Happy Almost Friday! A #Pickem? Well, If You Insist
It's Thursday, which is practically Friday. And Friday is almost Saturday so Happy Saturday to everybody!
The Hoops Time IG dropped another #pickem with an interesting wrinkle: Build a team with only $15 (Players with no All-Star appearances, rookies excluded)
PG De'Aaron Fox $5 (Remaining: $10)
Today in Arbitrary Numbers Studio, we pay homage to all 13 names that averaged at least 20 PPG, 4 RPG & 6 APG this past season. Per the link, you can see that the list is a bunch of 12 no-names and one De'Aaron Fox. He's the fastest player in the league without the ball, and maybe with it too. He's getting stronger by the year and when the jumper stabilizes, watch out.
SG Jaylen Brown $3 (Remaining: $7)
A 20 PPG scorer that hits 38% of his threes AND figures to claim a spot on one of the All-Defense teams? For $3?? Yes please! You want more Arbitrary Numbers? You got it! Seven guys averaged 20 PPG, 6 RPG, and hit 38% of their three-pointers this season. Three were All-Stars, two would have made the All-Star team if not for injuries and then there are the lucky two that ended up on my fictional team.
SF Robert Covington $1 (Remaining: $6)
Mr. 3-and-D himself for $1? Another steal. RoCo is maybe the best bargain here when you consider the Sixers unofficially swapped he and the $5 option on this very same row, and the team didn't get noticeably better. The Rockets got him and went on a tear. Consider that in real life, Covington will make $36 million dollars for this season and the next two. Andrew Wiggins will make $90 million dollars over that same time period to be much worse at basketball.
PF John Collins $5 (Remaining: $1)
You remember the other guy that I said made my team with Jaylen Brown? It's CPF John Collins. One more ABS??? Ok but this is the last one! The LAST one! Below is the list of people that have averaged 20 PPG, while shooting 60% from 2P and 40% from 3P:
Ever. LeBron, the year he led the league in Win Shares, won regular-season MVP, and Finals MVP over the Spurs. And John Collins this past season. That's the entire list. So next year, when John Collins starts winning multiple MVPs and Finals MVP awards you know where you heard it from first.
C Myles Turner $1 (Remaining: $0)
Another steal. In the same way that RoCo is a 3-and-D wing, Turner is a 3-and-D center. He led the league in blocks last year for a team with the third-best defense in the league while hitting 39% of his triples. This year, those numbers dipped to seventh-best defense and 34% of his triples but for a team projected to win more games and on a higher volume of threes.
DAF and JC running pick-and-rolls while Turner spaces the floor. Brown and Covington to handle the tough defensive assignments. Four capable three-point shooters around the fastest man on the planet. I like our chances.
Who you got?