Big Wednesday is in the books and I’d like to thank all of you for the feedback on the new column, the old column and everything in-between.  You’ll see that hit this afternoon at some point. 

Last night was a prototypical Big Wednesday with a million things going on all at once.  Gordon Hayward mowed down the Cavs with a game-winner, the Kings toyed with the Denver Dumpster Fire Nuggets and it seemed like there were a million huge lines.  So let’s get right to it. 

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Editor’s Note: Rotoworld’s partner FanDuel is hosting a one-day $50,000 Fantasy Basketball league for Thursday’s NBA games. It’s $25 to join and first prize is $7,500. Starts at 8pm ET on Thursday. Here’s the FanDuel link.

THE BIG NUMBERS

Tim Duncan: 17 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals, six blocks, zero turnovers

John Wall: 31 points, six rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, one block, one three

Donald Sloan: Career-high 31 points, six rebounds, seven assists, four treys

Stephen Curry: 28 points, six rebounds, seven assists, one steal, four treys

LeBron James: 31 points, three rebounds, four assists, three steals, three treys

Tony Wroten: 27 points, three rebounds, eight assists, five steals, two blocks, 9-of-16 FGs, 4-of-6 FTs, nine turnovers

Ricky Rubio: 14 points, eight rebounds, 12 assists, two steals, one three

Rajon Rondo: 13 points, 10 boards, 15 assists, no threes or steals

Kyle Lowry: 35 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals

Rudy Gay: 29 points, three boards, two assists, one steal, one block, 9-of-12 FGs, 8-of-10 FTs

Dwyane Wade: 25 points, four rebounds, seven assists, one steal, one block

Al Jefferson: 28 points, 10 boards, three blocks

Brandon Knight: 10 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals, 3-of-15 FGs

Greg Monroe: 23 points, 18 boards, three assists, one steal

DeMarcus Cousins: 30 points, 11 boards, two steals, 22 minutes

Mike Conley: 24 points, 11 assists, two steals, three treys

Kevin Martin: 26 points, seven rebounds, three assists, one steal, four threes, 6-of-6 FTs

Gordon Hayward: 21 points, four rebounds, seven assists, one block, 7-of-12 FGs, 7-of-7 FTs

Kemba Walker: 18 points, four rebounds, seven assists, two steals, two threes, 5-of-6 FGs

BUSTED

Blake Griffin: 14 points, one rebound

Kenneth Faried: Four points, five rebounds, one block, 21 minutes, 1-of-5 FGs

Goran Dragic: Six points, one rebound, three assists, one steal, 26 minutes

Jeff Teague: Five points, seven assists, one steal, five turnovers, 2-of-8 FGs

INJURIES

Derrick Rose tweaked his ankle during the game but stayed in and finished with 13 points, seven assists, two steals and two threes in 31 minutes. He didn’t look 100 percent and should be considered questionable on a nightly basis until he can put some distance between himself and the injury. 

Nerlens Noel sprained his ankle last night and the injury itself didn’t look that bad, but you have to know the Sixers will play it safe.  Consider him day-to-day for now and give Brandon Davies a look.  Be a bit more patient with Henry Sims after a serviceable night, too.

Matthew Dellavedova suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain and will miss the next 4-6 weeks.  This means more to the Cavs than it does to fantasy owners, but Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters won’t have somebody the coach can point to on defense and say ‘do it that way.’ 

Rodney Stuckey is finally going to tap out with the foot injury and miss at least three games.  Solomon Hill is worth a look (see below) and C.J. Miles has all the opportunity in the world, though it’s anybody’s guess if he’ll do anything with it.

Tiago Splitter: Aggravated his calf and left the game. Boris Diaw is worth a look in deep leagues.

Marco Belinelli: Left the game with a groin injury and did not return. Had the same issue in April.

David Lee: Returned to action and left in the same game due to his hamstring injury. 

Pablo Prigioni: Sprained his right ankle and required X-rays.  Impact to the rotation will be minimal.

WELCOME BACK

Courtney Lee returned from his concussion quite quickly and was just as fast getting back on the board for owners, scoring 22 points with three rebounds, three assists, two steals, one block and three treys in 39 minutes.  He profiled as a late-round value with capped upside prior to the start of the year, and now he’s moved the needle a round or two upward with his hot start.  Pick him up for any late-round value with lower upside that you’re holding onto. 

Speaking of head injuries, Thaddeus Young returned quickly as well and went for 10 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 36 minutes.  Get him back in your lineup if he wasn’t there already.

PICKUPS

Draymond Green started with David Lee (hamstring) back in the second unit, scoring a career-high 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting with eight rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block and four treys in 36 minutes. Yes, the Clippers have been bad all year despite a middling record, but this is exactly why we were so high on the guy. 

He shouldn’t be available in standard leagues, but if he isn’t stop what you’re doing and grab him.  Steve Kerr intimated after the game that he could stick in the starting lineup, which isn’t a huge deal, but Kerr might be a wise man that knows his team is better with more Green and less Lee.

I’m going to lament the fact that I had higher priority pickups in my weekly FAAB this past Sunday – AGAIN – as Garrett Temple started once again and scored 16 points with seven boards, four assists, two steals and four treys in 43 minutes. According to the Washington beat writers, the big thing holding him back has been the lack of a jumper and he appears to have addressed that.  Randy Wittman likes him and he’s a strong bet to produce at late-round floor while Bradley Beal is out. Pick him up. 

BORDERLINE

Timofey Mozgov played just 11 minutes after being left on an island to defend DeMarcus Cousins for a second straight night.  JaVale McGee was terrible last night and the Nuggets will either implode or get their act together, and an implosion will probably get things moving in the right direction just like it did last year.  Not a must-own player, Mozgov still has fantasy friendly metrics that aren’t hard to see in the top 100 range when the situation improves. 

Trey Burke played just 23 minutes with six points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block and two treys in 23 minutes.  Dante Exum played 25 minutes off the bench and didn’t move the needle himself with just three points on 1-of-5 shooting and five assists.  It’s a small sample size to say that Exum has turned the corner on very real issues that previously made him unplayable for Quin Snyder, but Burke has lost his leash in terms of starter’s minutes and owners will want to see how this plays out.  Just a week or two ago Burke had folks in his corner in Utah. 

Solomon Hill struggled mightily to start the year but with everybody hurt in Indy he has been forced into action.  He followed up a solid outing on Saturday with another good one last night, scoring 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting with eight rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block and a three in 37 minutes.  The Pacers really need him to step up in order to have any shot at not being terrible this year, so I’d expect Frank Vogel to give him every opportunity to expand his role and minutes.  C.J. Miles and Rodney Stuckey have a laundry list of issues and a speculative add is fine in my books.  There will be risk, but you could do worse than grabbing a young, athletic player on a team playing for ping pong balls. 

Iman Shumpert hit just 5-of-13 shots but put up a nice line with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, one block and four threes.  Phil Jackson is decently high on him and as a cutter he fits better than a lot of his teammates in the Triangle offense.  He has holes in his fantasy game shooting the ball and has a history of disappearing, but there is a chance he is undergoing a role change in relation to prior years.  If he stays healthy there’s enough upside here to ditch a late-round guy with a low ceiling. 

Brandon Davies started at power forward and hit 9-of-11 shots (including a three) for 20 points, four rebounds and a steal.  That’s a highly leveraged line and anything goes in Philly, but especially with Nerlens Noel dealing with an ankle injury there’s more reason than not to take a flier on him in a deeper league. 

DROPS

Tony Allen scored nine points with three rebounds, one assist and zero steals in 23 minutes. Courtney Lee is back quickly from a bad-looking concussion and that squeezes out any upside Allen previously had.

Norris Cole had another stinker with two points, four rebounds, one assist and just 1-of-6 makes from the field in 22 minutes.  He doesn’t have the fantasy pedigree to justify all these swings and owners can feel good about moving on. 

John Henson played just 12 minutes with six points and five boards.  He’s droppable, but he’d need to stay at this disastrous level to not retain some appeal as a stash.  Henson has also provided some low-end value while being stashed in the past, but again, this is a crowded rotation and he might be yo-yoed around too much for owners’ tastes.