Seth Vigdor
Another week bites the dust in the young NBA Season. We have turmoil in Sacramento, while Golden State is cruising again to start the season. Kevin Durant suffered another injury and the Sixers are still the Sixers. Let’s take a look at my week in review.
Five takeaways from Week 3
1.) The Sacramento Soap Opera
It was only a matter of time before the situation in Sacramento blew up further. They’ve been a mess ever since they hired George Karl in the offseason. Karl doesn’t like Kings star player, DeMarcus Cousins. Karl wants Cousins traded, however upper management doesn’t want to trade Cousins. DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t like George Karl either and he’s even gone as far as to curse him out in the locker room, so something has to give. More and more incidents keep happening with this team and this will only end well for the Kings when one man leaves town and that man needs to be Karl. If Karl is the one to stay, there will be bitter feelings with the players that are left on the team. The Kings must admit failure by firing Karl, or else.
2.) A Nice Gesture by DeMarcus Cousins
I know this isn’t on court related, but it’s not often that DeMarcus Cousins is talked about in a positive light, but there’s a report that states that he’s trying to pay for a slain high school football player’s funeral . Kudos to him. A Sacramento City Council member confirmed that Cousins wanted his gesture to remain anonymous and that he wanted to take care of the funeral expenses for a High School senior who was reportedly shot in the neck and killed. It’s important for me to highlight this gesture by Cousins because far too often athletes only look out for themselves and they don’t give back to their community. While he’s a hot head on the court, this deserves positive attention, whether he wants it or not.
3.) The legend of Kristaps Porzingis
Porzingis fever hit right before the NBA draft and now it’s in full swing. The Knicks took a chance on him by drafting him at pick four. Early on in this season, it looks like they struck gold.
https://vine.co/v/elTuQQ03JbM
So far, so good. The Knicks have opened the season 5-6, which is damn good for this team. On the season, he’s averaging 11.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. He’s crashing the boards like a maniac and his game looks real strong. The Knicks have someone that they can build around in the future, should they decide to deal Melo this season.
4.) KD banged up again
Kevin Durant getting injured is becoming all too common. Currently he’s dealing with a hamstring injury that’s causing him to miss some time. Not good! The Thunder are a dangerous team when both Durant and Westbrook are in the lineup. It might be wise for the Thunder to start giving him occasional days off when he does return to the court. If the ultimate end game is a NBA Championship, they need to start thinking of ways to preserve Durant for the playoffs.
5.) The elite Paul George
Paul George is back to his elite fantasy ways. On the season, he’s averaging 24.5 points, 4.6 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game. He now has seven games in a row where he’s scored 25+ points and is killin’ it from behind the arc.
Here’s George’s last seven games…
11/16/2015 @Chi – 26 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists
11/13/2015 Min – 29 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists
11/11/2015 @Bos – 26 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists
11/9/2015 Orl -27 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists
11/8/2015 @Cle – 32 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists
11/6/2015 Mia – 36 points, 12 rebounds and 3 assists
11/4/2015 Bos – 26 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists
Here’s George dominating Minnesota…
His return to fantasy glory is even more impressive considering that last year at this time, he had suffered that devastating leg injury. It’ll be tough for him to maintain the pace he’s on right now for the whole season, but this truly is one of the more remarkable comebacks of all time.
**BONUS**
Paris Terror Attacks
The NBA has a couple of players from France, Nichola Batum and Kevin Seraphin and here’s how they reacted to the tragedy in Paris…
Batum had the following to say:
“My sister lives close by where one of the attacks happened. The first thing I did [after the game] was check my phone to make sure everything was good. I thought about it all game. I wanted to [have] a good game to show them in my way ‘We’re strong.’ They told me Paris is like a war outside, the army is outside. It’s difficult because I watched the numbers. Before the game there were only 40 people killed. After the game they say 120. But we’re strong, we’re tough and we’re going to be all right. We’re going to stay strong and they won’t get us.”
While Seraphin honored Paris with this haircut…
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Your Team, Your Town, Your 76ers Weekly Update
It was another successful week for Sam Hinkie and another bad week for the Sixers and their fans. The Sixers remain without a win as they dropped all four games that they played in.
Results for the Week:
11/9/2015 – Chicago L- 111-88
11/11/2015 – Toronto L – 119-103
11/13/2015 – Oklahoma City L -102-85
11/14/2015 – San Antonio L – 92-83
Your team leaders for the season:
Points – Jahlil Okafor – 19.2
Rebounds – Nerlens Noel – 9.4
Assists – T.J. McConnell – 6.9
Steals – Nerlens Noel – 1.8
Blocks – Jahlil Okafor – 1.8
On the bright side, it’s never too early to start looking ahead to the draft to determine what players may end up in a Sixers uniform. I for one would love to see Ben Simmons in a Sixers jersey. One can dream, right?
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Waiver Wire Watch (*Keep an eye on, **Time to consider it, *** MUST Grab)
Each week, I will supply you with a list of players that you should consider adding from the waiver wire. Above, I listed the three tiers of players they are. So let’s take a look at the guys that you should be paying attention to. To qualify as a Waiver Wire guy, I’ll only consider those players that are owned in less than 60% of Yahoo! leagues at the time of this writing.
*Zach Lavine – (MIN – PG) – 42% owned – My gut tells me that at some point this season Ricky Rubio will be traded. Zach Lavine really should be owned if you have a roster spot to play with. He finished last season strong and at some point this season, he’ll get on.
*Mario Chalmers (MEM – PG) – 11% owned –Super Mario Chalmers was traded from the Heat to the Grizzlies last week. While Mike Conley is the main PG, Chalmers gives the Grizzlies great depth and if his first few games with them are any indication, Chalmers is going to fit right in with Memphis.
*Jerryd Bayless (MIL – PG/SG) – 20% owned – Bayless was already getting nice playing time and now Jabari Parker will miss a few games with an injury. Jason Kidd likes to roll out weird lineups at times and as long as Bayless keeps playing well like he has, he’ll remain a sneaky fantasy option.
*Louis Scola (TOR – PF/C) – 10% owned – When given playing time, Scola can be a nice source of rebounds. While he’s very inconsistent at times, if you’re in a deeper league, he could be a nice plug and play guy for you.
*Omri Casspi (SAC – SF) – 5% owned – Casspi is having a nice November, but the games that he plays the best in are when DeMarcus Cousins is out of the lineup. Still, he’s averaging 10.5 points and 5.9 rebounds on the year. He’s a guy to keep an eye on.
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Daily Fantasy Sports
Each week I will give you my value picks that can be used for both FanDuel and DraftKings. Since NBA teams play more than one time a week, my five value plays will be plays that are recommended for the whole week based off of their salaries to start the week. While I won’t list their salary (as they may change multiple times during the week), I consider my value plays usually on, around or below $6,500 at the start of the week for both sites. Another thing to pay close attention to is injuries. Always make sure you check the status of the player prior to your official picks. Lastly, at the end of the day, the final decisions are yours to make, but I’m here to guide you through some value picks. Without further hesitation, let’s get into my DFS value picks.
Jerryd Bayless (MIL– PG – 4 games in week) – I touched on Bayless a bit above. He’s a guy that I really like. He contributes everywhere and makes the most of his playing time. With four games this week, he’s a tremendous value play.
C.J. McCollum (POR– SG – 4 games in week) – McCollum is ballin’ this year, so I was shocked to see his salary at a value price for me. It’s a no brainer for me as he’s getting some serious burn this year.
Marcus Morris (DET– SF – 4 games in week) – Morris is averaging 14.6 points and and 6.2 rebounds per game on the season. More importantly, he’s averaging playing time of 37 minutes per game. The playing time is there and he can contribute in multiple categories. Morris has my vote of confidence.
Zach Randolph (MEM– PF – 3 games in week) – Z-Bo only has three games this week, but he’s a double, double threat daily. For his price, I’ll snatch him up.
Tyson Chandler (PHX – C- 4 games in week) – Chandler is averaging 6.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per game on the season. While he could score more, his defensive presence makes him a great option for me this week.
Here are a few more parting gifts from me to you, until we meet again next week:
Steph Curry has no chill…
https://vine.co/v/el0FvwnnAnI
Russell Westrbrook with the monster rejection on Marcus Smart…
https://vine.co/v/iBFr9FMPQuj
I began this article with DeMarcus Cousins and I’ll end it with DeMarcus Cousins…
https://vine.co/v/iBO3DLgLMaB
You can stay up to date with everything Fantasy Sports related by following me on Twitter (@ViggieSmalls765) and Instagram.
Don’t forget to join us tonight at The Goat’s Beard in Manayunk from 6pm-9pm for our first official Philly Influencer Networking Happy Hour!
