A lot of people were mad at 2016. Thought it was a year without morality. Without decency. Without justice… So I’m watching the Thunder/Hornets last night, and in the 3rd quarter, Dell Curry is like, “I just had some terrible news cross my desk – Justise Winslow is going to be out for the year.” Whoa, way to be a news breaker, Dell! He also broke the news that his wife was in the crowd and circled her on the teleprompter when the camera showed her, so there’s that… Awk-ward! Anyway, Winslow’s injured shoulder ended up being a labrum tear, after it was reported it was only a tweak and he didn’t anticipate it being a long-term issue. Doctor G, how come major tears only feel like tweaks sometimes?! He’s going to have corrective surgery today and will likely miss the rest of the season, ya know, unless the Heat make the playoffs! Hahahahaha, sorry Slim, had to do it… This is definitely a bummer, because we saw this with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and he ended up tearing it a second time after only a few games back, so I’m going to be very leery about ranking Winslow decently next year. Well, the injury, and the fact he’s going to end the year shooting 35.4% from the field. Yeesh. So with Miami lacking any Justise, it would appear James Johnson is going to get all the minutes he can handle, and is must own for me ROS. Really everywhere. I raved about him as the lead to the notes earlier in the week, Adam led with him for RazzWired, and he shouldn’t have any issue getting 30ish MPG the rest of the way. I was initially surprised to only see 25 minutes last night in a 5-point win, but yeah, he fouled out (game was on too late for grandpa JB!). 14/6/6/0/3 for JJ on an awesomely efficient night, shooting 4-8 FG, knocking down 2 treys, and hitting 4-4 FT. Only black eye was the 3 TO, which look like will be an issue for him as he takes on a big role on the offense. So be sure Johnson is owned in all your leagues, and hopefully by the 17-18 season, we’ll see a return of Justise in the world! Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy basketball action:
Dwight Howard – Went 3-3 FT last night, making him 5-7 at the stripe so far this year with only 3 TO his last 4 games. Where’s the justice in that?! With the FT volume cut down and rebounds up, he’s been a lot better than even the Hawks would’ve hoped for.
Kent Bazemore – Amongst the annoying mix of Hawks wings, 17/0/4/2/0 with no TO in an awesomely efficient line, hitting 6-9 FG (3-3 3PTM 2-2 FT). Gets rewarded with only 27 minutes… That said, it was a blowout win, so not too surprising… Kyle Korver got an odd 7 dimes in 17 bench minutes, and Tim Hardaway Jr. made a couple treys. Bleh, like some chicken wings with too spicy of a sauce, these Hawks wings are too messy for me.
Evan Fournier – The Virgin is back! Returned from a heel injury to go 14/1/1/1/0 in 30 minutes off the bench with a couple of treys. Not his best game and the Magic got trounced, but not the worst either. Deploy your virgin as usual.
Elfrid Payton – After working out the kinks and looking great off the bench, moves back into the starting line-up… Hmmmmm… I kinda wanted him to keep cruising in the bench role! Elfrid was still solid though, going 15/4/6/3/1 with a trey and 2-2 FT in 35 minutes. Hopefully the yanking in-and-out of the starting 5 doesn’t cause chafing.
Aaron Gordon – Only 25 minutes, but is staying useful! His latest run did coincide with Fournier being out, but with The Virgin back, 15/10/2/0/0 on 6-11 shooting with 2 treys. He’s certainly 12er ownable for me – at current returns it’s kinda back-end usable, but there’s still oodles of upside while you get the back-end contribution.
Russell Westbrook – What superstars do! Even when they look terrible, have ridiculous games. 33/15/8/2/1 for Westbrook, but he was atrocious, shooting 10-31 FG including 2-12 from deep. With the game close, took a pullup 3 with a few minutes left. I screamed at the TV a little… Drive mutherF#($er, drive! I feel like that’s a lyric or something, I’m not just going turrets and yelling at him with no reference…
Steven Adams – Yeah mea culpa on him. Another monster run of 36 minutes, 18/12/3/1/1 on 8-10 FG and 2-2 FT. I always thought he was a good NBA player! I just didn’t see him becoming a fantasy contributor with enough consistency like this. I guess when Russell Westbrook is going to have historic usage and look for him on every single pick-and-roll or drive, he’s going to rack up enough layups and nice FG%…
Nicolas Batum – His 28/3/4/0/1 line isn’t one of his best, but those 28 points are a little out of character and damn did he look great out there. The 13-15 FT is a little misleading, he got barely touched around the waist on a couple of treys and he got 3 FTs at least twice. The FG% was still iffy (7-18) and remains low on the year (40.4%), but he’s having a career season.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – It’s boring, but REB are a stat! 14/11/0/0/1 on 7-9 shooting. Just keep those labrums from tearing!
Frank Kaminsky – Monster game for Frank the Stank, who couldn’t miss in the 2nd quarter. 17/6/2/2/1 with 2 treys on 6-11 shooting. Was banging threes, had a floater in there, just looked really good. Unfortunately in a 12er context, there’s really not much to do with it other than have him in your streaming Rolodex, as the minutes are too sporadic.
Giannis Antetokounmpo – Greek is Fleek! Isn’t that something kids say? 27/13/4/1/3 with a trey and a game-winner.
Wait, is that seriously Lance Thomas on him at the end?! I didn’t know Lance Thomas was still playing! Lance got 38 minutes?!?!??! What in the world?! I know you have to fill out Kristaps Porzingis‘s minutes as he’s still out with a sore Achilles, but dayum, play someone else more! Well, this Giannis blurb devolved into a rant, my b!
John Henson – Only 14 minutes of 2/2/0/0/0 and picked up 3 fouls. Yeesh. Then Greg Monroe came off the bench and got 31 minutes and hit only 4-10 FT. Got the Hensons! Which is like the yips, only worse… 18/9/4/3/1 on 7-10 FG is otherwise a nice line for Moose. I’m leaning more and more to the Bucks not trading him.
Malcolm Brogdon – Another empty tripdub quest! 12/6/8/0/0 on 5-14 shooting with no treys. You can do a lot if you get 38 minutes a night! I still think Matthew Dellavedova gets his role back and they split it down the middle when Delly is healthy.
Carmelo Anthony – Well, the knee must be a little better now! 37 minutes of 30/11/7/2/0 with 4 treys. Looks kinda like a nice game to start the sell-high process…
Mindaugas Kuzminskas – With no Goose and Lance friggin’ Thomas getting big minutes, they had to help fill in some F minutes somewhere, and Mind Games Mindaugas got 19 mins for 15/4/1/2/1 with 2 treys on 6-10 shooting. Wait, I thought this was supposed to be a Willy Hernangomez sort of line! Kuzminskas is super ugly and doesn’t look like one of those “physically gifted” people out there, but he’s got a good 3PT stroke and is kinda quick.
There’s really not too much we can do with this though, he has 3 straight games of 15+ minutes, all of which The Goose has been out and he should be off his roost soon.
Michael Carter-Williams – Ugh, I guess this is a thing! If you need a PG, even with all the negatives, I think you gotta add MCW in 12ers. 13/3/3/1/1 on 6-13 shooting last night against the Cavs, and looked fairly decent in his 28 minutes sans-Rondo.
Doug McDermott – 17 points and 3 treys. ThrAGNOF!
Nikola Mirotic – Still a frustration to own game-to-game, but 16/4/1/1/1 with no TO last night with 3 treys. He’s actually been really good the last 10 after a couple DNPs – averaging 11.9/5.2/0.5/0.7/1.4 with 2.3 treys.
LeBron James – Tried his best to carry the Cavs without Kyrie Irving (hammy) and Kevin Love (ate bad hammy) out, going 31/8/7/1/0, but after a blistering start last night in the 1st quarter, the Cavs got stagnant quick…
Jordan McRae – Other than Channing Frye hitting 3 treys, was the only other offense next to Bron, going 21/3/2/0/2 on 7-15 shooting with a trey and 6-7 FT. Slim clowns me for mentioning my REL pickups in the Monday daily notes, but this was a pretty good call to mention!
C.J. McCollum – Damn, save those legs for tonight! I picked the Yiddish McColllleuoruouoeueourughhhhhm for 30 points tonight against the Lakers, but he went an unreal 35/9/5/0/2 with 4 treys last night as the Blazers hung in there without Damian Lillard against the Lakers. Fiddlesticks!
Mason Plumlee – Has these monster games sometimes! 16/10/4/3/1 on 6-12 shooting in 33 minutes with no TO. Wow, 4-5 FT and actually making his freebies lately too. 23 for his last 32 good for 72%, which is fine for him.
Maurice Harkless – D stats still aren’t drying up, maybe I was too heartless! 10/7/1/1/1 with 2 treys, I mean it’s fine, but he’s 9.9/5.3/0.9/1.5/1.1 with 0.8 treys and 1.6 TO the last 8 games. It’s OK, but I feel like you can stream that in 12ers, maybe I’m crazy, I dunno… Strike that, I know I’m crazy. Call security, there’s a crazy guy out in the hall!
Stephen Curry – There we go! 35/7/5/1/0 with 5 treys. The 5 TO are annoying, but keep scoring Steph!
Kevin Durant – Even with Steph going for 35, KD can be epic too! 30/5/4/2/3 with 3 treys and 9-9 FT in a fantastic rainbow line. If you got him really at any spot in your first round, you’re doing the Slim Reaper dance.
Klay Thompson – It was Klay who fell off amongst the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, going 5-15 FG for 14 points and only 1 trey. That said, hit up the D stats for a 14/3/1/3/2 line.
Chandler Parsons – DNP rest. I’m losing my hair over this worse than Manu Ginobili.
Zach Randolph – Hah, so JaMychal Green is out with a swollen eye, so we all expect Zbo to play a ton. And he plays the fewest minutes of any Grizz bench player… 19 minutes for 13/3/0/0/0 with 2 TO. Weird stuff from Plop Plop Fizz Fizdale! After maintaining a nice record through injuries, I’m looking up and seeing them at only 22-16. 6-8 their last 14…
Austin Rivers – “Daddy! Daddy! Let me play a ton, the old injured Grizzlies can’t keep up! Daddy! Pick me! Pick me!” 28/4/7/1/1 with 2 treys in his best line on the season. In a ridiculous 44 minutes. Hey, I can slam the favoritism all I want, but the Clip have had worse injuries than the Grizz and won this game. And have a better record!
Raymond Felton – Here’s an interesting camera angle on Felton trailing a fast break from last night:
11/4/6/4/0 in a usable-enough line if you’re streaming while CP3 is hurt.
DeAndre Jordan – Damn, just needed to hit 2 more of his missed FT for a Goromotaro! 18/20/0/0/2 with 4-11 FT…
Tyler Johnson – 30 minutes of 23/6/2/1/2 on a fantastically efficient 7-11 FG (2-4 3PTM 7-9 FT). With no Justise in this world, an extra little smidge of USG security coming his way as well. Yummy.
Willie Reed – Welllllll, didn’t quite follow up on his epic breakout line last night… 6/3/0/1/2 in 23 minutes. But hey, you got 2 swats!
DeMarcus Cousins – And I’m guessing Reed D-ed up on Boogie and kept him from playing well! 13/6/4/2/0 on 4-15 shooting for Boogie in a rough one.
Darren Collison – Stupid Ty Lawson. In a battle of morality issues at PG, Colly goes 27 minutes for 10/2/3/0/1 with a trey, and the masked Lawson goes 15/0/6/1/0 with a trey in 29 minutes, but with 4 TO. Still would rather Colly, but annoying to see Lawson get the run again.
I hope everyone had a nice humpday of basketball! Enjoy the rest of your week, and I’ll keep up with you through the weekend in the comments!
