Fantasy Benchwarmers

Another batch of injuries were reported today - Kelly Oubre, James Wiseman, Aleksej Pokusevski, Lonzo Ball (again!), just to name a few. But the biggest news though is the 3-week timeline given for Lebron James's return. Obviously, for leagues starting their playoffs next week, he is a drop. Tougher decisions will be for those starting on week 17 or 18. Is he worth holding onto?

There were two very unlikely studs today - Enes Kanter and Gary Trent Jr. Trent just had one of those games where the hoop so big anything he throws is going in. Kanter on the other hand nearly outrebounded the whole Detroit Pistons team as he had 24 points and 30 rebounds! Hope you held on to him as he is still capable of giving you solid numbers despite the "return" of Jusuf Nurkic. Kanter is currently top 60 in value, unless he is no longer playing, it's hard to drop a player like that - and he is still playing.

Kevin Love missed game counter = 0 (6 games missed JJT loses the bet) - find out what the consequence of this bet in this quickie!

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Not exactly your typical quickie, but more like your weekly episode as we were once again graced by Senior Fantasy Analyst and Editor at Hoop-ball.com, Erik Ong to share a few tips as we head into fantasy playoffs and some of his takes on different players that are quite hot off the wire (Nerlens Noel, Moses Brown, McDaniels Brothers, Cole Anthony, etc.). 

Follow Erik Ong on Twitter: @Rotomancer

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This is why Commish Eric was really high on Chris Boucher even during the down times. More than the output, the minutes have been really good for Boucher. The question now is, will Nick Nurse continue to play him and give him those 25 minutes at least? But if your patience led you to keeping Boucher through thick and thin, congratulations!

In very Kawhi-like fashion, low key, under the radar, Kawhi Leonard is top 4 in NBA fantasy rankings for 9-cat leagues. And he has been very reliable in terms of him not missing games. He could be a big difference maker for teams that took a chance on him and drafted him below the top 10 range. There is still danger of rest with him especially towards the end of the season, but hey, everyone these days seem to be in danger of being rested.

Lastly, Eric and I did a bet on how many games will Kevin Love still play for the rest of the season. Just putting this here so I would know which episode to refer to when I win the bet. Though my confidence isn't too high all of a sudden.

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Good news today is that lots of players returned from injury led by Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. And another good news is that no one got injured, so hooray! We answered some frequently asked questions from the groups and from our inbox:

Who is the better McDaniels? Jalen or Jaden?

Should I drop Nerlens Noel?

Is Moses Brown worth holding on to? What is up with him?

Is Lamarcus Aldridge's performance with the Nets - a fluke or real?

Are Pokusevski and Maledon's performances fluke or real?

What's up with Giannis Antetokounmpo?

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I don't really count how many times we've done this, but for some reason, today I decided to check. Coincidentally, this is our 100th Daily Fantasy Quickie! As we always say, thank you guys for continued support and being part of the community. This has been a fun "experiment" that went from just doing a weekly show, that ended up into a daily plus weekly thing for us! There have been some followers asking what we do outside of Fantasy Benchwarmers. Other than raising kids and being loving husbands, we do have work that put food on the table - the reason why we sometimes record from the office or have recordings at night. But this community and the podcast has given us an outlet to share something we love doing, something that relieves us some stress and something that allows us to exercise our creativity. It has been really exciting and fulfilling to see a creation that started from just us two with our friends, to now a community of hundreds. Hopefully soon thousands. Once again, THANK YOU!

Moving on to the quickie...well, there's just a bunch of injuries that could not have come at the worse possible time. James Harden's out at least 10 days - bummer! Myles Turner sprained his ankle and could miss time - bummer! Ja Morant played useless minutes and injured his back - bummer! Evan Fournier after slowly getting his groove in Boston gets into COVID protocols anew - bummer! And John Collins is said to be ways away from making a return to court - BUMMER!

Anyway, like we always say, with every injury, there will be opportunities in fantasy.

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James Harden after missing a few games, returned to the lineup and played just 4 minutes before re-aggravating his hamstring injury. The notes seem un-alarming as it looks like the Nets are just being cautious with Harden saying it didn't feel right. Should Harden owners worry? I guess a bit, but with most leagues' trade deadline past, there's not much to do here than just wait and hope that he returns just in time for the fantasy playoffs.

Kristaps Porzingis is also injured. The fragile center is reported to have a wrist injury. Not sure about the extent of the injury but we'll probably get some better updates in the next few hours. Hopefully, we'll hear good news tomorrow.

D'Angelo Russell returned to action and played like himself off the bench. We couldn't recall the last time DLo and Karl Anthony-Towns played together, but I believe they haven't played much. Having Towns could help DLo's value moving forward and with Malik Beasley's season pretty much over with an injury, look for him to shoot more and hopefully score more too. He was struggling before going down with an injury, so hopefully he salvages some of that disappointment from his managers.

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In today's DFQ we talk about some low-end players who have been trending up and could just be the low-cost boost you need to win you your leagues. These players could still be available in shallower leagues but for deeper leagues we hope you were able to snag them already.

Lonzo Ball made a sudden return and shot the lights out hitting 8 three pointers. His replacement while he was out, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, went down with an injury leaving the New Orleans Pelicans very short-handed at the moment. NAW becomes a drop candidate but to be sure, as we always say, wait for the diagnosis before dropping unless you are in a shallow 10 to 12 team leagues.

Ben Simmons has been struggling really bad. Obviously he is not going to be a drop candidate, but owner can now just hope that he turns it around by the time fantasy playoffs start.

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Gordon Hayward will be out at least 4 weeks. We've gotten a lot of questions on what to do with him as fantasy playoffs draw near. We discussed your options but in reality this has DROP written all over it. For some leagues, he won't return in time for the fantasy playoffs, while for others, that four weeks would mean either fantasy semifinals, or finals. By that time you could be watching from the sidelines.

We've also been seeing some questions from FB groups about Mike Conley. Despite producing top 80 value, a lot of managers are considering dropping him because he is not playing back-to-back games. Is he a drop? Commish Eric, checks the schedule and gives his take on Conley.

Karl Anthony-Towns has been balling for the past few weeks. Though we said before that he could be a shut down candidate, we realized that at this point, who isn't? Seems like everyone is vulnerable to rests and missed games so I'll ride out my 4 teams where I own KAT and hope for the best. 

Three tanking teams - Orlando, Detroit and Oklahoma, showed how much they wanted to lose today as they got beat by 40+ points. We discussed which players from these teams are must-owns and which players can do more harm than good.

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Steph Curry missed today's game against the Toronto Raptors due to his injured tailbone. More than the injury, we're worried about the Golden State Warriors seemingly playing for nothing. Draymond Green said it himself, he is not playing for the play-in tournament and after today's whipping from the Raptors, looks like they are headed nowhere. And you know what's next - R-E-S-T. I'm not saying Curry will be resting but the likelihood of him doing so as we enter the fantasy playoffs is quite high. 

Isaiah Thomas signed with the New Orleans Pelicans and he could matter so we need to keep a close watch. This could be a showcase of what he can do and how healthy he is as he tries to get himself a nice contract in the NBA moving forward. He is still not an add, but just keep a close eye.

The season for resting is starting with star players deciding not to play through even minor injuries. And with the trade deadline over, or nearing for some leagues, it will be a test of your add/drop skills. At this point we have to be fast and decisive. Our big risers today features players mostly picked up from the waiver wires at one point this season and I won't be surprised if we have more of those moving forward.

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Paul George played today. Usually that's good news to the fantasy managers, but after the game, he said that his foot injury would be day-to-day and the Clippers are trying to figure out how to treat it. This could mean possible late scratches and missed games without warning - stuff fantasy managers hate. Monitor this PG13 situation as it can be another case of annoyance for fantasy managers. 

We had a little SGA update and it seems like he is still on track to play some games this season. So that's good news for his owners. Andre Drummond had a cringeworthy injury in his Lakers debut, he will be out 1-2 games. John Collins will be out 7-10 games so he's most likely out until week 15. 

Moving on to good news, Kevin Love and Lamarcus Aldridge played today and both played relatively well. Love had 20 minutes and he most likely will play around 20-25 minutes per game. He can be serviceable, but personally, I'll stay away. Aldridge started the game for Brooklyn and health permitting, looks like he will start for the Nets for the rest of the season. Deandre Jordan is totally out of the rotation, so that gives LMA some clear path to minutes.

Oh and ever wondered whose style of play best describes commish's basketball game? 

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