF, but we’ll get there.

While you’d expect a team this bad to overhaul they A) traded all their picks in that horrific Celtics deal and B) gave big contracts to Brook Lopez and Thad Young last year, apparently happy to stay in the status quo. If there was ever a team that looked stuck in the mud, it would be this one. Get ready to start yawning!

Please, blog, may I have some more?

And On The Last 30 Days Of The NBA Season, The Lord Said Let There Be Rest!

April 14, 2015 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes |

by: JB Gilpin

Well, there’s a reason standard H2H leagues end 10 days early! Sheesh it’s just a mine field out there… Did you ever play that game Minesweeper in the 90s?! Man that game got annoying…

Anyway, it was a crazy weekend across the NBA highlighted by Jrue Holiday returning from his leg issues over the weekend. Even in this final month of rest, The Lord needed a Holiday! It really surprised to see him return this season, but I guess with the Pels in it, he’s persevering. Jrue was rusty in Friday night’s return (1-7 FG), but caught fire Sunday night for 7-9 FG, 17 Pts and 3 treys. Since he had to sit last night and had to be abandoned months ago by the unfortunate souls who drafted him, he still might be out there in your league. In a pivotal final game tomorrow hosting the Spurs, Jrue should get a good bit of run as an offensive sixth man. He’s a risky play since we don’t know how many minutes he’ll get, but if you need some Pts and Ast as a final stream, he could deliver. Jrue works for you! Here’s what else has gone on since the weekend in fantasy hoops action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

IT2/3 Serves Up A Full Helping!

April 9, 2015 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 27 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

Fresh off surviving the 2014-15 Razzies with his nomination for worst coach, Brad Stevens only kinda-sorta did something right last night… Yo Brad, how about you have Marcus Smart take some other shots than 3s (1-5 FG with 1-4 3PTM last night)?!

But despite the Celtics’ horrific mismanaging of Smart, Stevens did run Isaiah Thomas a whopping one-more-minute than Smart, and IT2/3 went nuts for 34/3/6 on 10-17 FG (4-8 3PTM 10-11 FT). In a 10-point win, you don’t run IT2/3 over 30 minutes with a +35?! Only got to 29:47 last night, but you’ll take it when he’s at at least 23 Pts, 2 treys and 4 3PTM the past three games. Those are the floors! Other than the %s (he is shooting a ton more though), IT2/3 has really improved since changing into green, and I think that slow start in Phoenix might make him a value next year. IT2/3, the Hoppin’ Leprechaun! That might have to be his full official Razzball nickname… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

This Post Has Been Rated PG13 (…Or Another Similar Pun That Everyone Is Using)

April 6, 2015 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 52 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

Well, remember about a month ago when the Paul George news seemed more optimistic than the Knicks season outlook?! OK, maybe that’s not too optimistic, but ya know…

Slim and I both maintained you can leave George on your wire in H2H leagues as a stash, and it took until the final Sunday of the H2H championship to get back on the court. So maybe we were wrong! Hah, I doubt anybody in a H2H final was able to stash him that long… PG13 returned from that horrific injury last summer for 13/2/2/2/0 on 5-12 FG (3-6 3PTM). Did have the 3 TO, but man, even the most die-hard Pacers-hater has to be happy to see George back on the court. Obviously in Roto, he’s a must add for this final week plus. That said, played 15 minutes off the bench and I doubt he gets to 30 in the remaining week in a half. Oh yeah, assballs and a bump of coke! Needed to be sure this was legit rated PG-13 for “some language and drug use”. Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Triple-Double Bonanza!

April 2, 2015 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 17 Comments

by: JB Gilpin

Everyone put on their big boy, triple-double pants last night, that’s for sure! Imagine the same pants Fat Albert would wear… With extra room built in for his Prince Albert!

First there was Bootstraps Bootstraps (!!), Evan Turner raising fantasy-owners’ Jolly Rogers for his patented tripdub with nothing else. 13/11/12/0/0 on 6-17 FG with one trey. But hey, a tripdub is a tripdub – and only 1 TO! Then, just a few minutes later, Boogie was like,”Ello Poppet!” Miss Turner was easily upstaged by DeMarcus Cousins, who had one of the best lines on the season. Tripdub? Check. Goromotaro? Check. Rainbow line? Check. Double rainbow line? Almost! 24/21/10/3/6, but did only hit 2-6 FT. And Beard may have upstaged EVEN THAT himself in that game, but more later… Then Russell Westbrook went into double-digits with his triple-doubles! 31/11/11 for his 10th tripdub, but took him a bajillion shots for 10-32 FG (2-11 3PTM 9-11 FT). Man, just a great night of NBA basketball, and hopefully your championship teams reaped the rewards from this all-you-can eat stats buffet. A few more nights like this, and we’ll forget all about the tanking and DNP-rest issues impacting the NBA! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:

Please, blog, may I have some more?