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Scottie Barnes’ second season in the NBA was so disappointing that the fantasy realm considered renaming “Sophomore Slump” to “Scottie Slump.” Well, Barnes has busted through that slump like a nerdy virgin kid who just hit the lottery hanging out at a bar full of gold diggers.  Scottie’s been hotty this season, and is currently […]

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Last night we saw the transition from Shaedon Sharpe the cool shiny gadget that’s just for show, to the I Gotta Have This In My Daily Life type of tool. 

With Anfernee Simons out 6 weeks [sad face] and Scoot Henderson injured mid-game, Sharpe took over with 25 points in the second half, scoring on all three levels and finishing with a 27-7-5-1-2 stat line (9-16 FG, 3-6 3PT, 8-10 FT). 

Sharpe has been hitting the glass early on this season, averaging nearly 6 per game (including several smooth offensive putbacks) and has 9 stocks in five games. I still need to see him continue to be aggressive, as the youngster tends to stand around and wait for his turn. If he can, this could be one of the better breakouts of the first couple months of the fantasy season. 

Here’s what else was noteworthy to me on another packed Wednesday slate, with some boring blowouts and a couple nail biters. 

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The Bergens are coming, AHHH. The Bergens are coming, AHHH. The Bergens are coming, AHHH. The Bergens are coming, AHHH. 

For those without kids, that’s Branch in “Trolls” overreacting because he’s scared of success (and friendship), just like so many fantasy basketball players will overreact to the first couple games, when regular bench rotations guys will be proclaimed breakouts of the season, and busts will be said to abound as the rust gets knocked off the boots. 

However, while we definitely don’t want to overreact, let’s remember: Branch ended up being right. You don’t want to be caught with that average penny stock and telling yourself, “any day now, it’s gunna go crazy!” [Checks portfolio, sighs with depression, gets back to basketball.] Keep an eye on minutes, rotations and usage more than the general stat lines in these early going. 

And with that piece of nonsensical advice, let’s get on with the show! Here’s what caught my eye in the 12 games of the unofficial official opening night in The Association.

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

We’re back baby!  A lot of stuff to go into, and I promise I won’t write anything about any possibly disgruntled players who possibly might be traded to certain teams.  I will, however, talk about the effects of the offseason on certain players.

I’m working here on a series of risers and fallers.  One of my key tenants of fantasy hoops is that every player in the NBA is good.  Like, really good.  But not all players get minutes needed to put up statistics and thing like that, which we obviously count on for fantasy basketball.  My goal isn’t to figure out which sixth round pick will return 3rd round value.  I’m trying to figure out who is in line for minutes, like the late round guys who will pay off.

For fallers, that’s going to be more guys who I’m avoiding.  You’ll see, I’m just over-talking again.  Kelder should be seen and not heard.  Let’s just get into the content.

NBA Central division is first up, in order of my predicted finish in the standings…

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Welcome to your midweek guidance for Week 23!  In this post, I identify widely-available players who can help you win your head-to-head matchup.  This will serve as my final 2022-23 post.  Thank you for your loyalty and engagement throughout the season.  If it weren’t for you, I’d simply be doing this for my health, which consistently plays second fiddle to my dependence on Mountain Dew and California Burritos.  So I guess that means I wouldn’t be doing this at all if it weren’t for you.

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As Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport fire off one “BREAKING” tweet after another, I just have to be honest: Writing about basketball tonight sort of feels like being the undercard for a Jon Jones fight. Is anyone gonna care about the NBA tonight, while the NFL free agency frenzy carries on deep into the wee hours?

NO? Well, I’ll just go ahead and MAKE you care. Didn’t mean to sound like Tony Soprano, sorry. Let’s get into my NBA Wednesday fantasy basketball notes and analysis.

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The self titled BBall Oracle back again here to break down some NBA DFS. We have a large 10 game slate right before the All-Star break. #1 piece of advice as always is to be up to date on injuries, as the info in this article will only be up to date as of Tuesday night. I’d expect quite a bit of phantom injuries and rest for players right before the break.

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I’ve been covering fantasy basketball throughout this season and well… I haven’t been able to write many nice things about the Charlotte Hornets to date. So when I saw they picked up a rare road victory on Wednesday night – 122-117 over the young, rebuilding Houston Rockets – I thought this is finally the Hornets’ time to shine! But alas, one step forward and one step back for this stumbling squad – despite the victory, the real loss was the apparent ankle injury to franchise superstar LaMelo Ball. Let’s dive a little bit deeper into this game and fantasy-relevant injury.

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The 2022 NBA Draft class has been quite a delight, right?

No. 1 overall selection Paolo Banchero is averaging 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game; 15/4/4 for Jaden Ivey (No. 5 pick), 18 PPG for Bennedict Mathurin (No. 6), and 12 and seven for Jabari Smith Jr. (No. 3). We’ve also seen promising flashes from Jalen Duren (leading all rookies with 7.3 rebounds per game), Keegan Murray (12 and four) and Andrew Nembhard (leading in three-point percentage at 40.4). All this positivity comes even without uber-popular Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 overall pick who suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury before ever taking the floor in an NBA regular season game. Big things comin’ in the future, for sure.

That leads us into Wednesday night in fantasy basketball, one highlighted by two of the rising rookies I referenced above.

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Following back-to-back years of Top 40 production, Terry Rozier has disappointed so far this season, mainly due to some rookie-level percentages (in fact, his worst percentages since his rookie season as it stands). But he’s just a hot shooting streak away from producing as owners have become accustomed to, and on Friday he helped the Hornets edge the Wizards 117-116. Rozier scored 25 points on 8-of-21 shooting, 2-of-5 from deep, with 5 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals and a season-low zero turnovers. Charlotte has been paying the doctor’s new vacation home so far this season, and Rozier’s percentages should benefit whenever (if ever) LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward return. For the time being, the assists are up along with his usage rate, and he’s a great buy target, especially for those punting the FG% category.

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If you have been reading my rumblings throughout the years you will have figured by now that I love niche statistics from the NBA world. And much to my delight yesterday, I found this tweet and that led me to a long rabbit hole to research stats from the Knicks season. The tweet mentions that the Knicks are currently 5-5 with a 0.0 points differential, 16th in offense, 16th in defense and are also 1-1 in overtime games. What I also found out with some digging is that they are also 4-4 vs the East and 1-1 vs the West! And to complete the perfectly balanced picture they are also 3-3 in October and 2-2 in November! Thanos from the Marvel universe must have front row season tickets for the Knicks this year…

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