Fantasy Notebook: Where LeBron’s Iso Ball is Just Fine By Me…
2015-01-19
CtFL Notes:
It’s no 2014-15 NBA Western Conference or anything, but Cavs: The Fantasy League is shaping up to be deeper and more competitive than it appeared as recently as a few weeks ago. The return of LeBron James has resuscitated my tailspinning Team Waiters Invaders, while Nate Smith’s Team Stark Delly Treys, Team Grover 13 and Team Evil Genius have all been putting together some fine fantasy basketball out on the fantasy court. These suddenly spry middle-packers raises questions about the true dominance of David Wood’s Team Alex Dirk just as Wood’s biggest competitor, Ben Werth’s Team The Deutschiest (first time this season I’ve typed that team name without looking at it for reference… We all got goals, people!) has hit the skids.
Along with Cols’ Team Buckets Don’t Lie, CtFL is a legit seven teams deep. Currently in the eighth spot, Mallory Factor and his Team The Factors of Love are on the outside looking in… kinda like Kevin Love watching the fourth quarter from the bench. Ouch. Sorry, Mal. Couldn’t resist.
But let’s get to our Week 12 action…
Wood, surveying the beautiful expanse that is CtFL from atop his ivory tower, was apparently looking past Team Evil Genius. Even as Wood was all like—
—EG was there to stand up for CtFL’s suddenly bulging middle section of talent.
Have at thee, Wood and Team Alex Dirk. Have at thee, indeed.
But the top spot in Week 12 goes to Nate Smith and Team Stark Delly Treys who walloped Team Editor Emeritus.
Smith, despite having only the fifth best record in the league, has moved into the number two seed in the league by virtue of leading his division, The Griffins. What’s been the secret to his team’s improved play in recent weeks? Well, there’s having James Harden on your team, but Smith has also worked the waiver wire making more than twice as many moves as anyone else at CtFL. Sometimes, that kind of tinkering leads to artificially creating cracks in your team’s roster. But Smith has waiting for guys like Wilson Chandler to play well (after early season struggles led The Commissioner to boot him from Team Waiters Invaders) and picking up Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkic after the Tomofey Mosgov trade freed up playing time for the rookie center. Nurkic is averaging over two blocks a game for the Nuggets in that span.
Smith has also proven a master intimidator by unleashing a string of unhinged behavior that would make Larry Sanders blush. He recently caused a stir at a youth girls basketball game by acting out the video below in its entirety during halftime.
But do those girls play defense for Smith? You bet they WOOOO!!!!
And, as for Team Waiters Invaders… we’re back, baby! After a two week stretch that showed that both Team Waiters Invaders and the 2014-15 Cleveland Cavaliers were incapable of winning with LeBron James out injured, my Invaders stormed to an almost-as-impressive-as-a-Los-Angeles-sweep 11-2 victory over Team PESTAK.
In the three games back, James has averaged 33.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists on 52.3% shooting. Sure, it’s come on some isolation-heavy play that has burned up CtB’s comments section. But CtFL cares not for is0 ball. CtFL welcomes it with open arms. Welcome back, LeISO! Now take me to the Fantasy Promised Land…
But what has helped Team Waiters Invaders besides The (other) Return? Well, it’s the recent stellar play of rookie Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins has been tearing it up recently as the injury-depleted T-Wolves have been flush with minutes to give the first-year guard. In over 38 minutes a game over the last 10, the former Kansas Jayhawk star has averaged 21.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists while shooting over 50% from the floor and just this weekend set a career high of 31 points against the Denver Nuggets.
You really wanna do this to yourself, Cavs fan?
Of course you do…
Meanwhile, GS is just blowing the doors off of the Nugs. Man, what happened to Faried? I really thought he was going to turn into a 20/10 guy…
On other former Cavs fronts, it sure seems like T Zeller has cooled off lately. Not looking so good against the Clips today.
Other than tanking for a high draft pick, I don’t really understand why the C’s don’t start Olynyk and Marcus Smart…
Uh, cause they’d win more?!
I don’t know if they’d necessarily win more now, but they’d benefit from the experience in the future…
Wiggins had 12-2-1 today on 14 shots. Awful, much worse than Love’s worst game.
Uh… About on par with some of Love’s worst games.
12/19 vs. Brooklyn: 1-10 6 points, 14 rebounds, 2 fouls, 2 TOs, 40 minutes (if you are a big and only getting 2 fouls in 40 minutes, you’re not playing defense)
11/21 vs. Wash.: 3-8, 8 points, 8 rebounds, 4 turnovers, 31 minutes
I’m going to pick this as my worst, though.
12/31 vs. Atlanta: 1-8, 7 points, 7 rebounds, 24 minutes (mainly because Cleveland won the brooklyn game).
Yeah, he didn’t fare so well against longer SF’s like MKG and Henderson. Plus Big Al was back and clogging up the paint so Wig took a lot of jumpers which were mostly off (1-6 from distance).
This just means that KLove is going to go off for 30 and 15 tonight and take like 17 charges. Because if Wig plays bad, law of averages dictate that KLove will play good. See… flawless logic ;)
The ball has energy…
How did this thread morph from a C:tFL recap to another heated Wiggins/Love hindsight debate so quickly?
Because the topic is Fantasy!
Awesome response Gregg!
Robert posted that stupid video.
Yeah. I’ll admit to just trying to gloss over that footnote at the end of Robert’s write-up. Damn the Commish for being so puffed up about his own fantasy players! ;)
I think we win tonight. And all will be right with the world. Of course I expect this blog’s comment section to still be brimming full of Lebron hate even if he goes for 50.
I think Cavs win tonight too, although I’ll be worried if I hear anyone say they had an “awesome practice” today.
Again, Cols, I think you’re overreacting with regard to the “LeBron hate.” Nobody’s hating on LBJ, there are just people who expect more because they know that LBJ is capable of more.
LBJ himself again stated that the past three games he’s felt the best he has all year. It’s only going to get better from here.
No one hates LBJ here. Opinions on LBJ are not binary propositions. Saying, “Gee, I wish you wouldn’t play lazy defense, hold the ball for half the shotclock, and not passive aggressively try to get your coach fired, Mr. James” is not “hate.”
if we ” travei back in time ” and we check the august blogs —I say most of us bloggers were happy with the love / wiggins trade ( me included ) admittingly knowing there wee ” some risks at stake —-love getting injured/ not performing up to past stats—wiggins maturing/ blooming earlier than expected—-although I do agree wiggins ( as love did ) benefits from playing for the timberwolves and having more of an opportunity to put up stats which he wouldn’t be doing here —–also and I blogged recently when people where coming down on love—-how many double… Read more »
I think it was the correct move and the vast majority – if not all – of the analysts said it was the right move for us. Of course we always ran the risk of Love not working out and Wiggins becoming a superstar. Love hasn’t been the beast he was in Minnesota, yet, BUT there is a lot of time to figure things out. He has all the offensive tools to be a superstar, it’s a matter of the offense finding ways to take full advantage of his skills. Being a glorified 3 point specialist in this offense is… Read more »
Yep. If we don’t make that trade, Wiggins is here averaging about 9 points per game and we are wondering when we are going to find a big man who can score.
I think it’s still a good trade and fully expect this team to win a title either this year or sometime in the next few and validate everything. Nate can still wish he was watching a team full of scrubs win 35 games, but it will be more fun to be in the playoffs.
“Even if Wiggins turns out to be an MVP next year, it was still the correct move…” *facepalm*
Oh, and that video just makes me want to vomit, Robert. Thanks.
I assume you mean the Wiggins one, not the Flair one (which I have watched about 17 times since coming upon it). Yeah, it’s rough. He’s finishing better at the rim than in college/summer league and his shot was definitely on against the Nuggs. Have to think an Irving/Wiggins/LeBron/TT/whoever-we-traded-for-when-Varejao-still-goes-down would have a little more pluck than most of the lineups we’ve had. Though, to be fair, no one would pass Wiggins the ball on this team. He’d be averaging 9 points a game for us… and that might be generous.
And he’d be making 60% of those shots. Seriously, if you just gave him all the shots Matrix and Miller are missing, that’s an extra six points a game.
And an easy 12 PPG average.
Nate, Nate…. you can never stop thinking about prospects the Cavs pass on. You are going to drive yourself mad.
Wiggins does look good, but his role on this team would be very different. And, as bad as Love has been, he is part of the best lineup in the NBA so far that has played at least 100 minutes together.
http://stats.nba.com/league/lineups/#!/advanced/?sort=NET_RATING&dir=1&CF=MIN*G*100
These prospects basically stare us in the face everyday. How do you NOT think about them?
Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Drummond, Oladipo, Noel and now Wiggins
versus
Dion (traded) Bennett (traded, likely bust), and Thompson (not complaining too much) and Love (still have hopes, but Wiggins would give us another star an a rookie contract for years to come)
I mean, I get the other ones. But while those guys are all good, Wiggins is going to be like if Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen had a kid, and then Cavs passed on that kid to trade for the next Tom Gugliotta.
I don’t think about them because the world doesn’t work that way. No team in the history of professional sports has ever taken the best player with every pick they have, or completely won every trade they made. Every fan from every team could make the same arguments you are making – i.e. they could go back through every draft pick, re-construct the perfect choices with hindsight, and then have a dream roster. To be frank, it’s a silly way to think – anyone can go back with hindsight and make the right choices The truth is that draft picks… Read more »
Really? Dion Waiters was fine. Kind of meh, but fine. Tristan same, (though Kawhi Leonard was my choice). Zeller was fine. Karasev looks like a bust. Desperately wanted the Cavs to get Gobert. I screamed from the rooftops that Anthony Bennett was awful, and I can’t find one shred of defensible argument to say it was justified. Wiggins and Love was such an overpay by the Cavs it was unbelievable. Probably because Bennett was so freaking awful, they just assumed all draft picks were awful.
You also screamed from the rooftops for a bunch of dudes who have turned out to be terrible. Again, you are the king of hindsight here, latching on to things that pan out in your favor while outright ignoring the many many things you get wrong. Throw in lots of poor reasoning based on small sample sizes (like when you wrote off TT as a bust repeatedly), and I can see why you get so worked up about this stuff – you really truly believe that you have all of the answers. To keep my point as simple as possible,… Read more »
Please find me copy of me writing off Tristan as a bust.
LOL. OK. Anyway. If I was Cavs GM in the situations the Cavs have had in the last five years, the Cavs would have Kawhi Leonard, Harrison Barnes instead of Waiters, Wiggins AND Love, Brad Stevens as coach, DeMarre Carroll… But I digress. I’m not Cavs GM, and if I was somehow installed as Cavs GM at some point in the past, we’d be living in a completely different timeline: a beautiful utopia where poverty is a thing of the past, everyone strives to be better people, and the Cavs are like the “North Coast Spurs.” Think Star Trek meets… Read more »
Careful… if this Wiggins/Love debate goes on much longer, Hot Sauce may blow a gasket ;)
Also… sign me up for anything that is a mix of Star Trek, Moneyball and The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh… fashion sense or no
I figured you’d enjoy that.
Nice find, I really appreciated that stat and it is a good reminder of what has been good. Went back and watched sour early revenge games (Toronto and Washington) and the Hawks victory. We had such good things going then and so much happened since.
I’m just baffled at this response from people. You act as if the kid has no agency and wouldn’t have improved to this level in Cleveland. Maybe it would have taken a little longer, but not much. It would have been obvious at about this point in the season that Wiggins is REALLY good no matter where he was. I think this is just some kind of denial/psyche defense mechanism on you and your compatriots’ parts, Robert.
I can answer for myself. I am not as convinced as you are that he is really good yet. He has had a very hot shooting month coming off of a very bad shooting month. And he plays for a terrible team in games that are usually out of reach and meaningless. I don’t think the Cavs would be better with him and Bennett instead of Love for THIS season. I think by next season, after I have seen more data on Wiggo, I may join your camp. But, as it stands now, I still think the trade made a… Read more »
If I hadn’t complained loudly and vociferously about the moves before/when they happened, I’d agree with you. That being said, I wanted Derrick Williams and Brandon Knight… I think I talked myself into Kyrie cause of his stats though.
We are prisoners of the moment, unfortunately. Right now, Wiggins looks really good and KLove has been struggling. A month ago, Wiggins was struggling and KLove looked really good. A month from now, the roles could once again be reversed. The bottom line on Love is that he’s a terrific offensive player when utilized correctly. He’s also an elite rebounder. He seems determined to improve on defense, but even if he only ever becomes serviceable, it will be a win. The only downside is if he decides to walk this summer (which he’s already said he’s not planning on) or… Read more »
I have never ever acted like Ric Flair while coaching girl’s basketball. Has it happened at other times on a basketball court? Uh… “WHOOOO!”
Ric Flair coaching a girls basketball team sounds like an awesomely ill-conceived movie from the 80s. Today, it would star either Nic Cage, Vin Diesel, or I’ll go off the board and say Gary Busey…
Thanks for the report Robert! At least there will be one thread this week where nobody will call for anyone to be fired or benched… If Team EG is able to come back from our early season troubles to make a deep playoff run, we will look back on this crucial victory over Alex Dirk as the signature week that turned things around… And we’ll do it with the benefit of only playing Team Tanking-For-Next-Year (sorry, Team Krolik) only once as opposed to most of the rest of the league who’ll be getting an 11 or 12 spot twice this… Read more »
He should change his name to the 75ers.
Or the 86ers since that’s what they’ve done to their season…