Alright, truth be told I had that article title in my head before the early games even finished up. It looked like it was going to be a yawn-worthy evening of basketball… but then some cool stuff happened.

Kyle Lowry‘s 17/10/7 with a pair of threes was nice. As was DeMar DeRozan‘s 28/4/4 with two long balls of his own. Bismack Biyombo pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds in a winning effort and that gave me some warm & fuzzies. But dedicating a lead to “my team” when they barely hung on to beat a mostly disinterested Dallas squad didn’t feel quite right. And also, how many semi-legitimate opportunities am I going to have to write the word “Snoozeday”? (Answer: hopefully just this once.)

But Tuesday’s schedule, man. Come on now…

Grizzlies/76ers.

Pistons/Heat.

Mavericks/Raptors.

Lakers/Nuggets.

Outside of the local fan bases, who gives a smurf about any of those games? I was this close to watching Polar Express instead of the Raptors game since it looked like they were going to run away with it early (up 16 after the 1st Q). The game ended up being mildly entertaining as the Mavs’ second unit scratched & clawed their way to within one possession late in the 4th, but Kyle, DeMar & Bismack proved to be a bit too much.

I suppose if we broke things down a little more to the individual player level we could have gotten stoked for the Andre Drummond/Hassan Whiteside matchup in South Beach. Unfortunately, the two young centers failed to deliver the monstrous lines we’ve grown accustomed to seeing early this season. Drummond was just “ok” with 11/12/1/0/2, but shot only 4-12 from the field. Whiteside was markedly better with 16 & 16 plus four blocks and 7-13 FGs. Solid stuff, but it would’ve been pretty cool to see a pair of 20/20’s in the same game. (I wonder when was the last time that happened? Somebody else please check, I’m busy/lazy right now.)

Ultimately this proved to be the second (mostly) lackluster Tuesday in a row. However, if there is NBA basketball being played there are player performances to be discussed. So let’s get after it.

 

THE GOOD

Marc Gasol – 19/6/5/3/1 on 7-15 from the field and a perfect 5-5 on his freebies. Nice night for the younger Gasol brother to be sure, but given the level of competition, this is probably about the minimum his owners were expecting coming into this one.

Matt Barnes – Made good on his 29 starter’s minutes, going 12/10/2/2/2 with a couple treys. Barnes has been the 22nd ranked 9-cat player over the last two weeks and the only thing working against his outlook is the lousy schedule density for both January and February (only one 4-game week out of eight).

Stanley Johnson – Though he only played 23 minutes, he made ’em count to the tune of 14/4/3 with four triples. StanJo has flashed big time potential on a few occasions, but consistency is the sexy attribute to Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy, and until Johnson can provide that he’s going to be tough to trust in your active lineup. He has some work to do to even crack the top-150 on the season.

Dirk Nowitzki – 20/7/0/0/2 while ringing it up from long distance four times. The German just keeps chuggin’ along with the type of low-TO, high-efficiency shooting that secures him a spot in the top-20, season-to-date.

Kobe Bryant – The Bean dropped 31 up in the altitude of Denver. Maybe the thin air helps the ball get over the front of the rim easier? Kobe did his damage on 10-22 shooting from the floor, 2-9 from deep, and 9-11 from the line. Three boards, five dimes, a block and a steal round out his evening. The high-20/low-30 minute range seems to be the sweet spot for more efficient production so let’s hope it continues as this is the type of Kobe I’d personally like to see leave the game of basketball. Not the 7-22 with three airballs Kobe of November.

Will Barton – After the first quarter I though I was going to have to abandon the “Snoozeday” headline (oh look, I found another spot to use that word – nifty) and give the Thrill some more ink. He brought a flamethrower off the bench and dropped 18 points in the first frame. Unfortunately he cooled off considerably as the game went on and finished with only 25. Barton added eight boards, two assists, a block and a couple treys which is still plenty to land him in “The Good” section. It just feels like a “what could have been” night, especially since there was no Danillo Gallinari to steal minutes and shots on Tuesday.

Nikola Jokic – 15/10/5 in 30 minutes off the bench will go a long way in solidifying a spot in Mike Malone’s rotation even when Jusuf Nurkic returns. I’m generally avoiding the Nuggets’ frontcourt situation for fantasy purposes as trying to predict the nightly minutes and production has fool’s errand written all over it. But if you’re desperate for big man help I would rank the Denver trio (ROS): Jokic, Nurkic, Joffrey Lauvergne. When a situation is this uncertain it’s all about upside and I think Jokic wins out, ever so slightly, over Nurk in that respect.

 

THE BAD

Tony Allen – I can’t imagine he’s rostered in anything but the deepest of leagues, and after tonight’s 1-point (0-5 FGs, 1-4 FTs) outing we can see why. Don’t be surprised if Allen is wearing a new uniform by February.

Nik Stauskas – Is it possible the Sacramento Kings organization knew what they were doing by giving up so early on Sauce Castillo? (Doubtful, ’cause Kings.) Nik is almost completely out of the ‘6ers rotation now that they’re getting some more guards healthy, as evidenced by his four minutes on Tuesday. I was way wrong on him being an impact player for a Philly team desperate for a floor-spacer.

Tony Wroten – You can do worse than 7/5/7. But you can’t do much worse than 2-9 from the field, 3-8 from the charity stripe, no threes, no steals, no blocks, and five turnovers. Classic T-Wrote. (FYI – nobody calls him that.)

Marcus Morris – A pretty empty 33 minutes for the northernmost Morris twin. 8/5/3 with no defensive stats and five giveaways. Hopefully this was just an off night as he was coming off a 20-point effort against the Bulls a few days back.

Chandler Parsons – The good news is that Parsons has been cleared to play in B2Bs. The bad news is he’s still coming off the bench and even with a decent amount of run (25 minutes on Tuesday) he isn’t producing usable numbers. 6/2/1/1/0 on 3-8 shooting. He’s a bit like Danny Green at this point…but with an excuse.

Jameer Nelson – It’s tough to complain about a guy who provides eight assists, but 2-9 from the field, no threes or defensive stats helps to justify it. Nelson has been pretty good while filling in for the injured Emmanuel Mudiay, but 30 minutes against the Lakers should yield better results than 5/3/8/0/0.

 

THE NOTEWORTHY

Miami Left-Handed Point Guards – No Goran Dragic (thumb, day-to-day) or Tyler Johnson (shoulder, day-to-day) meant it was the Beno Udrih Experience for the Heat on Tuesday. There’s little to no chance you had Beno locked into weekly lineups, but if you streamed him or punted PG in DFS you’re likely satisfied with his 14/3/6 line on 7-11 shooting. Unfortunately no money counting stats in Beno’s 34 minutes, but you could’ve done worse for minimum salary or a quick hit pickup.

Jeff Green – Started and played all of 19 minutes. He made all three of his field goal attempts and didn’t turn the ball over. There’s been no mention (that I’ve seen) of an injury, so I haven’t got the foggiest idea why he didn’t see run in the high-20s/low-30s like the other four Grizzlies starters.

Reggie Jackson – I found it a bit curious that Reggie played only 31 minutes in a closely contested game. Foul trouble wasn’t to blame as he only had one PF. With Brandon Jennings dressing (but not seeing any floor time) this will be an intriguing situation to monitor. Jackson, despite the monster contract, is not the most endearing fella and a minutes reduction as a result of Jennings being back could make things very interesting.

Deron Williams – Pulled up with a Christmas ham(string injury) and in true Deron fashion he made it sound awful (“I heard a pop”) while also suggesting that he may not miss any games. Who the h-e-double-hockey-sticks knows how long he’ll be out, but with Devin Harris already on the shelf we’re going to be force fed a holiday-sized helping of Raymond Felton and J.J. Barea. Tasty.

Patrick Patterson – Sorry, Slim. Your bestie 2-Pat only lasted eight minutes before flu-like symptoms got the worst of him. He did have a steal in those eight minutes though – that ain’t nothin’! (The joke may be on me though as Patterson’s absence forced 10 minutes of Anthony Bennett onto my television screen. Not ideal.)

Cory Joseph – After a lousy last week, CoJo played a really nice game against the Mavericks. 12/4/5/1/0 with a pair of threes. He is getting really solid minutes but he’ll need more time with the starting unit (i.e. a Lowry injury) to be a surefire fantasy play.

 

OPPORTUNITY IS EVERYTHING

Players who saw over 36 minutes of floor time on Tuesday:

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (40), Bismack Biyombo (38), Kyle Lowry (38), DeMar DeRozan (40), Jordan Clarkson (38), Lou Williams (37), Will Barton (38).

 

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Razzball Nation a very Merry Christmas. Have a safe and happy holiday season and I’ll catch up with everyone on Monday (attempting to fill JB’s yeti-sized shoes doing the weekend recap and “7 Ahead”). As always, if you want to chat waiver pickups, DFS plays, or anything else fantasy hoops, drop me a line on Twitter @moneyballmatty. Cheers.

50 Comments
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Hamtime
Hamtime
7 years ago

1. Would you give up KAT+Dieng to get PG+Nurk (or Mahinmi)?

2. Tyson chandler droppable? Would you get Larkin or Jokic?

3. Teague for Noel or be patient w Teague

Martin
Martin
7 years ago

Which 2 would you play in a 9 cat h2h for Wednesday’s games.
Lin, Jared Dudley, Collison

Martin
Martin
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty: ok. Btw is Payton worth playing today? Skiles said he’s Gona “monitor” him. I would have to bench either Colli or Lin for him

Martin
Martin
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty: yeh those are all good points. Prob better to bench him. Thanks for your insight! Happy holidays.

Slim
7 years ago

I watched all of the Pistons-Heat game. Bosh missed a wide open one at the end for the win. Tough loss. The Reggie minutes were due to the Heat taking a monster early lead in the 1st quarter (Reggie had 9 of the Pistons 1st 12 points) but the bench hit 7 3s in a row in the 2nd so StanVan ran them until they got cold (about 4 min left in the half). Reggie was unstoppable in this one and there was no chance he didn’t get all the crunch time minutes. I’m so impressed with Reggie. One of my favorite players to watch, and I would argue one of the best scoring PGs in the league. He’s really worked hard to extend his 3pt range too, kind of scary to think he’s still getting better. Jennings has ZERO chance of taking meaningful minutes from Reggie. I assume they play Jennings some (15 min) to showcase him but he is not a threat to Reggie.

I would rank them Nurk, Jokic, Lauvergne in a dynasty fo sho. For this year… it’s a big time avoid em all in anything but the deepest of leagues, although I still think Nurk has a chance to be a decent play in the fantasy playoffs. I don’t think Jokic has half the upside that Nurkic has. I think Nurk has many more offensive moves and I believe Nurk is an above average rim protector, and Jokic is definitely not. Nurk out weighs him by at least 30 pounds too, Nurk is much more of a prototypical center than Jokic. Ideally though I’d like to see Jokic able to play a little PF next to Nurkic, but that won’t happen until Faried is gone. Both can stretch the floor, esp with Nurk working on his corner 3s. Lauvergne is 3 years older than both so he should be better right now but he’s starting to look like a 2nd unit rotational player at best.

I might have a little REL bias here but the bias is that I like them so much that I went out of my way to make sure I had both Nurkic and Reggie on my dynasty team.

hamtime
hamtime
7 years ago
Reply to  Slim

@Slim: Hi slim. Big dilemma with the trade mentioned above. being offered PG + Nurk (or mahinmi) for KAT + otto. rank wise, its close for PG/Kat, so I don’t feel I should pay the premium of a solid player like otto (or dieng), but i dunno.. its PG and I get to pair him with Steph and drummond. thoughts?

Slim
7 years ago
Reply to  hamtime

@hamtime: I may be alone in my thinking but I’m not a fan of Drummond and George together. You’re already punting FT% and adding George’s poor FG% on massive attempts takes too much away from the FG% advantage. I’d rather hold KAT with Steph and Drummond and never lose FG%.

hamtime
hamtime
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty: @slim Thanks guys. I’ll try and offer drum marcus morris and burks for milsap and kmid. might be a better fit with curry kat kemba..

happy holidays!

dom
dom
7 years ago

hey good stuff

who do I sit tonight between OJ Mayo (PHI) , Bojan Bogdanovich (DAL), and TJ Warren (DEN)? thanks

dom
dom
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty:Thanks, would you play Steven Adams over Warren as well? Close in every stat basically

Also would you rather own J Nelson or Felton?

miles proudfoot
miles proudfoot
7 years ago

Ah Danny green, you are right, no excuse.

What do you think of Dragic and Wiggins for Wall or Lilliard? Is it enough? I could always just try but would like to send a fair deal and be able to grab someone off the wire. Thanks!

NYFantaC
NYFantaC
7 years ago

All things considering, in a vaccum.. which side would you take in a trade?

LBJ for Drummond and Barton

16 Team, H2H 11Cat

Zebo
Zebo
7 years ago

How good is Will Barton’s prospects beyond this year? Is he a keeper material?

kb
kb
7 years ago

I have Beverley and G Green in my Thurs streaming spots right now
either or both droppable for Lou Williams or Bobby Portis?

9 cat h2h keeper league fwiw

kb
kb
7 years ago
Reply to  kb

@kb: Friday, that is

kb
kb
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty:

yeah, essentially my idea was that i get a test ride with bobby p over the next 2-4 weeks with Noah out of the lineup + today’s Woj bomb that they’re looking to move Noah and/or Taj. idk if he’ll actually produce any value, but beverley hasn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire either so…

Trul
Trul
7 years ago

My Bosh+Middleton for his Griffin+Wade, what do you think?

Johnny Boy
Johnny Boy
7 years ago

Gordon Hayward for hassan Whiteside, you’d do that instantly right?

The Tristan Thompson Conundrum
The Tristan Thompson Conundrum
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty: Yeah that was my thinking exactly, My team is very guard heavy and I have won every week except last week when my team was exposed because I had a few injuries (Gallo, Monroe, Porter). I’ll just show you it maybe it will be easier. 9 cat league.
PG: Wall, Lillard, Kemba, Collison
SG: JR Smith, Wade, Clarkson
SF: Hayward, Porter, Gallinari
PF/C: Monroe, Gasol, Dieng, Capella

The Tristan Thompson Conundrum
The Tristan Thompson Conundrum
7 years ago

@The Tristan Thompson Conundrum: I just think I might need a backup category like blocks or rebounds to potentially win in case my team has a bad Steal, ft%, or 3pt week like last week.

sliimbo
sliimbo
7 years ago

happy holidays

otto porter or pat bev in a 9 cat h2h?

thanks

Eddie Rooskie
Eddie Rooskie
7 years ago

Hey Matty what do you think about this trade? I’m punting assists but even with Ibakas OK play lately I feel like I could get more back.

Wall + Ibaka for CJ + Cousins

Eddie Rooskie
Eddie Rooskie
7 years ago
Reply to  Matty

@Matty: Hahah as much as I love my boy CoJo, i was referring to McCollum. You and I both share the same sentiment about being able to get more for Wall but for some reason everyone in my league has something against him.

What do you think about trying to maybe get Oladipo + Giannis for him? I could throw someone else in if that’s asking too much but I think Victor has to eventually pick things up, he’s too talented.

Tyler
Tyler
7 years ago

Larkin Barea Jokic
Choose one ROS 9cat h2h

Tyler
Tyler
7 years ago
Reply to  Tyler

@Tyler: Marshall and Warren also available.

Michael
Michael
7 years ago

Hi , I was wondering going forward what do you of my lineup for second half of the season. I feel like my team is quite deep but they are under performing right now. Should I do anything to it?
9 cat roto
pg: damian lillard, elfrid payton, Darren Collison
sg-sf: jimmy butler, danillo Galliarni, Gianni antetekumpo, will Barton, Eric Gordon, Gerald green, Evan Fournier, Robert Covington
Pf-c: Greg Monroe, andrew bout, Roy Hilbert, nerlens noel,

Michael
Michael
7 years ago

Hi,
I was wondering going forward what do you think I should do with my team. I am in 9 cat roto, and I feel like my team is deep but under performing right now
pg-damian lillard, elfrid payton, Darren collison
sg-sf: jimmy butler, danillo gallarni, eric Gordon, will barton, Giannis antetekumpo, evan Fournier, Gerald green, Robert Covington,
Pf-c: Greg Monroe, Roy Hilbert, nerlens noel, andrew bogut

Johnc
Johnc
7 years ago

Collison or Harrison Barnes off the wire? I lead the league in steals and rebounds so leaning toward Colly for points and the potential Rondo meltdown. Appreciate it

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

Hello, I just received a blockbuster trade offer and I am not sure if I should consider it. This is what my team looks like right now.

PG – John Wall, Kemba Walker, Jordan Clarkson
SG – Jimmy Butler, Will Barton, Danny Green, Garret Temple
SF – Lebron James, Danilo Gallinari, Omri Casspi
PF – Paul Millsap, Taj Gibson
C – Gorgui Dieng
IR – Rudy Gobert

I was offered Kevin Durant, Christ Paul, Eric Bledsoe & Kent Bazemore for my Lebron James, John Wall, Paul Millsap & Rudy Gobert. My initial thought is no, but I may be overlooking something. Thoughts?

Mike
Mike
7 years ago

Hey Matty, I need some help with a trade idea. My team is below.
PG: Wall, Lillard, Collison, Beverly
SG/SF: Hayward, Barton, Bazemore, Marcus Morris, Matt Barnes, CJ Miles
C: Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson, Olynyk
IL: Gobert, Valanciunas

Should I trade Hayward and Barton for jimmy Butler? Otherwise I can drop Beverly or Olynyk with Valanciunas coming back this week. Appreciate the help!

Mike
Mike
7 years ago
Reply to  Mike

@Mike: So it basically comes down to Butler and Olynyk or Hayward and Barton