46 posts tagged with "waiver wire worriers"

Looks like the NBA Cup finals are set to be the Bucks vs the Thunder in Vegas, could this be Doc Rivers crowning achievement or just another time that he failed to get the final win to close a series? Some updates around the league:

• Jokic and Luka continue to be head and shoulders above the rest of the pack this season

• Derrick White has been a little bit of everything this season making for one of the most interesting top 30 players of the season, with his impressive rebounding and blocks for a guard, he's been filling a Josh Hart but can hit 3s which has proved very desirable.

• Dejounte Murray is thriving being the top dog in New Orleans, much like when he was tank commander for the Spurs we are seeing huge usage combined with very sticky hands and a very capable playmaker, if he could replicate last seasons 36% 3 point shooting, we'd likely be seing a top40 player.

• Jalen Suggs has taken on the entirety of the Magic offense and defense with the loss of Franz and Paolo. The 3s are ugly but there's enough of them to combine with his defensive output to suggest and exciting upcoming few weeks.

• Apparently Josh Hart has shot better from 3 than Derrick White this week. Generally a counting stat generalist he plays much like a Derrick white without a 3 point shot. Well this week he shot 10/21 from 3 so thats quite the good showing.

PF

544

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Volume

Efficiency

FG

FT

3PT0.0

PTS192.0

REB61.0

AST28.0

STL5.0

BLK12.0

TOV21.0

There was a interesting statistic floating around this week that Giannis has shot over 50% in every game this season so far. This includes Free throws over the past month. While seeming to have removed 3 point shooting from his game, he has still scored 30+ in his last 5 games. In fact over his last 10 games his lowest point total was 28. While the assists may inconsistent from night to night, Giannis fg efficiency combined with solid rebounding and blocks is more than enough to outweigh the known deficits in his game. As a stanch demonstrator that 3s and Free throws are not the way forward we are proud to announce Giannis Antetokounmpo as the bread and butter pick of the week.

Currently with a win streak of 6 games we have the Magic, Bucks and Grizzlies quickly moving up the season standings. The Wizards have managed to lose their last 14 games. Is Jordan Poole making his case as a hall of fame tank commander? The pistons are currently gingerly holding on 10th in the east showing considerable progress from last week. The Rockets are probably the surprise of the season, while many expected the young core to take a step forward they are currently 2nd in the West and 3-0 in the NBA Cup.

Some updates around the league:

• Franz Wagner continues his campaign as one of the top steals of the draft while filling in for the injured Paolo, providing contributions from all categories.

• Tyrese Haliburton has had his first week performing as a first round talent after having difficulty from 3 in the first few weeks.

• Karl Anthony Towns seems to be settling in with the Knicks, leading the league with 60 rebounds.

• Walker Kessler is showing a more rounded game than just blocks, he's been adding hyper-efficient scoring mixed with the occasional steal and assist

• Malik Monk has made his return shooting a scorching 19 3s on 49% efficiency. Just in case you weren't aware Malik means King

• Jalen Johnson has been performing at his absolute peak, showing meaningful contribution across all categories and highly elevated shooting %s

PG

620

James Harden

Volume

Efficiency

FG

FT

3PT19.0

PTS121.0

REB27.0

AST38.0

STL9.0

BLK0.0

TOV18.0

All too often the clippers are an overlooked team. With their new branding consisting of a boat ball, they relied heavily on a veteran presence to fill the new fan wall. Despite being riddled with injuries to every capable scorer they've managed to hold up a winning records in a tough western conference. This is all thanks to the system, despite dipping in assists we have seen an absolute torrent of 3s providing high volume scoring as well as massive defensive contributions. Averaging along with 30/5/8 4 3s and 2 steals per game we are proud to announce that the weeks six Bread and Butter pick of the week is none other than the mayor of McCheese Town, James Harden.

All your favorite players are injured, and so is Embiid. With everyone mainly juggling IR slots it's been difficult to estimate the true power level of many teams.

Some updates around the league:

• Nikola Vučević is off to an amazing start after 18 gp. Averaging 20/10 with low volume 88% ft shooting and 58% fg shooting. This is a full 10% increase from last season which is surprising as he is hitting an extra 3 per game

• Giannis Antetokounmpo lead the league in points with 130, he also lead the league in turnovers and had a higher fg% than ft% while hitting the line 42 times this week.

• After struggling for the first couple weeks Brook Lopez hit 63% of his shots at half of Giannis volume which is good for 87 points. He also provided 9 Blocks, 11 3pm and 8 Steals on the week.

• Brandom Miller has been absolutely cooking, hitting 19 3s on the week and 7 Steals. If he could improve his free throw volume he would be providing 2nd round value.

• Tari Eason Lead the league in Steals this eek while playing less than 25 minutes per night and hit 10 of his 11 free throws while chipping in 36 rebounds. He's like Caruso without the assists.

• Playoff Wiggins is here, with 12 Threes leading a 99 point week, could this lead to a resurgence of the previously fringe player?

SF

586

Franz Wagner

Volume

Efficiency

FG

FT

3PT12.0

PTS113.0

REB26.0

AST33.0

STL10.0

BLK0.0

TOV11.0

With the absence of the upcoming star there this weeks selection had been given much needed room to cook. Despite not leading in any particular category he was able to eek out high BIGDAWG scores in 3pm, points, assists, and steals. This combined with high volume shooting on acceptable volume makes for a multicat monster. For week 5 the Picklytics analytics network is proud to declair Franz Wagner the bread and butter pick of the week!

The NBA In Season Tournament is underway and the Magic, Pistons, Hawks, Rockets, Thunder and Warriors are leading their respective groups with an honorable mention to the Knicks. Due to scheduling only 8 Teams have played 2 of the 4 IST games so very little can really be noted at this point. Lebron remains undefeated in his single close match against the Spurs

Some updates around the league:

• The San Antonio Spurs have announced that Head Coach Gregg Popovich has suffered a minor stroke and has no timeline for return

• De'Aaron Fox has lead the injury plagued Kings to a blowout over the injury plagued Suns. With the added responsibilities Fox was able to produce a screaming 162 point week.

• Alperen Sengun has taken the next step many predicted last season with him throwing huge contribution in Rebounds Assists while maintaining a healthy number of defensive stats. We have also seen improved Free Throw Efficiency.

• Jalen Williams has joined SGA as a top nba producer leveraging very similiar player profile anchored on high accuracy free throws mixed with steals

• Wembanyama seems to swing back and forth between being able to score and able to defend. His rebound numbers have been up over the last week, and he's hitting lots of threes. Block and steals are down but his shooting effeciency is way up especially considering he's up over 4 made threes a game.

• Someone needs to stop the badman Jarred McCan who is averaging almost 30 ppg while Maxey is out.

PG

591

Cade Cunningham

Volume

Efficiency

FG

FT

3PT11.0

PTS92.0

REB30.0

AST40.0

STL8.0

BLK6.0

TOV19.0

This weeks selection has been expected to breakout for a few seasons now and it finally seems to be happening. It was expected the next step would require better shooting and fewer turnovers, but it turns out that leading the league in assists while showing value in FT, 3PM, REB, STL, and BLKs are enough to overcome a horrific 2nd place in weekly turnovers. This weeks bread and butter pick of the week is no other than the main man in Detroit, Cade Cunningham.

Exciting developments about the league:

• Joker has presented our first pickle conundrum of the yeah. He lead the league in both rebounds and assists while hitting the 95th percentile in scoring. This is a truly obscene start that may make mvp voters overcome some pretty heavy voting fatigue.

• Jason Tatum has really elevated himself as a top fantasy producer, leading the league in points this week with 124 points

• Wembanyama is producing numbers that break most fantasy formats, however his difficulty in TOs and fg efficiency has edged him out of top contention

• KAT has been a been an efficiency merchant, pulling a 51 fg%, 83 ft% and 46 3pt%. With this increased efficency Towns was able to pull a 113 points combined with an impressive 55 rebounds.

• We've been scratching our heads trying to figure out the number two option on the Clippers. Norm Powell has been hyper efficient pulling a 104 point week anchored by 61% 3pt shooting and 84% free throw shooting. While these numbers are unlikely to stick the 92% fg volume indicates that he is getting the opportunity to be a top scorer.

PG

554

Luka Dončić

Volume

Efficiency

FG

FT

3PT14.0

PTS115.0

REB30.0

AST44.0

STL8.0

BLK1.0

TOV15.0

This weeks selection has the unfortunate luck of sliding in underneath an epic joker performance. Establishing excellence based on a 115 point week with 44 assists14 threes and 6 steals. This was enough to overcome some pretty clear efficiency issues. With Cross category contribution combined with best in class volume our bread and butter pick of the week is no other than the Don of Dallas, Luka Dončić

Some key observations from week 2 of the NBA Season:

• RJ Barrett is off to a red hot start getting 114 points last week on massive volume. Can this last through the return of IQ and Scotty?
• Victor Wembanyama has lacked some consistency so far this season and while still a top3 player, shooting .218 from 3 and seeing 3.5 TOs a game is keeping him from hitting his ceiling so far.
• The Hawks have seen amazing offensive output from Trae and their rising star Jalen Johnson pulling in 97 and 93 points respectively.
• Dennis Schröder has been cooking shooting .500 from three, giving him 13 3 significantly boosting his point and fg output. While it seems like he won't remain a first round player, the increased production is certainly exceeding all expectations

C

616

Nikola Jokić

Volume

Efficiency

FG

FT

3PT8.0

PTS121.0

REB53.0

AST42.0

STL5.0

BLK7.0

TOV45.0

Top honors go this week to the first overall pick Nikola Jokić who has been shooting at a much higher rate than previous seasons. With him playing over 40 minutes a night, it's very strainge to see him not leading the league in assists. Jokić has powered his way on the back of massive efficiency to 122 points which is 100 more than Jalen Smith. He has additionally been cleaning up with 4 offensive rebounds a night pushing him into the very highest tier of boardmen.

Adding another pickle to his grand collection in his new role as a premier scorer we are happy to declare Nikola Jokić as the week 2 Bread and Butter Pick of the week.

Welcome back to Picklytics for another season. Little bit of an announcement. This year we will be modifying the format to use the BIGDAWG algorithm. The immediate impact of this is that:

1. Each NBA player can only win a single pickle per season
2. The BIGDAWG model uses the highest stat of each category to establish the baseline instead of the mean.

There will be additional posts outlining the new methodology coming soon.

This season is off to a dynamic start where we saw some incredible individual performances including.

• Tatum leads the league in made 3s at 18, while putting up 33 ppg.
• LaMelo has ankles again and is attempting 12 3s a game.
• Giannis is 4th in the league in free throws made despite only hitting 58%. He has been to the line 43 times in 3 games.
• AD is the first player to eclipse 100 points this season
• Harden is averaging 13 dimes per game which has turned Ivica Zubac into a 20 ppg player who happens to averages 14 boards.
• Chet is hitting 4 blocks with 12 blocks on 23 points per game.
• CJ McCollum shares the top steals in the league with SGA. Could CJ finally be trying defensively?

SGA has hit the ground running this season. He has been making bank on peripherals thanks to outstanding steals, hitting almost 9 boards a game combined with 6 assists. He's even been getting a couple blocks per game and has only 4 Turnovers on the season. He has missed a single free throw out of 19. Other than a slight dip in efficiency from the field he appears to be pickling right up from the end of last season.

Here at picklytics we understand that consistency is one of the most important elements of a delicious chicken sandwich and SGA provides a consistent backcourt that powers OKC as they make their bid to top the western Standings. It is with great honor we grant the inaugural bread and butter pick of the week to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Setting a nba record for consecutive 35+ point triple doubles. Missing 2 of 26 free throws. maintaining 50 FG% while making almost 5 3pts a game. Hell he even got a block or two. Luka's continued improvement has probably been the biggest non francophone surprise this season and we look forward to seeing him in the play-in.

With his third award this season we are proud to presentLuka Doncic the final bread and butter pick of the week. See you next season for more brine based-analytics.

The blocks ridiculous, the steals excellent, the rebounds superb, the 3pointers acceptable, the fg% ehhh not so much. Grabbing 15 of San Antonios 24 blocks over the last week, Wemby single-handedly got more blocks in his last three games than the Hornets, Clippers, Heat, Jazz, Magic, Warriors, Bulls Wizards Raptors and Bucks. Two of those are good teams even! Wemby's block rate down the stretch has been the most impressive statistically anomaly since KD sank sixty something consecutive free throws last season.

With Great pride we are proud to declare Wictor Vembanyama the first ever rookie bread and butter pick of the week.