We had a lot of highlights, lowlights and funny clips this past week in the NBA so let’s check them in that particular order, starting from maybe the dunk if the year by Anthony Black against Memphis in Berlin.
That’s against 4 defenders plus a foul that should have been called for a bump on his head and I can safely say I have never seen a poster dunk with so many players in the frame. And just to make your eyes hurt from something so glorious to something… not so glorious, we enjoy below the pinnacle of fast breaks by the youthful Washington Wizards.
I am sure you expected something bad, but did you really expected it to be THAT bad? It’s almost a 5 on zero, as Zach Lavine has semi given up on the play. Just glorious and I’m sure the head coach loved it. Speaking of head coaches, I couldn’t close today’s introduction without the following hilarious clip from coach Rajakovic of the Toronto Raptors.
It’s a whole silent movie, speaking without speaking and my best interpretation is something like:
- Ok, alright, we are doing something.
- Hmmm, come here…
- Yes yes exactly, that’s what you did wrong.
- See, we have talked about this again so are we playing it differently from now on ?
My silent lip reading is not at its best but regardless of how close this is to truth, it was still enjoyable.
Regarding last week’s suggestions, the main hit was Naji Marshall, who is performing at top60 level in the last few weeks and is showing no sign of slowing down. Apart from him, both Daniel Gafford and Collin Murray-Boyles suffered minor injuries and missed some time, while on the Sell front, Cam Thomas had 8 and 3 points respectively in the games he played and is still sitting back to backs so that is all you need to know.
Buy
Jaylon Tyson: Darius Garland will miss at least the next 4 games so Jaylon Tyson’s minutes will continue to be elavated, as evidenced by the 38 and 32 minutes he played in the last 2. He can be a solid source of rebounds as a forwards and a great one for triples, so give him a look until Garland returns (28% owned).
Tre Johnson: He is not blowing us away with his current production, which is expected from rookie guards, but his minutes are continuously on the rise and if you also factor that Washington are incentivized to tank once again, we could see him play closer to 32 when it matters most for fantasy. He is OK to have for now but I also like him as a preemptive add for after the All Start break (13% owned).
Sell
C.J. McCollum: His move to Atlanta has been an obvious negative one for his fantasy value, as he is ranked 260th in his games as a Hawk and we have no indication that things will improve. His usage is actually good but his peripherals are lacking and we can argue that we can replenish his points even from streaming from the wire. The best case scenario is to try and move him once he has a massive game, but I highly doubt you will find takers at this stage (60% owned).
Jimmy and Trae. Good times. Tried to move them both but here we are. Second place squad in 12 teamer, 9 cats looks very vulnerable especially with Miles Bridges fading. So two parter here:
1. Any swaps off the WW which consists of AD, Porzingus, Moody, Poole, Keegan, Kalkbrenner, Clowney, Tre Johnson, McBride, Huerter, Drummond, Missi, Pickett, Nesmith, DRob.
2. Anyone on the team that has trade value that you would offload now?
Gobert
Mobley, Jalen Johnson, Miles Bridges, McDaniels, Dray, Eason, Bey
Maxey, LaVine, Quickley, Aaron Wiggins (until JWill returns), Hield (ugh), J Miller
IR Trae
Ouf, losing Jimmy might make ft% a losing category now more often than not.
If you can get something for Lavine, I would try to seek it, as I fear he will continue to be a headache to own with his unpredictable minutes.
Jordan Miller is on a two way contract so the moment Kawhi returns you swap him with someone off the wire. I would be tempted to try and stash Keegan or grab Clowney to see if he can ramp it up during the silly season. Porzingis is always a tease but I doubt he plays enough when it matters for fantasy.
And Wiggins out. The ship is taking on water.
Hang on over there. It’s bad for most owners at the moment. In my hometown league I have currently Jokic, Porzingis, Herro, KPJ, Ware and Sensabaugh all out.
It doesn’t matter what we do this week specifically, as long as we make the playoffs.
Wow! Your team is challenged short term. My public team has Jokic, Giddy, Sensenbaugh, Eason and Duren. So your point is well taken. Stuff happens.
1. I took Clowney as you suggested as I hope they deal MPJ and give limited minutes if any to Cam down the stretch.
2. My friends league has sharp cats in it. Doubt they will want LaVine and Hield in a deal but I think I have to try. I dislike how they play (as an old coach) so it would be a bonus to move them.
3. I beat the first place team 5-4 handing him his only weekly loss. I lost to the third place team 5-4 early in the year for my only loss. The first place team beat the third place team for one of his two losses – yep 5-4. So it is an interesting race.
Good luck with those injuries!