Fantasy Basketball: Indiana Pacers Preview

October 22, 2019 | Indiana Pacers, Team Previews | 5 Comments

I’m fascinated by the 2019-20 Pacers. They lost their two best wing-defenders (Thaddeus Young and Bojan Bogdanovic), two veteran point guards (Darren Collison and Corey Joseph), and two other wing scorers (Tyreke Evans and Wesley Mathews), and Zach Lowe thinks they’re in trouble. He’s probably right, but I don’t care. I’m in on these new-look Pacers. As long as they don’t wear those hideous Hickory jerseys too often, they should be a lot more fun to watch this season. I like that they, and other teams are getting weird and starting two big men. I like that they seem to be counting on TJ Warren as an integral piece after the Suns gave him away for nothing. Victor Oladipo will eventually return. This team has three TJ’s, two Holiday’s, and the almighty Dougie McBuckets. Myles Turner is ascending and yet he or Sabonis could get traded? Maybe the on-court product turns out to be less thrilling than I expect and this team falls flat on its face. Either way, the the storylines are here.

My best guess at a starting lineup sans Oladipo: Malcolm Brogdon, Jeremy Lamb, TJ Warren, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Top 155 Roto Projections Review for 2018

August 21, 2019 | Top 155 Roto Projections | 4 Comments

by: Kostas

What’s up fellow Razzball readers and fantasy basketball enthusiasts! After recharging our batteries over the summer, it’s time to start preparing for the upcoming NBA season. These can range from checking the names of the players from this year’s draft and/or casually checking all the offseason transactions, which can escalate to frantically searching for recorded games of Limoges to scouting the strengths and weaknesses of Sekou Doumbouya’s fantasy game. It’s all about how each and everyone enjoys the fantasy basketball game.

Now, I have to admit I can relate more to the latter example and, as such, I am preparing my top 155 projections for roto leagues, which will be published in the upcoming weeks and mark my third straight year on this fine site.

Last year, I decided to grade my projections from the year before, in an attempt to judge myself and try and make them more accurate in the future. Go me, for hating myself I guess, but it’s a fun little project before I dive into the actual projections every summer. If you are curious and ready for some math, check last year’s article for a full explanation on the method used. If you prefer the “too long, didn’t read” approach, know that the main metric is the difference between the projected and the actual overall per game value for each player.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Run The Numbers – Identifying the Actual Breakouts and Busts

April 4, 2019 | Run the Numbers | 1 Comment

by: Tad

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?

Fantasy Basketball: How About Some Favors?

March 22, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 26 Comments

by: Son

Who doesn’t like a good favor? Go to a wedding or a birthday party and get a gift bag? Cool, unless it’s filled with soap, then not cool. Ask a friend to do something and they do it? Precious. When everyone raises their hands after you ask, “All in favor?” Nothing better, unless it’s to vote you off the island. Then…..that just makes me sad. Anyways, after his perfomance last night, we should all like Derrick Favors:

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
15	15	1	2	1	2	0	6/10	3/3

The matchup against the Hawks was ideal, but even so, Favors has been a top 60 player over the past eight games. He doesn’t play an exhorbitant amount of minutes (23 per game), which obviously caps his upside, but he is efficient and produces when he’s on court. His main source of production is in blocks and stocks. PaRappa the Rappa would be proud.

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Redick Was Ridic

March 20, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 24 Comments

by: 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: Ross – Success For Less

February 8, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 77 Comments

by: Son

My wife’s favorite store is Ross, as she loves to find a good bargain. I could drop her off, go play some hoops, return, and she’d still be merrily rummaging through the racks. I always clown her, but she does find good deals, so respect. Plus, she enjoys it. I don’t get how she could get so into shopping for clothes, though, but that’s exactly what she says when I spend countless hours on fantasy. We all have our thing. Anyways, last night I asked my wife, “Can you believe that Terrence Ross has been a top 40 player over the past seven games, and he’s only owned in 57% of leagues? What a bargain!” As you can well imagine, no sexy time for me, but at least I derived some satisfaction from the performance Ross exhibited last night.

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
32	5	1	0	0	1	6/13	13/23	0

In 31 minutes. Despite coming off the bench, over the last seven games, Ross has been averaging 29.4 minutes, 20.3 points, 3.9 tres, 4.9 boards, and 1. He’s had a usage rate of 26 and been jacking up 17 shots per game! The dimes are a paltry 1.3, but what do you expect? Shooters shoot. In fact, back in 2013, Ross produced a 51-burger, so he’s always had the ability to score. Now, there will be bouts of inconsistency, especially from a fantasy persepective, as he is a jump shooter (only 10.6% of his shots come from within 10 feet of the basket) who derives most of his value from scoring. Ross has scored in single digits 12 times this season. With that said, he does get the minutes, shot attempts, and opportunities to produce. And he’s cheap! Nothing beats a good bargain.

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: A B C D E F G

February 5, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 10 Comments

by: Son

A B C D E F G. Usually we continue with H I J K L M N O P, but not today because the Buck stops at G. Is it a coincidence that G is the first letter for both Giannis Antetokounmpo and God? I don’t believe in coincidences. Both God and G have many similarities. They are both freaks and possess mind-blowing characteristics. God with the whole omnipotent and created the universe thing, while G is a physical marvel unrivaled by any human. Now, both usually just go about their business in the world by being awesome, but every once in a while, fury, rage, and anger swell up to deliver a message. Last night was one of those times for G.

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
30	15	9	0	3	4	0/2	12/19	6/8

Over the past six games, G has been the #4 player. The usage rate has been 32.5 and he’s even contributed 0.8 tres. 28 points, 12.3 boards, 5.7 dimes, 2 steals, and 1.7 blocks with 53% shooting from the field and 81% from the line on 9.2 attempts is down right filthy. Just wait until he starts draining those tres, though, because it’s going to happen. Regardless, having G as one of the top fantasy players is easy as A B C. What the Nets and the rest of the league learned last night was just as easy; Don’t get G angry.

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Lillard Out, Blazers Still Rout

January 27, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes |

by: Joel

Damian Lillard got the night off in Portland to get some well deserved rest, and the rest of the Blazers all got a decided boost; none more than CJ McCollum, who went 2-28-10-10-1-0-3 on 10-of-23 shooting and 6-for-7 from the line. This was CJ’s first career triple-double and just shows he’s more of a complete player than people thought. He still didn’t give you much in the way of defensive stats, but this will probably go down as one of his best stat-lines of the season. Just keep in mind if Lillard misses any other games, CJ and the rest of his Blazer Buddies become viable DFS options. It was a pretty short schedule for a Saturday night with only five games. I guess with no real NFL games in the week before the Super Bowl, they wanted to stack Sunday, with no competition from football. Anyway, there is still a lot to get into so without further ado, here’s what else went down last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: OladipNOOOOOO….

January 24, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 19 Comments

by: Son

Victor Oladipo missed 11 games due to a right knee injury two months ago. Since returning from that injury, he’s been a top 65 player (19 games), averaging 17.3 points, 1.9 threeecolas, 4.9 boards, 5.8 dimes, 1.8 steals, and 0.2 blocks. The shooting efficiency was a putrid 40%. A far cry from the 47% efficiency and top 10 production from last season. His owners were not happy. Our very own “I Just Wanna Kawhi” couldn’t take it anymore and shipped him away last week. I need to hit him up for the upcoming Powerball numbers because his owners will no longer have to worry due to the injury Oladipo suffered yesterday. Defending a full court pass, Oladipo jumped and his knee gave out, the same knee that caused him to miss those 11 games. The trainers draped a towel over his leg and he was taken to the locker room via stretcher. Prayers up for Oladipo and his family. Since this is a fantasy website, we need to discuss who replaces him and how it affects the Pacers rotations. The most obvious replacement is Tyreke Evans, who was scooped right away in a few of the RCLs I’m in. Y’all are too sharp and fast on the draw. In 715 minutes without Oladipo on the floor, Evans has a 29.3% usage rate and produces 1.05 fantasy points per minute. The player that saw the biggest increase in usage with Oladipo off the floor, though, was Bojan Bogdanovic, with an increase of 2.1% to a 23.2% usage rate. Domantas Sabonis is the Pacer that scores the most fantasy points per minute at 1.39 with Oladipo off the floor. If you want to do a little speculating, Aaron Holiday could be a nice pickup. He’s played 275 minutes without Oladipo on the court and has garnered a 24.1% usage rate and scored 1.06 fantasy points per minute. Granted, most of that run came earlier in the year, as he hasn’t received 10 minutes of run in any game this month, but someone to keep an eye on. Anyways, hate to see injuries and let’s all send good vibes towards the Oladipo family. Oladipo Ho! Oladipo Ho! Oladipo Ho!

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Beverley Hills With an Upscale Performance

January 21, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 20 Comments

by: Son

Beverly Hills is home to the stars, luxury hotels, and upscale shopping. The 90210 zip code was used as a television show. Glam, bling, and all the shiny stuff that sparkle the eyes are what reside and provide pride for those living inside. Patrick Beverley was the honorary mayor of 90210 yesterday with his performance:

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
18	12	5	4	1	1	4/7	5/9	4/6

Got the start and played a whopping 42 minutes. Now, Danilo Gallinari (back) Lou Williams (hamstring) did not play, so that’s the reason Beverley received the start and so much run. The injuries for both don’t sound serious, but there’s been no timetable for their returns yet, so Beverley could continue receiving elevated run over the short term. He’s a low usage player who derives much of his value from the peripheral categories. Over the past seven games, he’s been a top 115 player with averages of 28 minutes, 1.1 threeecolas, 6.3 boards, 3.4 dimes, 1 steal, and 1.1 blocks. Now, he’s normally a poor shooter from the field, like 38% poor, so don’t expect the points to flow. Because he rebounds so well and plays tough D, if he continues getting the minutes, Beverley could continue providing upscale performances while Williams and Gallinari are out.

Here’s what else I saw yesterday:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Kuzma Helps Lakers TKO OKC in OT

January 18, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 41 Comments

by: Son

LeBron James has missed 12 games due to injury. Entering last night’s game, the Lakers had four wins and seven losses without their king. After an overtime ordeal in Oklahoma City, the Lakers made it five wins and seven losses, thanks in part to the play of Kyle Kuzma.

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
32	8	4	3	0	4	7/12	11/20	3/3

The seven threeecolas tied a career-high. Without LeBron on the floor, Kuzma has been the offensive leader, sporting a usage rate above 30. He’s averaged 34.2 minutes, 21 points, 7 boards, and 2.9 dimes. He’s jacked up 18.4 shots per game, with 7.2 being from downtown. Now, the efficiency hasn’t been good (41% from the field and 24% from downtown) and he provides little in the D cats. As a result, he’s not the best fantasy asset, which sucks because this is a fantasy website. Just let me enjoy a Lakers victory on the road in OKC with Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuz leading the way.

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Fantasy Basketball: Embiid Act Like They Don’t Know

January 16, 2019 | Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes | 31 Comments

by: Son

KRS-One was one of the greatest to ever do it. He never won a Grammy, and didn’t win a Tony, yet he smashed rappers and made girls go “Illllll!” He made you bob your head from side to side, and up and down, but ultimately he made you think about what was said, as Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody. At the core, though, he brought it to those MC’s that acted like they didn’t know that KRS was willing to go toe for toe and made them hope that their defense mechanism could divert his heat-seeking lyricism. Joel Embiid is the KRS-One of the NBA. He puts victims in a body bag both on the Twitter machine and on the court. Last night…

PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	3PT	FG	FT
31	13	3	0	1	4	4/6	10/17	7/8

In only 27 minutes, as the 76ers body bagged the Timberpuppies, 149-107. On the season, Embiid is the #10 player, averaging 33.5 minutes, 27 points, 1.2 threeecolas, 13.3 boards, 3.4 dimes, 0.5 steals, and 2 blocks on 48% shooting from the field and 80% from the free throw line on 9.9 attempts. The usage rate is 32.1! Such a boss. As KRS said, “If you don’t know me by now, I doubt you’ll ever know me.” Embiid gonna keep trying, though.

Here’s what else I saw last night:

Please, blog, may I have some more?