Line of the Night & Waiver Wire Line of the Night: While Gordon Hayward (2.13) looks like the type of kid who’d get slushied in an episode of Glee, we at GMTR are glad that geeky looks are not considered as a statistical category in fantasy basketball. He’s only owned in a third of Yahoo leagues (33%) and after last night’s career performance, Hayward should now be making waves in some fantasy keeper radars out there. He had an all-around efficient shooting night converting eight of his twelve field goal attempts while making all of his five free-throws. That netted him a total of 23 points for the night and he added some solid peripheral contributions with five assists and two steals. We should expect more solid games from him down the stretch and next season as he grows into his role as the Utah Jazz’s threat on the wings. At 2.13 WARP it wasn’t a wowing performance, but it was the best for the evening and even outdid someone’s triple-double outing.
Honorable Mentions:
Tied for second we have his Al Jefferson (2.10) and the Toronto Raptors’ Jose Calderon (2.10). Al-Jeff has been a rock this season and he did again last night against Memphis with 21 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks. Calderon, on the other hand, had an uncharacteristic high-scoring evening as we all know him as a pass-first type of point guard. He led Toronto in scoring with 30 points. He converted on four treys and shot well from the field, missing only five of his 18 shot attempts. His other teammates were clearly awful as they only managed to translate only six of his passes into assists.
Tied at third (or is effective fourth) we have Rajon Rondo (2.00) and his triple-double performance, and Monta Ellis (2.00). Rondo was the lone bright spot on the Celtics’ roster last night as the Big Three were quiet offensively. Rajon notched his second trip-dub for the season with 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists. And in Rondo-esque fashion, he contributed two steals as well for good measure. Ellis on the other hand, had a big night with 33 points, five boards, 7 dimes, and two steals for the Warriors.
Kevin Martin (1.93) salvaged his butt-ugly fantasy week with an on-fire shooting night. He poured on the offense for the Rockets with 28 points, chucking five long-bombs from downtown and going nine of ten from the charity stripe. I’m not sure if last night was enough for Martin to earn the forgiveness of his frustrated owners or not, but at the very least it’s a step in the right direction.
Heat teammates Dwyane Wade (1.84) and LeBron James (1.62) round out the honorable mentions for the night. Wade had 21 PTS, 5 REB and 2 STL, while LBJ had a double-double with a 23-13-6 line.
***
Pick Up Lines:
Klay Thompson (1.45) is smart spot add for the Warriors’ four-game week. He’s been productive lately and capped off the week with 14 points (4 threes). (3% owned) For the week, he’s been a more consistent producer than Brandon Rush. Thompson’s ability to also distribute the ball makes him a candidate to get a bump up in the rotation moving forward.
Jan Vesely (1.26) did well for the evening with a solid, all-around effort with 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks; but still needs to show that he can produce these numbers on a consistent basis before we can recommend an add at this point. (2% owned)
Willie Green (1.03) was simply a garbage-time beneficiary as the Hawks got blown out of the water early on. His 17 points and three treys aren’t likely to be seen anytime soon. (1% owned)
Contrary to Green’s performance outlook Zaza Pachulia (1.01) has been a steady 8-9 point-rebound contributor over his last three games and has had some heavy burn as far as time on the floor is concerned. Owners who were devastated by the loss of Anderson Varejao may just have to settle for Pachulia’s 8-points, 9-rebound par performance as they search for a big man. (9% owned)
Biggest Loser:
Brandon Knight (-1.12) ran straight into a rookie wall last night as he was way off his season averages. He had two points, one board and two assists while shooting 1-9 from the field. We shouldn’t worry about Knight too much and chalk this up to some growing pains.
DeMar DeRozan (-0.45) once again contributed to his let-down season with yet another mind-numbing disappointment session. It was brick city as DeMar went 2-13 from the field, translating to a lousy 8-point, 7-assist, 4-turnovers performance.
C.J. Miles (-0.39) had the fantasy life sucked out of him by the Gordon Hayward vortex as he was ignorable, chipping in six point and three assists for the night.
***
Daily rankings and stats come from the GMTR H2H Player Rater (beta version). They are based on the stat Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP) an estimate of the number of wins a player produces per week in H2H leagues over a replacement (waiver wire) player.
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