Friends in fast breaks,
Commish here, filling in for GM because GM has been hired as Houston Rockets GM ... has been hired as Houston Texans grand poobah ... is expecting little GM at any moment.
WILL LITTLE GM BE SUBJECTED TO TEXANS FANDOM, TOO?
WEEK 18 PICKS
- Walking Bucket Wilt OAD
- The Worm Survivor
And naturally, NATURALLY, y'all chose to roast Commish on the one day I'm compiling this email.
For the first time this NBA SZN, we made The Brow (Anthony Davis) our top pick in the One-and-Done.
Brow and the Lakers are playing... Commish's Minnesota Timberwolves. You know, the team who traded away the franchise's future for a supposed superstar and somehow got worse in the process.
But that's OK. Just a one-time mistake, right?
It's not like this is the same team that paid Joe Smith under the table and got docked YEARS of first round picks because of it.
Or drafted Ray Allen but then traded him immediately.
Or drafted FIVE point guards in the same draft that Stephen Curry was drafted... but none of those five was actually Steph.
Or wasted nearly the entirety of Kevin Garnett's career.
I'M GONNA STOP NOW I'M CRYING.
But this means Anthony Davis will probably go off for 60 points tonight and the Timberwolves will fall to below-.500 in the process.
Commish loves you, too.
PICK STATS
Walking Bucket Wilt OAD
- Brow (vs. MIN) was our top pick but not in an overwhelming way, with 40 picks
- His previous high was two weeks ago (26 picks)
- In that game he... dropped just 13 points
- But without LeBron, we're feeling some BROW RISING energy
- Next up is Damian Lillard (@ ATL), with 30 picks
- He's (probably) not gonna put up 70+ tonight but has there been a safer bet to get buckets this year than Lillard?
- The list of guys you'd most want to see play for another team so he can get a title shot starts and maybe ends with Lillard
- Lillard was our top pick in BOTH Week 15 and Week 16. We are riding him BIG right now
- Lillard is up to 3rd in our SZN utilization at 74%, behind SGA (80%) and Tatum (82%)
- Other notables: De'Aaron Fox bagged 28 picks (vs. LAC), 9 of us took the hot Julius Randle despite him playing one of the league's best defenses (@ MIA), and 14 of us took Trae in hopes his matchup with Lillard will turn into a shootout.
- Interesting single picks: Giannis getting ONE pick in his tilt with Embiid, Westbrook getting a nod while Kawhi is hurt, and Tyler Herro at home against the Knicks.
| Pick | Pick count |
| Anthony Davis (vs MIN | 3/3) | 40 |
| Damian Lillard (@ ATL | 3/3) | 30 |
| De'Aaron Fox (vs LAC | 3/3) | 28 |
| Donovan Mitchell (vs DET | 3/4) | 17 |
| Jaylen Brown (vs BKN | 3/3) | 17 |
| Devin Booker (@ CHI | 3/3) | 15 |
| Pascal Siakam (@ WAS | 3/4) | 15 |
| Trae Young (vs POR | 3/3) | 14 |
| Jayson Tatum (vs BKN | 3/3) | 11 |
| Paul George (@ SAC | 3/3) | 10 |
| Julius Randle (@ MIA | 3/3) | 9 |
| Klay Thompson (vs NOP | 3/3) | 9 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (vs UTA | 3/3) | 9 |
| Zion Williamson (@ GSW | 3/3) | 9 |
| Anthony Edwards (@ LAL | 3/3) | 8 |
| Nikola Jokic (vs MEM | 3/3) | 8 |
| Kawhi Leonard (@ SAC | 3/3) | 7 |
| Kevin Durant (@ CHI | 3/3) | 7 |
| Keldon Johnson (vs HOU | 3/4) | 6 |
| Joel Embiid (@ MIL | 3/4) | 5 |
| Zach Lavine (vs PHX | 3/3) | 5 |
| Bradley Beal (vs TOR | 3/4) | 4 |
| Ja Morant (@ DEN | 3/3) | 4 |
| LaMelo Ball (vs ORL | 3/3) | 4 |
| Brandon Ingram (@ GSW | 3/3) | 3 |
| Darius Garland (vs DET | 3/4) | 3 |
| DeMar DeRozan (vs PHX | 3/3) | 3 |
| Jalen Brunson (@ MIA | 3/3) | 3 |
| Domantas Sabonis (vs LAC | 3/3) | 2 |
| Jordan Poole (vs NOP | 3/3) | 2 |
| Kristaps Porzingis (vs TOR | 3/4) | 2 |
| Lebron James (vs MIN | 3/3) | 2 |
| D'Angelo Russell (vs MIN | 3/3) | 1 |
| Deandre Ayton (@ CHI | 3/3) | 1 |
| Dejounte Murray (vs POR | 3/3) | 1 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo (vs PHI | 3/4) | 1 |
| James Harden (@ MIL | 3/4) | 1 |
| Jimmy Butler (vs NYK | 3/3) | 1 |
| Paolo Banchero (@ CHA | 3/3) | 1 |
| Russell Westbrook (@ SAC | 3/3) | 1 |
| Stephen Curry (vs NOP | 3/3) | 1 |
| Terry Rozier (vs ORL | 3/3) | 1 |
| Tyler Herro (vs NYK | 3/3) | 1 |
The Worm Survivor
- We're down to 13 steely survivors
- TEN of those 13 made the Cavs (vs. DET) one of their two picks
- Commish is mainly surprised that 10 still had the Cavs available
- And it was actually 11, because, per the Golden Spreadsheet, one person STILL has the Cavs available
- STRATEGY! Commish loves to see it!
- Our next biggest picks: Phoenix (@ CHI), Boston (vs. BKN), Knicks (@ MIA)
- Miami is favored in that last game. We're definitely in the "deep cuts" territory of NBA Survivor SZN
| Pick | Pick count |
| Cleveland Cavaliers (vs DET | 3/4) | 10 |
| Phoenix Suns (@ CHI | 3/3) | 4 |
| Boston Celtics (vs BKN | 3/3) | 3 |
| New York Knicks (@ MIA | 3/3) | 3 |
| Atlanta Hawks (vs POR | 3/3) | 1 |
| Denver Nuggets (vs MEM | 3/3) | 1 |
| Golden State Warriors (vs NOP | 3/3) | 1 |
| Houston Rockets (@ SAS | 3/4) | 1 |
| Los Angeles Lakers (vs MIN | 3/3) | 1 |
| San Antonio Spurs (vs HOU | 3/4) | 1 |
PICK COMMENTS
@Mr_Rodgers_Neighborhood (Cavs, Suns; Worm): "Into the Sun the Cavalier rode, moving ever closer to the glory that is the Worm Survivor champion."
Commish says: One of my favorite "imagine if this was said to a group of people, out of context" comments in a long time. SAY IT WITH PASSION, MR_RODGERS!
@Gamblers44 (P. George, OAD): "Diamond in the rough....lets get r done. "
Commish says: Is the rough this Clippers season? The entire history of the Clippers?
@kbanaian (K. Johnson, OAD): "Seems to me the only thing I can do now is choose the best guy playing against Houston. That's Keldon Take Me Away, who had 32 against the G-Rockets the last and only time they've played this year. "
Commish says: We're trolling GM, too? WHEN DOES IT END
@pheezy42 (K. Johnson, OAD): "I guess I'll just join the rest of the group in fading my rockets. how long until the draft? "
Commish says: GIVE THE MAN A BREAK
@MONSTERXXX (T. Young, OAD): "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey , I'm taken Treaaaaaaaaa WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH !!!!!"
Commish says: I'm now half convinced you sing children's songs and are incredibly YouTube famous among the 3-to-8 age demographic. And that, come 2040, SZN is gonna be absolutely riddled with people writing WOOOOOOOOH !!! in the pick comments.
Yours in Roundball Rock,
The Commish