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Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games.
Thursday night featured a typical short slate of games. This week was quite underwhelming with three blowout wins for Boston, Portland, and Utah. With so many fantasy irrelevant bench players playing, most of the studs only received limited minutes to ball out. There weren't too many fantasy explosions to note but we made do with what was available.
Anyways, let's take it away in the Thursday, December 6th recap with our fantasy highlights.
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Derrick Favors: Season High for the Big Guy
Utah's forgotten big man had himself quite the game Thursday night against the Rockets. With Rudy Gobert ejected after three minutes of action, Favors stepped into the five with ease. He dominated the paint against Clint Capela and company, racking up 24 points, 10 rebounds (six offensive), one steal and one block. He shot 10-for-13 from the floor and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. This was Favors' best game of the year by far.
Unfortunately, opportunities like tonight are not going to come so often. Rudy Gobert will probably manage his temper a little better and not knock water bottles off the scorers' table going forward. As a result, Favors will have to deal with a clogged interior for a chunk of his minutes. Today was actually a step forward for Utah as the had benched Favors in favor of Jae Crowder, which is a positive sign going forward. Favors plays much better (fantasy-wise at least) while Gobert is off the floor. The two center approach is a failure in the modern NBA.
Hopefully, Utah decides that bringing Favors off of the bench and starting Crowder in his place is the right move for the rest of the season because that would mean they plan on staggering minutes at the five more rather than forcing Favors at the five. We'll see, but for now, enjoy the big night from the big man you want to drop but just can't.
Noah Vonleh: Should be Owned in Your League
Noah Vonleh is good. Not like good for a Knick...flat out good. Vonleh has been a revelation for the ever questionable New York Knicks. It isn't a stretch to say that he's been their best player through the first quarter of the season. Vonleh is efficient, solid on both ends of the floor, and most importantly, productive in fantasy. Vonleh doesn't hurt your percentages, grabs a bunch of boards, shoots threes, scores nearly 10 per game and grabs stocks while hardly turning it over. That's the perfect end of the bench guy. Stop holding onto Nicolas Batum or Marcus Smart and pick up Noah Vonleh, please.
Vonleh was productive yet again Thursday night in Boston. He might have only taken five shots, but he made four of them (one being a three) and scored 10 points. With 10 boards, three assists, two steals and just one turnover, Vonleh performed just as you would want him to. He will be getting into foul trouble here and there because he is still young and flawed. His fundamentals are still rocky and while he has developed tremendously over the past year, he can't shake some bad habits on defense. These are lumps you have to take as an owner. Just see the big picture with him and hope for a better tomorrow after the occasional 20-minute outing due to fouls.
Deandre Ayton: The Bench is Not His Holm
Inexplicably, DeAndre Ayton came off of the bench Thursday night against the Trailblazers. The reports were that Ayton had a stomach issue. Is that were the case, why play him at all? The Suns were clearly frustrated with Ayton's lackadaisical defense in the last game and took it out on him by starting Richaun Holmes. Holmes is more known for his effort on defense but isn't exactly a world-beater. Ayton, the first overall pick in the 2018 draft is essentially one of the core pieces for Phoenix but they are already mishandling him with this method.
The Suns aren't notable for being "stable" of late, and this move exemplifies it. Ayton is your future star who is still learning how to play against seasoned NBA bigs and they can't have some patience. A quarter of the season has hardly passed and Phoenix is ready to discipline him for not trying hard enough on their team that has now lost 21-of-25 games. It's probably BETTER for Ayton to not put in maximum effort for now given that this is a lost season. Maybe if the Suns cared a little more about establishing a concrete plan rather than firing their general manager two weeks into the regular season, they'd get maximum effort out of their players.
For fantasy purposes (why you all are here), Ayton's performances should not differ much from the bench, if that were to be his temporary space. He wasn't great Thursday, but given his season data, he should be fine. Ayton scored 11 points and went 5-for-13 from the field. He managed to grab eight rebounds, three assists and one of each stock to give him a decent day. His minutes in December are concerning, especially given the emergence of Holmes. However, this can be accounted to the 20-point blowouts they've faced. If they can keep it relatively close going forward, Ayton should get his. The only thing to be wary of is Richaun Holmes emergence in the rotation. If he continues to play well and deserves minutes, don't put it past the Suns to give it to him.
