This article is part of our Rebound & Rant series.
No, this is not political commentary.
One of my hoops teams is already in trouble. Is it too early to panic? Guys that cost me a pretty penny in auction leagues are underperforming. How nervous should we get about these early busts?
What in the name of H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks is going on!?! Jokic received a crazy amount of love on preseason breakout and sleeper lists. One RotoWire Auction list had him at 35th in cost. And when Denver dealt Joffrey Lauvergne to OKC, it sure looked like it wanted to free minutes for Jokic. So far, Nikola Jokic is playing second fiddle to Jusuf Nurkic down low. Denver is trying to start both big men with mixed results. Through seven games, Jokic is getting 24 minutes per game to Nurkic's 26 minutes. But, more importantly, Jokic is getting only 8.7 shot attempts per game to Nurkic's 9.9 shots and Nurkic is out rebounding Jokic by almost three rebounds per game. The blocks should improve, but the early returns are frustrating.
This will sound ugly and petty, but Jokic owners may have to wait for the expected Nurkic injury. Nurkic lost 50 games over two seasons to a lower back strain. Could that back become an issue again? There is also the expectation that Denver makes a big trade by February, freeing minutes for the holdovers. The Nuggets have a lot of similar players, but no star. They have many draft picks and young up-and-comers they can bundle for a
No, this is not political commentary.
One of my hoops teams is already in trouble. Is it too early to panic? Guys that cost me a pretty penny in auction leagues are underperforming. How nervous should we get about these early busts?
What in the name of H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks is going on!?! Jokic received a crazy amount of love on preseason breakout and sleeper lists. One RotoWire Auction list had him at 35th in cost. And when Denver dealt Joffrey Lauvergne to OKC, it sure looked like it wanted to free minutes for Jokic. So far, Nikola Jokic is playing second fiddle to Jusuf Nurkic down low. Denver is trying to start both big men with mixed results. Through seven games, Jokic is getting 24 minutes per game to Nurkic's 26 minutes. But, more importantly, Jokic is getting only 8.7 shot attempts per game to Nurkic's 9.9 shots and Nurkic is out rebounding Jokic by almost three rebounds per game. The blocks should improve, but the early returns are frustrating.
This will sound ugly and petty, but Jokic owners may have to wait for the expected Nurkic injury. Nurkic lost 50 games over two seasons to a lower back strain. Could that back become an issue again? There is also the expectation that Denver makes a big trade by February, freeing minutes for the holdovers. The Nuggets have a lot of similar players, but no star. They have many draft picks and young up-and-comers they can bundle for a frontline scorer. But can your team wait until that happens? Jokic is only 21 years old – maybe we were expecting too much of a three-point shooting improvement? He's at 0.4 threes made per game, exactly his production last season. You can tell I'm panicking when every sentence ends in a question mark.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: there is NO WAY Thompson continues to shoot 41.2 percent from the field. He's a career 45 percent shooter. The hot streak will come, as will open shots with teams focused on Durant and Curry.
Klay Thompson is 11-of-53 from deep through 7 games.Steph Curry hit 13 the other night. pic.twitter.com/6GDGN301L5
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) November 9, 2016
Serge Ibaka
How do I say this nicely? CUT BAIT! A very smart competitor just offered me Ibaka within a quantity-for-quality trade offer. When a guy is in the "quantity" side of offers, that's a bad sign. Ibaka's numbers have been gradually heading south since his 2013-14 OKC season of 15.1 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. The uptick in treys hasn't offset the drop in points, boards and blocks. And he is on arguably one of the worst offenses in the NBA. No one on the Magic other than Evan Fournier can shoot. The Magic are second to last in points per game (they are 0.4 points ahead of Philly) despite ranking 10th in shot attempts per game. Coach Frank Vogel has a mess on his hands and will have to do a lot of experimenting to figure things out. With Ibaka averaging 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.0 block per game through seven matches, deal him now to a team desperate for blocks.
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Brandon Knight is only 24, yet he seems like a ready to retire old-timer relative to the Devin Booker express. With Booker on fire, Knight is down 10 minutes per game versus last season. That's resulted in only 11.5 points, 3.0 assists and 0.9 made threes per game. So much for that sixth man of the year award. Knowing Knight was headed to a bench role, I avoided him in all my drafts and auctions. But now I think he's a buy-low candidate. He just got dropped in one of my shallow leagues. I can't see Knight shooting 34 percent all season. And how about Phoenix dealing him to Philly for a young big? This drop is just too dramatic, something better will happen soon.
As you know, the Pelicans are terrible. And early on with only E'Twaun Moore in Hield's way on the depth chart, many expected huge minutes and production from Hield. Unfortunately, eight games in and the sixth overall pick is really struggling, shooting 38 percent from the field for 9.4 points, 1.0 assist and 0.6 steals from 21 minutes per game. Ack! Hopefully you didn't reach for Hield. Rookies are always a roller coaster. Ideally you have room on your bench to stash Hield until he turns things around.
If you have any of the players above, I hope your fortunes change quickly. That's it for the Disappointment Express – the K-Train is at the end of the line!
