This article is part of our Rebound & Rant series.
Holy smokes, yours truly is first in the much heralded RotoWire Staff Keeper league. I've been in the league two-plus seasons and have only been in the lead a total of six days. Six. Of course, you start by inheriting a bad team (see Trainor, D.J.). But only six days? Clearly this is worth celebrating.
Why am I in first? Two words: Will Barton. Sure, guys like Marc Gasol (finally), Kyle Lowry and DeAndre Jordan are playing well. But they are supposed to play well. Where the hell did Will Barton come from? I got him as a throw-in "minor league" stash in a larger trade when he was riding pine in Portland. Weeks later, he's shipped to Denver so the Blazers can rent Arron Afflalo for a few months. (Side note: is there a duller starter than Arron Afflalo? No.) Barton finally gets some minutes with the Nuggets and shows many nice flashes, and yet I still debated whether to spend $3 this summer to keep him. Luckily, I did. Hooray! So let's celebrate with an R&R Will Barton edition.
Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas
What the heck happened to these guys? Both have been in numerous sleeper/break-out columns, yet they haven't blossomed. Both were due for huge minutes these last few years, only to collapse heath-wise like a house of cards. I always thought Jones was the guy to own. But apparently the Rockets are running out of patience with the 23-year-old. ESPN's Calvin Watkins reports
Holy smokes, yours truly is first in the much heralded RotoWire Staff Keeper league. I've been in the league two-plus seasons and have only been in the lead a total of six days. Six. Of course, you start by inheriting a bad team (see Trainor, D.J.). But only six days? Clearly this is worth celebrating.
Why am I in first? Two words: Will Barton. Sure, guys like Marc Gasol (finally), Kyle Lowry and DeAndre Jordan are playing well. But they are supposed to play well. Where the hell did Will Barton come from? I got him as a throw-in "minor league" stash in a larger trade when he was riding pine in Portland. Weeks later, he's shipped to Denver so the Blazers can rent Arron Afflalo for a few months. (Side note: is there a duller starter than Arron Afflalo? No.) Barton finally gets some minutes with the Nuggets and shows many nice flashes, and yet I still debated whether to spend $3 this summer to keep him. Luckily, I did. Hooray! So let's celebrate with an R&R Will Barton edition.
Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas
What the heck happened to these guys? Both have been in numerous sleeper/break-out columns, yet they haven't blossomed. Both were due for huge minutes these last few years, only to collapse heath-wise like a house of cards. I always thought Jones was the guy to own. But apparently the Rockets are running out of patience with the 23-year-old. ESPN's Calvin Watkins reports Houston is offering Jones in trade offers. What does this mean? Well, it's further evidence that the Rockets want to stick with Clint Capela in the starting lineup. It might also mean D-Mo is finally getting over his back problems. Motiejunas, who played 22 minutes in Monday's loss to the Nuggets, has always had 13-point, six-rebound, one-three-pointer and one-block potential.
Speaking of Houston versus Denver, did you see Barton toy with Trevor Ariza? Hysterical. Ariza falls down playing typical poor Rockets' defense and somehow loses his shoe. So Barton chucks the lost shoe to the sideline, crippling Ariza. Barton was T'ed up for it, but I LOVE the move!
Will Barton gets T'ed up after throwing Trevor Ariza's shoe.
Jae Crowder is a Beast
Crowder looks like a linebacker except he's a linebacker who can hit threes, with an oh-so-sweet high arching lollipop shot.
Oh, and his 2.0 steals per game have him tied for sixth in the league. Yahoo has Crowder ranked No. 32 for average stats per game in nine-category leagues, despite listing him at No. 132 O-Rank (per Yahoo's legend, O-Rank is "Player's overall Yahoo Sports ranking based on current and prior seasons"). Trust Brad Stevens and also keep an eye on Kelly Olynyk. But the main point is check your free-agent pool for Crowder or see if his owner wants a bigger name in a trade. We should have seen this coming when Crowder had that great playoff series versus Cleveland last year.
Similarly, maybe we should have seen the Barton breakout coming? I mean, check out these highlights from last season, baby!
George Hill
and Jared Sullinger
I've said before that Barton's slim build and tall fade-back hairstyle make him look a little bit like a Pez dispenser. That's especially true when the Nuggets go with their sleeved white-gold uni's. Still, Barton's hair can't compete with George Hill or Jared Sullinger, both under-rated fantasy contributors. Who do you think has the crazier hairstyle?
OK, this made me laugh. If I stay in first place for a full week, I would kiss Barton while on a Jumbotron.
Things got a little awkward during pregame last night... https://t.co/l4hwpkgvNG
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 15, 2015Will Barton
With all this yakking about Will "The Thrill" Barton, I should probably tell you about his stats. CBS has him ranked No. 43 year-to-date for an eight-category league. Yahoo has him at No. 29 for year-to-date total game stats and No. 41 for average stats per game for a nine-category (including turnovers) league. Through 25 games he's averaging 14.6 points, 1.4 made threes, 5.8 boards, 2.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 86 percent from the charity stripe. Boom! He practically lives on the RotoWire NBA Lineup Optimizer. Plus, he's got mad hops. Just ask Ariza and D-Mo:
Take THAT!
Adios Amigos! Now go trade for Will Barton!!!
