Sooooo… Last night just happened. It was the wildest night of fantasy hoops that I could ever remember. Sure my memory isn’t exactly like Ken Jennings, but yea… Definitely going to break the “what the hey?!” record! The Fantasy Basketball world just stood still. It was just like the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. Is that Keanu Reeves? What is Jaden Smith doing here? Wait, is this an actual plot? There’s just too much crazy to care about these special effects! There were like, a million three pointers last night. Tony Wroten had a triple double. Ok, who had Wroten in the triple-double pool? I think if you had bet on that in Vegas you coulda turned a dollar into owning the state of Nevada. 18/10/11 while shooting 7-18. A lot of Philly stats got boosted by the Rockets pace, and if you hadn’t heard yet, Michael Carter-Williams was a very late scratch with a sore foot. What are they feeding these guards in Philly? I think it’s obvious that to be a good NBA PG you must diet solely on cheesesteaks. But enough meandering, let’s go straight into the nitty gritty, the CGI effects if you will, for the reason why you’re here:
James Anderson – Mr. Anderson! My name… Is Neo! Wow, way too many Keanu Reeves references today. But Anderson was The One last night, shooting an unreal 12-16 (6-8 3PTM 6-6 FT) for a 36/5 night with 3 steals. As I said with Wroten, this game going into OT and Houston’s pace gave these career games to the Sixers. They took 103 shots!
Corey Brewer – Had 17 in the first half! Hit 3 threes and had taken 12 shots. Say whaaaa? Ended his line with a ridiculous 10-17 (5-5 3PTM ) 27/4/1 with two steals and not a single TO. You all know I love him, I pumped him up while getting bench run last year with the Nugs, and pumped him in the rankings and all season. Great fit for that team. Approaching must-own status in 12-teamers.
Kevin Martin – Before you yell at my Brewer love, KMart did have to sit last night with the flu. I’ve caught a lot of contagions at KMart, but never the flu…
Ricky Rubio – A got a lot of flack for his ranking, it’s been bumpy, or as you’d say “frio y caliente!”, but this one was caliente. 16/6/16 with 3 Stls, shot 5-7, hit his only 3, and 5-5 FT. Obviously this won’t be a commonality, but I buy huge games like this, a decent FG% because he can be selective and dime with all the talent around him, and hit a 3 here and there.
Caron Butler – Hurt his shoulder late in this game. Getting an MRI today. While he was down, I was hoping they would mimic that Walking Dead scene from a few episodes ago when she helps the dude reset his shoulder.
Khris Middleton – Obviously the world’s most famous K Middleton, went 6-11 19/8/4 with 3 Stls in a whopping 44 minutes. The Bucks are really banged up, but if Butler is hurt for a while, KMid is gonna get a lot of starting minutes. I actually think he’s a really underrated guy, can score, hit treys, board, dish a little and steal. And the volume is going to be there, even more so if Butler misses much time. Worth a look.
Brandon Knight – Had to sit out with the hammy. Nate Wolters was a boring 9/3/3 in 40 minutes, so they need Knight back. Think he’ll get big minutes in a few weeks once he’s eased back.
Zaza Pachulia – My bad, Razzball Nation! Didn’t know this foot issue would be holding him back like this. You’re so ugly Zaza… Get off all my teams.
Giannis Anteokounmpo – “Giannis at Home” got another good chunk of run for the injury depleted Bucks, going 6/2/1/2/0 in 20 minutes. Actually it was on the road, but anyone that enjoys a nice view while watching a cooking show will get the reference. Nothing huge, but as the Bucks keep losing through all this injuries, he has multi-cat upside in the 2nd half.
Arron Afflalo – Another dude hitting a preposterous amount of threes with 8 last night for a career-high 36. Victor Oladipo owners aren’t too happy with that… Plus is was a 36/8/6 multi-cat line. Wowser.
Andrew Nicholson – 3:04 of PT off the bench. Huh? Even in a game when Jason Maxiell started and played 4:37. Weird stuff, I haven’t seen any injuries on either. I wasn’t a big Nicholson guy, he’s droppable virtually everywhere. Last night there a question was Nicholson or Terrence Jones, definitely Jones now.
Serge Ibaka – Ejected. Couldn’t miss before he and Matt Barnes had an ejection fest. That sounds so wrong… At least Ibaka didn’t grab a handful of Blake Griffin‘s danglers this time…
Matt Barnes – The obvious solution to an ejection is hitting up twitter and pretending you’re Jim Irsay. I have no real follow up cept, you st00pid Barnes!
Robbie Hummel – Got the start at the 3 after playing just over 20 minutes all season. No not Derrick Williams, not Dante Cunningham, it was the guy who took over Alcatraz in The Rock. Deepest of leagues should take note, as he played the first 13+ minutes and got 29. 4-6 10/4/1 with two threes.
Anthony Bennett – Had his first multi-FGM game of his career! Wow. 3-11 6/5 game. What a terrible draft pick. Michael Olowokandi can finally sleep.
Omri Casspi – Every year, I have fantasy boyfriends. If you’ve read me since the season started, you know my hoops ones. In Baseball it was Corey Kluber and Rick Porcello. Mmmmm… But in hoops, Brewer/Archie Goodwin/KCP/Casspi. I think that’s my usual foursome. And to be clear, I only love the guys that are really deep sleepers and hopefully pan out. Casspi had a very nice line last night of 16/2/1/2/1 with a trey. James Harden sat out, sure, but Chandler Parsons is having some injury issues and they’ve finally figured out to give Omer Asik no minutes.
Terrence Jones – Got the start at the 4. El Burro is our resident commenter field reporter and keyed us in on the info. Razzball has become a cutting edge news source! TJ was decent going 4-12 10/11 with 3 Blks. He’s a big boy as opposed to Casspi as a 3/4 hybrid, and going against Thaddeus Young, it made sense matchup wise. Against smaller lineups, I still think Casspi gets some starts at some point.
Jeremy Lin – What the hey?! Took 15, repeat FIFTEEN three pointers. It’s hard to do that even in the three-point contest! Sunk 9 of em for a preposterous 34/4/12 line. James Harden was like, “Yo, Jeremy, I know beard ain’t yo think but don’t shave for awhile!” Did have 8 TOs though, but a ridiculous 49 minutes too. Everything is good except the Rockets lost…
Patrick Beverley – Lost in that Lin line, PBev had a very very solid 12/9/5/3/1 line, hitting a three, and not turning the ball over once. I have always said both will be valuable. Did I see Lin going all Lin-sane on us again? No not really, but PBev is solid too.
Al Jefferson – Looking like the ankle is healing up. 22/11 with 2 blocks. This is what I saw seeing him as a 2nd rounder.
Gerald Henderson – One of my mid-to-late round sleepers, finished with a respectable 13/9/5 last night. The 5-14 is no bueno, but I think his offense will come around and this is the sort of thing you can look for.
Kemba Walker – What the hey?! Let’s start with the 9 rebounds. NINE! “He rebounded the ball niiiiiiiine times!” He’s had one 10 board game in his rookie year, but tied the penultimate career-high. Now to the terrible… 1-13 from the field. Yikes! On a night when everyone was sinking shots! I was down on him coming into the year, so I’m not exactly shocked.
Cody Zeller – Very under-the-radar 8/9/2/2/1 near rainbow line in 23 minutes. Easily his best fantasy line on the season. Now there was no Josh McRoberts who missed the game due to “personal reasons” and Anthony Tolliver actually got the start at the 4. Still think Zeller could eventually start at the 4 at some point.
Kelly Olynyk – Got a run of 34 minutes (nice), 11 boards (nicer) 4 assists (very nice!) but shot only 1-4 for 6 Pts (ewwww). As I said when Olynyk got into the starting rotation, I really don’t want any of these guys.
Vitor Faverani – If he was starting and getting Olynyk minutes, I’d be more intrigued. But it was just over 22 minutes off the bench, a terrible 2-8 from the field, but did manage a 7/9/1 line with a block. And hit a three. Why he’d be interesting if anything happened to Olynyk.
Jordan Crawford – Continues to be on the upswing going 16/5/6 last night after 16/5/10 on Monday night. This is starting to look really interesting. Worth a look in 12 teamers.
Andrea Bargnani –Fantasy is a reactionary sport. Sure you can project, you can make simulations, you can think you know the future. I watched two Knicks games earlier in the year, and Bargnani looked awful. But then Tyson Chandler got hurt, and my first reaction was he and Amar’e Stoudemire would still be awful. But then last week I pulled a 180, and said Bargnani is a must-own. He’s getting shots, getting volume, and maybe he’s one of those players that needs tons of minutes to groove. Had 20/11/2 last night with a block and hit two treys. I didn’t disagree with a comment that he’s a bad rebounder, but I said due to the volume (31 minutes last night), he’ll fall into the boards. Be sure he’s owned.
Iman Shumpert – Got the start last night and had a very respectable 5/6/9/4/1. Now there’s been a lot of Shumpert for Kenneth Faried trade talks… I actually think for fantasy it hurts both. So if you’re an owner of either, I’d hope those quell…
Cartier Martin – Tried to pull his best Jeremy Lin impression, and took 10 threes last night. Ten! 13/4/1/0/2 and getting three of the treys to sink. Deeper leaguers needing points or threes be sure to have him starred.
Memphis Grizzlies – I did this same blanket statement on Monday. This team is terrrrrrrrrible. And it’s a lot of the same faces. Something is wrong. I’m nervous if I own any Grizzlies. Mike Conley is a sell high after a nice game here.
Jonas Valanciunas – What’s frustrating about the Luminescent Lithuanian is that I was driving the hype LAST YEAR! And then a lot of fantasy writers pumped up hype this year. I blame them. Only 1-6 for 4/7 and a block last night. Something is broken in a system that was reportedly going to run through him. I call BS on those quotes. Stupid Raptors.
Rudy Gay – Shot a little better (8-18) but the line was mighty dandy returning against his former buddies – 23/6/4/5/2. If he only he could post these rainbow lines every night! Oh, and not shoot 37 shots while doing it….
Kawhi Leonard – I watched my first Spurs game this year. The Spurs are just too good from roster spot one to fourteen. So it was another 24:07 of playing time for Kawhi, he scored the first 8 Spurs points and was hot, but they just didn’t need to run the starting unit. His line ended up 5-7 (2-4 3PTM 1-2 FT) 13/3/2/2/0. And he looked flippin’ awesome out there. So what do you do? I think you have to stand pat and hope the Spurs first unit actually has to challenge for wins. Nando De Colo looked like John Stockton out there late in the game. Their B and C units can compete with a lot of A units, like the Wizards…
Danny Green – Same analysis as above. He didn’t really need to do anything so his line didn’t do anything. Holding him in deeper 12-teamers, no issue streaming him in shallower. Games like this will happen, games where he’s hot and goes off will happen.
Trevor Ariza – Pulled his hammy. It didn’t look too good, he pulled up lame in transition, made a hard foul, then limped right into the locker room. Hamstrings are killing NBA players left and right. Droppable in most leagues.
Martell Webster – Was the big benefactor to Ariza’s hamstrung-out-ness. 8-16 21/10/2/4/0. Hit three treys. He looked good out there. Even though it took an injury, I moved him up in my rankings and he’s definitely a pickup consideration looking at huge minutes in the short-term in almost all leagues.
John Wall – Got poked in the eye. He’ll be fine.
WWWILLLLLLLLLLSSSSSOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!!! Chandler – Welcome back good sir. 12/5 with 2 steals, didn’t have a turnover, all 12 points on 4 treys. Encouraging to see he got run, then more run, then more run. A lot more minutes and rotations than say, Brandon Knight when he returned to action. Bye bye Jordan Hamilton, Chandler will be starting by next week if not sooner. If for some reason Chandler is available, pick him up.
Timofey Mozgov – 8-12 for 23 points, what the hey!? 23/9 with 4 blocks. I don’t want to step on Pete Nice’s toes, but that’s a B-n-B boner, no?!
J.J. Hickson – I still like Hickson more. Had 18 minutes to Mozgov’s 28, but the Nugs ran the hot hand. Despite shooting 3-11, Hickson was still 6/8/0/1/1.
Jordan Hill – Whoaaaaaa! Back-to-back huge games. 18/15/0/1/3. Might be the bigger B-n-B boner… Played 31 minutes, shot 6-11, yeah this is looking legit. 12-team league consideration.
Steve Blake – Back-to-back 10 dime games. The Lakers have found something here for us fantasy owners with Blake Hill! Or Hill Blake? Which sounds like a better movie character? Anyway, Blake is probably snatched up in all deeper leagues, but he’s approaching all league must-own level.
Gordon Hayward – 27/5/10/2/1 and so mother-trucking sexy! Got the Jazz their first win. Looking like a huge breakout star for us fantasy folk. I’m all-on-baord. All hands-on-deck. All hands-on-Gord… I better stop all the man love before my girlfriend gets mad at me…
Derrick Favors – Another rainbow line alert! 12/12/2/5/2! But whilst his stats go rainbow, his free throws go awful shooting 2-8 last night from the charity line. Is now at 57% at the line after going 69% last year. He’s getting to the line more, but a little concerning…
Tyreke Evans – There we go! 19/3/4 with a block proving he can still be useful. But after that 7 minute fiasco a few games back, nothing consistent is guaranteed.
Thomas Robinson – One of my worst calls when taking over as Fantasy editor last year mid-season. I thought his trade to the Rockets would mean huge production. I still bought in in the REL and he tied a career-high with 15 points for a 15/8/0/1/1 line in only 17 minutes. I bought more into the long-term dynasty aspect, but if LaMarcus Aldridge got traded and T-Rob finally got a starting opportunity, wheewwwwww-eeee! Look out.
Robin Lopez – Slim and I had a debate in the comments I think it was yesterday about Lopez. I don’t like Lopez. Slim loves Lopez. And then Lopez had his best line on the year of 13/15/0/0/1. Slim, stop pumping Sideshow Bob up!
Nicolas Batum – I still think he’ll be fine, but 9/3/0/0/0 last night, 3 TOs, shot 3-10. The flack I got having him outside my top-20 in the preseason at times was astounding. Trust me, I’ve gotten a lot wrong, but since the triple-double he’s been about what I expected.
Goran Dragic – Dude… He can’t get a break! Well, except in his endodermis (I think that’s right) needing 4 stitches in his forehead and had to leave. At least his forehead isn’t integral to his game…
Gerald Green – Got 26 minutes, got 13 shots, got a 17/2/0/0/0 line. This is what to expect, with less shots now that Dragic is back and with the outlook Dragic should miss either no time or just a game.
Markieff Morris – The big pickup of the past week had a slower game last night of 8/4/4/3/0. That’s still very effing good. After putting up 20+ the past 3 it doesn’t have the same allure, but that’s still nice. If he’s still out there, worth a nab. Reports are hinting he could start at some point.
Ben MeLemore – This is hilarious. He gets the start, but only goes 15 minutes and shoots 1-8 for 2 Pts. Marcus Thornton then goes off for 24 off the bench in 34 minutes. Of course I’m against Thornton in REL. Unreal. Sounds like the takeaway is the dynamic of Thornton and McLemore isn’t any different.
Reggie Jackson – I said he was droppable. And it looks the case. 25:01 for 9/3/4 which is fine for deeper leagues, but yeah, he’s droppable in virtually all 12-teamers or under.
Chris Paul – Another 16 assists. Another double-digit dime game. Ballin’.
Blake Griffin – I’ll leave the “underrated by fantasy experts” argument to the past, and be in awe of the 22/12/7 line with 3 steals last night. Ridic.
Next Game: I’ve got TNT Overtime for the Rockets at Knicks tonight. Should be a great one! Pumped to see Omri Casspi get 30+ minutes finally… Ok so that’s just a dream, but who cares! If you’re watching the game, but sure to hop to TNT Overtime and watch the highlights as they pop up on the bottom line since dat-a-me!
