Sleepers. Breakouts. Busts. Bargains. Overrated. Underrated. That’s about all we think about in the weeks (months, for many of us) leading up to the fantasy NBA season. Even if your methods are sound, you’re not going to be right about all of them. Of course, that’s mainly due to injuries that directly affected the number of games played or indirectly affected a player’s role. But despite that, I thought it would be fun to review the season’s biggest overachievers and underachievers. Pat yourself on the back for good ones. Know that we feel your pain caused by the bad ones.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Not only was James Harden the only player to stay healthy for the entirety of the fantasy basketball playoffs, but he has also been putting up insane lines. Last night he went 7-50-11-10-0-0-3 on 13-of-31 shooting and 17-of-18 FTs. You must feel like a fool if you didn’t draft this man number one overall. He’s the clear cut top fantasy player, and he didn’t take any rest days in the crucial games of the fantasy season, unlike pretty much every other relevant player in the league. For most of us, today is the last day of the fantasy basketball season, and we are sad. Many of us have mentally moved on to fantasy baseball, but for one last day let’s reflect on the fantasy season that was, and enjoy one last day of fantasy basketball before the inevitability of the Warriors championship run commences. Here’s what went down last night in the NBA:
Please, blog, may I have some more?You’re excited to draft Zion Williamson next fall, aren’t you? Well, here are his per-36 stats that I posted last week:
If you loved The Matrix: Reloaded and P.O.D. as unabashedly as I did 15 years ago–and you definitely didn’t–then this song immediately jumps into your head when gazing upon those numbers, as the chorus goes: “Dreaming of Zion…”
Okay, we know those numbers aren’t happening… at least not for a few seasons (winky face). But even the slight possibility of two-thirds of that production and all the hype around him is enough to get people reaching for him in… I’m guessing the second round? Is that smart? How about Luka Doncic? Seems like he’s bound for a second-round ADP, too. Will that be wise?
Today we’re looking at rookie production once again, as well as that of this season’s sophomores in hopes of remembering how risky it is to gamble on young and/or unproven players regardless of how exciting they may be. My general advice is to stay away. I know, I know. They’re so shiny and full of upside. And if you’re in a keeper/dynasty league, you can sit back and enjoy watching the young players as they improve. But in a redraft league, here’s why you’re better off letting someone else overpay/overdraft rookies.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Fantasy Basketball: DeAndre the Giant
March 25, 2019 | 2018 Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 14 Commentsby: Son
DeAndre Jordan is 6′ 11″ 265 pounds. He is a literal giant, but when thinking about giants, DeAndre rarely enters the consciousness. Michael? Maybe. Andre? Definitely. San Francisco and New York? For sure. But we need a #Movement to educate the haters and short people in the world. Did you know that there are 2800 people who are seven feet or taller in the world? There are 7.4 billion people on Earth. If my handy dandy abacus hasn’t failed me, that’s 0.000038% of the population. There are 43 seven-footers in the NBA. He’s a giant. End of story. For you smart asses, 1 inch doesn’t make that much of a difference when it’s 6′ 11″ versus 7′. Now, 6″ compared to 7″ is huge. Anyways, if that doesn’t do it for you, then check out his line from yesterday:
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 20 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7/10 | 6/7 |
In 34 minutes! He had played 20, 18, and 22 minutes the prior three games, so the Fizdale risk always has to be factored in. With that said, when DJ plays, the music is bumping, as he provides boards, some dimes, stocks, and excellent field goal percentage. The most eye-opening statistic has been the 82% free throw shooting on 3.3 attempts over the past six games. A GIANT improvement from the 70% he’s been posting on the season and 46.5% career number.
Here’s what else I saw yesterday:
Please, blog, may I have some more? Fantasy Basketball: Redick Was Ridic
March 20, 2019 | 2018 Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 24 Commentsby: Son
J. J. Redick has never been the lede for this world famous site. In fact, I don’t recall ever writing a blurb for him. I’m sure I have, but now that I think about it, I’m not so sure anymore. Whether I have or not is irrelevant, though, because he’s been Mehdick for most of the season. That’s not to say he hasn’t been good. He’s been useful for what you drafted him for; treys with a handful of boards and dimes, good for around top 90 value. Last night, all the parallel universes must have intersected because Redick was ridic and produced a stat line that was, frankly, out of this world.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 27 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7/14 | 8/19 | 4/5 |
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalmost messed around. The 10 boards were a career high! The 8 dimes were a season high. He’s never posted a trip-dub and last night was the first dub-dub of his career! See, some funky stuff was going on in the universe last night. Anyways, it was a ceiling game for Redick, one that we will likely never see again. Enjoy the Redickulousness for a day, then go prepare for the return of Mehdick.
Here’s what else I saw last night:
Please, blog, may I have some more? Fantasy Basketball: Gzilla
March 18, 2019 | 2018 Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 24 Commentsby: Son
I’ve always enjoyed the Godzilla franchise. When I was young, it was all about the monsters fighting, special effects, and destruction levied upon the landscape. As I got older and delved into the origins, I appreciated the franchise that much more. As with most things in life, though, the journey is cyclical and it’s back to the good old awe-inspiring, destructive force. Which brings me to Giannis Antetokoummpo. All season, I’ve been calling him G, as he’s a straight gangster, and when he balls the F out, it’s been Nuthin’ but a G Thang. There have been moments of O. M. G. But yesterday, everything became crystal clear.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 52 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3/8 | 15/26 | 19/21 |
A 50-burger and this…..
He called Ben Simmons a “f’ing baby” but then Simmons came back and dunked on his head. In addition, Joel Embiid produced a 40-burger and the Sixers defeated the Bucks, 130-125. I felt like I was watching a Godzilla movie in which he had to fight Gigan, Destoroyah, Mothra, and Ghidorah at the same time. Anyways, Gzilla is a freaking beast. Top 5 player over the past seven games. He’s been averaging 30.3 points, 1.1 treys, 13.1 boards, 6.3 dimes, 1 steal, and 1 block while shooting 58% from the field and 82% from the free throw line on a whopping 11.4 attempts! The turnovers are high, but whatever. Now, with Malcolm Brogdon out for a while, Gzilla may be making more appearances down the stretch, as Brogdon had a usage rate in the low-20s. Other teams better hope they have a couple of monsters to negate Gzilla, because he’s coming to wreak havoc.
Here’s what else I saw yesterday:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Fantasy Basketball: Fear the Beard
March 16, 2019 | 2018 Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 2 Commentsby: Kevin
What else is there to say about James Harden? He’s been so consistently amazing that it’s easy to lose sight of just how good he is playing. Fantasy GMs that roster him have held a serious advantage all season. Every way you slice this line, it’s amazing. On one hand, he was one board away from a 40 point triple-double. If you look even closer, he was just 2 blocks away from a 5×5. That’s just ridiculous.
| FG | FT | 3PT | Points | Reb | Assists | Steals | Blocks | TO |
| 12/25 | 14/17 | 3/11 | 41 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
Everything about this line is massive. The turnovers are tough, but we all knew that going in. He continues to be the top play and should keep it going through the rest of the fantasy playoffs. Any team facing Harden better come correct.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I thought I’d send out a reminder for those of you in keeper leagues. This probably applies more to roto players than head-to-headers, since those in roto leagues aren’t scraping and clawing for every last game they can get with their limited moves. I’m talking about stashing some of next year’s potential breakouts. Yeah, just about everyone worth taking next year is on a roster already… just about. In my keeper league, I once grabbed this Draymond Green character in the last few weeks of the season, since he’d been on a hot streak. He ended up finishing as a top-30 player the following season. Nearly the exact same story for C.J. McCollum the next year. And if I’d have been on my game at the end of last season, I’d have grabbed Cedi Osman, preventing me from having to waste an early draft pick on him this season (we keep a lot of players). There’s a ton of unknown between now and next October’s fantasy drafts (gloriously entertaining unknown, by the way), but we can make some educated guesses at this point. Do you have some players you know you’re not keeping next season that also aren’t making a difference on your team? Replace ’em with lottery tickets, and maybe one or two will pay off. They could at least give you some extra trade value.Some keeper and dynasty leagues don’t have a trade deadline, so I’ll be including some players here that might be near-universally owned in addition to those who have a good shot at being free agents in your league. Speaking of free agents, that’s how we’re going to unearth some of our targets. The other aspect I’ll look at are rookies and second-year players that could be in line for a bump in playing time and usage. And there will be some nice overlap in who we find from each strategy, I’m sure.
Please, blog, may I have some more?The dense foliage of the jungle provided cover from the rays of the sun, yet the heat was unbearable; as if I was trapped in a Russian banya with someone lashing my body with reeds and water constantly pouring over the heated rocks in the stove to produce endless amounts of steam. After weeks of traversing the jungles of Peru to find Paititi, the Lost City of Gold, my mind and body were definitely not one. I needed a break, yet I trudged on. One step with the right foot. One step with the left foot. One st…………….Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! My mind harkened back to the days of riding roller coasters at Six Flags until….BAM! BOOM! OUCH! My head banged into something. My body rolled over and over and over again until……nothing but searing pain reverberating throughout my entire body. I curled into a ball, cursing at the gods when…..I saw it. The gold glistened from the rays of sun darting through the small crevices in the ceiling. That mishap of falling into the hole was a blessing in disguise, as I wouldn’t have found Paititi without it. Which is exactly how the season has gone for Paul Millsap, without all the theatrics and drama.
| PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | 3PT | FG | FT |
| 21 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2/5 | 8/13 | 3/6 |
Millsap struggled for much of the season. He scored 20 or more points just five times and was held under 10 points 14 times. He also missed eight games due to injury. But then, Millsap sat three games due to an ankle injury before playing in two games before the All-Star break. He played 20 minutes then 31 minutes, which happened to be his best game of the season (25/13/2/1/3). After the break, Millsap logged 32 minutes and put up a 17/13/2/1/3 line. So, that’s three great games in a row, which has been good for top 10 value. Small sample size for sure, but he looks healthy and it’s the first time he’s dub-dubbed in three straight games. The trek has been arduous for Millsap owners, but it looks like you will be reaping the rewards of being loyal. Or stubborn. Or lazy. Regardless, the end result is all the same.
Here’s what else I saw last night:
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Fantasy Basketball: Here’s to You, Mitchell Robinson
February 10, 2019 | 2018 Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 4 Commentsby: Joel
Koo-koo-ka-choo, Mitchell Robinson, Fizdale loves you more than you will know. Last night he went 15-7-0-0-3-0 on 7-of-9 shooting and made his lone FT. Played 22 minutes off the bench against the Raptors, and the Knicks almost pulled off the improbable victory. The infusion of new talent has given them a boost and for their sakes, I hope they don’t win too many games and miss out on Zion Williamson. That being said, there should be plenty of opportunities for the young guns to get playing time to show they’re worthy of a roster spot next year. One Knick, who’s part of the future plans is Robison. He’s averaging two blocks on the season in under 18 minutes per game. He’s also “shooting” nearly 70% on the year. His one caveat is the 51.7% FTs. He’s really in the DeAndre Jordan ilk, which makes the addition of Jordan seem like a smart move by the Knickerbockers. Hopefully, he can mentor the rook and show him how to become a great NBA center. If he listens to his free throw shooting advice, he’ll be shooting 67.7% by his 11th season. Not too shabby! Anyway, here’s what else went down in the NBA last night:
Please, blog, may I have some more?