LeBron James and Stephen Curry will be drafting the sides for the All-Star game on Thursday evening. It seems that everyone is weighing in on who they should pick first and wondering who they may be passing over as the draft goes along. Count me in the camp that believes that the NBA should have televised this draft. After all, the potential drama, storylines and future trash talk that a public draft would have provided seems much more like "must-see TV" than the actual game has been in recent years.
ESPN colleague Kyle Soppe and I did our own version of this draft, from a fantasy perspective, and we will reveal both our pick order and rationale in an article to run later today. Of course, my squad would stomp "Team Thirsty Kyle" if we actually played the league out, but I'll let you judge for yourself.
The makeup of our teams aside, one thing that our mock All-Star draft hammered home to me is the difference between points-based and roto leagues. Ironically, for one of the first times, I now see how both formats have elements that make them more realistic than the other as a proxy for the NBA game.
I've long used the Shaquille O'Neal corollary against roto basketball. Namely, that because any one terrible category (in Shaq's case, free throw percentage) could sink a fantasy team, even when O'Neal was the best player in the NBA, you couldn't afford to roster him in roto without almost guaranteeing yourself a loss. To me, the fact that the best real-life player in the league could be magically transformed into a player who wasn't valuable in a roto league made me lament that said format wasn't quite tied enough to real value. For that reason, I always preferred points-based leagues.
However, in drafting my roto All-Star team and comparing it to Kyle's, I thought about how, when drafting in this format, one has to look beyond just pure talent and consider fit. You can't just field a team of redundant talents and have it be successful. You have to draft guys who can deliver value in certain ways, creating a team with an overall balance of useful players who all contribute to the whole.
In this way, drafting a roto team is more like real-life than drafting a points-based team. In the real NBA, you can't just throw together a bunch of talent either -- some would argue that this is what is ailing the current Cleveland Cavaliers, in fact. The talents have to fit together to create a roster that is stronger than the sum of its parts.
My All-Star team had that kind of synergy, that kind of balance. Kyle's didn't. That's why, if we were playing that league out, I'd mop the floor with Kyle's squad, even though his team arguably has more individual talent at the top. That same lesson holds true in your fantasy league, which is maybe something to consider more when drafting than here at mid-season, but even now you've still got some time left before the trade deadline -- both in the NBA and in fantasy.
Take that time to look at your team, look around your league, and see if you can sculpt your team to maximize those types of "fit synergies" and minimize redundancies or holes in your lineups. Team management is most of the fun of a fantasy basketball league, so go to town. Good luck with the second half of your fantasy basketball season!
Wednesday recap
Box scores
Highlights:
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers: 31 points (9-17 FG, 7-7 FT), 6 3-pointers, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 0 TO
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons: 30 points (11-17 FG, 8-12 FT), 24 rebounds, 5 blocks, 4 assists, 3 steals, 5 TO
Wesley Matthews, Dallas Mavericks: 29 points (10-18 FG, 2-2 FT), 7 3-pointers, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 TO
James Harden, Houston Rockets: 25 points (9-16 FG, 1-2 FT), 13 assists, 6 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 TO, 33 minutes
Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers: 19 points (6-15 FG, 7-10 FT), 17 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 blocks, 6 TO
Pau Gasol, San Antonio Spurs: 14 points (4-9 FG, 6-8 FT), 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 TO
Lowlights:
Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors: 9 points (3-10 FG, 0-1 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 3-pointers, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 TO
Jerian Grant, Chicago Bulls: 7 points (2-6 FG, 2-2 FT), 3 assists, 1 rebound, 1 3-pointer, 1 steal, 2 TO
Jusuf Nurkic, Portland Trail Blazers: 6 points (2-6 FG, 2-2 FT), 3 rebounds, 1 TO
Wayne Selden, Memphis Grizzlies: 4 points (1-9 FG, 1-2 FT), 2 assists, 1 3-pointer, 2 TO
Taurean Prince, Atlanta Hawks: 2 points (1-3 FG), 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 TO
Dragan Bender, Phoenix Suns: 0 points (0-3 FG), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
Wednesday takeaways
Yesterday, I wrote about which NBA All-Star snub would have the biggest revenge game on Wednesday night. I pegged Drummond and Lou Williams as the two most publicly angry candidates, but thought that Drummond would have trouble exacting his revenge because he had to face Rudy Gobert and a tough Utah defense. Apparently, revenge is stronger than defense, as Drummond put absolutely monster numbers on the board. The rest of the Pistons essentially got out of the way, with Luke Kennard (99.1 percent availability) posting the second-best line on the Pistons with 10 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 3-pointer and 3 TO in 26 minutes off the bench.
Another pattern that I pegged, but slightly missed on the implementation was with Simmons. I recognized that the Bulls struggle against skilled bigs, and I correctly identified that an explosion was likely on the Philadelphia frontline, naming both Simmons and Dario Saric as potential beneficiaries. However, I admit that I thought it was Joel Embiid who would be the one most likely to detonate. With that said, I did recommend Simmons in the Best Buys article -- for the first time in weeks -- and hopefully he can use his grown-man triple-double to gain some momentum going into the second half of the season.
Harden is getting very close to being back to full strength after his injury absence. Clint Capela scored 16 points (7-8 FG, 2-4 FT) with 13 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 2 TO, while Trevor Ariza was hot from the outside with 23 points, 5 3-pointers, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.
Kemba Walker had his first shot at All-Star snub revenge on Wednesday. He was solid, though not stellar, with 20 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 3-pointers, 1 block and 6 TO. He was outplayed by teammate Dwight Howard (22 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 steal, 2 TO) and possibly by Marvin Williams (83.2 percent availability) and his 14 points, 14 rebounds, 1 3-pointer, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 TO.
The Raptors had the rare evening where their opponent put up so little opposition that they got a blowout win without any of the usual suspects playing well. Lowry and DeMar DeRozan combined for only 23 points on 7-22 FG, with 8 combined rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 7 TO. Meanwhile, Jonas Valanciunas went for 16 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists and 1 steal. Fred VanVleet (99.4 percent availabiity) had the line of the game with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 3-pointers, 3 blocks and 2 steals in 18 minutes off the bench.
The Suns had a very odd night, with three of their starters (Bender, Tyler Ulis and Tyson Chandler) combining for only 7 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Leading scorers Devin Booker (19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 TO) and TJ Warren (10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal) were quiet as well. However, their bench got plenty of minutes due to the blowout nature of the contest. There were big performances from Greg Monroe (16 points, 17 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 assist, 3 TO, 29 minutes -- 79.9 percent availability), Troy Daniels (19 points, 5 3-pointers, 1 assist, 1 steal in 27 minutes -- 99.5 percent availability) and Josh Jackson (20 points, 2 3-pointers, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 TO -- 89.2 percent availability).
Injuries of note
LaMarcus Aldridge sat out on Wednesday for rest purposes. This sparked Pau Gasol's massive game, but Aldridge should be back in the lineup for San Antonio's next game.
Al Horford (head injury) and Marcus Smart (hand laceration) both sat out on Wednesday night for Boston. Neither injury sounds serious, so consider them both day-to-day for now.
Analytics advantage for Thursday
The Minnesota Timberwolves allow 23.8 assists per game, ninth-most in the NBA. On a per-possession basis they allow 24.8 assists per 100 possessions, the sixth-most in the NBA. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors are, by far, the team most suited to sharing the ball, averaging 30.7 assists per game (30.5 assists per 100 possessions). On Thursday, the Warriors offense should get less resistance than usual, which should set up their shooters to have big games.
Top players to watch tonight
Jamal Murray has some momentum going right now, and brings two-game averages of 34 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists into tonight's matchup with the Nuggets. In the same game, will Kristaps Porzingis play? If not, it will once again be Michael Beasley time.
