Booms, Busts, Battlestar Galactica: NBA Week 10
Mar 02 | 2021
From left to right: P.J. Washington, Lily Collins (as Emily Cooper), Andrew Wiggins
USA Today, Netflix, AP
Your struggling NBA fantasy team may have you looking as out of place as Emily in Paris at the Golden Globes, but we have what you need to shine.
Last week, some NBA stars came out like “Ted Lasso” and stole the show for their respective teams while others tanked like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s credibility over their questionable nominations (re-read the lede).
Here are the NBAs booms and busts of Week 10.
Booms
P.J. Washington Forward/Center Charlotte Hornets
Washington’s fit with the Hornets has been like fitting a round peg through a square hole at times, but this week, he set the hole on fire and ran through it. He ended the week with a 42-point effort and finished the last seven-day period averaging 21 points on 57.4 shooting from the field, 2.8 made threes, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals.
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“PJ Washington balled out in the Hornets comeback win: – 42 PTS – 9 REB – 42 min Big time performance 🔥”
The bad news for the former 12th pick is that Cody Zeller is most likely coming back soon from his hip injury and will cut into his minutes. While he may look like a good pick-up now, a dip in production is sure to come.
Richaun Holmes Forward/Center Sacramento Kings
Holmes couldn’t have come back from injury at a better time for the Sacramento Kings. With Hassan Whiteside out due to the health and safety protocols, Holmes has been balling out, averaging 14.8 points while shooting 70.6 percent from the field, 10.5 rebounds, one steal and one block the last week. He even hit 91.7 percent from his free throws.
Whiteside won’t be out forever, but Holmes will still have value, especially if you’re looking for a field-goal-percentage boosting, rebounding-eating big man who won’t hurt you at the charity stripe.
Bobby Portis Forward/Center Milwaukee Bucks
Bobby Buckets hasn’t been living up to his perfect moniker, but he is filling up the stat sheet and providing so much more for his fantasy managers. He’s only averaging 11.7 points in the last three contests, but he has been very efficient, shooting 56 percent from the field and making 1.7 three-pointers. He’s also grabbing seven rebounds, swiping 1.7 balls and rejecting 1.3 attempts in that same stretch.
Bobby Portis does his best Zion impression 😂 https://t.co/HsS6YiT4iN— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 1614310908.0
Portis will have better scoring numbers while still keeping the same efficiency, so pick him up if he’s available (like he is in 58 percent of Yahoo leagues).
Bruce Brown Shooting Guard Brooklyn Nets
With Kevin Durant out for the week and Kyrie Irving taking a break on Sunday, the Nets were looking for options not named James Harden to carry the load. Bruce Brown was that guy.
In three games, Brown averaged 18.3 points on 71 percent shooting from the field at the shooting guard position. SHOOTING. GUARD. He also threw in 5.7 rebounds and one steal per game while turning the ball over 0.3 in that same stretch.
Unfortunately for him (and fantasy waiver watchers), there are a lot of mouths to feed in Brooklyn, so picking him up now, might not yield the same production in the future. Pick up with caution.
Busts
Eric Gordon Guard/Forward Houston Rockets
Gordon has had a bit of a resurgence this year, but last week was a bit of a disaster. The usually accurate shooter only hit 29.6 percent of his shots from the field, resulting in a four-game average of 13 points, 1.5 made threes and 2.5 assists.
He will have plenty of chances to get back on track with the Rockets struggling, so ride out this rough patch for a little while longer if you are holding onto him.
John Wall Point Guard Houston Rockets
There’s plenty of blame to go around when your team is on an 11-game losing streak. Ergo, having two players in the “Busts” section is justified.
John Wall tonight: 14 PTS 0 REB 0 AST 0 STL 0 BLK 0 3PM 4-16 FG He is the first player with a 10/0/0/0/0/0 statli… https://t.co/3rk0X8xMuQ— StatMuse (@StatMuse) 1614569254.0
John Wall has been less Optimus Dime and more an Optimus Crime on the court, only contributing 5.5 assists, shooting 34.8 percent from the field, making 1.5 threes, grabbing 1.5 rebounds and stealing the ball 0.5 times the last four games.
The Rockets season is looking increasingly lost and the All-Star break can’t come soon enough.
Andrew Wiggins Guard/Forward Golden State Warriors
After a while, intriguing prospects become frustrating ones and watching Andrew Wiggins is always a hair-pulling affair. In one moment, he’ll look unstoppable and in another, he’ll leave even the most patient fan scratching their heads. There was a lot of the latter this past week.
Momma, there goes that man! Andrew Wiggins tonight 3 points in 22 minutes 😮😮😮😮😮 2 rebounds 💪💪💪💪💪 1/5 from the fiel… https://t.co/X9HezNXOFV— NBA Memes (@NBA Memes) 1614583393.0
Wiggins averaged only 12.8 points shooting 39.6 percent from the field and only making 0.8 per game the last four contents. With all his athleticism, he only grabbed 2.8 rebounds in that same stretch.
Fantasy managers are hoping Wiggins figures it out eventually, but that hope is wearing thin after seven seasons of inconsistency.
Robert Covington Forward/Center Portland Trail Blazers
Covington managers were riding high last week watching RoCo stuff the stat sheet like an ambitious burrito assembler. But this week was a different story.
He brought a lot of teams down with his 16.7 percent field goal percentage and a paltry 3.3 points per game. He also only averaged 0.7 made threes per game and one block in that same span after averaging 4.7 last week.
Thankfully, small-ball basketball isn’t going away in Portland anytime soon, so Covington has a chance to surge once again if you hold onto him.
