Dose: Brow Down
Welp, Anthony Davis is hurt again. This time he hurt his left shoulder and was ruled out for the game about 30 minutes following the injury. General manager Dell Demps went back to check on his team’s prize possession and likely had a say in the matter of ruling him out.
The good news is that Davis is traveling with the team and there has been no word on if the team will re-evaluate him with an MRI. If you saw the injury, you’re probably a little puzzled to see he could not return. He basically just set a pick and took a shoulder to his chest, and his shoulder barely moved. Davis does have three left shoulder injuries in his career along with a laundry list of other issues. You have to wonder if he has the Derrick Rose issue in which he won’t play at less than 100 percent. That injury did not look serious at all, so his owners really shouldn’t be pushing the panic button right now. On the other hand, there are probably a lot of people who would dump AD at a crazy discount. If you can get him on the cheap before the diagnosis, it makes a lot of sense.
Enough AD. Let’s move on.
So how banged up are the Pelicans right now? Tyreke Evans still likely has another month, Jrue Holiday still has a minutes limit, Norris Cole is still out for at least a couple weeks and Omer Asik didn’t play on Tuesday due to an illness. He also has a minutes cap to a certain extent, too.
If you wanna see a jacked-up rotation, check this out from last night:
What in the what? Holiday and Ish Smith played together for a season-high 12.2 minutes. Before Tuesday, those two played together for just 18 minutes all season. Smith, Toney Douglas and Eric Gordon played together for eight minutes, too. Ryan Anderson even saw 14 minutes at center, which almost never happened until Tuesday. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Also, what happens when Jrue Holiday has to rest? Scary.
OK, so we have to hope Davis won’t be out long and Asik should be back. Until then, Gordon, Smith, Jrue and Anderson should have some increased fantasy value in all leagues. Luke Babbitt a speculative add in 14-team leagues and the same could be said for Dante Cunningham even though his upside is lower.
On the other side of this, coach Mike Malone really got a chance to go small, which he’s loved doing this season. Here are the Denver lineups from last night:
So much small-ball. Gallinari saw noteworthy minutes at the five and so did Kostas Papanikolaou. We really can’t read too much into it, so Gary Harris getting 32 minutes is a fluke. When garbage time isn’t a factor, he’s more of a guy who only plays minutes in the teens. Jameer Nelson is outplaying him and is worth a look in 14-team leagues, too.
Of course, the big story in fantasy is Will Barton. The Thrill was on fire yet again, scoring 17 points with seven rebounds, two assists, one steal, two blocks and three 3-pointers. As you can see above, he can play in a ton of lineup combos and gets run at the two, three and four. He’s not going to be a top-25 player like he has been, but I wouldn’t be looking to sell unless I was getting a top-60 player back right now.
The other noteworthy thing is Danilo Gallinari dropping 32. We all knew he was going to go off in the new system with Ty Lawson gone, but he just needs to stay healthy. Gallo was a first-round player after the break last year and he’s getting close to that neighborhood this season.
Clean Dozen
Yep, the Warriors are 12-0. We’ve pretty much taken Stephen Curry for granted now and he went off again with 37 points, two rebounds, nine assists, two steals and five 3-pointers. He’s on pace for 423 treys now, which is more than the Wolves (406) and Grizzlies from last year (423). He also has a 33.0 usage rate and a 68.9 TS%. Stupid.
Besides basketball-shooting cyborg Currytron 30,000, Klay Thompson was OK with 19 points, three dimes and two 3-pointers. He looked good to start, but fizzled out a bit. There is a nice buy-low window here. Draymond Green (nine points, nine boards, five dimes, one steal, one block and one trey) was up to his usual tricks and Andrew Bogut (13 points, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block) was good in the starting lineup. He’s hurt too much for me to pick him up, assuming I’m dropping something I’m going to miss.
The Raptors finally got a big game out of DeMarre Carroll, scoring 17 points with two rebounds, two assists, six steals and three 3-pointers. I’m buying him getting hot. He has been awful on mid-range shots this year and at the rim, too. Carroll was very good in those areas last year, so expect him to start putting up big value like he did here. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan also dropped 28 apiece.
Washington Expressway
The Wizards made short work of the Bucks with a 115-86 win and continue to lead the NBA in pace. There weren’t too many interesting things happening here except that Otto Porter had a leg injury. He went to the locker room, but it sounds like he’ll be fine. Porter was awesome again before the injury, scoring 19 points with two rebounds, four assists, three steals, one block and one 3-pointer. His numbers are a little overblown recently because Bradley Beal and his high usage rate have been out. Still, Porter looks like a mid-round guy at the very least.
John Wall also shot the ball well with a 7-of-10 shooting line. He should get out of his shooting slump soon, but he did turn the ball over five times. Marcin Gortat was solid with 12 and nine, but didn’t have any blocks. There’s still a buy-low window there. Jared Dudley also had his best game of the season with 13 points. He could be a sneaky 16-team guy, which also takes away from Kris Humphries.
Jerryd Bayless had another really nice game with 13 points, six boards, three assists, two steals and three 3-pointers. Jabari Parker shouldn’t be out long and could play as soon as Thursday, which means Bayless’ playing time would head south. If he’s still on your wire, it’s probably for good reason.
Khris Middleton is having some shooting issues inside the arc. The Bucks are kind of turning him into something he’s not and he should really just be a Kyle Korver-like spacer. Here’s his shot chart on the year:
He’s been great from deep and can’t do anything inside the arc. Middleton is a buy-low guy.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had his second-straight inefficient game, making 3-of-13 from the field for nine points against the Wizards on Tuesday, adding five rebounds, seven assists, one steal and one block in 35 minutes. We can probably start to rule out the 65 true shooting percentage version of the Greek Freak, but that’s fine. He should still be viewed as a top-50 asset in standard leagues and even higher in points.
Michael Carter-Williams didn’t have any assists in 22 minutes. He’s doing a lot better on shot selection, but he’s become a little injury prone and his game doesn’t translate in standard leagues. MCW scored 14 points with one rebound and two 3-pointers. Greg Monroe also took a step back with four points and four boards. He should be fine, but his ridiculous run before tonight had a lot to do with MCW missing time. He’s more of a top 30-40 guy and not 15-20 like he was for much of this month.
They never fake it just slam it
Out in B-R-O-O-K-Lyn, The Planet
The Nets finally got a win at home! They got their production from their two recently-signed players, too. Brook Lopez scored 24 points with 10 rebounds, one steal and three blocks. Thaddeus Young added 16 points, 11 rebounds and five steals. Bro-Lo will be an early round guy and Thad should flirt with top-50 value on the season. Obviously, Bro-Lo needs to be healthy.
Besides those two, there’s not much to like. Yeah, Jarrett Jack is OK and he had a decent game with 14 points, eight dimes and three 3-pointers. I would actually try to sell high there. Joe Johnson has been one of the worst shooters in the NBA and wouldn’t add him in a 14-team league. Here’s his shot chart.
Yikes.
The Hawks were basically as advertised. We saw Al Horford (18 points, five boards, one steal, two blocks and two 3-pointers) and Paul Millsap (17 points, six boards, three assists, one steal, one block and two 3-pointers) do their things. They’re both studs and could be first-round players.
Dennis Schroder was the new storyline here. He got the start and performed as expected. He made 3-of-11 from the field for eight points with five rebounds, 10 dimes and one 3-pointer. Jeff Teague (ankle) should be out a little longer, so Schroder should be owned right now. Shelvin Mack saw the rest of the PG minutes with eight points, two boards, two assists, two steals and two 3-pointers in 19 minutes. He has some upside for 16-team leagues until Teague is back. Solid per-minute guy.
Kent Bazemore (ankle) was also out, so that led to Tiago Splitter starting. Splitter played just 12 minutes and scored two points, so it was Thabo Sefolosha who stepped up, scoring eight points with seven boards in 30 minutes. He's more of a 14-team guy.
The Chairman of the Boards
Andre Drummond (25 points, 18 boards, three steals and one block) is ridiculous. That’s all.
Besides Drummond, Reggie Jackson turned it around with 23 points, six boards, 12 assists, one steal and one 3-pointer. He was benched on Sunday and got back in coach Stan Van Gundy’s good graces. He should be fine going forward.
SVG kept his word from Sunday and kept Stanley Johnson’s minutes down. SJ played just 16 minutes with four points, six boards, one assist and one steal. He’s more of a stash right now. However, Marcus Morris has been awful recently and made just 28.6 percent from the field in his last four. You’d think Johnson at least has a shot to beat Morris for minutes. Morris was awful last year at times, too. Ersan Ilyasova has benefitted with SJ’s decreased minutes and dropped 20 points. He has nice upside and is worth a pickup. Although, you’re probably not going to enjoy the bumpy ride.
One of the better games of the night didn’t have many takeaways for fantasy. LeBron James did his thing with 30 points, six boards, three assists and four 3-pointers. He’s scored 30 points or more in four straight and is killing it around the rim. He should be red hot going forward until the Cavs start resting him.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this is that J.R. Smith finally played well, scoring 15 points with two steals, one block and three 3-pointers. If he can be half as good as he was last year with the Cavs, he’ll be a no-brainer player to own. Mo Williams also looks like a valuable asset with his 15-point game on Tuesday. He can probably hold some value once Kyrie Irving gets back, too. Kevin Love was good with 19 points, nine boards, three assists, one steal and one 3-pointer. He did bang his knee, but he’s fine. Love is a bit of a sell-high player based on the past week and he’ll likely take a step back once Kyrie returns.
South Beach Block Party
Hassan Whiteside put up a triple-double with 22 points, 14 boards and 10 blocks. He did make just 2-of-9 from the line, but who cares? He has been an absolute monster. Besides that, there really wasn’t much to the Heat side of things. Justise Winslow played 31 minutes with eight points and 11 boards. He is trending up, but his upside is very low. Plus, he had six turnovers, too.
Miami’s defense is really good and it ruined a lot of the Wolves bigs. Nemanja Bjelica was scoreless after missing all seven shots from the field. His minutes should still be safe and it’s not like Gorgui Dieng (five points and six boards) is playing power forward. Adreian Payne (eight points and four boards) was actually the one who picked up extra PF minutes. Payne isn’t an add, obviously. Karl-Anthony Towns (14 points, 14 boards, two steals and one block) is special. He might be a top-15 player in his first season.
As for the backcourt, Ricky Rubio (hamstring) made his return, scoring seven points with four rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block and one turnover. That moved Zach LaVine back to the backup PG spot and he only played next to Rubio for just five minutes, too. LaVine is basically the ultimate handcuff, but he’ll have some value until Rubio proves he can stay healthy.
Godzingis take New York
Kristaps Porzingis had his breakout game, scoring a career-high 29 points with 11 rebounds, one block and two 3-pointers. He was showing some signs of a big game coming and his jumper really started to fall. He’s not even close to the same level as KAT in fantasy, but Porzingis could be a top 50-70 guy this season. He also appears to be a little injury prone, so you can probably sell high here. Carmelo Anthony (18 points, 11 boards, five dimes and two blocks) was fine and Kevin Seraphin became the No. 1 bench big with 10 points, five boards and four assists in 21 minutes. Just keep an eye on that for now and you can drop Kyle O'Quinn (DNP-CD) basically everywhere.
There wasn’t on the Charlotte side here. Nicolas Batum was off and scored just four with six boards. He’ll be fine and should turn it around ASAP. Kemba Walker was great with 31 points and is thriving in the new style with better spacing. Jeremy Lamb was also good with 12 points on 5-of-7 from the field. He’s worth a look in standard leagues now.
Roses are red, black and blue
It looked like we were going to get to Thanksgiving before Derrick Rose missed time, but nope. Rose is doubtful for Wednesday against the Suns due to a left ankle sprain.
On Monday, he drove to the basket and had a tweak of his ankle. He didn’t even roll it that bad and personally I’ve played through worse ankle rolls than his. He didn’t have a lot of weight on it and he didn’t go straight to the locker room either. Rose sat on the bench for 2-3 minutes, talked to the trainer, and then went back to the locker room.
Based on his past and some of his comments about his future, you’d think Rose would not be playing at less than 100 percent. Even though it’s minor, Rose could miss Wednesday and maybe even Friday against the Warriors. You think he wants to get his ankles broken by Stephen Curry?
If he’s out, Aaron Brooks will be back in the rotation and should come off the bench. Kirk Hinrich would likely start, but there’s no way he’ll be worthy of using in DFS due to his low usage rate. I would consider using Brooks because he’ll get a lot of minutes with the second unit and should have some good output in that 10-14 minute time.
The bigger winner would likely be Jimmy Butler. His usage rate is 8.6 percentage points higher when he’s not with Rose this season, and it was similar last year, too. In what should be an up-tempo game in Phoenix, Butler looks like he’s all set for a massive game. Pau Gasol has a bit of a sub-par matchup against Tyson Chandler and the power forward spot is a little too messy to trust in DFS right now.
Other news and notes
The Rockets had a players meeting on Tuesday. They’ve been pretty bad and there needs to be a change in how coach Kevin McHale is running his rotation. If you’re curious on some stats about James Harden and how he projects going forward, you can check out my column about him from Tuesday. There is talk of the Rockets moving Lawson to the bench, which makes too much sense (more details on why in that column).
Markieff Morris (knee) went through practice on Tuesday. That should mean he’ll play against the Bulls. Morris is one of the most inefficient players with a high usage rate, so maybe the time off can help him hit the reset button. The Suns played T.J. Warren and P.J. Tucker together for just 1.4 minutes in the last two games, so that’s not a good sign for their values in the event of a Morris deal. Of course, that could change. They’ve actually only played together for 2.7 minutes all season.
Chris Paul (groin) is hopeful to play on Thursday. He’s missed his last two games and three of his last five. Paul didn’t really have any groin issues before this one this season, so hopefully it’s behind him. J.J. Redick (back) was also at practice, but he is probably still out. Jamal Crawford would benefit most while Austin Rivers should also help out.
Joffrey Lauvergne (back) is still doubtful for Wednesday. It’ll be J.J. Hickson and Nikola Jokic getting most of the minutes at center. Kenneth Faried, too. They probably won't go small nearly as much.
Kendall Marshall (knee) and Tony Wroten (knee) are doing some on-court work. Wroten is a disaster for nine-cat leagues, so he’s not the greatest stash. If you’re in an eight-cat, you can give him a look because most signs in the preseason said it would be his job. Although, that was before T.J. McConnell really stepped up.
Victor Oladipo could play on Wednesday. That would bump Channing Frye from the starting five and we’d also see less lineups with Tobias Harris and Aaron Gordon. Hopefully, coach Scott Skiles warms up to that idea soon, though.
Meyers Leonard (shoulder) was also ruled out on Wednesday. This situation is so odd. He had a complete shoulder dislocation, which usually means a player misses multiple months. However, he is doing some shooting and he apparently really wants to rehab it. He’s still likely going to miss a long time, so stashing him does carry a lot of risk. As for who benefits, it really hasn’t been anyone besides Al-Farouq Aminu. Noah Vonleh did show signs of life, but he has some work to do.
That'll do it for today! I had a lot of #Content with most of the recaps on the Player News page, I wrote a column about usage rates and efficiency, did the Wednesday Pickups of the Day on Season Pass ($), was a guest on the In This League Pod, and did out weekly mailbag pod. Here it is!
