Last week’s debut of the Midweek 5 was full of bad news. Michael Porter Jr. was the cover photo and he was promptly shut down for a COVID quarantine the next day after I rambled on about how amazing he is. And Ja Morant’s severe ankle sprain was another big story. I’ll try to do less damage this week. Follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
1. Week 4 Schedule fitting of a Midweek ‘5’ mention
Week 4 gets underway on Monday and I’m pleased to report that both the Pacers and Sixers have a tasty five-game week on the horizon, while the Timberwolves have a dreaded two-game week. Five-game players that are automatic starts in fantasy include Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, Seth Curry and Danny Green (although I might start a four-game player over Green, depending on who it is). If you roster any of those players you should be set for a fun week and some big numbers. Just beware that both teams have a pair of back-to-backs next week, which could impact some these players. And when I say ‘some of these players,’ I’m looking at you, Embiid. But it’s also possible that all of them play in all five games. I’ll add a public service announcement here. I picked up Gary Harris three years ago heading into a five-game week, thinking I had pulled off the move of the year and I was ready to sit back and watch the numbers roll in. And then he was a late scratch on Monday with an injury and ended up missing all five games. The pain and devastation of that week has stuck with me to this day and I hope none of you suffer a similar fate. In other words, be careful.
As far as the potential pickups go, which you need to be thinking about right now, there aren’t any great options, although there are some intriguing ones. For the Sixers, Shake Milton and a potentially healthy Mike Scott look like the only reasonable options, while the Pacers should give Justin Holiday and Doug McDermott nice roles for five games. Aaron Holiday also gets enough minutes to get a look, but he’s risky. Justin Holiday looks like the best option of that group to me, as he’s nearly guaranteed to get you some steals, threes and points, in addition to some peripheral stats. Shake and McDermott are also viable pickups, although McDermott probably won’t do anything but score and rack up some 3-pointers and Milton is a model of inconsistency. I wouldn’t pick any of these guys up in hopes of playing them over a three-game stud and breaking the bank, but if you put a marginal five-gamer in over a marginal three-gamer, you should come out ahead.
On the flip side of the coin, the Timberwolves play just two games next week. Two-game potential starters in weekly leagues include D’Angelo Russell (who went off on Tuesday) and Malik Beasley, and that’s about it. And for the record, I don’t think I’d be willing to start any Wolves in a weekly league. Obviously, you’ll want to start them on the nights they play in daily leagues, but the more Wolves you have in your lineup next week, the harder things are going to be. I wouldn’t trust Ricky Rubio right now with four games, let alone two, while Anthony Edwards, Juancho Hernangomez (who went nuts on Tuesday), Jarrett Culver and Naz Reid (who came off the bench on Tuesday) can be started on the nights they play, but shouldn’t be in any weekly lineups. It’s going to be a long week if you roster more than one Timberwolf, but if you’ve got Karl-Anthony Towns you might sleep better knowing that he might only miss two games with his wrist injury. But the hope is he plays next week, even though we don’t have much information on his status out of Minnesota.
Lastly, I know a lot of leagues use games-played limits. If your league will only let you have 70 starts at each position, or any other number under 72, there’s no need to put a marginal player in your lineup for a five-game week. Save those game-limit plays for your studs if you can.
Here’s the schedule breakdown for Week 4.
5 Games: Pacers, Sixers
4 Games: Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Cavaliers, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Knicks, Thunder, Magic, Suns, Blazers, Kings, Jazz, Wizards
3 Games: Nets, Bulls, Nuggets, Pistons, Warriors, Rockets, Clippers, Lakers, Heat, Bucks, Spurs, Raptors
2 Games: Timberwolves
If you’re interested in seeing a weekly breakdown of schedules on Mondays (my column) as well as the entire season’s schedule grid, check out our NBA Season Tools. The nightly Pickup of the Day column, rankings, weekly projections, other exclusive columns and more are all there for as low as $3.99!
2. No. 7 & 8 are down and out
Michael Porter Jr. is the No. 7 player in nine-cat right now and Kevin Durant Jr. is the No. 8 player, according to Basketballmonster.com. MPJ has been out since last Friday and while we haven’t been given any specifics about when we might see him again, you have to hope he’s on the same seven-day quarantine program that Durant is enduring right now. If that’s the case, it’s possible that we could see Porter Jr. on Saturday at Philadelphia. Durant managers are miserable right now as they watch their guy sit out the entirety of Week 3, which was all set to be a monstrous four-gamer for KD.
My point is that we’re only three weeks into this thing and we’ve already seen the No. 7 and No. 8 guys in all of fantasy hoops locked into their hotel room or house for an entire week. More players are going to face the same fate as the season progresses and it’s never been more important for fantasy managers to be dialed into the Rotoworld news feed at game time, especially on Mondays. And life is still happening for all of us so I’m aware that a lot of you may not have the luxury of camping out in front of your computer and hitting the refresh button every night at 6:45, but if you really want to win your league, it’s probably something you’ll have to figure out.
Editor’s Note: If you’re on the hunt for rankings, projections, strategy and advice on how to dominate your fantasy drafts, check out the 2020-21 Rotoworld NBA Draft Guide. And while you’re at it, be sure to save while on your way to victory. Use code HOLIDAY20 through January 3, 2021 to get 20% off any EDGE+ package. Click here to learn more!
3. Kelly Olynyk suddenly looks fantastic
I picked up Kelly Olynyk on a hunch in several leagues (six?) on Monday morning and then he made his first start of the season and went off for a season-high 19 points, eight rebounds and a season-high five 3-pointers on 7-of-9 shooting later that night. He also had eight points, two 3-pointers, two steals and two blocks on Friday after racking up 15 points, eight boards, four dimes, a block and three more 3-pointers last Wednesday. That’s a really nice three-game log and as long as he’s starting for the Heat I’m going to roster him and let him rip. The Heat have three games left this week (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday) and then play three times in Week 4.
4. Willie Cauley-Stein ramping up?
While Olynyk looks like one of the strongest center pickups right now, Willie Cauley-Stein also turned some heads when he was inserted into the starting five for the Mavericks on Monday night in a surprise move by Rick Carlisle. The Mavs won a tough one against the Rockets and the defense played well, so it’s possible that they stick with this new lineup for a while. Tim Hardaway Jr. came off the bench for the first time in forever and hit eight 3-pointers for a season-high 30 points (he should be rostered), while WCS started at center and came through with 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in 24 minutes. Dwight Powell was already trending down with the impending return of Kristaps Porzingis (knee surgery) and is a safe drop now. And while Cauley-Stein looked good, he’s also going to take a hit once KP is back. Porzingis appears to be nearing a return but if you’re in a deep league and want to grab WCS and deploy him until it happens, I can get on board with it.
5. Kelly Oubre and Draymond Green are making noise but where is Robert Covington?
Kelly Oubre got off to a disastrous start to the season and his first three games featured 7-of-40 shooting from the field, 0-of-17 shooting from downtown and a scoring average of just 5.7 points with 1.0 assists. Yeah, he averaged 2.0 steals and 7.7 rebounds, but he wasn’t playing well. Oubre still hasn’t blown up, but he’s been much better over his last four, averaging nearly 15 points, 4.3 boards, 1.3 steals, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 3-pointers. And that rebounding number goes up significantly if you look at his last five instead of his last four games, as he had a season-high 11 boards in game three. In any case, he’s scored in double figures in four straight games and has hit 13-of-26 shots and five 3-pointers over his last two. It was only a matter of time before he got it going and he’s going to be even better than this going forward.
Draymond Green still isn’t racking up monster numbers and may never do so again, but the Warriors look A LOT better with him on the floor and he was really into Monday’s game, finishing with five points, five boards, five assists, two steals and a 3-pointer in his 21 minutes. I’m still not a huge fan of rostering him in fantasy but if you’ve already got him, you might as well hang onto him as he works his way back into shape, rather than trading him while his value is still waning.
Robert Covington’s start to the season might have been worse than Oubre’s, as he didn’t score more than eight points in his first six games and was averaging just 6.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.5 blocks and 1.2 3-pointers through them. But he came to life in Monday’s loss to the Bulls, racking up a season-high 14 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block and four 3-pointers on 5-of-10 shooting in 37 minutes. He also played great defense and took a big charge with the game on the line. Covington’s never going to blow you away with his scoring but this is a guy who averaged 11.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.6 steals, 2.2 blocks and 2.4 3-pointers in 22 games for the Rockets last season. He’s also going to make the Blazers a better team in reality and while they blew a 20-point lead and lost to the Bulls on Tuesday night, Covington is starting to get back on track. Hopefully you hung in there with him long enough for him to show you what he can do. Tuesday night’s success should be just the tip of the iceberg.
"five" - Google News
January 06, 2021 at 01:54PM
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Sixers, Pacers play five games in Week 4 - Yahoo Sports
"five" - Google News
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