The Daily Dose: Dose: Terrible Tuesday
There are just way too many injuries in 2016 already. That continued on Tuesday with Derrick Rose suffering a strained patellar tendon, Carmelo Anthony spraining his right ankle, Rodney Stuckey aggravating his right foot injury, Marcin Gortat might have a knee infection, Pau Gasol saying he has a sprained shoulder and a sore Achilles, Kobe Bryant tweaking his Achilles again, and even Jimmy Butler said he sprained his ankle. He’s fine because he’s Jimmy Butler a.k.a Jimmy Minutes a.k.a. Jimmy G. Buckets. Let’s start with the Bulls for this eight-game night.
Derrick Rose has a knee injury, so that’s not good. Rose did downplay the knee injury and said he doesn’t think he’ll need an MRI. Of course, there really is no such thing as a minor knee injury for Rose, so it would be a surprise to see him suit up for Thursday’s game against the 76ers. He’s not a must-own player in nine-cat leagues.
On the other hand, Gasol and Butler are elite at their position. Gasol said he hurt his shoulder and Achilles on Saturday against the Wizards and there’s a chance he rests on Thursday. Considering his age at 35, Gasol will probably be very careful. That means, Free Bobby Portis and a little bit of Taj Gibson. Butler was outstanding on Tuesday with 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists, one block and two 3-pointers. A small ankle sprain won’t keep Jimmy down. Jimmy is sweet on you, and your fantasy team.
Besides the injuries, Tony Snell had a fluke-tastic 17-point game in 30 minutes while Portis was scoreless in four minutes. He’s not a pickup unless Gasol is ruled out. Doug McDemott also saw his minutes drop to six.
The Bucks got a monster game out of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the win, scoring 29 points with 10 rebounds, five assists, one steal, one block and no turnovers on 10-of-14 from the field. He was not having a good start to 2016 and only made 40.4 percent from the field in his previous games this calendar year, so hopefully he can stay hot and keep attacking like he did. He’s still more of a top-50 kind of guy going forward.
Not much else was of interest. Although, John Henson and Greg Monroe playing together for a whopping 11 minutes is pretty big. In fact, before Tuesday the two guys played together for just 10 minutes all season. It’s obviously going to need to happen every night and the matchup did dictate a bigger lineup against the Bulls. Henson was great with eight points, three boards and five blocks. He’s a better block specialist than Roy Hibbert.
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Three 6 Latvia Spits Hot Fire (BOS 114 at NY 120)
The big news from the Knicks game was Carmelo Anthony spraining his ankle. It was a very odd injury as he rolled his right ankle and basically bumped into a ref. X-rays were negative, and it’s tough to tell how long he’ll be out. Still, Melo is probably out for Wednesday. So who stepped up?
Derrick Williams played 17.3 minutes in the second half, finishing with eight points, six rebounds, one assist and one turnover in 24 total minutes. He fits the mold as a guy who can play both forward spots like Melo, so maybe he slots right into his minutes. Still, he’s not someone you would grab in fantasy unless Melo is ruled out for several games. Lance Thomas would also benefit after playing 12.3 minutes in the second half, finishing with 13 points, two rebounds, one assist and one 3-pointer in 22 minutes. If push comes to shove, I’d rather have Lance over D-Will.
The rookies were the other big news from this win. Kristaps Porzingis scored 26 points with six rebounds, two assists, two steals, two blocks and three 3-pointers. He’s a potential fantasy superstar. Jerian Grant was also effective with 16 points, one rebound, eight assists, one steal, one block and one 3-pointer on 5-of-6 from the field. He’ll have to do it again to be an add unless you have something to cut.
Isaiah Thomas was a stud again with 34 points and eight dimes. He should be an early-round guy, so not much analysis needed there.
The interesting thing going forward was coach Brad Stevens going small in the second half with Marcus Smart starting for Kelly Olynyk. KO played just 11 minutes, so he loses a lot of appeal. Of course, the Celtics bigs are such a mess, so steering clear makes a lot of sense because of the headache factor. Smart is a borderline add after his line of six points, six boards, four assists and one 3-pointer in 25 minutes.
Sun Down (PHX 97 at IND 116)
The Suns were gutted on Tuesday with Brandon Knight (illness) out and Ronnie Price (toe) missing another game. That led to Archie Goodwin getting his first start of the year, finishing with 12 points, two rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in 31 minutes. Goodwin has been a decent defender in his career, but his offensive game just hasn’t come around. It seems like Ronnie Price will be out for a few more, so we’ll be seeing Goodwin in the rotation. Plus, maybe the Suns are extra careful with Knight in March and April, so he’s a stash in super deep leagues. Lorenzo Brown was on a 10-day deal and posted seven points, two rebounds, five assists, one steal, one trey and five turnovers. He’s not a stash obviously.
The story of the month for the Suns has been Devin Booker. That continued on Monday with a terrific 14-point second half, finishing with 19 points, two rebounds, two assists, one block, one 3-pointer and four turnovers on 8-of-12 from the field. Booker did not do much scoring on his own earlier in the season and he was really just a guy scoring in transition and when it didn’t count. Lately, he’s really shown an ability to create and break down defenses. He’s going to be a very valuable piece for fantasy owners going forward and could flirt with top-60 value once he really starts to click. He has quite the arsenal.
The frontcourt was also in bad shape because Alex Len (hand) is not going to play on the three-game road trip. That led to Markieff Morris getting out of the doghouse for his first considerable playing time in over a month with 27 minutes, scoring 16 points with nine rebounds, one assist, one steal and three turnovers. The Suns will be playing him in the next two games and are probably doing so with the hope he’ll have trade value. If he is traded, it’s still likely going to be to a place that will use him as a backup, so the stash appeal isn’t too high.
The Suns continue to trust Mirza Teletovic at the five. The former Net scored 19 points with five rebounds, two assists and five 3-pointers in 30 minutes. Because the Suns are always going to be playing from behind, he should be playing several minutes in the second half. He’s someone worth owning right now based on how much his coach trusts him at multiple positions.
Besides those guys, there isn’t much of note. Jon Leuer is really trending down and played just 17 minutes without foul trouble in the starting lineup — cutting him for Mirza makes sense. Tyson Chandler is basically useless in fantasy for low per-minute output, which was even worse on Tuesday with one point, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
Lastly, there are the small forwards. P.J. Tucker was busy with 35 minutes before fouling out, making 1-of-8 from the field for five points with 10 rebounds, five assists and one steal. Those are basically the types of lines he’ll have, but he’s still worth owning in standard leagues. T.J Warren played 32 minutes, making 4-of-14 from the field for 10 points with four rebounds, four assists, one steal and one 3-pointer. Warren did play at shooting guard for a few minutes tonight, so that might help his value. Plus, there seems to be a decent chance Tucker gets traded. If you want to see what the lineup combos looked like, here ya go.
Yikes for the starters last night.
There wasn’t much of interest on the Pacers side. Monta Ellis did sit out of practice on Monday for his knee issue, but he looked good with 14 points, seven assists, four steals and one 3-pointer. After a rough start to the year, he’s playing a lot better right now and health is really the only concern. He’s figured out how to play with guys like Paul George.
Speaking of George, he had a solid game despite just 27 minutes, scoring 21 points with seven rebounds, one assist, two steals, two blocks and one 3-pointer. He’ll be better than his awful December and worse than his wonderful November. George Hill is also trending up again with 20 points, three rebounds, five assists and four 3-pointers. He’s been great in the corners this year and still has some buy-low appeal.
The Pacers do seem like they’re going more with the big lineup lately as they started Lavoy Allen and Ian Mahinmi again. Against a team like Phoenix, you’d think they would have gone smaller. Does this mean they’re a little shy about putting the oft-injured C.J. Miles in the starting lineup? Maybe. Whatever the case, Miles had a very nice game with 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block and four 3-pointers. He’s still a fine hold in standard leagues.
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