The Daily Dose: Daily Guster: Rosenworcel
As many of you know, I have some rockstar friends. Brian Rosenworcel, the drummer for Guster, is one of them, and he wanted to write a Daily Dose. So here it is, in all its glory. Brian is one of my favorite people in the world, and I’m so excited that he chose to do this. Enjoy.
Steve Alexander (Dr. A)
It’s a real honor to be writing a guest Daily Dose. Steve is a good friend and a real music fan, and while I’m super lucky to be living on a tour bus and playing music for a career, I feel like Dr. A is the one really livin’ the dream. Check my work, Steve. I am just a caveman.
Nets 100, 76’ers 91
Let’s start in Brooklyn, where the Nets are now 6-6 after a 1-9 start. Brook Lopez’s foul trouble opened the door for Andrea Bargnani to put up 23 points in 23 minutes, including playing center down the stretch. While Lopez offers the Nets little beyond scoring, clumsy defense, and middling rebounding numbers for a seven-footer, Bargnani offers – well, more of the same, but worse. History tells us to steer clear in fantasy, while Bro-Lo has been top notch. Shane Larkin came off the bench for 14 points, six assists and four boards, while Thaddeus Young was his usual solid self with 18 points and 11 boards. Bojan Bogdanovic put up 10 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two three-pointers in another start, and he should continue to get minutes in the 30s. He and Larkin appear to be the beneficiaries from the Rondae Hollis-Jefferson injury.
The 1-22 Sixers haven’t had a lot to clap their hands about lately, but let’s all visit their classic anthem “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sixers” and think of better times. With almost everyone getting minutes in the 20s, there’s not a clear fantasy picture here beyond Jahlil Okafor (22 points, 10 boards, two blocks, 8-of-8 FT) and Robert Covington, who fouled out tonight with just six points, two boards, a block, and two steals. Tony Wroten got the start at shooting guard and actually made more shots than he missed (nine points, four boards, three assists, 3-5 FG, 3-6 FT), but only played 17 minutes and shouldn’t be considered unless you’re booting your percentage categories. Nerlens Noel can’t score unless it’s a dunk and found himself in a timeshare with Richaun Holmes (I’d never heard of him) tonight, who put up 14 points and earned the praise of his coach. Noel had six points, five boards, and four steals, but isn’t nearly living up to his ADP. All you can do is stash and hope. I dropped him in one league.
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Thunder 107, Hawks 94
Oklahoma City got big games from their usual suspects, including Kevin Durant’s first triple double of the season (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, two threes, five TOs). At halftime, Durant had eight assists but had only taken four shots, and for a guy that’s shooting 53% on the year, the Thunder want him scoring the ball and not just dishing to Dion Waiters. Serge Ibaka put up 23 points and 10 boards along with a steal, two blocks, and a 3-pointer. Russell Westbrook had 23 points, 10 assists, six boards, three steals, and three 3-pointers in another solid effort. Enes Kanter played 11 minutes and can be dropped. At some point in this dose I want to say “and a full line”… it’s gonna happen.
The Hawks were led by 22 points from Kent Bazemore, who played 28 minutes off the bench (pick him up!). Jeff Teague kept it going with 18 points, five boards, four assists, two steals and a three. Al Horford (nine points, 3-of-14 FG’s) and Paul Millsap (seven points, 2-of-5 FG’s) were off last night, but are having stellar seasons and will bounce back. Meanwhile, Thabo Sefolosha (11 points, three rebounds, four steals) continues to play big minutes and offers Shane Battier-esque sneaky value. If I’m not mistaken, he’s putting up sixth-round value over the last month since returning from injury, and he’s only owned in 11% of ESPN leagues. Basketball Monster has him ahead of guys like Bradley Beal and DeMar DeRozan over that stretch. That’s real!? I’m just a drummer, but shouldn’t we all be Sefolosh’n it?
Bulls 83, Clippers 80
Blake Griffin was ejected in the third quarter for a flagrant clothesline on Taj Gibson, but likely won’t be facing a suspension. The real fantasy story here is the marginalization of Nikola Mirotic, who managed five points and 11 rebounds in just 14 minutes. Sure, Fred Hoiberg might have leaned on his new starter Gibson (12 points, eight rebounds) for matchup reasons against the Clippers’ bigs, but Mirotic looks like he’ll need an injury to break out. Fortunately, Joakim Noah is on the Bulls and Mirotic should get his chance, so anyone who used an early draft pick on him will have to hang tight. Pau Gasol (24 points, six boards, three threes, two steals, two blocks) continues to be a beast, while Jimmy Butler scored 14 points with a full stat line. Doug McDermott put up no statistics other than five missed shots in 16 minutes and can be ignored in fantasy (and ruined Dr. A’s DFS team).
The Clippers are a bit of a mess at 13-11. They clawed their way back without Blake Griffin (18 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks), but Chris Paul missed a 3-pointer at the end of regulation that would have tied the game, and had a rough night with 12 points, five assists, and four turnovers on 5-of-16 shooting. J.J. Reddick fizzled after his 31-point outburst the other night, scoring just eight points with four assists on 2-of-11 shooting. Jamal Crawford had just two points in 22 minutes tonight and has cooled off after a few nice games. Rumors are circulating that Crawford, Lance Stephenson (five points, four assists, three boards), and Josh Smith (eight points, seven boards, three assists, two threes) are all on the trading block. Doc Rivers has his work cut out for him.
Kings 97, Knicks 95
Not since ‘Linsanity’ came and went a few years ago has there been a feeling of hope for the Knicks like there is with rookie Kristaps Porzingis. The 20-year-old, 7’-3” Latvian ROY candidate was supposed to be a project, but instead has offered surprising poise, durability, and flashes of greatness to the Knicks. Dr. A went on a hysterical diatribe in yesterday’s dose about Derek Fisher benching him, and these guys in the band Transleiteris cashed in on a #Porzingis song before anyone else thought of it. Please, please click the link. I can explain every lyric to you.
And yet the Knicks fell to 10-14 in Sacramento, their fourth-straight loss. Porzingis put up 13 points, seven boards, three blocks, two steals, two assists, and a three to keep his fantasy value soaring, but no one could stop the other waiver-wire pick up of the year, Rajon Rondo. Against all odds, he’s returned to peak form, and he ran circles around Jose Calderon and the Knicks tonight. Rondo was just one rebound shy of another triple-double on 7-of-10 shooting last night. Watch him put ‘Melo on a poster here. DeMarcus Cousins did Boogie things with 27 points, 11 boards and two steals, and Darren Collison played well in 25 minutes off the bench, scoring 16 points. Omri Casspi put up 11 & 8 in a whopping 40 minutes, and makes for a nice add with Willie Cauley-Stein out, despite some suspect free throw shooting of late.
As for the rest of the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony managed 23 points and 14 rebounds, but shot the ball poorly and missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer that could have won the game. Arron Afflalo scored 14 points with four boards, a steal and a block, but went 0-for-6 from downtown. Afflalo is still shaky, at best. Robin Lopez lumbered around for 20 minutes, putting up six points and seven boards, and his $54-million contract is already looking like an albatross. Lance Thomas played well off the bench, scoring 10 points, with six boards, three steals, and two 3-pointers, and Kyle O’Quinn even made a blip with six points and six boards. It’ll take an injury to Porzingis for him to enter the world of fantasy relevance, so those of us waiting to rock out with our KOQ out will just have to wait. That seems like a good one to end on. Thanks Steve, look out for the Rosenworcel 150 in September 2016.
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