This article is part of our Rebound & Rant series.
That's right, this is the VICTORY EDITION!!! Why, you ask? I'll tell you why. Because RotoWire's Basketball Podcast has, for the second year in a row, won the Fantasy Sports Writer's Association's award for "Best Podcast, All/Multisports". Boom and Double-Boom!
Best Fantasy Podcast, All/Multiple SportsRotoWire Basketball Podcast, @RotoWire
— FSWA (@FSWA) February 7, 2018
Congrats to Nick Whalen, Alex Barutha, James Anderson, D.J. Trainor, Shannon McKeown and yours truly!
And yes, Soccer Czar Andrew Laird, I'm going to be obnoxious about it:
oh man, @KenCrites is going to be insufferable now https://t.co/emmnCkRouh
— Andrew M. Laird (@RotoWireAndrew) February 7, 2018
If you are not listening yet, it's time to do so NOW.
No Victory For Lopez
The Bulls lost to the Kings Monday, 104-98. Center Robin Lopez only saw 13 minutes, before apparently begging for the refs to throw him out of the game:
robinlopezmeltdown.mp4 pic.twitter.com/t9VPO0kQoU
— Tony Xypteras (@TonyXypteras) February 6, 2018
Come on, Robin, you were facing a hobbled Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos. This should have been a nice stat night for you, especially with Lauri Markkanen out. This isn't one of your silly mascot battles.
The guy who is winning in Chicago is power forward / boxer Bobby Portis. In the three games since Nikola Mirotic left the lineup, Portis has posted 12.0 points, 12.3 boards, 3.0 assists and 0.7 made threes. Sure, Markkanen missed those games too, but Portis' upside can't be ignored. If he's available, you gotta grab the 22-year-old.
Giannis Smells Victory
I don't have much fantasy insight regarding the Bucks, but I really want to show you this Greek Freak dunk:
Giannis just jumped over Tim Hardaway Jr. 😱😱😱pic.twitter.com/3vVGJkde0W
— Dime on UPROXX (@DimeUPROXX) February 7, 2018
Yes, he. Jumped. Over. Tim Hardaway Jr. That is nuts.
By now, you've certainly noticed that Jabari Parker has returned. The Bucks are clearly bringing him back slow, as he averaged just 17 minutes per game in his first three games back. Considering he was out for essentially a full year with that knee injury, the gradual minutes are certainly understandable. With Malcolm Brogdon until late March, I expect Parker to start killing it in a few weeks. Now might be the time to try and buy low on him should inpatient owners be getting cranky over his gradual return.
Oh No Unicorn!
As if losing DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Kevin Love wasn't crappy enough, now Kristaps Porzingis goes down. Ugh.
This is it. This is the end. Kristaps Porzingis suffers knee injury after dunking on Giannis Antetokounmpo, carried to locker room. pic.twitter.com/fqQK5TTbDy
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) February 7, 2018
Does it strike you as odd that the Knicks traded Willy Hernangomez a day AFTER the Unicorn gets injured? Isn't this the time when the Knicks need more bigs, not fewer? This doesn't speak well for Hernangomez. Sure, he asked to get out of town when dropped from the rotation, but wouldn't 12-18 minutes a night quickly heal all wounds? Something else must be wrong with his game. Honestly, are you telling me Willy's defense is WORSE than Enes Kanter's? Maybe that is indeed true.
But who cares. What you really need to do is drop everything you are doing and scoop up Michael Beasley from your waiver wire. The Knicks are now officially awful and will give Beasley big minutes and plenty of shots from the four spot. Grab him now.
Well, that's it for my Victory Edition. This fantasy train wreck has hit the END OF THE LINE! CHOO-CHOO!
(BTW, if you enjoy this little column, give our AWARD WINNING Friday NBA podcast a try, where I usually join Shannon McKeown and D.J. Trainor for some epic NBA conversations.)
