Week 17 NBA Fantasy Basketball Updates/ Reports (All Star Weekend recap)

Welcome Back to Zeeks Fantasy Basketball blog



The last week in the NBA was a short one considering it was the NBA all-star break, very few teams played the week going into the break so there was not much to be done last week, except get a win! Which is what my fantasy team was able to do after a two week losing streak, Thank God! Usually the All-star break gives players an extended resting period to deal with those small nagging injuries, so bloggers expect some of your players to return to the line up Thursday night as NBA action resumes.



NBA All-Star weekend 2015 was one for the ages, history was made on all three days, dunks were made and wont be forgotten any time soon. There is a likely three point contest winner that has not won before this year, history made during the dunk off and another point guard winning MVP during the All-Star game.



It all started on Friday night with the BBVA Rising Stars challenge, where usually the rookies of the NBA will play the sophmores, but NBA commissioner Adam Silver had the tainted idea of mixing things up a bit this All-star weekend. Considering the recent amount of young international talent taking over the NBA, the new theme of this event would change to "USA vs The World." which means the best of the first and second year american talent in the NBA would square off against the first and second year talent of international players in the NBA. The game was no different from any other all-star event, with no defense and a lot of dunks but what fans did not expect was a win for the World team, led by Canada's own 2014 number 1 draft pick; Andrew Wiggins who led the world team to victory with 22 points.



All Star Saturday has two major events that fans actually care about, no offence to the skills challenge, which saw Patrick Beverly reign as the champ. But the Foot Locker three point shootout this year was hyped to be the most competitive of recent years, including a bunch of all stars like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Korver and other three point marksmen in the NBA like JJ Redick, Wesley Matthews and defending champion Marco Bellinelli. The shootout left viewers entertained and with a new champ, one half of the "Splash Bros." Stephen Curry. Later that night was the highly anticipated Sprite Slam Dunk off featuring 4 young players who all participated in the rising stars challenge. Victor Oladip of the Orlando Magic, Giannis Antetekumpo of the Bucks, Mason Plumlee of the Brooklyn Nets and Zach Lavine of the Timberwolves. This showdown will not be forgotten by viewers anytime soon, providing fans with dunks that have never been seen before in NBA dunk off history. Oladipo and Lavine were the two finalists but the Night was capped off with Lavine holding up the trophy.



The big show on All-star sunday featuring all the Big Names, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry etc. did not disappoint either remaining fairly close the whole game with loads of highlights in dunks, crossovers and passes, but in the end saw the Western conference all-stars come out on top with Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russel Westbrook holding up the MVP trophy at the end of the night finishing one point shy of the all time points record in an All-star game with 41 points, all while coming off the bench. James Harden almost put up a triple double in the event, recording 29 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists



Thanks Bloggers for following Zeeks Fantasy Basketall



Zeek Signing out

Week 16 Zeeks NBA Fantasy Updates, Injuries & Rankings

Hello Bloggers,

Welcome back to Zeeks Fantasy Basketball updates, a lot has gone down since last weeks entry including history going down in the books, players going down with injury and the highly anticipated all star weekend 2015 in NYC is going down this weekend. My Fantasy team also went down with a Loss, I saw a lot of my players get hurt or either sit games out for resting purposes. My MVP: Kevin Durant made his return to action with a big splash this week, while he was out though his teammate Russel Westbrook was carrying the Load for the OKC Thunder as well as strengthening his case as a league MVP candidate. James Harden is continuing to take the league by storm with multiple 40 point performances night in and night out and a few all star snubs from last week will be making their way onto the big stage come Sunday night in Madison Square Garden.



First of all I would like to congratulate the San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich for reaching 1000 regular season wins as an NBA coach, only the ninth coach to reach this accolade. The spurs have one All-Star participating in all-star game this Sunday February 15th in Tim Duncan. His All-star teammate, Blake Griffin, has gone down this week with a staph infection in his right elbow which will require surgery which means he will be missing up to 3-4 weeks with recovery time. In other words, if you have DeAndre Jordan on your team you should see increased production from him, he is already a top-50 value player in fantasy basketball and is continuing to rise after posting a 22 point 27 rebound the other night against the Mavericks; also if you're looking for someone on the clippers to fill the void, Spencer Hawes is a good option for picking up, I did it. Hawes is a talented offensive player that can stretch the floor as a big but lacks as a defensive presence but with Blake Griffin missing time as well as Glen Davis being day-to-day with back spasms, Hawes is a great pickup option.



Another All-star reserve for the eastern conference going down with injury last night, Jimmy Butler, this is sad to see because Jimmy was having a breakout season and deserves to play in the game this weekend. Butler went down with a right shoulder strain last night against the kings, Butler is a top-10 value Fantasy basketball player so replacing him will not be exactly easy for the bulls but players like Tony Snell and Mike Dunleavy, who is just coming back off of injury himself, will see increased minutes and touches so picking them up or trading for them would not be a bad idea especially since Tony Snell has created career highs in points on two separate nights this week. Snell is a long distance shooter who hit 4 of 6 three point attempts last night against the kings and notched 24 points, following his previous career high game of 19 points, with 5 three pointers against the Pelicans late last week. Also Kirk Hinrich is out with a turf toe so Zeek says Snell is worth picking up bloggers.



Mitch McGary is another sleeper that has made a splash on the NBA scene this week, with Kendrick Perkins being suspended for last Sunday's game against the Clippers and Steven Adams going out with a fractured finger in the first half McGary got his chance and did well with it scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, the rookie out of Michigan was a great spark off of the bench and an instant fan favorite.But he was not done there, the following night seeing Kendrick Perkins draw the start and OKC playing the nuggets, McGary would draw back up center minutes with Steven Adams out and would almos duplicate his performance from the night before, going for 17 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting 50% from the field and adding a block. I'm not saying McGary is a must have player but keep an eye on the kid, if you had Steven Adams starting for you, McGary is a great pick up option for the time Adams will serve to injury.



Remember last week, talking about Damian Lillard getting snubbed from the All-star game, well it looks like all of these injuries the league is seeing today is serving purpose because with Blake Griffin going down with that staph infection in his elbow there would be an open roster spot for the taking and NBA commissioner Adam Silver was quick to give it to Damian Lillard, since Demarcus Cousins was already selected to replace Kobe Bryant. Now Kevin Durant will replace Blake in the starting lineup and Lillard will join the reserves. On the eastern team, Dwayne Wade announced that he will not play in the game this weekend due to his hamstring injury that he has been dealing with for majority of the season, which opened up a reserve spot that was filled by Kyle Korver of the Atlanta Hawks, selected by the NBA commissioner again. This leads to four Atlanta Hawks being on the bench come Sunday for the All-star game. The hawks have the second best record in the association and their head coach Mike Budenholzer will also coach the Eastern All star team.

'Splash Brothers'

The 'Splash Brothers' Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry of the Golden State warriors have made NBA history as the only team mates to ever both score 50 points in the same season. They have lead the warriors to the best record in the NBA this season at 39-9, and they are both top 10 fantasy value players.



Thanks for tuning in Bloggers,



Until next week!



Zeek.

Week 15 NBA Fantasy Basketball Injury, Ranking Updates

Good morning Bloggers,


Welcome back to Zeeks Fantasy Basketball Updates. Another week in the books but my team fell short in the win column making my team record 8-5 and tying me for second in my league, how did yours do? Struggling? leave a comment below and lets see if I can make things easier with what I've learned thus far this season.


Last week the All Star teams reserves were announced, including a few first time all stars and a few angry players that believe they got snubbed, believing they should have been on the roster. Leading the pack of Snubs is Damian Lillard, in my opinion a definite all star caliber player, he was one last season. But when you think about all of the guards in the western conference in the NBA, the only way to fit all of them on one roster is to expand it; which Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner is contemplating for next season. But anyways if you have Damian Lillard on your roster, who was already a top-10 value fantasy player, you may be in for some surprises as Lillard is made it clear that he is not pleased with his snub and is going to take out his anger on the competition. So far Lillards revenge tour has not been what most expected. In the first game of the tour he failed to prove himself only scoring 13 points going 6-20 from the field, but he did have 6 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals and one block resulting in a team loss. In the following game he went for 19 points, 5 rebounds, 9 assists, three steals and one block, filling out the stat sheet, but this is a bad game to Damians standard, shooting 6-19 from the field. In his most recent game he seemed to be getting back into his regular 'Dame' form, going for 25 points, four rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, with 10-17 shooting from the field. He also had a ridiculously nasty dunk on one of the best shot blockers in the NBA, Rudy Gobert; video above ^^^^^^^^^^.

Honourable Mentions:

The Atlanta Hawks have gone 17-0 in the month of January beating everyone, from playoff contenders to lottery pick tankers, taking no mercy on the NBA before suffering their first loss of the new year to the New Orleans Pelicans; where the No.1 overall ranked fantasy player, Anthony Davis exploded for 29 points on 12-23 shooting with 13 rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks. Getting help from Eric Gordon as well with 20 points, seven assists, three rebounds, one block and four three pointers. Tyreke Evans had his share of contribution as well filling in for Jrue Holiday at the point guard spot with a stat line of 15 points, five rebounds, 12 assists and two steals, hitting one three pointer. Davis is  already owned in 100% but guys like Tyreke and Eric are definite pick up guys if available in your league. Shout out to the Atlanta Hawks for their Amazing Run ans shout out to the New Orleans Pelicans for ending it.

Kyrie Irving - Cleveland Cavaliers

Another Honorable mention goes out to Kyrie Irving, the eighth ranked player in Fantasy Basketball for scoring an NBA season high 55 points against Damian Lillard and the Blazers in a 99-94 victory. Irving also had four rebounds, five assists, two steals and 11 Three pointers!!!! 



Injury Report:



Dwight Howard is the latest star to suffer injury and have to miss time, hurting his teams playoff chances and hurting his fantasy owners who were relying on him to be a consistent must start. Rajon Rondo is going to miss some time with a possible concussion, guys looking to replace him and a possible pick up would be Devin Harris who is now dealing with day-to-day injury reports of his own but is more likely to play than Rondo. Kevin Durant is still missing time with his sprained right big toe. Ricky Rubio made his return to action after severely hurting his ankle on the fifth game of the year.




Thanks for tuning in bloggers, Until Next Week 


Zeek.

Week 14 Fantasy Basketball/ NBA Injury Updates

Hello Bloggers,
Welcome back to Zeeks Fantasy Basketball Updates. Another week, another win, my fantasy team collected a win in my league, how did yours do? Struggling? leave a comment below and lets see if I can make things easier with what I've learned thus far this season.

Brandon Jennings- Detroit Pistons

Anyways back to these updates, I have heard the saying 'Speak it into existence' before, and it looks like that may actually be happening. Last week I wrote about how this season has been plaguing the NBA's stars and up and coming stars with injuries; Players like Kobe Bryant and Brandon Jennings are both done for the rest of their season, Kobe with a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder and Brandon with with a torn Achilles. Its sad to see players who are having great seasons go down like that, makes me wish that there could be no injuries just for one whole season, so us fans can enjoy teams compete at their full strength every night; but injuries are apart of the game and just how real life NBA General managers have to deal with them, Us Fantasy Basketball owners have to do the same. If you have lost either of these guys on your fantasy roster their backups become must own guys in order to compensate some points for what you would have lost. For example Brandon Jennings (a top 100 value player this year) going down for the rest of the season will create more minutes for his back up D.J Augustin and more opportunity for him to produce. Augustin is a solid reserve and we all seen what he can do with starter minutes last season filling in for the injured Derrick Rose, his owned percentage has increased 36% in all standard leagues in just the past 24 hours, since Jennings went down he has posted a career high 35 point night including three 3-pointers, followed by a 19 point, 9 assist with four rebounds, two steals; MUST OWN!!

Kobe Bryant-LA Lakers

If you've lost Kobe Bryant off your roster their isn't much hope to replace him from his depleted Laker Roster, but players like Wayne Ellington, Nick Young, Jordan Clarkson, Wes Johnson and Ryan Kelly will all benefit form the Black Mamba going down. This seems like a cursed season for the Lakers as they lose their second player to season ending surgery in the same season. First it was their 2014 Draft Lottery Pick Julius Randle who broke his leg playing garbage minutes in his very first regular season game as a pro. But maybe these losses are good for LA and will result in a brighter future through the Lottery. These players left to finish out the season will have to deal with Lakers in the coming games and then make your choice in your league on who you want to select because typically these guys haven't been must own players thus far.

the bright lights and criticism with out their leader, 19 year veteran Kobe Bryant, my suggestion is to wait and see who steps up for the Lakers before making any pick ups.



Complete Injury Report
This is a new segment that Zeeks Fantasy Basketball Updates is going to offer and its the complete injury list of players who have gone down with injury in the recent weeks followed by suggestions on what you should do if these players are on your roster.

1.) Kevin Durant: KD is missing even more time to what has already been a disappointing season for the Oklahoma City Thunder, this time it is with a big toe sprain and he is listed day-to-day with this injury and could be back by the end of the week but you never know with the Thunder Organization he may miss more time than predicted with them being cautious of this injury, and rightfully so, I mean he is their franchise player. Until then players like Perry Jones and Anthony Morrow become worth owning for the next little while.

2.) Lamarcus Aldridge: Last week we got news that LA had injured his thumb and would need surgery to repair it, causing him to miss 6-9 weeks of the season which would schedule him for a return around playoff time. This would have been terrible news for this overachieving Blazers team that has played so well with LA in their line up that Lamarcus couldn't go through with the surgery, the season has been great for this team and he knows they have potential to go far in the playoffs; therefore he has elected to have his surgery in the off-season instead. Hopefully no one dropped him from their roster prematurely after receiving the news because LA is back and in full effect scoring  26 Points with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals in his return to the lineup three days ago. Good for you LA! Remember this guy is a top-20 value player when healthy!

3.) Joakim Noah: Noah made his return to the Chicago bulls line-up this week after dealing with knee issues and a sprained ankle, Noah is a must start guy in all leagues, and owners should expect for him to return close to his aggressive defensive minded style of play that he brought to the table last season very soon.

4.) Kemba Walker: This is another sad story of a young point guard in the eastern conference who was having an up and down season but was doing pretty well for the most part. Kemba has a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee and is out indefinitely, sad news to hear because Kemba was at top-40 value before going down with this injury. Players like Gary Neal and Gerald Henderson will benefit though and if you need to you should probably be able to pick them up when you want. Get well soon Kemba!

Kendall Marshall- Milwaukee Bucks

Honorable Mentions: This segment is for guys who aren't as household as the guys mentioned above but here at Zeeks Fantasy Basketball we give them their respect due to their situations. Guys like Kendall Marshall who is done for the season with a torn ACL in his knee and his teammate, Rookie Sensation Jabari Parker with the same injury. Get well soon fellas! Mike Dunleavy the Bulls need you to be at full strength and make that run at the Eastern Conference title, Get well soon! Terrence Jones of the Houston Rockets, take your time coming back, your team doesn't seem to need you as much but nonetheless God's speed on your recovery.


Thanks for reading guys! Until Next week bloggers!



Zeek Fantasy Basketball Updates