Friends in fast breaks,
The times they are a-changin'. After a slow start, King James has been dominating the OAD pick numbers (and box scores) these last few weeks.
WEEK 13 PICKS
- Walking Bucket Wilt OAD
- The Worm Survivor
- Your group picks (get in a group with friends!)
It was only two months ago that we were hearing "Lebron fell off" and "Father Time always wins" for about the 7th season. The Lakers were sucking and Lebron came out slow, posting 26/8/6. And then December started, and AGAIN the dude starts posting better than 30/7/7. Father time will show up at some point, but it looks like it ain't this year. Again.
We're putting our Survivor fate in Minnesota's hands. I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm nervous. Houston is on a terrible skid, but the Wolves can underperform like nobody's business.
PICK STATS
Walking Bucket Wilt OAD
- L. James was our top pick this week with 42 picks
- He started "slow" in Oct and Nov averaging 25.8 PPG
- But he's accelerated since then, and is averaging 34.9 PPG in 2023 so far
- Our other top picks: J. Morant (33 picks), N. Jokic (31), and J. Embiid (29)
- Morant has been on a tear recently after a wonky December
- Jokic seems boom-or-bust lately, but he had a spicy December
- Embiid has averaged 34+ points since November
- We're making some sense up in here!
- What does the Golden Spreadsheet show?
- Our "cliff" has moved down to D. Lillard, making 13 players who've been used by 40%+ of us
- Then there's a BIG drop down to Jokic at 25.5%
- S. Barnes is still sitting with 1 pick, but he's seemed to have found his game again posting 20+ six times so far in January. Just saying, you could be the cool person who jumped on the train early.
- C. Sexton continues to be our only unpicked player, poor guy. Someday. Maybe. Maybe not.
- Other interesting low volume picks: J. Green (3 picks), B. Hield (1), C. McCollum (1), D. Russell (1), R. Westbrook (1), D. Sabonis (1), J. Butler (1)
| Wilt Main Pick | Count |
| Lebron James (vs MEM | 1/20) | 42 |
| Ja Morant (@ LAL | 1/20) | 33 |
| Nikola Jokic (vs IND | 1/20) | 31 |
| Joel Embiid (@ SAC | 1/21) | 29 |
| Kyrie Irving (@ UTA | 1/20) | 23 |
| Trae Young (vs NYK | 1/20) | 17 |
| Anthony Edwards (vs HOU | 1/21) | 16 |
| Devin Booker (vs IND | 1/21) | 15 |
| Julius Randle (@ ATL | 1/20) | 15 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (@ SAC | 1/20) | 14 |
| Zion Williamson (@ ORL | 1/20) | 12 |
| Donovan Mitchell (vs GSW | 1/20) | 11 |
| Jayson Tatum (@ TOR | 1/21) | 9 |
| Jaylen Brown (@ TOR | 1/21) | 8 |
| Luka Doncic (vs MIA | 1/20) | 7 |
| Anthony Davis (vs MEM | 1/20) | 6 |
| De'Aaron Fox (vs OKC | 1/20) | 6 |
| Jordan Poole (@ CLE | 1/20) | 5 |
| Kevin Durant (@ UTA | 1/20) | 5 |
| Stephen Curry (@ CLE | 1/20) | 5 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo (@ CLE | 1/21) | 4 |
| James Harden (@ SAC | 1/21) | 4 |
| LaMelo Ball (@ ATL | 1/21) | 4 |
| Darius Garland (vs GSW | 1/20) | 3 |
| Jalen Brunson (@ ATL | 1/20) | 3 |
| Jalen Green (@ MIN | 1/21) | 3 |
| Kawhi Leonard (@ SAS | 1/20) | 3 |
| Pascal Siakam (vs BOS | 1/21) | 3 |
| Paul George (@ SAS | 1/20) | 3 |
| Bradley Beal (vs ORL | 1/21) | 2 |
| Jordan Clarkson (vs BKN | 1/20) | 2 |
| Karl-Anthony Towns (vs HOU | 1/21) | 2 |
| Buddy Hield (@ DEN | 1/20) | 1 |
| CJ McCollum (@ ORL | 1/20) | 1 |
| D'Angelo Russell (vs HOU | 1/21) | 1 |
| Desmond Bane (@ LAL | 1/20) | 1 |
| Domantas Sabonis (vs OKC | 1/20) | 1 |
| Jamal Murray (vs IND | 1/20) | 1 |
| Jimmy Butler (@ DAL | 1/20) | 1 |
| Khris Middleton (@ CLE | 1/21) | 1 |
| Klay Thompson (@ CLE | 1/20) | 1 |
| Paolo Banchero (vs NOP | 1/20) | 1 |
| RJ Barrett (@ ATL | 1/20) | 1 |
| Russell Westbrook (vs MEM | 1/20) | 1 |
| Terry Rozier (@ ATL | 1/21) | 1 |
| Tyrese Haliburton (@ DEN | 1/20) | 1 |
The Worm Survivor
- MIN (vs HOU) is our top pick with 13 of us on them
- HOU is on a 12 game losing streak, and we're capitalizing
- But MIN has been... less than dependable lately
- They're 7-9 in their last 16
- DEN (vs IND) is our other big pick with 11
- DEN is on an 8 game win streak
- IND is missing Haliburton
- Sounds like a good pick
- After that we've got a nice spread of picks across 6 teams
| Worm Pick | Count |
| Minnesota Timberwolves (vs HOU | 1/21) | 13 |
| Denver Nuggets (vs IND | 1/20) | 11 |
| Los Angeles Clippers (@ SAS | 1/20) | 6 |
| Cleveland Cavaliers (vs GSW | 1/20) | 4 |
| New Orleans Pelicans (@ ORL | 1/20) | 4 |
| Utah Jazz (vs BKN | 1/20) | 4 |
| Memphis Grizzlies (@ LAL | 1/20) | 3 |
| Washington Wizards (vs ORL | 1/21) | 2 |
WEEKLY AWARDS
Westbrook Bank Shot Moxie Award
Boldest pick WITH a comment. You can't win a SZN competition without a little Moxie!
@kbanaian (L. Ball): "Feels like stealing, playing Atlanta on the second night of a B2B, and no Oubre to jack up 20 shots"
GM says: Only if his ankle isn't made of glass 😬
"Who's the GOAT?" Award
Our best weekly comment (or three)
@Venez68 (S. Gilgeous): "why isn’t Lauri Markkanen on this list"
GM says: Answering this one here since I've done it separately a few times on the Wall. We set our roster of 75 players at the start of the SZN to require strategic play over the weeks with a dwindling list of available players. We picked 1-3 players per team, based on past performance and some attempt at looking for "growth" opportunities. Sad to say - We didn't see the Lauri's glow-up coming. Next year!
"I Could Sell You Kings Tickets" Award
Most convincing comment.
@Mr_Rodgers_Neighborhood (L. James): "Prove to me you're the GOAT by throwing down 75 points."
GM says: Yeah LeBron, a real GOAT would score 75 because Mr. Rodgers asked. DO IT!
KD Would Retweet This Award
The spiciest/wildest take.
@Merf (UTA): "Go Pacers."
GM says: The sass here, cheering the downfall of another presumed high-volume pick. You better hope Ben Simmons doesn't crush your dreams 😏
MORE PICK COMMENTS
@Mr_Rodgers_Neighborhood (DEN): "I'm buying the gold the Nuggets are selling!"
GM says: There's gold in them Indy hills!
@Merf (D. Garland): "My interval 3 squad is gonna be STACKED like Jerry in 2000!"
GM says: Really? Already punting another 4 weeks into the future? You better go nuclear.
@StatCzar (D. Garland): "Mr. GM sir, you requested grandma stories so I'm going to keep giving them to you until you request I change it up. So I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but my grandma is 4'9' at best and when driving the top of the steering wheel was in her line site so she had to sit on a pillow in order to see over the top of the steering wheel. I saw had as we finally got her to give up driving last year as her sight has got too bad. My sister shared with me the story that there was someone with an extremely loud sound system driving through a residential part of town with a 25mph speed and 2 lanes and that my grandmother decided that she could could compete with his system as they drove slowly side by side on a road with many stoplights, my sister was not lucky on that day, as grandma rolled down the windows, asked her to sing along and show the other car their superiority as she turned her Adele CD all the way up and belted out Fire to the Rain. Here's to this pick setting fire in the paint."
GM says: Granny is a straight up G. For Granny!
@LeviLeo (K. Middleton): "I know I've been wrong slot, but this is the week.."
GM says: When it happens, I pray it's for the 50+ that he owes you.
@kempsoos (J. Embiid): "He’s good right?!"
GM says: I've heard someone say that before. But I've also heard someone call him WebEMbiiD. I prefer good.
@YikesVikes (J. Harden): "I'm traveling to Sacramento this weekend so I guess that's an omen to pick someone from the team that's playing them, so that's not hard to do! James come through for me"
GM says: Harden feels like a coin flip at this point. Is he dropping 15p/15a or 25p/8a? Hope it's a 25er!
@MONSTERXXX (L. James): "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH !!!!"
GM says: Yeah buddaaaaay!
@NEELERSBTB1 (N. Jokic): "That name has a ring to it!!!! I think it has a cough drop named after it"
GM says: Best case, at the end of the SZN his name has a much more LITERAL ring to it
Yours in Roundball Rock,
The GM