The NBA is fantastic and there are so many things to talk about each and every week. Whether you are a Fantasy Basketball fanatic or just a fan here is ten things about the NBA that I want you to know about as we head into week 22 of the NBA season!
Best Games to Watch in Week 21
Monday March 12: San Antonio Spurs at the Houston Rockets. The Rockets and the Spurs. Two playoff teams squaring off in March. Great way to begin the week!!
Tuesday March 13: Indiana Pacers at the Philadelphia 76ers. Two young, surprising playoff teams in a game with Eastern Conference seeding implications and possible first round playoff preview.
Wednesday March 14: Washington Wizards at the Boston Celtics. Washington would like home court advantage
in the first round and beating the Celtics would be very helpful in making that happen.
Thursday March 15: Cleveland Cavaliers at the Portland Trail Blazers. The Trail Blazers have a great chance of winning the Northwest Division and a win over the Cavaliers would maybe put some distance between them and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Friday March 16: Los Angeles Clippers at the Oklahoma City Thunder. Western conference rivals with maybe the Clippers playing spoiler and knocking the Thunder out of the top eight? Too good to pass up!
Saturday March 17: Minnesota Timberwolves at the Spurs. Depending on where they are at in the standings this might be a must win game for both teams and a great way to spend a Saturday night.
Sunday March 18: Thunder at the Toronto Raptors. This is a 1pm start and the Thunder might need a win to stay in the playoff hunt whereas the Raptors would LOVE to be the top seed in the East.
You are a Happy Fantasy Basketball General Manager If
If you have players on your roster from the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors as each team has four games this week. Every other NBA team has three games this week.
Waiver Wire Pickup of the Week for Week 19
Los Angeles Clippers PG/SG Austin Rivers has four games this week (@Chicago, @Houston, @Oklahoma City and Portland) and over the past five games Rivers has been a decent source of points (16.0), rebounds (4.0), assists (2.4) while knocking down 2.4 triples a night on 33.4 minutes a game. Rivers shoots decently from the field (43 percent) and rather poorly from the line (63 percent). The good thing about Rivers is his daddy is his coach so as long as he remains healthy he will get a full complement of minutes. As you can imagine Rivers is widely available across the Fantasy Basketball industry.
Kobe Bryant Wins and Oscar
Kobe Bryant won just about everything imaginable during his legendary 20 year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is a sure fire First Ballot Hall of Famer and now he can add Oscar Winner to his list of accomplishments. Bryant wrote a poem that was put to video for his jersey retirement ceremony titled “Dear Basketball” and it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film and if you haven’t seen it yet then I am honored to be the one to introduce you to “Dear Basketball”
Tweet of the Week
My friend Amar is one of the smartest basketball guys I know. His Twitter feed is one of the most useful and educational on Twitter. I had a heck of a time narrowing it down to one as they are all so good. Follow @allthatamar and get smarter about hoops!
Last little bit of Jazz franchise record books . . . but #TakeNote of where our guy is right now in all-time PPG with the Jazz:
1 Dantley [HOF] 29.55
2 @TheDeliverer_32 [HOF] 25.46
3 Maravich [HOF] 25.22
4 @SpencerHaywood [HOF] 24.00
5 Robinson 23.216 @spidadmitchell 19.84 pic.twitter.com/VSNIajnpFy
— Amar 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇮🇳🇰🇪🇬🇧 (@AllThatAmar) March 8, 2018
Dunk of the Week
Miami Heat swingman Justice Winslow is one of my favorite players in the NBA and he demonstrates why with this FILTHY dunk and intimidating stare down against Phoenix Suns power forward Marquese Chriss.
Taking Advantage of the Tankapalooza
Because the NBA powers that be didn’t think the Lottery all the way through we now have a NBA Front Offices building rosters solely to lose enough games in hopes of getting the number one pick in the NBA Draft. It sucks for fans of tanking teams but for wise Fantasy Basketball General Managers this is a beautiful thing and something to take advantage of. I’m going to give you one player on a few of these tanking teams that could pay off big in either Daily Fantasy Leagues or Season Long Fantasy Leagues. Each of these players is widely available across the Fantasy Basketball industry.
Memphis Grizzlies: Shooting guard Ben McLemore is getting over 30 minutes a night and can help you in several categories. You could also look at SF Dillon Brooks this week.
Los Angeles Clippers: Power forward Montrezl Harrell is seeing nearly 25 minutes a night and producing in several categories AND has four games this week.
Orlando Magic: Point guard D.J. Augustine is getting over 30 minutes a night and contributes a little bit of everything except blocks and steals.
Sacramento Kings: SG/SF Bogdan Bogdanovic is playing 30 minutes a night and on most nights will get you everything but blocks AND has four games this week.
Atlanta Hawks: PF/C John Collins is playing over 25 minutes and contributes in every category except triples.
Brooklyn Nets: SF/PF DeMarre Carroll is the only Nets player getting at least 30 minutes consistently and is good for everything except steals and blocks.
Widely Available Streaming Options for Week 19
Monday March 12: Sacramento Kings SG/SF Bogdan Bogdanovic has a nice opportunity against an OKC Thunder defense having trouble keeping shooting guards in check.
Tuesday March 13: Cleveland Cavaliers PG George Hill is in a good spot against a tanking Phoenix Suns defense that is dead last in defending point guards.
Wednesday March 14: I would run it back again with Bogdanovic against a middle of the pack Miami Heat defense against shooting guards.
Thursday March 15: Chicago Bulls PG Kris Dunn is in a great spot Thursday against a bottom ten Memphis Grizzlies defense against point guards.
Friday March 16: Heat small forward Josh Richardson has a nice opportunity Friday against a bottom ten Los Angeles Lakers defense against small forwards.
Saturday March 17: Charlotte Hornets SG/SF Jeremy Lamb is in a good spot against a bottom ten New York Knicks defense against shooting guards.
Sunday March 18: Los Angeles Clippers point guard Austin Rivers has a nice opportunity Sunday against a bottom five over their last five games Portland Trail Blazers defense against point guards.
Heading into the Home Stretch in Your Fantasy Basketball League
There is just a few more weeks until the Fantasy Basketball playoffs begin. Are you ready? You MUST do all that you can to make the league playoffs and here’s a little checklist to help you get it done!
- Re-read your league rules and double check your league trade deadline.
- If you are in a league with position limits pay careful attention to how many games you have left.
- If you are not safely in the playoffs and you have a player like Kevin Love on your roster and don’t have an injured reserve spot than you need to drop that player.
- No matter where you are in the league standings please continue to update your rosters every Monday in weekly leagues and every day in daily leagues. There is nothing worse than a General Manager that quits before the regular season ends.
That’s all I can think of right now but if there is something I have left out please use the comments section and help us out!!
Top Benches in the NBA
The playoffs are fast approaching and teams that have already wrapped up a playoff spot are going to be resting their players. A wise Fantasy Basketball GM not only knows the top players on each team but also what benches are the strongest. Below are the top ten NBA teams when their starters aren’t on the floor. If you are curious here is where the teams ranked last season. A full list of all the NBA benches can be found here.
Fantrax Fantasy Basketball with Phil Naessens
This past week I was honored to be asked to host the flagship Fantasy Basketball show on the Fantrax Radio Network. Rotowire NBA writer Alex Rikleen joined me to discuss all things Fantasy Basketball including “dealing with the Tankapalooza, Streaming Strategy and much more”. You can listen to the show below!
Enjoy the NBA this week!!
You can follow Phil on Twitter or listen to the Phil Naessens Show.
