Fantasy Basketball: Klay Thompson No Longer Misses
If you’re lucky you have Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson on your fantasy basketball team. In his last three games he’s been consistently in NBA Jam “he’s on fire” mode.
Photographic proof:
Video Evidence:
52 points versus the Kings including a 37-point third quarter from last Saturday
31 points in 32 minutes the next night against the Celtics
30 points in an overtime loss to the Bulls on Tuesday
Statistical Backing:
During this stretch Thompson is averaging 37.7 points on 56.3 percent shooting with six threes per game, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals. Not bad, not bad at all.
What Thompson is able to accomplish is partially because of a gift that can’t be practiced or improved. He has incredible size and length. At the NBA Draft Combine he measured 6’7.25″ in shoes with an 8’7.5″ standing reach. That standing reach is tied for the second longest in the draftexpress.com database for shooting guards.
He falls into a category with the likes of Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis and LaMarcus Aldridge in the sense they have an advantage every single night because of their ability to get a shot off cleanly no matter how much it looks like they’re closely defended.
What Thompson is doing these past three games is by no means sustainable, but it’s very clear he’s an absolute beast. He’s someone I was 100% wrong about with their fantasy value going into this season.
Other notes from Tuesday night’s action:
- Detroit Pistons point guard D.J. Augustin: Second straight strong effort from Augustin replacing Brandon Jennings. Not the same scoring volume, but an effective 19 points, nine assists, four rebounds and two steals on 8-of-15 shooting. Also hit three from deep and turned the ball over five times.
- Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade: Wade left yesterday’s game with a right hamstring strain. He’s a gigantic pain to deal with. Trade him and don’t deal with him.
- Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose: One of the weirdest box scores and games in general you will ever see from Rose last night. Hit what turned out to be the game winning jumper, but turned the ball over 11 times to only one assist. Rose made four threes, but shot 13-for-33 from the field. Finished with 30, but it took 33 shots. Rose added seven rebounds and a block. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
- Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Wayne Ellington: Ellington was the beneficiary of the leftovers from Kobe Bryant being out. He scored a career high 28 points on 12-for-20 shooting with three rebounds, three assists and three steals. Still not buying it on a night-to-night basis. Jeremy Lin got 23 minutes off the bench and dished out eight assists with nothing else of value. Jordan Clarkson tallied 18 points with three assists and three rebounds. We’ll keep tracking the situation in hopes of finding consistency from somewhere.
- Indiana Pacers point guard George Hill: Three games back in the lineup and three solid performances in only 20 minutes apiece. Hill has crossed double digits in each game, scoring 13 points twice and 17 once. Not much anywhere else, but when the minutes start to jump he’s solid value on a crappy Pacers team needing offense.