Have you caught your breath? A little bit of a lighter slate of games Thursday, but if you are a Thunder fan, you have to be thinking that this season is some sort of cruel joke. Aside from another injury, there's plenty of good to look forward to as I break down all those box scores for you.

ADD ME! ADD ME!

I could do a complete backflip from yesterday's Box Score Breakdown and say run and grab Perry Jones III after he went off like nobody's business against the Clippers, but he's had one monster and one dud and I wouldn't be dropping anyone who will have season long value to get him onto my team in shallow leagues. But, a name who does bear a lot of consideration in leagues of all sizes in D.J. Augustin of the Pistons. Against the Wolves, Augustin again outplayed starter Brandon Jennings, scoring 20 points (6-18 FG, 4-7 3Pt, 7-7 FT) with three rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes. He has now averaged 30 minutes in both Pistons' contests in the sixth man role, while starter (for now), Jennings, has only averaged 18 minutes. The odd thing about this time share is that it's not Jennings' poor field goal percentage that is costing him minutes. He's converted at 50 percent through the two games, coach Stan Van Gundy is just flat out favoring Augustin. Until Van Gundy installs Augustin as the starter, I would be holding onto Jennings, but Augustin should still be looked at as a must add in nearly all league setups, considering he is owned in just 1 percent of ESPN leagues and 18 percent of Yahoo leagues.

DROP HIM LIKE HE'S HOT

I know he's a fellow Aussie, but if I own Dante Exum in any 10 team leagues, or 12 team leagues for that matter, I'd be just about ready to hit that drop button. Now, fortunately I didn't invest in any of my teams on draft night, but the fact is, that Exum is just not seeing the court enough to warrant being held onto in redraft leagues, especially with Alec Burks and Trey Burke looking so solid. Against the Mavericks, Exum scored just two points (1-4 FG, 0-3 3Pt) in 19 minutes, backing up a five point, one assist performance from the previous night. In deep leagues it's a different story, but in 10, 12, or even 14 team leagues, I'd be looking one paragraph higher up, and swapping in Augustin for Exum, or one of a number of other options who are likely available.

M.I.A.

These guys all sat out Thursday's action.

• Wizards
  • Bradley Beal (wrist)
  • Martell Webster (back)
• Magic
  • Mo Harkless (DNP-CD)
  • Victor Oladipo (face)
  • Kyle O'Quinn (ankle)
• Knicks
  • Andrea Bargnani (hamstring)
  • Jose Calderon (calf)
• Pistons
  • Jodie Meeks (back)
  • Greg Monroe (suspended)
• Mavericks
  • Raymond Felton (ankle)
• Thunder
  • Kevin Durant (foot)
  • Jeremy Lamb (back)
  • Reggie Jackson (ankle)
  • Anthony Morrow (knee)

CASUALTY WARD

Aaargghh! Another big name bites the dust. Russell Westbrook played just nine minutes before leaving the court for good with an hand injury, which, it turns out, is a fracture in his right hand. We have no solid timetable on his return as yet, but a safe guess would be four to six weeks, given Rajon Rondo's injury and the hand fractures Anthony Davis, Paul Pierce, and Kawhi Leonard suffered last season. The Thunder will be crossing their fingers that Reggie Jackson can return for their next game after sitting out the first two with an ankle issue, but if he doesn't, it's going to be all Perry Jones III and Sebastian Telfair for the Thunder's next outing.

FANTASY LINE OF THE NIGHT

Well, LeBron James didn't step up to the plate following fellow top five draft picks Anthony Davis and Steph Curry. Instead, it was first round fantasy player in John Wall of the Washington Wizards who grabbed the honors Thursday. Wall had 30 points (10-21 FG, 2-5 3Pt, 8-9 FT) with five rebounds, 12 assists and two steals in 37 minutes. That's two straight double-doubles for Wall and early returns say he will return the first round value that many owners invested in him in drafts. He could very easily lead the NBA is assists this season and place himself in the conversation as the best fantasy point guard when all is said and done.

ROOKIE OF THE NIGHT

It was lean pickings from the rookie class Thursday, but it's number 12 overall draft choice, Elfrid Payton, who picks up the award here. Payton played just 23 minutes and scored just two points (0-2 FG, 2-4 FT), but added three rebounds and seven assists, and it is basically the assists that get him the nod for Thursday's games. Payton is tough to swallow in roto leagues, but in a head-to-head league, his ability to accumulate assists will be handy, but I see him being streamed on and off the waiver wire in 10 and 12 team leagues this season.

BOX SCORE HIGHLIGHTS AND ODDITIES

The NBA is back and it's time to delve a little deeper into the stats that our favorite, (and not so favorite) players put up.

The Wizards are going to be one of those teams where the starters have all of the value and it was again the case. Paul Pierce had his second productive night, scoring 16 points (6-13 FG, 2-2 3Pt, 2-2 FT) with four rebounds and two steals in 30 minutes and if for some reason he went undrafted in your league (and believe me, it did happen), he should be owned.

Nene returned from his one game suspension and slotted straight back into the starting lineup, putting up a decent line of 12 points (5-10 FG, 2-4 FT), four rebounds, five assists, and three steals in 34 minutes. It also means we are one game closer to another injury to the Brazilian big man and while he is productive, be prepared to cut him as soon as something tweaks the wrong way.

If you grabbed Otto Porter Jr. in a 10 or 12 team league, it might be time to move on given how Randy Wittman is using his rotation. Even though the Wizards are without Beal and Webster, it is Garrett Temple who is starting and getting the bulk of the minutes, with Porter playing just 18 minutes Thursday. He did grab three steals which helps any team, but the four points and one rebound are not what you need in a 10 or 12 team league.

I've been on record as being an Evan Fournier fan for a long time, but he hasn't always repaid my faith. He did Thursday though, dropping 21 points (8-10 FG, 3-4 3Pt, 2-2 FT) with four rebounds and one steal in 34 minutes. While Oladipo remains out, Fournier could justifiably be rostered in any league, but the 80 percent field goal shooting won't be a regular occurrence. Also, he is the owner of one of the top male buns (mun?) in the NBA.

There was a Ben Gordon sighting, pouring in 22 points (7-12 FG, 2-5 3Pt, 6-7 FT) with four assists including a Gordon to Gordon alley-oop. The fact that Gordon (of the Ben variety) played 26 minutes to Mo Harkless' zero is exhibit A as to why coach Jacque Vaughn is one of the front-runners to lose his job at some stage this season. If you own Harkless, by the way, that's two straight DNP-CDs, so feel free to move on.

Shane Larkin got another start at point guard and did what he can excel at, and that's getting steals. He led all players with five ball thefts, also adding nine points (4-6 FG, 1-1 3Pt) with five assists in 28 minutes, but as for his fantasy value, he's only worth looking at if you have a short-term need for steals.

Quincy Acy started at power forward, moving Amar'e Stoudemire to the bench, hamstringing Stoudemire's fantasy usefulness. Acy grabbed a solid 10 boards, but he's going to be hard to rely upon in the majority of fantasy leagues, whereas Stoudemire, who scored just eight points (3-8 FG, 2-2 FT) with four rebounds in 24 minutes will only be useful if he can get upward of 30 minutes a night.

In Cleveland, we saw Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love put up big lines, but LeBron James struggled. James scored 17 points (5-15 FG, 1-5 3Pt, 6-7 FT) with five rebounds and four assists. Drop him! In case you can't tell, I'm joking and by no means should you overact to a sub par performance in an emotional opening game. Things will be fine for James.

Love looked like he's going to be inhaling rebounds this season, pulling down 14 boards against the Knicks, adding 19 points (6-14 FG, 3-6 3Pt, 4-4 FT) and four assists. Love slipped to the second round in a lot of drafts and could end up being a huge bargain.

Caron Butler came out of nowhere to register 24 points (10-14 FG, 4-7 3Pt) with eight rebounds after going scoreless in the first game. He will have games like this, but don't count on it too often. He's deep league fodder for now.

The most important stat to take notice of on the Pistons is the fact that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope played 41 minutes. He took another 13 shots, hitting five of them and when they start falling, a big night beckons. He should be owned in all leagues, but his field goal percentage may sting occasionally.

Nikola Pekovic gave us a Nikola Pekovic special, scoring 17 points (7-13 FG, 3-3 FT) with 10 rebounds and literally nothing else in 31 minutes. His inability to do anything other than score and rebound makes it hard to value him highly in fantasy, but he does do those two categories well most times.

Andrew Wiggins started over Kevin Martin who played his first game of the season, but struggled again. I've seen Wiggins dropped in a number of leagues I'm in, and in a 10 team league I'd have no problem with it. He scored eight points (4-9 FG, 0-3 FT) with four rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 24 minutes.

Ricky Rubio got triple-double watch status, scoring 11 points (4-10 FG, 3-5 FT) with seven rebounds and eight assists with one steal in just 29 minutes. The minutes were a little low, but he battled foul trouble which impacted his court time. He looks a better player in the very early going this season.

All five of the Utah starters registered double digits in scoring, including Enes Kanter, whi played just 19 minutes. Kanter scored 11 points (4-10 FG, 1-2 3Pt, 2-3 FT) with four rebounds and seemed to split time with Trevor Booker (19 minutes) and Rudy Gobert (13 minutes). If I owned Kanter, I wouldn't be dropping just yet, but I definitely have my mouse poised over the drop button.

Al-Farouq Aminu put up an unexpected double-double for Dallas in just 20 bench minutes, scoring 16 points (6-7 FG, 1-1 3Pt, 3-4 FT) with 10 rebounds. He showed that he can grab boards while in New Orleans last season, but unless injury strikes down Dirk Nowitzki or Chandler Parsons, he'll be an inconsistent option.

Speaking of Parsons, he bounced back from a rough debut to score 21 points (8-16 FG, 1-3 3Pt, 4-4 FT) with seven rebounds. This is more what we expect from Parsons and we can write off the first performance as an anomaly.

I spoke briefly about Perry Jones II earlier, but he bears another mention. Jones, off a three point dud Wednesday, poured in 32 points (10-17 FG, 3-6 3Pt, 9-11 FT) with seven rebounds, three assists and one block. Will the real Perry Jones please stand up? His real value probably sits between the two lines, but with the Thunder's injuries, he's a nice short-term add, hoping he keeps up the positive momentum.

Sebastian Telfair will be another hot waiver wire player, particularly if Reggie Jackson is still another game away. Telfair played 38 minutes with Westbrook out, scoring 11 points (2-9 FG, 1-5 3Pt, 6-8 FT) with seven assists and one steal and will be a useful guy for daily games and as a streaming option when the Thunder play Saturday.

We saw the Clippers in action for the first time and got fairly standard performances from Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, that is to say, very solid. Paul stuffed the box score with 22 points (9-18 FG, 1-3 3Pt, 3-7 FT), four rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one block in 37 minutes, while Griffin led the Clippers with 23 points (8-18 FG, 7-10 FT) and grabbed seven rebounds.

NIGHTLY LEADERS

Points

1. Perry Jones III, F, OKC, 32 points
2. John Wall, G, WAS, 30 points
3. Carmelo Anthony, F, NYK, 25 points

Rebounds

1. Kevin Love, F, CLE, 14 rebounds
2. Nikola Vucevic, C, ORL, 12 rebounds
3. Marcin Gortat, C, WAS, 12 rebounds
4. Andre Drummond, C, DET, 12 rebound

Assists

1. John Wall, G, WAS, 12 assists
2. Ricky Rubio, G, MIN, 8 assists
3. Six players tied with 7 assists

Steals

1. Shane Larkin, G, NYK, 5 steals
2. Chris Paul, G, LAC, 3 steals
3. Thaddeus Young, F, MIN, 3 steals
4. Nene, F, WAS, 3 steals
5. Jamal Crawford, G, LAC, 3 steals
6. Otto Porter Jr., F, WAS, 3 steals

Blocks

1. Brandan Wright, C, DAL, 2 blocks
2. Andre Drummond, C, DET, 2 blocks
3. Josh Smith, F, DET, 2 blocks
4. Matt Barnes, F, LAC, 2 blocks
5. Gorgui Dieng, C, MIN, 2 blocks

Three-Pointers

1. Caron Butler, F, DET, 4-7 3Pt
2. Perry Jones III, F, OKC, 3-6 3Pt
3. Kevin Love, F, CLE, 3-6 3Pt
4. Evan Fournier, G, ORL, 3-4 3Pt
5. Alec Burks, G, UTA, 3-5 3Pt
6. Devin Harris, G, DAL, 3-7 3Pt
7. Trevor Booker, F, UTA, 3-4 3Pt

Minutes

1. Kyrie Irving, G, CLE, 43 minutes
2. LeBron James, F, CLE, 43 minutes
3. Perry Jones III, F, OKC, 42 minutes