Friends in fast breaks,
The NFL might own Thanksgiving day, but we've got pleeeeenty of ball to go around on Black Friday. I hope you and yours had an excellent and thankful holiday, it's always good to pause and appreciate the good things in your life. I've got my family, my health, and goofballs like you all making this enjoyable. Cheers!
WEEK 5 PICKS
- Points One-And-Done
- Survivor #1
- "All 30" One-And-Done
The GM AWARDS
Rewarding whatever random things I feel like. Feel free to suggest topics!
Point-iest Team - IND Pacers
309 total points in a game with no OT, what's in the water up there? IND is currently pushing for the all-time record in points per game with 128.3. Remember the 7 Seconds or Less Suns back in 2004? They're what I think of when I think of a crazy offense (and it definitely was for it's time), but they averaged 110 points per game. We're talking an extra 18 points per game! I know, pace, blah blah blah, it's still crazy! We'll see if they can keep it up for the whole season.
Team I'm Most Thankful For - HOU Rockets
Yeah yeah, I'm thankful for MY team. And you should be thankful for yours! I spent the last 3 years watching us go from a perennial contender to intentional garbage and it suuuuuucked. Watching games this year is no longer a form of masochism, and that's a wonderful feeling.
Most Confusing Contender - MIL Bucks
I did NOT expect their learning curve to be this rough. Yes, they're still 10-5. Yes, I expected some adjustment time for integrating Dame. Yes, new coach. But for their defense to drop to bottom third of the league? Dame to take a serious step back in efficiency? Ouch. Get it together Freak Time!
Best Youngsters - OKC Thunder
ORL is RIGHT there, and could arguably be considered more impressive considering they didn't get to start with SGA. But BOTH of these teams are just looking glorious in their turnaround from the last couple years. Chet or Paolo, SGA or Franz, I'm loving seeing the "next-next" generation of stars come up.
PICK STATS
Walking Bucket Wilt OAD
- G. Antetokounmpo snags our top spot with 74 picks
- I might have ragged on MIL's defensive rating, but WAS is worse
- And who "stops" Giannis? Nobody
- Worst case is they get too big of a lead too fast and he sits
- It's a big drop down to our other big picks
- T. Haliburton (45 picks), K. Durant (37), S. Curry (36), and D. Fox (34)
- What am I supposed to say here?
- These are all top notch scorers facing terrible teams
- Just like Giannis - Just need to hope they get enough minutes to matter
- Interesting low volume picks: J. Poole (8 picks), Z. Williamson (2), J. Brown (1)
- We apparently still hope Poole can get his crap together
- Zion still not dependable in our books
- Jaylen getting no love in the new BOS big 3
- Digging into the Golden Spreadsheet...
- Some shuffling in our top 5
- Now it stands with Luka, Embiid, Curry, Durant, and Mitchell at the top
- Then a step drop to Tatum and SGA
- We'll keep evolving as we go forward
Survivor #1
- IND takes our top spot with 85 picks
- That covers 32.8% of the pool
- And they're beating up on the listless DET
- MIL is the other big pick with 69
- And they're taking on WAS
- Still no bravery in the big picks.... obviously
- DEN (@ HOU) is our first brave choice via 13 pickers
- HOU nearly beat DEN last time, and it's a home game this time
- BOS (@ ORL) was only taken by 3
- And that's a brave choice - ORL has been looking STRONG
- Our low volume picks are AWESOME though
- LAC (vs NOP), BKN (vs MIA), DAL (@ LAC), MIN (vs SAC), ORL (vs BOS) and UTA (vs NOP)
- RESPECT - Need comments from all you brave pickers, you deserve your time in the sun!
- Digging into the Golden Spreadsheet...
- This only looks at picks from alive players in the pool
- MIL obviously makes a huge leap this week, to 47.1%
- IND too, up to 34.7% (nearly all live players IND picks are from this week)
- Every team has a pick amongst those who are alive, awesome!
"All 30" One-And-Done
- We didn't make any meaningful swerves this week compared to Survivor
- IND (60 picks) and MIL (38) at the top
- ATL, GSW, PHX, DEN in the next batch
- Even the same brave picks for MIN, BKN, and DAL
- Cheers to the 4 UTA pickers!
- Digging into the Golden Spreadsheet...
- A big bump for IND and MIL (again)
- MIL now our second most used team, IND in fifth
BEST PICK COMMENTS
@kbanaian (D. Booker, J. Tatum): "Should you just choose teams who are playing for getting into the IST knockout rounds? It’s as good a theory as any I have. "
GM says: They have the most incentive to run the score up (if you believe they care about the IST)
@wingnut79 (C. Cunningham, P. Siakam): "I have no clue when it comes to basketball. The Commish believes in me, or so he says, I trust the Commish. I guess I will Google basketball stuff and statr believe'n! Thanks Commish!!!!!!"
GM says: I'm not Commish, but I won't[sic] stop, belieeeeeevin'!
@Schreindogg (IND, All 30): "Doubling up, just like my weight after Thanksgiving dinner "
GM says: What do they call indigestion caused by excessive picking?
@RedEd4 (IND, Survivor #1): "Who's playing the Pistons? Yeah, I'll pick them"
GM says: They're going to win at some point... but today is probably not that day.
@Rodgers_is_dead_to_me (K. Towns, J. Poole): "Even though my Bucks have been winning, they seem to give up monster games against opposing guards, so I’m banking on that here."
GM says: Shout out Dame the Defender!
@Logan2273 (MIL, Survivor #1): "If I lose this one I’ll cry"
GM says: There's no crying in Survivor! No, wait... There's a lot of crying, ignore me
@StatCzar (ATL, All 30): "I find the Hawks to be maybe the most frustrating league to try and figure out (looking at you too Pacers), and I find Trae to be the most frustrating All-Star in the league, yes even more than AD, so I fully expect to be frustrated by this pick. But if I get it right, I'll take a bow to no one in my living room in NE Ohio."
GM says: Leave Mr. 38.8% from the field alone!
@YikesVikes (J. Embiid, T. Haliburton): "I've been Haliburton with Embiid problems all season so let's see what they can do this week! Embiid has been excellent this season, recording 1.76 points per minute in 34.1 minutes per game through his first 13 games. He has a 36.3 percent usage rate, 18 percent rebounding rate and has increased his assist rate to 31.4 percent. Haliburton has been an excellent fantasy producer this season with 1.55 points per minute in 32.9 minutes per game. He has a 25.2 percent usage rate, is shooting 43.2 percent from three and has a 48.4 percent assist rate. Hope all those stats help - guess they can't hurt..... "
GM says: I... did you... did you give ChatGPT some stats and ask it to justify your picks?
@RedEd4 (P. Banchero, K. Thompson): "The wheel has spoken"
GM says: I'd like photo evidence of the wheel please
@AC0606 (S. Curry, J. Tatum): "I love Chet he's such a Chet"
GM says: Yet you didn't pick him! Next time you take his Honest Abe lookin' butt and back up your love talk
@YikesVikes (MIL, Survivor #1): "It's deer season in Wisconsin, but the Bucks won't get shot down, the Wizards have no power in the state of insurance. Besides Green Bay is known as the "Toilet Paper Capital" of the world, so any wizard crap has been cleaned up for their Milwaukee neighbor. "
GM says: 👏 👏 👏 this is excellent, no notes
@Schreindogg (IND, Survivor #1): "Seems too easy, but that's how this season has been going so why would things change? "
GM says: Famous last words 😬
@Rodgers_is_dead_to_me (IND, All 30): "I keep picking the same team for survivor and one and done, and it hasn't failed me yet. (no way did I just jinx myself)"
GM says: This is a tiny-bit-less intense version of when people do it in multiple survivor pools. But I respect you doubling down when there's no reason to!
@Sportsfan90 (ATL, All 30): "My 🔒 Atlanta "
GM says: Most would describe ATL's defense as more of a sieve...
@Logan2273 (IND, All 30): "Take ‘em while they’re hot"
GM says: Like a Krispy Kreme with the light on, I'm there!
Yours in Roundball Rock,
The GM