Well, I do keep my eyes open all the time, and if you’ve been reading my thoughts on Jeremy Lin the past few weeks, you’ve heard me repeatedly say that I’m worried about lingering/long-term injury with this bad hammy strain earlier in the season. The deathblow – for me – was when after coming back from the hammy, Lin suffered back issues, which I mentioned I had seen time and time again in baseball as a lingering effect from not having your upper leg base. And here we go again with another hammy strain last night, again to the left hammy, the same hamstring he pulled in early November (emo band alert!). On a VERY friendly 3-year deal in today’s market at only $38 million (thanks Razzball player pages!), I see no reason the Mess wouldn’t just shut him down another extended period of time with the injury to the same hammy, so hopefully you sold in these past couple weeks when you could. In his stead, look for Sean Kilpatrick to play some PG again, which actually hurts his value in my eyes. He wasn’t thriving the same way as his SG run, as he’s not a great facilitator and it jacked up his TO rate. For deeper leagues, it puts Isaiah Whitehead back on the radar, although he will hurt your FG% and TO in some games (9/2/3/1/1 last night, but with 4 TO in 16 minutes). Thankfully Whitehead was able to come back at exactly the right time after a few games off due to foot soreness. And that’s not even mentioning Randy Foye and his “epic” 3/1/2 line last night, with his only FG being this one:
Hah, your final shot goes to a guy who was 0-1 in 21 minutes up until that touch. Yeesh, this team is certainly really close to the creamy nougat center of Dante’s Inferno, on maybe the 2nd or 1st Ring of Fire… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy hoops action:
Aaron Gordon – Like flan on a summer day, I just want consistency baby! 30/1/1/1/1 with no TO in 34 fantastic minutes last night, shooting 11-15 (4-4 3PTM 4-5 FT) with no TO. Of course we’d like more boards and D stats, he’s a Vitruvian man of perfect muscle structure (I still love my wife, I promise!), and it’s annoying that in the 5 games sandwiched in between these 30+ point outbursts, he didn’t play over 29 minutes or score over 13 points (or really do anything of value, for that matter). In 10ers, bleh, you gotta get that consistency, baby! In anything deeper, I think you gotta be holding this guy.
Elfrid Payton – Even though Christmas is over, he’s still that gorgeous Elfrid on the Shelfrid! 16/4/7/1/0 on an efficient 6-10 shooting with only 1 TO.
Chandler Parsons – A new low. After the Magic went up 36-18 in the first quarter, Plop Plop Fizz Fizdale pretty much waved the white flag and let the subs play. 12 minutes of 0/1/0/0/0 on 0-4 shooting. Since I obviously pimped him out this preseason, I am feeling your pain. I’m just limping my way to the calendar turn and hope it turns around from there.
Mike Conley – Of the injured Grizz, at least Conley looked good! 17/2/4 on 6-8 shooting, and looks to be recapturing that early-season magic before he broke his back.
Troy Daniels – 4 treys in 20 minutes, and his playing time is less predictable than Kanye West’s mood swings.
Matthew Dellavedova – Shoots only 1-9, but racks up 11 assists for a dimebag. He’s shooting 25.5% from the field the last 8 games. I think anyone would need a dimebag to get through a slump like that! It sucks that when he’s getting dimes, it’s just enough to keep Malcolm Brogdon from more minutes…
Tony Snell – Ohhhhhhh, what’s that Snell?! 20/4/1/2/0 with 6 treys. The Scent of a Low End ThrAGNOF!
Otto Porter – “Life’s like Otto Porter’s stat lines, you never know what you’re gonna get!” Kinda like the feeling when I watch Forrest Gump, it’s a great movie and all, but sometimes I feel like we’re exploiting the mentally handicapped… Anyway, off that ridiculous tangent, 32/13/1/0/1 for grandpa Otto, shooting 13-18 FG with 5 treys. I think he’s a time traveler. He was there with Dr. Naismith and learned how to play throwing a crude leather ball into peach baskets, and it’s come full circle to the NBA.
Kyrie Irving – 18/5/7 on 8-20 shooting, as the Cavs struggled in a LeBron James DNP-rest off the dramatic Christmas miracle. Wait, Kyrie brought the miracle, why wasn’t HE given the day off?! Bah humbug.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – Don’t worry KCP, all that “perfect man” talk about Aaron Gordon has nothing to do with my obsession with you! 18/3/3/3/1 on 7-11 shooting with 4-6 treys. In 15 Pistons wins, he’s 16.3/3.3/3.3, shooting 47.6% from the field, and hits 88.9% FT. In 17 Pistons losses, he’s 13.3/3.5/2.5 shooting 37.4% FG 75.7% FT. He’s kinda the key to the team…
Tobias Harris – As expected, still playing great in an uber-6th man role. 21/6/4 with 3 treys on only 1 TO in 29 minutes, with Jon Leuer still in his plain Jane role, going 13/5/1/2/0 with 2 treys. The surprise was Marcus Morris, finally breaking out of his slump for 15/5/2/3/0 with 3 treys in 36 minutes. He’s been an absolute waffle with his minutes, his last 7 are hilarious! 37, 24, 34, 24, 39, 20, 36… Up, down, up, down, up, down! If history holds, he’ll be 2o-something minutes tomorrow against the Bucks and you’ll be mad you added him… But I would probably give him an add in 12ers if you were streaming a spot.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – After bottoming out in minutes and productivity most of December, turning it on the past 3 games with a 12/10/2/0/2 line last night on 5-10 shooting in 35 minutes. I’d be giving him an add if you need boards and sporadic D stats.
Bojan Bogdanovic – Got hot off the Mess bench for 26/4/2 with 4 treys and 8-9 FT. BoBo had scored 17 the previous 3 games combined, coming off an 0-fer. Sorely needed for BoBo the Clown!
Dirk Nowitzki – 17 minutes of 10/2/4 with 2 treys, sitting the second half. Like The Joker says, “it’s all according to plan…” He’s reportedly feeling well, but might sit tonight off the back-to-back either way. Why he’s tough to own in 10ers.
Deron Williams – Grandfather time has loosened his clutch on Deron, with D-Will going 24/2/9 and 3 treys last night. Telling everyone to sell now would be like telling the Titanic to be sure and have more life rafts.
Seth Curry – One of the more surprising lines of the night. 16/1/7 with 2 treys and only 1 TO in 31 minutes. Especially surprising with the nice run from D-Will, as the Mavs keep making their line-up smaller and smaller. He’s been decent lately, but not above the streaming class for me in 12ers.
Aaron Brooks – Damn I lied, HERE’S the surprising line of the night! 19/4/7/0/1 out of absolutely nowhere from Brooks, shooting 6-8 FG (3-4 3PTM 4-4 FT). Revenge game against his former Pacers! I always though Brooks got a rotten deal in the NBA, I LOVED him that 09-10 year in Houston. Wasn’t “great” for fantasy, but he def ended up a one-year wonder…
C.J. Miles – Ugh, stupid CJ! 0-6 for a nothingburger in 25 minutes. He was decent his last game, but yeah, in the streaming class. Although with it early in the week, my few RCL shares I’ll hold onto before burning my streaming moves.
Nikola Mirotic – Fantasy hoops’ favorite “potential” impact player got hot last night, going 20/7/0/0/0 with 3 treys. But where’s the beef?! Actually has been on a nice little consistent run the past 5…
Brandon Knight – Speaking of hot bench players, huzzah for a D’Antoni game! 21/5/1 against the Rox. Without steals or assists, it’s still impossible to hold this guy in 10 or 12ers.
T.J. Warren – Well, the line wasn’t pretty (11/4/0/1/0 on 5-16 shooting), but at least he got 31 minutes again, and P.J. Tucker went down to 21. We want the T between the two Js!
Marquese Chriss – Slim and I really liked stashing him, and he had a nice little bounceback going 12/5/1/0/2 last night with a trey.
Montrezl Harrell – Only 23 minutes, but the Rockets went small a lot of this game, and Trezl still got a 14/3/1/0/2 line on 5-6 shooting. You’ll take it!
Karl-Anthony Towns – You know when they say you have to “imagine it going in every time you shoot”? Well, just pretend you’re KAT from last night! 8-8 FG, 3-3 3PTM, 3-3 FT. Flawless Victory! 22/11/4/0/3 in an epic line to kick off your week.
Dwight Howard – Welcome “back”! Returned from a few games off with back issues for 20/12/2/2/1, and nearly mimicked KAT! 9-9 FG, 2-3 FT. Although 66% from the FT line is GREAT for Dwight!
Paul Millsap – Caught an elbow to the eye, but like a champion boxer, punched his way through it as best he could. Had an awful night though, hah. Maybe should’ve taken the TKO! 7/5/0/1/0 with 2 TO on 2-13 shooting. “Try playing basketball blindfolded, OK?!” That’s what his post-game interview went like… Stay tuned, as he may end up missing a game or two…
DeMar DeRozan – What is this full-line about?! 20/10/7/3/0. You’re supposed to score, and score only DeMar, sheesh!
Patrick Patterson – We’ve had our fun clowning Pit Pat, but he shoved Moe Harkless in the back on a dunk in a really scary moment.
Looks like he was kinda upset about it, but yeah, no more clowning around with Pit Pat, you a meanypants. Oh yeah fantasy, 15/8 with 5 treys. Had really cooled off after a fun run at the beginning of the month, so I would need to see some extended success to push him ahead of the streaming ThrAGNOF class.
C.J. McCollum – Tried to put the team on his back with Damian Lillard out (kankle), going 29/3/7. Not quite enough phlegm in his Yiddish!
Nikola Jokic – For the love of Jock Itch! 24/10/4/3/0 in a huge, YUGE!, turnaround against the Clippers and DeAndre Jordan last night. 32 minutes, “only” 4 fouls, and a big reacharound (aherm, sorry turnaround) game after imploding against the Clip last time. Feeling good with your reacharound jock itch right now!
Gary Harris – Dear lord I hate Gary Harris. I tell people to calm down on him, he looks efficient and amazing, I warm up to him, and he calms down his game. AHHHHH! 10/4/1/0/0 on 2-9 shooting, but you’re obviously holding in all leagues. Still makes me think it might not have been worth a hold without IL spots, Gus Ayonin’!
Will Barton – Ham off the bench, ham off the bench! Sounds like some sort of weird Porky Pig quote from Space Jam 2… 23/8/6 with 3 treys in 32 sparkling minutes. Get this guy a feature role on the Sixers or somethin’!
Jamal Crawford – 24/4/6/2/0 in 36 big minutes from the vet, helping to fill in with Chris Paul out with a hammy strain. Nooooooo! scream CP3 owners who also own Lin! He’s likely out again tomorrow against the Pels, but it [fingers-crossed] doesn’t sound too serious.
Austin Rivers – “Daddy, our good players are hurt, lemme play, pick me! Pick me!” 42 minutes of 19/3/5/1/0. That said, 8-17 shooting (meh, I guess is OK) and 5 TO. Worth a stream if you don’t mind some TO flatulence tomorrow.
Sergio Rodriguez – Willie Cauley-Stein be like, “where’s Spanish Chocolate, where’s Spanish Chocolate?! Dammit! No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! I mean Chocolate!”
Easiest dime ever though, EMBIIIIIID has it’s own gravitational pull! 18/3/5/3/0 for S-Rod, on a sexy efficient 7-9 FG with 4-5 treys.
Joel Embiid – Speaking of EMBIIIIIIIID, someone needs to tape that up in his trousers, it keeps poking the ball away! 25/8/1/2/2 with a trey and 8-9 FT, but 8 turnovers?! Hopefully that’s a punt cat for ya, and you’re enjoying this start to the week.
Rudy Gay – The hips don’t lie, but a 17/9/2/0/1 line with a trey on 7-16 shooting with a sore hip isn’t too shabby! 4 TO though, but nice to see him back after 2 weeks on the INJ.
The Darren Collison/Ty Lawson debacle – Colly got the minutes (28 mins 9/1/4/1/0), but Saucy-McDangerous Driver got the line (20 mins 12/4/4/2/0). I hate everything about the Kings right now, yet somehow they’ve won 4 straight and 6 out of the past 8.
I hope everyone had a phenomenal Christmas, and thanks to everyone for spending their Holiday Season with us! I’ll catch you again tomorrow morning, and until then, stay comment-y Razzball Nation!
