, are still with the same teams that they started the season with. There were a few moves that could come into play for DFS purposes but, for the most part, it was a pretty uneventful deadline day.
Now lets focus on the first NBA slate back after the All Star break:
Houston Rockets v New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans pulled off the biggest blockbuster of the trading period as they brought in the much talked about (and now always in a good way) DeMarcus Cousins. People were very curious to see how Cousins would fit into the lineup with Anthony Davis already controlling the front court for the Pelicans. Tonight was their first chance to prove that they could co-exist together. Needless to say Cousins showed just why he was a hot commodity during this year's trading period as he put up 27 pts to go with 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 5 steals for a total of 71.50 DK pts. Anthony Davis chipped in 29 points while grabbing 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 2 steals for 48.25 DK pts. Unfortunately they were the only two that really showed up tonight for New Orleans as they lost by 30 to the surging Houston Rockets. JRue Holiday struggled tonight as he was matched up with Patrick Beverley, who is known to be a solid on-ball defender. Holiday only scored 6 points with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and a steal for a mere 19.50 DK pts. Tim Frazier, who I wrote about in a previous article as the "big winner" for the Pelicans in terms of DFS standings played just 23 minutes and scored only 13.50 DK pts. A very disappointing start to the Cousins' era in New Orleans. On a real sour note, Omri Casspi, who was also brought to the Pelicans in the Cousins deal, broke his thumb tonight as he attempted to strip Eric Gordon of the ball in the third quarter, and is expected to miss at least a month.
Houston also picked up a key player in their rotation as they acquired Lou Williams from the LA Lakers. Lou, who was in a battle for 6th man of the year with now teammate Eric Gordon, got off to a smoking hot start with his new team as he played 25 minutes and scored 27 pts hitting 7 of 11 from 3. James Harden only played 30 minutes in the blow out and disappointed owners with just 45 DK pts as he scored 13 real pts to go along with 4 rebounds and 14 assists. Patrick Beverley chipped in 30 DK points which is an impressive number considering he only scored 2 real-life points in tonight's game. Clint Capela returned to the bench tonight with Nene getting the starting nod but was quite a force down low scoring 15 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking 3 shots for a total of 30 DK pts. Eric Gordon also reached 5x tonight chipping in 27.25 DK pts and putting his owner's minds at ease as the addition of Williams has to scare people away from him a bit as they're essentially the same player. I keep hoping Sam Dekker can find a way to grab more minutes but being that he played just 20 in tonight's blow-out victory, it doesn't look promising.
New York Knicks v Cleveland Cavaliers
This could have been such a fun game had the Cavs pulled off the deal for Carmelo that had been rumored for weeks. As we know, this did not happen. The Cavs, however, are rumored to be the landing spot for Deron Williams who was released by the Dallas Mavericks today.
As for tonight's game the 'star's on NYK basically no-showed as Carmelo gave us 32.25 DK pts scoring 20 real pts, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Derrick Rose, who was rumored to be heading to Minnesota, put up just 13 pts, 2 rebounds and 4 assists for 21 DK pts. Kristaps Porzingis showed how great he can be as he shined in the NBA Skillz Challenge during the break but left tonight's game with a sprained right ankle in the second quarter and didn't return. During his 16 minutes on the court he scored 8 pts and grabbed 5 rebounds for 18.25 DK pts. Courtney Lee smashed value tonight going 10x as he scored 43 DK pts in 36 minutes. Courtney scored 25 real life points to go along with 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal in tonight's loss. Lee was not the only bright spot for New York tonight as rookie sensation Guillermo Hernangomez remained hot and notched another double double on his belt. Hernangomez scored 11 pts, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 4 assists and swatted 2 shots for 34.50 DK pts in 27 minutes. Lance Thomas also had a nice game nearly reaching 8x value with his 22.75 DK pts.
For Cleveland, when Kevin Love is out, it's the LeBron James show and he didn't let us down tonight. James was spectacular as he joined the triple-double club again tonight as he put up 18 pts, 13 rebounds, 15 assists and 3 blocks for 64.25 DK pts. Kyrie Irving was solid, but uninspiring, as he chipped in 39.25 DK pts scoring 23 real life points to go along with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. Tristan Thompson showed why Cleveland gave him a pretty good chunk of change this off season as he was able to produce a double double tonight vs a pretty solid front court of the Knicks. Thompson scored 10 pts and grabbed 14 rebounds for 39.50 DK points vs NYK. Kyle Korver got hot from behind the arc again hitting 6 out of 10 from 3 point territory and scored 32 DK points in 31 minutes. Derrick Williams just signed his second 10 day contract with Cleveland and I will not be surprised at all if they go ahead and sign him for the rest of the season soon. He saw another 27 minutes tonight and is a very athletic and talented body that looks very comfortable doing the dirty work with the second unit for the Cavs.
Charlotte Hornets vs Detroit Pistons
Charlotte lead this one 85-70 to start the 4th quarter and it looked gloomy for DFS purposes. Then KCP took over. First things first.
Kemba Walker continued his impressive DFS season as he gave the Hornets 34 pts, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists tonight for 57.25 DK pts. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was able to double-double again tonight by scoring 12 pts and grabbing 14 rebounds for 42 DK pts and giving us over 8x on his value. Nicolas Batum was solid as usual with 31.50 DK pts while Frank Kaminsky pitched in 26.25 DK pts for just over 4x each. Marvin Williams gave us 6x putting up 28.25 DK pts for just $4,700 in a match-up that usually does not suit him very well (slow paced game with Drummond on the other end likely grabbing all of the loose rebounds).
As previously mentioned, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope took over late in the 4th quarter scoring the last 11 points for the Pistons in regulation. At just $4,900 KCP busted out for 10x tonight with 52.25 DK pts scoring 33 real life pts. If you were lucky enough to predict this one tonight kudos to you. KCP has been very up and down this season but when he's right he's great. Tonight was one of those times. Tobias Harris nearly reached 10x at 41.75 pts ($4800) while Ish Smith continued to steal minutes from Reggie Jackson and hit 10x tonight with 40 DK pts at just $3,900 playing 33 minutes. Jackson's stock continues to sink lower as he managed to play just 20 minutes in tonight's game and gave us just 10.25 DK pts while not playing at all in the 4th quarter or overtime.. He should not be owned under any circumstances right now in DFS. Joining Jackson on the bench for much of the second half was Andre Drummond. Drummond also was benched for the 4th quarter and overtime but did double-double during his 26 minutes for 28.75 DK pts. This is likely just a one night benching for Drummond, but it's worth monitoring to see if there was an injury or if Coach Van Gundy is looking to shake things up a bit in Detroit.
Portland Trail Blazers vs Orlando Magic
Portland made their trade several days before the deadline as they, confusingly, traded away Plumlee to the Nuggets for Jusuf Nurkic. They are looking like very smart people at the moment. Nurkic was wasting away on the bench in Denver but has come to Portland and looked re-rejuvenated in two games with new team. Tonight he played 34 minutes and gave us 10x value scoring 12 pts, grabbing 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals for 44.50 DK pts. The Trail Blazers may have pulled off quite the coo if he continues to play at this level. Damian Lilliard was solid again tonight scoring 33 real life points for 43.25 DK points. CJ McCollum was much of the same putting up 36.25 in a non-flashy but productive game. Shabazz Napier lit up his former team with 32.25 DK pts and Maurice Harkless chipped in 29 DK pts. Allen Crabbe was on the court for 25 minutes, which was nice, but some how managed to only score 4 points. That's hard to do.
Orlando dealt away Serge Ibaka to the Raptors for Terrence Ross, who got the start tonight for his new team. Ross played 33 minutes but hit just 4 of 17 shots for 13 points (27.25 DK pts). If they continue to give him the green light he will be worth rolling out until his price gets fully adjusted. Tonight he struggled from the field but still crushed value as he was only $3,800 on DK. Nikola Vucevic continued to produce as he just missed a double-double (25 pts 9 rebounds) and put up 40.25 DK points. Elfrid Payton's stock continued to head downward as he played just 22 minutes and scored 16 DK pts. Bismack Biyombo who , in theory, should see more time after the Ibaka trade, played just 15 minutes and scored 9.25 DK pts. Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon both reached 5x tonight as they scored 30.75 and 27.25 DK pts respectively.
Denver Nuggets vs Sacramento Kings
Jameer Nelson was named the started with Emmanuel Mudiay being moved to the bench and he rewarded the coach for this decision scoring 36.50 DK pts tonight (12 pts, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals) in the Nuggets 116-100 loss. Wilson Chandler continued his steady play as he put up a double-double (18 pts 10 rebounds) for 34 DK pts. Gary Harris, who hit 5 three pointers, and Danilo Gallinari were solid plays tonight as they scored 33 and 29.5 dK pts respectively. Gallinari may start eating into Chandler's minutes as he continues to recover from injury. Curiously Nikola Jokic played just 26 minutes and bombed for fantasy owners tonight scoring just 19 DK points. Keneth Faried (8.25 FPP) and Jamal Murray (5.50 FPP) were in good spots tonight vs the Kings but severely let down their owners as they combined for just 33 minutes.
There was a lot of talk after the Cousins' trade about who it would benefit most in Sacramento. If tonight was any indication, we have a clear cut winner. Willie Cauley-Stein played 35 minutes and completely out-played the much-talked about Jokic as he scored 29 pts and grabbed 10 rebounds for 43.50 FPP at just $3,600 (don't expect him to be that low for long). Darren Collison also had a very nice game as he too managed a double-double scoring 15 points and dishing out 10 assists for 43 FPP. Buddy Hield, who was the center-piece of the Kings' return for Cousins) scored 16 pts and grabbed 6 rebounds in just 26 minutes for 27 FPP. Ty Lawson and Tyreke Evans both reached 5x tonight as they each chipped in 25 FPP. Skal Labissiere was able to get some run tonight and was quite impressive during his time on the court. Skal played 14 minutes and scored 12 pts, grabbed 3 rebounds, handed out 2 assists and a steal for 20.25 FPP. It will be interesting to see if his minutes continue to grow after tonight's solid outing.
Los Angeles Clippers vs Golden State Warriors
For the Clippers it was much of the same since CP3 has been out. DeAndre Jordan put up another double-double as he scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for 38.35 FPP. Blake Griffin's price continues to rise as he is rounding back into his elite form but tonight struggled to the tune of 12 pts, 5 rebounds and 8 assists for just 31.75 FPP. At $9,100 this kind of night will not cut it. The back-court guys once again were all decent plays tonight but no one stood out from the pack. Raymond Felton played 24 minutes and scored 29.75 FPP while Jamal Crawaford played 34 minutes and gave us 29.25 FPP. The Duke combo of Austin Rivers and JJ Redick played 37 and 30 minutes scoring 29 FPP and 20 FPP, which is nothing really to write home about.
The "big 2" for Golden State put the team on their backs tonight and lead them to a 123-113 victory over the Clippers. Kevin Durant lead the way with 61.25 FPP (25 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block and 1 steal) while Steph Curry hit 6 out of 10 from 3 for 60.25 FPP (35 pts, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals). Klay Thompson and Draymond Green both struggled tonight as they scored just 24.5 and 22 DK points while David West was the lone bright spot off the bench scoring 20.5 FPP in just 11 minutes. No one else really is worth mentioning unless you rostered the always safe Andre Iguodala whi put up his normal 23.50 FPP.
There were quite a few high scoring games tonight, so hopefully your teams did well!!
That's all for now. Hopefully I will get back in the game tomorrow, as I forgot to set any lineups today and had to watch from the sidelines ... and no one likes that!
