Man, big weekends all around! And only fitting one of the breakout weekends of the NBA would be someone from the Suns! I was in Phoenix all weekend! …sadly not to see the Suns, but I don’t think anyone was… Grey and I were scouting some Spring Training, and us goofballs had a good ol’ desert time… Speaking of goofballs, check out this jump ball for the Suns/Celtics game on Sunday night!
It’s all fun and games for the Celtics until the Suns actually beat ya! And who better to drive home the dagger than who faced off in the short-man jump ball!
NBA getting taken over by shorties! Grey might have a shot to make the NBA at this rate! 20/2/5/1/0 for Tyler Ulis with no TO on 8-12 shooting, following 8/1/8 then 14/4/7 lines the two games prior. Of course Earl Watson would love this guy and start giving him minutes, the short guy love going all around! 23, 21, then 33 minutes in that big win yesterday. While he’s certainly worth a look in 12ers, minutes would absolutely have to come at the expense of Eric Bledsoe or Devin Booker, and I don’t see the Suns being able to give Ulis a 30+ MPG role. So that keeps him behind the Cojo’s of the world, and I’m not really fretting that I didn’t add him anywhere while I was in baseball scouting mode. Although I will say the NBA definitely has it down with being an indoor sport, my feet got sunburnt to a crisp wearing my flip flops in Phoenix! Stupid pale skin… I’m not built for the desert, even in early March! Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball action:
Kyrie Irving – Man, what a game Friday night on ESPN, with the Cavs slaughtering the Hawks before ATL made a run. The city rallying behind Donald Glover! 43/2/9/4/1 with 5 treys on Kyrie’s way to a career season. But it will all be underscored by DNPs through the playoffs like Saturday night…
Channing Frye – 21 points and 3 treys in that DNP-fest for the Cavs as they lost by about 30 to the Heat. Yeah, Heat fans at home get no Kyrie and of course no LeBron. Pansies. Frye is very meh… Deep league ThrAGNOF.
Tim Hardaway Jr. – THJ remains the ThrAGNOF poster boy! Hah I feel like I say that about 10 guys… I’m pissed Coach Butthole has been taking him out of the starting line-up, and the little bit of dimes he flashed a few weeks ago have dried up…. Speaking of Coach Butthole, he contacted an official so got suspended a game… NBA officials might want to give him that nickname too! Anywho, THJ went ham in that ATL comeback, going 36/2/2/0/0 as a Notorious B.I.G. Then 24/4/2/1/0 with 4 treys last night before one of the many buzzer-beaters from yesterday knocked them off at the hands of the Pacers. While you def can stream while hot – one of the tenets of ThrAGNOF – I’m not expecting this kind of scoring to maintain; he’s still coming off the bench, and a wing defense of Dennis Schroder/THJ as the starting 1/2 would be Penny Dreadful. Anfernee Hardaway is like, “why’d you pull me into this?!” I think Coach Butthole et. all are gonna stick with Kent Bazemore in the starting 5.
James Johnson – Year of the neck tat! After a big 19/4/6/2/2 on Friday, only got 18 minutes of 8/4/4/1/1 in that game Saturday against the Cavs B team. He got an elbow bleeder (“we got a bleeder!”) that limited his run in the blowout, he should be fine. And if he gets a scar, he can easily get a fresh tat over it.
Elfrid Payton – God I have such a love/hate relationship with the stupid Magic… 12/10/8/3/0 Friday against the Heat, then 15/5/3 yesterday as Orlando hung in there against the Wiz. Shot 12-16 in those games, did have 3 TO in each, but I know a week of sub-30 minute subpar games are now coming…
Bismack Biyombo – This might be a little interesting for big man-needy squads, as Nikola Vucevic‘s Achilles flared up yesterday during shootaround and he sat out. Vuc always wears down late, and Bis brought the biz, going 14/15/1/2/0 on 5-8 shooting in 34 starting minutes. Might be worth a spec add in all leagues where you need a big, as even small Achilles issues can always linger, just ask Avery Bradley…
Justin Anderson – Mr. Anderson! “My name is Neo!” Been a while since I brought that one out! I think I used that on Justin Anderson… Maybe it was Kyle Anderson… Def wasn’t Ryno… Meh, too many Andersons! 19/5/2/0/1 n a big breakout Friday night, as the Sixers knocked off the even lowlier Poppycockers. But followed it up with only 5/8/0/0/0 on 1-6 shooting Saturday, in 30 empty minutes against the Pistons. Not too intrigued in 10/12ers…
Nik Stauskas – …Especially when the Sauce is this spicy!
Needs the Chris Berman “whoop! whoop!” like 4 times on that drive! 24/5/2/2/0 with 4 treys in that game, and he was just feeling it. Maybe you can take a flier since the Sixers need playmaking, but would rather ride a hot THJ than a Hot Sauce.
Cory Joseph – As I kinda hinted in the open, his decent weekend keeps him above the emerging Ulis and still a hold in 12ers. 15/5/3 Friday then 14/5/8 Saturday with 2 treys. Not huge, but 32 then 37 minutes and is going to get his big chunk of run.
Khris Middleton – The Duchess rounding into form! Even if Jason Kidd is trying to stifle it bringing him off the bench earlier last week… What a wankah! 19/4/9/4/0 Friday then 24/3/0/1/0 Saturday as the Bucks shocked the Raps. The injury gods graced Duchess stashers!
Malcolm Brogdon – Yeah, Kidd sucks. Only 24 minutes Friday off his upswing earlier last week, for only 12/3/0/0/0, and I thought “…here we go again!” But then a career-high 42 minutes of 17/5/3 in that Raptors win Saturday. Still ahead of Ulis for me, but in that range of blah PG that are going to be bumpy.
Spencer Hawes – 16/8/1/0/1 outta nowhere on Saturday night, with 2 treys in 17 minutes. Only thing this might do is mess up Greg Monroe again… And hasta la vista, John Henson! You WON’T be back, baby!
Nerlens Noel – Shocker, Rick Carlisle! You play your better players, and you win! A dominant 35 minutes on Friday night, going 15/17/2/1/2 without a TO in the starting 5 as they shocked the Grizzlies. Unfortunately for Captain N owners, Wesley Matthews returned from some hip issues last night, and bumped Noel back to the pine. Noel was still good (16 minutes, 6-7 FG, 13/5/0/0/0), but twas a bummer. He also had 5 fouls, so maybe that capped a slightly bigger role than we would’ve normally seen with WesMatt back.
Alan Williams – So much Sauce this weekend! Another big part of that shocking Phoenix win over Boston, going 11/15/0/2/1. Gives him a double-double and at least a block in 3 straight. Yeah, you must own The Big Sauce!
Jeremy Lin – Ugh. Only 7/3/2 in 16 minutes against the Jazz on Friday, with 3 TO and 5 fouls. Bounced back a little on Saturday, going 18/3/2/1/1 at the Blazers, but still in only 21:31. He’s in that Brogdon, Ulis, Cojo hodgepodge for me too. Minute consistency just isn’t gonna be there.
Kawhi Leonard – Men amongst plebeians! 31/7/6/3/0 then 34/10/5/6/1 lines over the weekend, with only 2 combined TO, 2 treys, and 19-22 FT.
Jrue Holiday – Hmmmm, maybe I prematurely shot my wad on what turned out to be a dry run with Jrue! “I’m afraid I just Jrue myself…” I was worried about how he’d fit next to the twin towers after some lackluster and heavy-TO lines once Boogie was brought in, but looked great this weekend! 26/7/5 against the Spurs Friday then 20/5/12/3/0 last night against the Lakers. The Lakers one I mighta thrown out, but good to see him have success against the Spurs too.
Ivica Zubac – Ugh, last thing we needed for Zubac was a minor quad bruise as an impetus for Walton to keep holding his minutes down… Hopefully he can bounce back strong this week. “It’s only a flash wound!”
Ish Smith/Reggie Jackson – Our favorite PG shituation lately had no more light shed on it, with Rjax going 21/4/2 Saturday at the Sixers in 25 minutes, then Ish cleaning up for 11/4/13 in 23 minutes. Pistons ended up putting 136 on Philly that game, so PG fortune was abound for all…
Nikola Jokic – 31/14/4 on 13-15 shooting Saturday, in a loss to the Hornets. If your best player is shooting 86.7%, maybe you get him to 25 or 30 shots, amiright?!
Jameer Nelson/Jamal Murray – Jameer returned from gas station sushi (food poisoning) to go only 8/2/5 in 29 minutes in that game, while Jamal went 14/3/3/2/0 in 26 minutes, sharing a few stretches together. I kinda worry this might turn more and more into an Rjax/Ish shituation as we move into the H2H postseason…
JaMychal Green – Went 20/10 outta nowhere over the weekend… Then you realize it was against Houston… D’Antoni effect!
Gorgui Dieng/Nemanja Bjelica – Another shifting battle of minutes allocation went to Choo Choo! 13/11/4/1/1 Saturday against the Spurs, but not really a big surprise considering the Spurs play a bigger line-up up front. Bjelica still got some minutes with Choo Choo though, and got some nice usage in 21 minutes going 12/3/3/1/0 on 5-12 shooting. Bjelica is quickly approaching the 12ers mix, especially since I would expect him to get more minutes against more stretch-4ish teams.
Al-Farouq Aminu – 23/6/1 his last outing, but I still don’t think he’s that great… That was against the Mess… But I admittedly own him in an RCL or two, so he’s 12er worthy while playing OK…
Terrence Ross – T Ross going T Rex! Although that dinosaur pun would make more sense when he was on his previous team! 20/4/1/2/2 against the Wiz with 4 treys. 14.6/4.4/2.2/2.0/1.0 so far on Orlando, with 2.0 treys. Yeah, that’s a little preposterous. Be sure he’s owned.
Bojan Bogdanovic – Second uber-ThrAGNOF 27-point game in his last 3… 27/2/1 with 8 treys on Sunday. Unreal. But I’d rather be streaming a hot THJ.
Rodney Hood – Another year dealing with leg injuries sapping his potential, but looked great yesterday for 28/4/0/2/0 with 4 treys against the Kings.
Rudy Gobert – And again, a buzzer-beater than won it last night, although this was a weird one!
Originally called goaltending, it just looked awkward but was correctly change to a game-winner. Almost an alley-oop…? Rudy had a big layup late too, on his way to a nutso 16/24/3/1/3 line with no TO. He’s so good. Why, OH WHY, couldn’t he have done this last year when I ranked him so high?!?!?!
Willie Cauley-Stein – The lunacy of the Kings brought him off the bench earlier last week, but put him back in the starting 5 yesterday for 15/9/3/2/1 with no TO… He almost had a redonk dunk on Gobert late, but he got just barely undercut and he rim jobbed it. Still, like Carlisle and the Mavs, it’s such a shock to see your team do way better (OT loss to the Jazz vs losing to the Mess) when you start your best players! Smh…
I hope everyone in Razzball Nation had a great weekend, and you’re getting pumped for the playoffs! Sorry for the late notes this morning, I’m on dat West Coast time! One regular season week left to go in standard schedule leagues, so hopefully you’re looking at some bye weeks and ready for postseason glory… Shoot your thoughts below, and happy Week 19!
