Quote of the day
"At halftime, I told the guys that he [Bryant] was forcing the action, and let's get him over the hump and start playing team basketball. It didn't seem like we ever did." -- Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, after Kobe passed Jerry West as the all-time Laker scorer (and the Lakers lost in Memphis)Daily blurb
It’s Groundhog Day. Do you feel like you’ve been here before?
Darren Collison might. Back in November, Chris Paul was out of action for all or part of 9 games, and Collison scored in double figures in all 9 of them, after having scored only 21 total points in the team’s first 9 games. Since Paul’s return in early December, Collison has reached double figures only once – 12 points in 23 minutes at Golden State. But now that Paul is out once again, Collison has responded with scoring games of 17 and 16. However, this time around, he’s also dishing out assists at a Paul-ian rate, with 18 and 14. In his November stint, he only had double-digit assists once (11 on 11/21 vs. Atlanta). Obviously, there’s no reason to expect those gaudy assist numbers to persist, but for now, he’s looking like a “must have” in all salary cap formats, where his price is certainly a shadow of Paul’s. In the TSN game, the transition of Paul to Collison also effectively injects an extra $10+ million into all competitive teams, rendering the excess wealth of the richest teams less impactful.
It’s Groundhog Day. Do you feel like you’ve been here before? I notice that last year, on Feb. 2, the headline of the Blazers @ Hornets game recap was “Paul injured and Blazers beat Hornets 97-89.” That time, Paul missed only 4 games, returning faster than expected. I’d been thinking that he’s been somewhat injury prone in his brief career, but those were the only four games he missed last year, so maybe not. Until this season at least.
It’s Groundhog Day. Do you feel like you’ve been here before? Paul Millsap has averaged 50.5 TSNP/game in the last week, while Carlos Boozer is out with a strained hamstring. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this story before.
It’s Groundhog Day. Do you feel like you’ve been here before? Tyreke Evans was a DNP last night. Until yesterday, he was the second most highly owned player in TSN Ultimate Hoops (behind only LeBron). Seems as though I saw this episode in late December – although at that time, I think he was the highest owned player – or at least neck-and-neck with LeBron. Evans missed only three games that time. This one sounds even less serious, although youneverknow.
It’s a Tuesday, and all my TSN teams are tradeless. Do you feel like you’ve been here before? I do.