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Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight a few key fantasy basketball takeaways from the games played during last night's slate. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making based on trends and statistical nuggets from around the Association.
Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, every time I mention Fantasy Points in these articles I will be using DraftKings' scoring system, which goes as follows: 1*PTS, 0.5*3PM, 1.25*RBD, 1.5*AST, 2*STL, 2*BLK, -0.5*TO. On top of that, bonus points are awarded for Double-Doubles (+1.5) and Triple-Doubles (+3), only one per player at a time.
Without further ado, let's get right into the latest slate of games from the 2021 season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.
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Wednesday, March 31
Boston fights back from a 23-point deficit but ultimately falls short; Andre Drummond gets injured in his first game as a Laker
As it's been the case multiple times this season, the Boston Celtics dig themselves a deep hole to fall into against the Mavs on Wednesday, being down 23 points by the middle of the third quarter. Although the Beantowners tried to fight back and they did so--Boston was just 2 points behind with 16 seconds to go--it all went for nothing as Dallas went away with the victory on a night that left the C's 23-25 and sitting on the East eighth seed, only one game above no. 9 Indiana.
As for the Lakers, they were able to unwrap their new toy in Andre Drummond putting him in the starting lineup for the first time since he signed after getting bought out by Cleveland a few days ago. Dru stayed on the floor for just 15 minutes, as he was forced out of Wednesday's game in the third quarter because of a toe injury and wasn't able to return. Reports say he was stepped on by Brook Lopez and no real damage was sustained, but this is definitely not the way Los Angeles envisioned Drummond's start to his Lakers days.
- The Nets were without James Harden for a while yesterday due to tightness in his right hamstring, but that's not much of a problem as Kyrie Irving took on the leading role (remember, Kevin Durant is out) and put on a monster 31-6-12-1 performance to lead the fantasy slate with 60 FP, the lone player to reach that mark on yesterday's slate of games.
- Jrue Holiday is hitting his peak these days for Milwaukee. Against a barren of talent Lakers squad on Wednesday, Jrue put up a packed 28-8-6-4-1 line shooting 69% from the floor on 16 FGA in just 34 minutes of playing time. Only Devin Booker beat him on the FP/min leaderboard, which makes sense considering Book finished Chicago with 45 pops and a 4-4-1-1 rest-of-line in 35 minutes.
- Zach LaVine is banged up and was sidelined yesterday. Keep an eye on his injury and status going forward, because Chicago might shut him down if they fall from the postseason picture. In ZLV absence, Nikola Vucevic had his first great game as a Bull with a 24-10-3-2-1 dub-dub. More importantly for fantasy GMs looking to get an edge out there, and if LaVine ends missing ample time, it might be Denzel Valentine's time: 19-6-4 line off the pine in 29 minutes for a great 1.10 FP/min average and a second-unit leading 28% usage rate.
- Traded prior to deadline-day, Svi Mykhailiuk started yesterday for the Thunder at the SG spot, played 36 minutes, and put up a sound 22-9 with 4 treys and 2 blocks to go with. Nothing super remarkable or mindblowing, sure, but it came from a starter in a squad that will miss Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for a while and that seems committed to the tank once for all. Svi is available in 95%+ of Yahoo leagues.
- One has to be worried with RJ Barrett in fantasy leagues. Odds are he keeps logging incredibly-high minutes (he played 41 yesterday), but once/if those runs got cut a bit, he might turn into a walking dud. Barrett finished with just 33 FP on Wednesday for a measly 0.81 FP/min, way below the league average. The counting stats are there, obviously, but the minute his playing time gets cut I'd like to have nothing to do with him.
- Jordan Clarkson (24-7 with a steal and 4 treys) had one of those performances that have him as the leading 6MOY candidate, but that's not news. More interesting: Hamidou Diallo put up his second consecutive 19-burger coming off Detroit's bench. Three games for Diallo in Motown, the last two playing 26 and 27 minutes, and an average 19-8-3-1-1 line in those two matches. Diallo is still available in 60%+ of Yahoo leagues and he is building a case to become a starter. Won't hesitate to add him to my roster had I an open spot.
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