The silly season is upon us with a week and a half left in the regular season and we take a look at all the bubble and eliminated teams as the shut downs will continue to roll in over the days to come. I also talk about Luke Kennard, Bruce Brown and Quentin Grimes, and unveil an early look at my potential Top 12 fantasy players for next season.
This will likely be the final mailbag column of the season. Thanks to all of you who asked questions this season, especially the regulars, a few of which ask questions below.
Who are the top shutdown candidates this late in the season? - Hoopstrainer (@hoopstrainer)
Answer: The teams to keep an eye on are the ones with nothing left to play for. The Hornets, Pistons, Spurs and Rockets have all been eliminated from the postseason. Keldon Johnson (foot) has missed two straight for the Spurs and seems like a good candidate to have his season cut short. The Rockets are young enough that I'm not too worried about them, but I'm not sure why Gordon Hayward would play another game and guys like Kelly Oubre, Terry Rozier and Mark Williams might all be done for the year after sitting out on Tuesday night for the Hornets. Bojan Bogdanovic might be done for the Pistons and I'm not sure why they're still running guys like Marvin Bagley and Killian Hayes out there.
The Magic's season is over, although
The silly season is upon us with a week and a half left in the regular season and we take a look at all the bubble and eliminated teams as the shut downs will continue to roll in over the days to come. I also talk about Luke Kennard, Bruce Brown and Quentin Grimes, and unveil an early look at my potential Top 12 fantasy players for next season.
This will likely be the final mailbag column of the season. Thanks to all of you who asked questions this season, especially the regulars, a few of which ask questions below.
Who are the top shutdown candidates this late in the season? - Hoopstrainer (@hoopstrainer)
Answer: The teams to keep an eye on are the ones with nothing left to play for. The Hornets, Pistons, Spurs and Rockets have all been eliminated from the postseason. Keldon Johnson (foot) has missed two straight for the Spurs and seems like a good candidate to have his season cut short. The Rockets are young enough that I'm not too worried about them, but I'm not sure why Gordon Hayward would play another game and guys like Kelly Oubre, Terry Rozier and Mark Williams might all be done for the year after sitting out on Tuesday night for the Hornets. Bojan Bogdanovic might be done for the Pistons and I'm not sure why they're still running guys like Marvin Bagley and Killian Hayes out there.
The Magic's season is over, although not officially, and they could pull the plug on Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter and Markelle Fultz at any time. The Pacers are on the outside looking in and another loss or two could mean the end of the line for Myles Turner, Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield. Haliburton has already missed two straight games as he continues to deal with ankle and elbow problems. The Wizards are also getting dangerously close to being out, which would put Bradley Beal, Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis in danger of being shut down. Beal has already missed his last four games with his left knee injury and Kuzma has missed five straight. Hopefully, Porzingis isn't next but given his lengthy injury history, I'm kind of surprised he's still going.
In the West, it looks like the Lakers, Mavs and Thunder are going to fight until the end and we saw guys like Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey and Isaiah Joe all go nuts on Tuesday night. All three scored at least 31 points and Giddey and Joe both scored career highs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was out for that one but given that they're clinging to the No. 10 seed, his ankle must really be bothering him. Joe could be a silly-season hero and should probably be scooped up. The Jazz are close to being done so I doubt we see Jordan Clarkson or Collin Sexton again, while Lauri Markkanen's dream season could be coming to an early close. He's a game-time call for their next one but I wouldn't drop him until we get more information out of Utah.
The Blazers are done and have already shut Damian Lillard down and it would be surprising to see Jerami Grant (quad) again this season. Jusuf Nurkic also missed his last one with a knee injury and my guess is that he's done, as well. Drew Eubanks, Nassir Little, Matisse Thybulle, Shaedon Sharpe and Ryan Arcidiacono are all players worth a look right now as the Blazers have thrown in the towel. Kevin Knox, Cam Reddish and Keon Johnson are all going to get some silly-season run, as well.
And in case you missed it, Ben Simmons' season is over. He was a total bust once again, playing in just 42 games and averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting an embarrassing 43.9 percent from the line. I will not be drafting him again anytime soon, if ever.
Silly season heroes list? - Ricardo Llorens (@llorens_ricardo)
Answer: Sharpe and Joe are my top two silly-season heroes thus far, while all of the players I listed in the answer above are probably going to make some noise. Additionally, the Nuggets are the only team with three games remaining this week (after Wednesday night's games) as they play on Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
Bruce Brown is worth a look, especially if the Nuggets decide to rest Jamal Murray in one of those back-to-backs. And DeAndre Jordan or Thomas Bryant could get a boost if Nikola Jokic finally gets a rest in one of those games. Denver holds a 3.0 game lead over the Grizzlies with seven games to play, meaning they're probably safe to finish as the top team in the West. They are 3.0 games behind the Bucks for the overall top seed so that dream is probably over.
The Heat have just one game left this week, so dropping a Miami player for Brown would get you a two-game bump as long as Brown plays in all three games. Brown had 18 points, four rebounds, five assists, a steal and two 3-pointers in his last game so he could be heating up at the right time.
Is the Luke Kennard thing for real? 4.5 threes per game over the last seven games. Should I pick up Quentin Grimes? Is he going to be the man from here on out? - Cirebackward (@cirebackward)
Answer: Kennard has been on a bit of a tear over his last eight games for Memphis and is showing no signs of slowing down as the season closes out. The Grizzlies probably want to get starters Dillon Brooks and Desmond Bane some rest down the stretch so Kennard should be able to keep it going. He's hit 18 three-pointers over his last three games and has hit 35 of them over his last eight, while scoring in double figures in all of them. He also has a steal in three straight games and is another player who should be a hot pickup right now.
As for Grimes, he's scored 14, 25 and 22 points in each of his last three games and I don't see why he doesn't keep it going. Immanuel Quickley scored 40 on Monday and has been brilliant for the last two months, sans a few duds here and there. Both players should be rostered everywhere right now.
Both teams play Friday and Sunday to finish out this week, the Grizzlies play four times next week, and the Knicks play three games.
Who are your top-12 players for next season? - Illgobbo (@illgobbo)
Answer: While it's pretty early to be looking at next year, it's never really too early to do so, right? Here are my early Top 12 for next season.
1. Nikola Jokic - He's simply a machine.
2. Luka Doncic - I don't care about his free throw percentage or technical fouls.
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - He's a monster and will only get better next year.
4. Tyrese Haliburton - He's following in SGA's footsteps and should take another leap.
5. Jayson Tatum - Rock solid with no flaws in his game.
6. Joel Embiid - Stayed on the court this season and is firmly in the MVP hunt.
7. Damian Lillard - On an island in Portland but still one of the best.
8. Giannis Antetokounmpo - He's not for everyone with the gimpy knee and horrible free throws, but he's still Giannis
9. Donovan Mitchell - Had a big year and is a beast in Cleveland. It should be fun to watch him do it for an entire season next year.
10. Stephen Curry - He'll be 35 years old for most of next season and the Warriors will be looking to get back in the championship hunt.
11. Mikal Bridges - The steals and complete game rose to the surface in Brooklyn and he could be special for the entire season.
12. Karl-Anthony Towns - I have huge concerns about his ability to stay healthy but if it happens, he does it all and has no fantasy flaws in his game.
Honorable Mentions: Jaren Jackson, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Lauri Markkanen, James Harden, Trae Young, Domantas Sabonis, Devin Booker, LaMelo Ball, Bam Adebayo, Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, LeBron James, Pascal Siakam, Victor Wembanyama and Kyrie Irving.
