Seth Vigdor
We’re rockin’ and rollin’ with another week of the NBA season in the books. There’s been a lot of great action on the court and there have been plenty of headlines off the court. Let’s take a look at my NBA week in review.
Five takeaways from this past week
1.) Perfect Basketball
The Warriors are now 23-0 on the season. They’re playing as great as they’ve ever played. Besides the usual fantastic play that they’re getting from Steph Curry, Draymond Green is playing All-Star basketball right now. He’s averaging 13.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.4 blocks per game. Wow! Who’s not down with numbers like that across the board. There’s no telling how much longer this streak will go on for, but man oh man is this team fun to watch.
Warriors beat Pacers 131-123, move to 23-0 and take hold of the best road start in NBA history! pic.twitter.com/26TVBXo0Qy
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 9, 2015
2.) Injured Giant
Rudy Gobert A.K.A. The Stifle Tower went down with a knee injury. Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune believes that this injury will cost him six to eight weeks of the season. That’s a shame! Before going down with the injury, Gobert was averaging 9.2 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks for game. Gobert is an amazing talent, you just have to hope that his career doesn’t get plagued with injuries, like a lot of men his size do.
3.) Help is on the way
With the recent hiring of Jerry Colangelo for the Sixers, one has to wonder if Sam Hinkie is on his way out of Philadelphia. A report stated that the Owners pressured NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to intervene in the Sixers business dealings. I think it’s just out of jealousy, but clearly with a guy like Colangelo calling the shots, the Sixers arrow has to be pointing up, right?
4.) Lebron’s Insane New Deal with Nike
We told you about Lebron’s new lifetime contract with Nike. It must be pretty sweet to be James. The deal is well deserved for all that he’s brought to the game of basketball in a time where the sport doesn’t get as much love as it once did – for the obvious reasons. James had the following to say about the deal after practice on Monday as reported on Cleveland.com.
“I’m just grateful that Nike and Phil Knight, and everyone over there just believed in a … skinny 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio, and I’m happy to be a part of such a great company.”
You can see him speak more about the deal and see his shoe closet here.
5.) Kobe Retirement Tour Continues
Bryant’s retirement tour continued this week. This week he received a hero’s good-bye in Detroit. He received an offer for a roster spot from the Italian National team. Shit, Chinese students turned a snow-covered basketball court into a huge picture of Kobe’s face. That’s epic!
Finally, here’s Shaq on Seth Myers talking about Kobe’s retirement poem.
Did you see how large Shaq’s head is? Holy shit!
Your Team, Your Town, Your 76ers Weekly Update
It was the Sixers best week of the season. They finally won a game and though they still suck, the recent Colangelo hiring means a double win for them this week.
Oh and to Mike Greenberg, piss off you little weasel. The Sixers should be allowed to draft Ben Simmons.
Results for the week:
12/1/15 – W 103-91 vs. LA Lakers
12/2/15 – L 99-87 vs. NY Knicks
12/5/15 – L 108-105 vs. Denver
Here are your season leaders for the team:
Points: Jahlil Okafor – 16.9 PPG
Rebounds: Nerlens Noel – 8.0 RPG
Assists: T.J. McConnell – 5.8 APG
Steals: Robert Covington – 2.7 SPG
Blocks: Jerami Grant – 1.8 BPG
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.
**Mirza Teletovic (PHX – SF/PF) – 16% owned – Teletovic has been playing well as of late. He’s averaging 8.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Ride the fella while he’s hot.
**Cody Zeller (CHA– PF/C) – 8% owned – Over his last two games Zeller has scored a combined 37 points and 14 rebounds. Al J is injured, so he’s taking advantage of it. He won’t produce like this for long, so now is the time to snatch him up.
**Terrence Ross (TOR – SG/SF) – 8% owned – With Demarre Carroll out indefinitely with a knee injury, Ross has stepped up and been lights out. He can put up decent points and he’ll help you in the three point category. He’ll be off and on at times, but his on nights are worth it.
https://vine.co/v/i7D7DeihbOr
**Rodney Stuckey (IN – PG/SG) – 24% owned – With Monta Ellis playing like trash all season, it allows for a guy like Stuckey to get increased playing time. He’s playing around 32 minutes per game right now and as we’ve seen in the past, Stuckey can have some monster scoring lines.
*Jon Leuer (PHX– PF/C) – 19% owned – With Tyson Chandler dealing with an injury, Leuer is seeing his playing time increase. This isn’t a long-term pickup, but over his last four games he’s averaging 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. I like that!
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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.
Deron Williams (DAL – PG –3 games this week) – D-Will is seeing heavy minutes this season. He’s averaging 15.2 points and 6.0 assists per game on the season. Not too shabby for a guy that isn’t known to stay healthy for long periods of time.
Jordan Clarkson (LAL– SG – 3 games this week) – Clarkson has been one of the few consistent players on this terrible Lakers team. He’s shooting 40% from three point range, while averaging 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game on the season. Keep riding him at this price.
Tobias Harris (ORL– SF – 4 games this week) – Harris has struggled overall on offense this season, but I think he’s due for a nice stretch coming up. He’s still averaging 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He can get hot at any time and I suspect that he will now.
Nikola Mirotic (CHI– PF – 4 games this week) – Mirotic is a good source of points, rebounds and three pointers this season. I love him this week for his salary.
Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN– C- 4 games this week) – Towns is averaging 14.8 points and 9.1 rebounds per game on the year. He’s been on fire in his last two games. Keep rolling him out there. You’ll be rewarded.
https://vine.co/v/i7KJbdev7Xg
Here are a couple more parting gifts from me to you, until we meet again next week:
Here’s the comeback player of the year by far at this point…
Paul George scores career-high 48 points, including 8/11 from downtown, as the @Pacers fall in OT to @UtahJazz.https://t.co/csBJ3mB6uy
— NBA (@NBA) December 6, 2015
And a little more of George for that ass…
https://vine.co/v/i7AuptieVQl
“I got that European Swag”
https://vine.co/v/iWLB30jIQY1
LBJ with the nasty block…
https://vine.co/v/i72x0aajBu3
And we end with the best player in the NBA…
https://vine.co/v/i72rEzrduZg
You can stay up to date with everything Fantasy Sports related by following me on Twitter(@ViggieSmalls765) and Instagram.