Friends in fast breaks,

After a big bump in DNPs this week, a gentle reminder that the NBA Injury Report is linked near the top of the pick page every week. We can't control surprise DNPs, but we've been having fewer DNPs since I started promoting the injury report. Here's your 60% of the way reminder to use your tools to maximize your performance.

MAKE YOUR WEEK 14 PICKS

• Walking Bucket Wilt OAD >>
• The Worm Survivor >>
• Pick deadline: 4pm PT Friday (1/27)

We've got a Saturday-heavy slate this week, with only 5 of our games on Friday. The concern? That's right, DNPs! It's like some kind of theme. 

Games that happen further from our lock time are at more risk of funny business with lineups. That makes the Friday games "safer" in terms of knowing the lineup, but also obviously restricts your options.

Make sure you think about teams who might be on a double-header (like CLE on Fri or MIN on Sat), as that can also have a big impact on available players and performance.

ONE AND DONE RECAP

Weekly Standings | Player Performance | Overall Standings

Backup Picks

• 22 of our pickable players didn't play this week, a new high for the SZN, and 16 of those got at least one pick, another high for the SZN
• In total, 140 picks were on those DNPs (another record)
  • N. Jokic (31 picks) and J. Embiid (29) led the way, with both taking a surprise DNP for their games
  • We also put far too many picks into D. Booker (15) and Z. Williamson (12), both of whom have been out with no indication they might return on the injury reports - Make sure you're checking the injury reports!
• We unfortunately had 51 double DNPs that receive zero points this week,  another record, apologies to the unlucky pickers
• Reminder - the Injury report is now linked near the top of the picking page, it can't fix last minute DNPs, but it's a very quick and basic line of defense!

Results

• Outside of our DNP surge, we actually had a decent return to form this week
• 10 of our picked players scored 30+ points this week, netting 103 of us high quality results
• Our top scorer was K. Irving, dropping 48 points for 33 pickers
  • With no K. Durant and B. Simmons being afraid to shoot, there's a lot of opportunities for Irving to hoist it
  • Pour on a 62% FG% and you got yourself a stew goin'
• Our other big performers: A. Edwards (44 pts, 19 picks), S. Gilgeous (37, 19), K. Leonard (36, 3), L. Doncic (34, 9), T. Rozier (34, 1), J. Randole (32, 20), T. Maxey (32, 1), J. Poole (32, 5), D. Garland (31, 3)
  • The Kawhi, Rozier, and Maxey calls, bravo!
  • And a self-aggrandizing hat tip to Team SZN making all three picks for D. Garland. We're basically each time-sharing a third of a brain.
• We averaged 24.7 points per pick
  • The "average" picked players scored 18.0 points, obviously being dragged down by our bigger than usual double DNP volume
  •  
• Our worst flop is a toss-up between our top and second picks: L. James (23 pts, 51 picks) and J. Morant (22, 40)
  • To have so many people riding with you and put up less than 25 is just a big disappointment
• Other poor weekly performances: G. Hayward (9 pts, 1 pick), B. Hield (9, 1), J. Green (10, 3), P. Banchero (11, 3), and J. Butler (12, 6)

Standings Check
We have prizes for Overall points, as well as most points scored over three different Intervals (First 8 weeks, middle 8 weeks, and final 7 weeks). There's something to play for all SZN!

Interval 2 (Weeks 9-16) Standings

• Another big shake-up! We have a completely new Top 5 this week
• Much of the previous Top 5 are still jockeying in the Top 15-ish, so there's clearly a great shot to steal the crown in the final three weeks
• Hitting on a top three performer this week launched all of these people to the top of the leaderboard, but can they hold on?
• Interval 3 starts Week 16

Overall Standings

• Oh my, the drama thickens
• @mfeeney suffered a double DNP, dropping them from 1st to 4th
• @Bigrv51 and @PurpleNurple19 captialized to jump to a T-1st position
• Respect to @Bigrv51 for being the sole T. Rozier picker and getting 34 points out of him
• We're up to 45 people averaging 30 points per pick, up from 40 last week

Team SZN Performance

• I (@TheGM) as well as @StatCzar and @Merf rode the D. Garland train with no other passengers to grab 31 points. @TheCommish took S. Gilgeous for 37.
• Overall, @StatCzar has our best placement at 92nd
• Reminder: We play along for fun and pride, we can't win anything

THE WORM RECAP

Weekly Standings | Game Outcomes | Golden Spreadsheet

Results

• We entered the week with 47 players and exited with 32, a 68.1% survival rate
• Our top three picks won, but almost all of our smaller picks flopped
• MIN (@ HOU) saved 13 lives
  • For more than three quarters, this was NOT comfortable
  • But HOU's gonna HOU, collapsing in the 4th to make sure we fight another day
• DEN (vs IND), even without Big Honey, was an easy clap for our 11 pickers
  • Have I mentioned how much I love Big Honey as a nickname? Not sure I have, but it's excellent
• LAC (@ SAS) saved another 6 pickers
  • No one calls Kawhi dominating the Spurs a "revenge" game, right?

Team SZN Performance

• @Merf bowed out on a UTA loss
• Reminder: we play along for fun and pride, we can't win anything

Yours in hoops,
The GM