RADIO
Kev Mahserejian highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's November 1st slate. This recap focuses on Robert Covington, De'Aaron Fox, and Dario Saric.
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games.
Thursday night featured a larger slate than the usual Thursday with six games. Several awesome fantasy performances went down but we only cover those we find most noteworthy. Shout out to Joel Embiid for scoring the day's high with 41 against the Clippers and nearly fouling out every single one of their big men. Unfortunately, he isn't one of the featured athletes because his totals shouldn't surprise anyone at this point. The man is undoubtedly top-10 in the league right now and will continue to climb.
Without further ado, let's take it away in the Thursday, November 1st recap with some fantasy highlights (and one lowlight).
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De'Aaron Fox: A Foxy Statline
Excuse my terrible De'Aaron Fox wordplay. He just left me relatively speechless after checking the box score. 31 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists on 9-of-13 shooting and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. This is Fox's first career 30-point game and it was phenomenal all-around.
Fox has taken a sophomore jump and it has boosted the Kings to six wins in their first nine games (despite some weak competition of late). His shooting percentages have been interesting to follow. The three-point percentage is down significantly while his overall field goal percentage is up. He's clearly attacking the rim as often as possible. He's getting to the free-throw line nearly three times as often which is huge for his scoring output.
His usage and minutes are up as well as his numbers across the board. Fox is setting himself up to skyrocket up draft boards next season. While he may not have the liberty of playing the Atlanta Hawks and triple-doubling every game, he should continue dropping numbers across the stat-sheet. Nevertheless, the next step has to be three-point shooting to really advance his game and fantasy notoriety.
Robert Covington: Stock Stork
Robert Covington's average draft position on ESPN was an absolute joke. The man is a dominant provider in nine-category leagues and is putting up an elite 2-2-2 (Threes/Steals/Blocks) per game. Sure, his value in points leagues is capped due to his average at best production at points and rebounds. Nonetheless, the money categories are covered for typical Roto and H2H category leagues.
Thursday night was just another monster day at the stock market for RoCo. Four steals and three blocks are basically what he is averaging over the past four games. Throw in the two three-pointers, 10 points, seven rebounds, and just one turnover on top as an added bonus.
There are similar games to come with RoCo as he is fully capable of throwing down days like this regularly. What he does on the defensive end is relatively sustainable given his track record and prowess for finding the ball. The block average may dip a bit but you can't complain if your mid-round small forward is putting up over one per game. He only saw a collapse in production/efficiency last season after a mid-season back injury he never fully recovered from. This year, he looks like he regained his first-half form from 2017-2018 despite the free throw percentage taking a slip. He's someone to buy high from an owner who underrates or doubts his talent.
Dario Saric: Dari-oh No
The barf emoji is the aptest way to describe Dario Saric's Thursday night as well as his year overall to date. 1-for-8 shooting, five points, three rebounds, and two assists. Owners are lucky he didn't take too many more shots that could have tanked their field goal percentage further. His five personal fouls explain the low 24 minutes played although his numbers would have justified it as well.
Saric has been flat-out bad to start the year. His field goal shooting percentages have tanked from year-two to three. Not really sure if Junior year slumps are a thing but Saric might be setting the standard. His minutes have gone up each season since his rookie year, as a result, it's disappointing to see such gaudy efficiency.
Owners have to keep holding the Homie Dario for just a bit longer because fewer than 10 games is too soon to make roster decisions on mid-round picks. However, if a hot free agent pops up and Saric is your worst player, you wouldn't be wrong to consider it. Give him this coming month for him to figure it out, then you'll be free to cut bait. Best guess is that the roster is figuring out which lineups work with and without Fultz since he's basically become entrenched as a starter. Dario may get a boost in time once the team's chemistry improves, or when Wilson Chandler gets healthy. No promises though.
