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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…

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Halloween was last night and we live in quite possibly the best area in the US for the candy gaining activities.  My town was founded in 1705.  Blackbeard made his mainland home here.  There’s a graveyard that dates back to 1734.  Truly cool and spooky stuff.

Unfortunately, the flu, like the actual literal flu, struck the Kelder household and we were unable to join any festivities this year.  With two people actively sick and me fighting off a scratchy throat and achy knees which I always have anyway, sat home.  Now notice I’m not complaining about two days off of work watching Full House, Ninja Warrior, and playing Mario Kart.  I should probably also mention that I fell asleep on the couch during the Knicks-Cavs game, so I’m purely box score watching instead of my report from watching TNT Tuesdays.

Here’s what happened fantasy wise last night:

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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…

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Kevin Durant is back!

For what feels like the millionth time. How many times does this guy have to be “back” before it’s not even a story anymore? I guess he gets infinite re-entries on this – ESPN even used the exact headline “KD is back!” It literally never ends, but I guess we gotta talk about his fantasy impact anyway.

Elsewhere on OKC Thunder throwback night, Russell Westbrook went HAM against the high-flying Memphis Grizzlies. Let’s dive in and take a look at these throwback performances under the fantasy basketball microscope.

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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.

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Over the summer, I sauntered….No, I ran to the NFBKC lobby room like a ravenous wild boar, gorging and feasting on draft after draft after draft. I have a couple of teams in contention, but most of them are S. H. I. T. T. Y. The reason? Probably because I suck, but another reason was that I completely faded Brook Lopez. I’m a stupid, stupid man. He was so cheap in drafts (124th player in NFBKC drafts), and those require two centers. There were good reasons, though. He’s 34 years old and was coming off a season in which he played only 13 games due to a back injury. I thought the end was nigh. He did have two seasons early in his career when he played 5 and 17 games, but outside of that, he’s been a relative iron man. This season, he’s played 59 games and put up top 25-ish numbers. On Sunday, he twisted the knife once again to remind me of my stupidity with cannon ball after cannon ball, as I stand sheepishly on the Brook taking the splashes in the face like a man.

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Did you know that the title for every episode of the USA series “Monk” started “Mr. Monk …” As in, “Mr. Monk Goes to the Circus”; “Mr. Monk Joins a Cult”; and who could forget, “Mr. Monk and the Man Who Shot Santa Claus”?

I feel like the Kings should be working up a cross-promotion deal to revitalize the series (originally set in the Bay Area), but set up the road in Sacramento and with Malik Monk casted as Tony Shalhoub’s sidekick. Or maybe that’s just the cabin fever settling in since I am in Oregon, where anything more than 3 inches of snow causes mass hysteria and shuts everything down. 

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Wooooooooo, the NBA trade deadline is cookin’ now!

Wednesday night shook up the landscape of the league, as D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt are now Lakers, Mike Conley is a Timberwolf, Josh Hart is a Knick and Russell Westbrook is playin’ the blues in Utah (for now). But more on that later. First, let’s get into our regularly scheduled programming: My Wednesday fantasy recap.

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The Magic have been everyone’s favorite fantasy outlet this season, from Bol Bol Euro-stepping into monster jams to Paolo Banchero compiling historic rookie numbers. The play of Franz Wagner has by no means been lost in all the excitement, but his games of late have been next level good. Over his last six games, he’s averaging 24 points on 55% shooting, 68.3 TS%, pitching in about 4 boards, 3 assists, a steal and 3 threes per game. 

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I’ve always been fascinated with how humans can control other objects. The Shaolin monks are able to access the energy of the universe and light things on fire from a distance. Think Ryu’s Hadoken from Street Fighter. Random people can spin a 10-pound ball down a lane and knock down pins. Others can use a stick and make a ball spin like planets in an orbit around a table. For hoops, the ultimate joy is making the net dance after launching the ball into the air with the perfect amount of backspin. I always appreciated the chain-linked nets. There was nothing better than that sound. In the NBA, there’s no need to ghettofy things as they can supply the finest nylon for their nets. On Sunday, Julius Randle was the conductor of a nylon ballet, putting on a show for the Detroit crowd.

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Welcome to your midweek guidance for Week Ten!  In this post, I identify widely-available players who can help you win your head-to-head matchup.  The NBA is not exempt from cold and flu season, as demonstrated by the numerous “out for illness” designations across the L.  This is a double edged sword for streaming aficionados like us.  On the one hand, there are plenty of opportunities opening up as long as you keep your ear to the injury report scanner (e.g. Moses Moody).  On the other hand, this post may be obsolete in two hours.

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