Highlight: Warriors Get Ridiculous With An Off-The-Backboard Alley-Oop

Lots of attention on NBA TV given to the left-handed pass Curry throws off the backboard, but how about how David Lee dribbled across the key with his off-handed before dishing out a screwball-style pass to Curry to set off the circus oop pass?   Or even going back a bit further and questioning why the heck Iguodala was throwing an entry pass to post up David Lee on Trevor Booker at basically the three-point line.  Finally, I hope y'all caught Andrew Bogut staring at his right hand the way that Shaq used to do, all the while giggling down the court  at presumably how unlikely of an alley-oop he just completed.  Almost a ridiculous-ness overload for me, but then again-not really, because these type of possessions are exactly the type I get giddy and can't wait to write and share with you all.  Happy Monday everyone!

Homan League: Week in Review 12/22 - 1/4

ROCKY WIDNER/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

A review of action in the fantasy basketball league dubbed "Homan League".   May include free agent pick-ups, trades, DNP's because someone forgot to set their lineup for the early morning Pacific time game.  Also other shenanigans worth mentioning in the league.  All opinions are exactly that, opinions. So don't take them too personally, and they are mostly mine.

The first Week in Review post of the New Year!  Since I was busy enjoying the Christmas and New Year's days off from work, this post is overdue and includes details from the last two weeks.

For week 9, the biggest headline in our fantasy league has got to be the enormous upset of number 1 seed, Clipper Nation, by then-11th seed, kobeking, 6-4.  Take a look at how close the match was, especially how Ryan's team barely won points by 10, blocks by 6 and free throws by 3. In the match-up between 8th and 9th seeded teams, Oliver's team, League Champion, dominated Jae's Dazzling Team, 7-3 and my team, Just Jrue It, had the biggest margin of victory in wining 9 to 1 over commissioner Homan's team, David Stern.  Second place Swagger couldn't buff up his record playing against Preston Lee's 12th place team, Mark Cuban, as the matchup was split 5-5.  Other Preston (Fong), takes the huge loss 8-2, against Timon's team, S7venbyVII.  Gabe's still in Hong Kong, but he seems to be updating his team reguarly as he wins 6-4 against JJ's team, Sasquatch.

For week 10, Jae's Dazzling Team made it two weeks in a row where Clipper Nation was beat (6-4) despite holding down the top seed in our league.  This is only the second time this season that Jae's team has won the week's matchup, so way to go man.  My team, Just Jrue It, wins the match-up of the 3rd and 4th seeded teams by beating S7venbyVII 7-3.  Other things for the week included a trio of 8-2 wins by teams: Adam Silver, League Champion, and Sasquatch.  Ray's team, Swagger, moved within one win of the top seed in our league with his 6-3 win over Ryan's squad, kobeking.

Nice week for Thaddeus Young as he came down with  a double-double (17-10) on New Year's Day and then went off for 28 points, 6 steals, going perfect from the free throw line (9 for 9), the next night. On Saturday, Thad tied his season high in points with 30 capping off an impressive first three games of 2014.

Almost a quadruple-double for Steph Curry this past friday with his 9 turnovers, but that can be forgiven when you consider the ridiculous games Curry has other times.  For example, the 36 points and 8 threes he had the game before the almost quad-double.  Plus, even when he has games in which he turns the ball over a bunch, he also contributes in steals (5) and rebounds (8) and free throws (7).  At this point, Preston L. is definitely hoping Curry doesn't cool off as tries to break the losing streak that he's been on.

In his last three games, there have been three double-doubles for Ty Lawson as the Nuggets point guard has shown that his early season play was no fluke.  With the Nuggets finally breaking their 8 game losing streak last week, the Nuggets should have their confidence up, which is good for their super quick point guard's chances of keeping up his high assist and points totals.

The Raptors have been playing really well and that has been in part to Kyle Lowry contributing in every which way as the point guard of this team.  Besides being a steady thief averaging over 2 steals a game, Lowry can also be counted on double digit assists and a handful of threes every time he steps out on the court.  Although I consider him to be one of the most underrated point guards in fantasy, he and the Raptors have definitely been capturing more attention these last two weeks.  Lowry is definitely a main reason that Oliver has won 8-2 the last two weeks.

Smart Pick-Up

Since the start of 2014, Iman Shumpert's has been absolutely on fire with his jumper knocking down 12 out of 14 threes in a stretch of two games.  Probably unlikely that Shump continues this shooting streak, but James' picked up a dandy as Iman was the top fantasy performer this past week (TEAM: David Stern).

Although the Wiz have not won all week, the play of Trevor Booker has been impressive as he grabbed a season high of 19 rebounds as JJ quickly snatched him up out of free agency.  Booker has been averaging more than 30 minutes, so its likely he continues contributing boards but unfortunately not much else (TEAM: Sasquatch).

Being a Lakers point guard has meant you'll probably come down an injury at some point during the season so I'd be doing a lot of icing and stretching if I were Kendall Marshall  in order to avoid this developing curse.  However, Gabe took the gamble and it paid off as Marshall scored 20 points and 15 assists in his first start as a Laker (TEAM: Adam Silver).

Tough Times:
After separating his shoulder, top 5 fantasy player, Chris Paul will be out for over a month so I'm pretty freaking bummed (TEAM: Just Jrue It).

Before going down with a scary looking injury, Ryan Anderson was absolutely lighting it up averaging 20 points and just about 3 threes per game.  He's still hospitalized for now so anyone who loves seeing the silky smooth stroke of Anderson will have to hope that the injury isn't too serious and Anderson can return for the Pelicans soon (TEAM: Mark Cuban).

Video: Jimmy Butler Dancing to Taylor Swift

Not sure why this song is so popular with NBA guys, but this marks the second time that you see an NBA player grooving to some "22" by Taylor Swift while basically shirtless.  I mean the coincidence of this occurring is pretty alarming to me because for one, I never considered "22" to be one of Swift's better songs, and also because the stereotype of NBA players being all about the hip hop music is now overwritten by the image of Swift's voice playing in the background while Jimmy B snaps his fingers and twirls his forearms.

*for audio, go to the top right of the video and click the "speaker".

The Raptors May Change Their Colors to Black And Gold

So prior to the start of this season, the Raptors named musician Drake their "global ambassador" for the whole 'rebranding' process that the franchise would be undergoing in preparation for Toronto hosting the All-Star game in 2016.  Since I'm a fan of the Raptor's red/black/silver color scheme and a even bigger fan of their adorable raptor mascot appropriately named Raptor, I was a bit worried about what what changes Mr. Graham might bring to the Raps.

In September, organization president Tim Leiweke comforted fans of the Raptor mascot (like yours truly) by saying that they wouldn't be changing the team nickname.  However, yesterday it was reported that the team's rebranding might involve changing the team's colors to the colors that Drake used on his latest album cover.

From the Star's Doug Smith:

"Now, I’m not suggesting it’s a done deal and a lot of different people and companies are coming up with a lot of different looks and styles but I was told on the weekend that black and gold is definitely something being considered."

Now in no way or form am I saying that Drake is Jay-Z, but I'm already wary of this potential change.  In case you forgot, Jay was involved in a  similar rebranding effort when the Nets made their move from Brooklyn to New Jersey.  Although the color scheme of the New Jersey Nets is not exactly the most missed color scheme and logo (that would be the Sonics), the current Brookyn Nets' black and white is arguably the most boring color palate of any team in the league.  Maybe NBA teams should stop handing over the colors for their organizations to hip hop artists who mostly wear black.

Who knows though?  Maybe Drake will be a bit more creative than Jay-Z was with the Microsoft Clip Art-style Brooklyn Nets logo and really style the black and gold out on the Raptor's new jerseys.  It should be noted that black and gold is already synonymous with the New Orleans Saints and I'm not sure how good the Raptor mascot would look if it is covered in shiny gold fur.