by: Bball Oracle
Hello Razzball, back again for some NBA DFS action. We have a nice 7 game slate and personally these mid-sized slates are my favorite. You have plenty of options on slates this size to make different builds, but you’re not overwhelmed by the variety of good plays. My number one piece of advice for NBA […]
Please, blog, may I have some more?
by: Jay
Seemed like low-hanging fruit, no? And before we switch out the fruit to something a bit more attuned to my diet (saturated fats?), we obviously have to start with some of the interesting storylines in the NBA, now just in it’s third week of play. First up, mostly because of the title (now with less fruit and more Funyuns) let us talk not just about Tyrese Maxey, but also the so far near-dominant 76ers team. Joel Embiid is doing Joel Embiid “non-playoff” type things, which is still a bummer we have to qualify, but lucky for us, fantasy ain’t played in May, ya know? I’ll talk a bit more about it later for the Clippers, but Harden while not being on the team has created an interesting aggregate feedback loop with a touch of confirmation bias mixed in on some of these wild storylines, but the tangible effect, i.e. giving minutes for Tyrese Maxey to flourish cannot be argued with. My concerns with Maxey during the preseason was based on his ability to run the 5, play-call, ball-handle and continuing to develop his offense while doing all that.
So far? All of these things have been done well, but the best part is that it hasn’t come at the cost of his stats. With a career-high 50 points against a very good Pacers team, he also had 7 rebounds with 5 assists, 3 blocks on 20-32 shooting (7-11 from 3-point). At just 23-years-old, it’s pretty likely he’ll be shedding off the Tyler Herro and Jordan Poole comps at some point this season. But can he get to the All-Star game and perhaps even an All-NBA selection this year? Excited to find out…
Please, blog, may I have some more?Hello Razzball Nation! I am the self-proclaimed BBall Oracle (results may vary) here to provide you with my picks and insights for NBA DFS this season. We’re kicking off this year with a massive post-election day 14 game slate. On a slate this large there are so many viable plays that you don’t need to intentionally get different with ownership. Play the guys you think will score the most points even if you think that guy might be chalky.
My number one piece of advice for NBA DFS in general, but especially on a slate this large, is to be on top of injury updates. Contests are won and lost on backups becoming starters and starters getting increased usage from injuries. In the NBA random injuries happen every night, players get rested for no reason despite the NBA’s best efforts to deter it, and tank-itis is a horrible disease that will luckily not rear its ugly head for another few months. You need to be on top of your lineups up until lock and to give yourself the best chance to win even after lock to monitor late scratches and lingering questionable designations. There will be injury plays that open up with news tomorrow that we just don’t know yet.
That being said, with our current knowledge of injury news (Tuesday night) let’s get down to it. Pricing is always (Fanduel/DraftKings). I play tournaments and my picks will always bias towards volatility and upside.
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Well look, I don’t come here with a set agenda in mind for titles, if anything, I blame the redundant title pun on Damian Lillard‘s roller coaster opening two games thus far, going for 39 points in his debut (with the aforementioned title post) and then just scoring 6 points (on 2-12 FG, 2-8 3pT), which was spoiled with today’s post title. While I ponder the ethics of not using a spoiler alert tag, last night’s game against the Hawks (the most mid team ever?) was truly a question mark. While I’d probably not blow things up if I were the Bucks (if only to stave off more “here’s how the Heat can still trade for Dame!” articles), clearly it was only a matter of time before Wisconsin discovered “Lame time”. But don’t fret, we’re literally in the first week of the season still, so weird sh*t gonna happen folks. I mean, SGA scored seven last night, Steph struggled a lot until the end and Nikola Jokic called Chet fat. The last one doesn’t really matter, but everyone should enjoy Jokic thin-shaming someone…
Please, blog, may I have some more?NUGGETS GET RINGS AND SOP UP THE LAKERS!
Last night, I got to have the unique experience of watching Nikola Jokic with someone who’d never watched him before, having it on my TV with my wife and 14 year old daughter. I loved every comment. It makes you appreciate the Joker’s greatness from a different lens. A sampling of the comments:
Why are they starting the slow white guy?
How does an NBA player run like that?
He looks so tired.
Wait, that was a really nice move.
How come he’s dribbling up the court if he’s so slow? Wait, wasn’t that a great pass?
He can shoot 3s too?
They went from laughing to all out appreciation. I finally told them at halftime that he’s the best player in the world and they should stop besmirching his name.
Oh yeah, he had a 29-13-11 triple double. Even chipped in a steal and a block to go with 3 treys. Of course you drafted him number one and he’s a cheat code.
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Welcome to the 2023-24 Fantasy Rankings! We’ll continue this wonderful (is it? Yes!) journey with other positions and formats, including all positional rankings for both Roto and Points leagues, and then of course wrapping it all up with our Dynasty Rankings. What will be released is just the pure rankings; analysis and other amazing draft preparational content (ooooh, sounds so official) will be released after our aforementioned rankings “journey”. Remember, it’s not about the destination, but the friends we made along the way! Especially if it ends in a Fantasy Championship, in which case, it is sorta-kinda about the destination, which is also fine. Because who cares about friends when you can hoist a trophy in their general direction? I mean, I’m talking both literally and figuratively here folks. Just as long as you hoist, it counts. As they say, it’s all about the hoisting… (I think.)
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Welcome to the 2023-24 Fantasy Rankings! We’ll continue this wonderful (is it? Yes!) journey with other positions and formats, including all positional rankings for both Roto and Points leagues, and then of course wrapping it all up with our Dynasty Rankings. What will be released is just the pure rankings; analysis and other amazing draft preparational content (ooooh, sounds so official) will be released after our aforementioned rankings “journey”. Remember, it’s not about the destination, but the friends we made along the way! Especially if it ends in a Fantasy Championship, in which case, it is sorta-kinda about the destination, which is also fine. Because who cares about friends when you can hoist a trophy in their general direction? I mean, I’m talking both literally and figuratively here folks. Just as long as you hoist, it counts. As they say, it’s all about the hoisting… (I think.)
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Welcome to the 2023-24 Fantasy Rankings! We’ll continue this wonderful (is it? Yes!) journey with other positions and formats, including all positional rankings for both Roto and Points leagues, and then of course wrapping it all up with our Dynasty Rankings. What will be released is just the pure rankings; analysis and other amazing draft preparational content (ooooh, sounds so official) will be released after our aforementioned rankings “journey”. Remember, it’s not about the destination, but the friends we made along the way! Especially if it ends in a Fantasy Championship, in which case, it is sorta-kinda about the destination, which is also fine. Because who cares about friends when you can hoist a trophy in their general direction? I mean, I’m talking both literally and figuratively here folks. Just as long as you hoist, it counts. As they say, it’s all about the hoisting… (I think.)
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Welcome to the 2023-24 Fantasy Rankings! We’ll continue this wonderful (is it? Yes!) journey with other positions and formats, including all positional rankings for both Roto and Points leagues, and then of course wrapping it all up with our Dynasty Rankings. What will be released is just the pure rankings; analysis and other amazing draft preparational content (ooooh, sounds so official) will be released after our aforementioned rankings “journey”. Remember, it’s not about the destination, but the friends we made along the way! Especially if it ends in a Fantasy Championship, in which case, it is sorta-kinda about the destination, which is also fine. Because who cares about friends when you can hoist a trophy in their general direction? I mean, I’m talking both literally or figuratively here folks. Just as long as you hoist, it counts. As they say, it’s all about the hoisting… (I think.)
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Is it way too early? It’s been tough to gauge the general malaise that we suffer in the NBA offseason, as this time, we’ve had plenty of distractions… Summer League with Wemby (and Scooter!), an amazing FIBA Cup has just wrapped, and NBA2K just launched to a showering of negative reviews about microtransactions and “skill regression”. Okay, so the NBA2k thing is not unique to this year, but the offseason has been a bit better at reminding you the sport does actually still exist during the Summer. So with that said, the season is closer than it ever was, and while our official 2023-24 Fantasy Basketball Rankings series won’t be released until next week, it’ll be a nice exercise (not *that* kind of exercise, you can come back now…) to take a quick look at how the way too early top-50 rankings is shaping up. Or perhaps we should call it preliminary? So many descriptors, so little time. That’s what she said. Regardless, to the top-50 and beyond! (Not really beyond, it just sounded better…)
Please, blog, may I have some more?by: Jay
Not sure if y’all have noticed, but the MVP debate has gotten a bit heated the last several weeks with an interchangeable group of three players charging the discussion. While you could still say that Giannis Antetokounmpo should be part of that discussion (I think he still has a strong case), much of the animated debate by literally everyone from the talking heads down to the water-cooler loiterers (still a thing?) has been the case between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Both deserving, both amazing players, but one most remember when dealing with a Philadelphia fanbase, one must wear helmets. While the discussion has been both riveting content and a dumpster fire, mostly stemmed from Kendrick Perkins being the toxic fire-starter he’s paid to be, the discourse has gone sour the past month, and to some, a bit tiresome.
Please, blog, may I have some more?As the wheels continued to fall off the Wizards’ season Wednesday night, Nikola Jokic kept rollin’ in the opposite direction to the tune of 31 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in a convincing 118-104 win for Denver. His absolutely insane efficiency continued, as he shot 12-of-16 from the field and 5-of-5 at the charity stripe. This guy fills up the box score and basically doesn’t miss in the process.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
