RADIO
Spencer Aguiar highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's November 17th slate. This recap focuses on Nikola Vucevic, John Collins, and Tobias Harris.
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games. Saturday provided some tremendous performances from the NBA's biggest stars. The Philadelphia 76ers went into Charlotte and toppled the Hornets in extra time by a score of 122-119. Jimmy Butler produced a key block late in overtime and hit the game-winning three with three-tenths of a second remaining on the clock. While Butler's achievements would be the story of the game most nights, Kemba Walker stole the show by scoring a career-high 60 points. Walker's output set a new Charlotte single-game record and is the most points scored by any NBA player this season. The 28-year-old also becomes the 26th member of the NBA's distinguished 60-plus point club. Walkers 19-point outburst in the fourth quarter helped the Hornets to force overtime, but his ultra-efficient night of 21-for-34 from the floor and 12-for-12 from the free throw line wasn't enough to get Charlotte a victory.
The New Orleans Pelicans increased their record to 9-7 on the season with a 125-115 victory over the Denver Nuggets. Anthony Davis scored at least 40 points for his second straight game, going for 40 on the dot with eight rebounds, eight assists and one block on 10-for-20 shooting from the field. Not bad after a 43 point, 17 rebound and five assist line on Friday. Davis was troubled by a nagging left arm injury in the first half, even leaving for the locker room at one point, but he came out practically unstoppable in the second half. As long as he can stay healthy, Davis is making a strong case for MVP right now.
And the Indiana Pacers defeated the Atlanta Hawks 97-89. A Hawks game does not usually enter the three-game breakdown, but Victor Oladipo was forced out of the contest in the first quarter and never returned to action. Oladipo came into Saturday struggling with right knee soreness, and I was partially surprised that the Pacers didn't give him the night off against the now 3-13 Hawks. I would guess that he was just being held out for precautionary measures, but Oladipo should be considered day-to-day until we hear further information. As exciting as the news has already been, our three main takeaways of the night are still to come. So without further ado, let's take a more in-depth look into Saturday's action.
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Nikola Vucevic: Sell Or Hold?
A lot has been made about what to do with Nikola Vucevic after his quick start to the 2018 season. And I want to preface this statement by saying every player that you own should always be moveable. That doesn't mean you are actively looking to move specific pieces on your team, but neglecting a trade because a player like Anthony Davis is untouchable shouldn't be a real thing. You can drive a steep price, but would you really turn down James Harden and Kevin Durant for Davis? I know these are absurd examples, but I want to make a point that everyone has a price.
So let's get back to the real question of what to do with Vucevic? On Saturday, the 28-year-old produced his second straight masterpiece of at least 30 points, ending the night with a season-high 36 points to go along with 13 rebounds, two steals and two three-pointers on 15-for-23 shooting from the floor. The performance gives him new averages on the year of 19.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 three-pointers made on 54.9 percent shooting from the field. He has also provided a 78.6 percent average from the charity stripe and 2.1 turnovers per contest.
Vucevic is starting to creep towards top-10 value in nine-category leagues, and I think the production is more or less sustainable. It goes back to what I was saying earlier. I know a lot of people inside the industry are advocating selling him high, but I am holding him unless I get an offer that blows me away. I would probably move him for most of the fellow top-15 ranked players, but he isn't someone I am letting go for much less than that.
John Collins: Returns For Atlanta
John Collins made his long-awaited debut to the season on Saturday night, scoring 12 points to go along with two rebounds and one block in 12 minutes of action against the Indiana Pacers. Collins was said to have a 13-minute cap in his season debut, which makes sense after missing 1.5 months due to an ankle injury.
It seems likely that Atlanta will very gradually ease their 21-year-old star back into action. There is no reason for the Hawks to rush him into a full workload when they are a tanking team at 3-13 on the year. But for us fantasy owners, this is going to allow a fantastic buy-low window, especially if he continues to get progressed through this process slowly. He won't be found on many waiver wires in competitive leagues, but there are a few situations where he was inexplicably dropped. I would have preferred trading for Collins before he returned, but after his perceived dud tonight, the window is still open. When Collins is healthy, he should be able to produce top-50 value in category leagues and has the upside to surpass that.
Tobias Harris: NBA's Most Consistent Non-Superstar
Tobias Harris scored a season-high 27 points in the Clippers 127-119 win in Brooklyn on Saturday. Harris was able to add in eight rebounds, three assists and two three-pointers in 37 minutes.
Maybe the most interesting snippet of Harris' stat line was that his 27-point performance was a season-high total for him. Frankly, I don't even understand how that is possible with Harris averaging 20.7 points in 15 games this season. Like seriously, how is his 27-point "explosion" only 6.3 points above his season average. We aren't talking about some small two-game sample size here; this is nearly 20 percent of the year already played.
Harris has scored at least 15 points in every game this season and has scored at least 20 points in 60 percent of the contests. His season averages of 20.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.6 blocks, 1.9 threes and 1.9 turnovers on 51.3 percent shooting from the field and 80.8 from the line has him hovering right around top-30 value in nine-category leagues. His defensive statistics will most likely not allow the 26-year-old to crack inside the top-15, but there is that nice window between 20-30 that Harris should hover around all season. If you own him, enjoy the NBA's most consistent non-superstar, and if you don't, see if the member in your league doesn't appreciate Harris' value.
