Here’s a quick look at the upcoming NBA schedule to help you plan your Week 8 strategy. Jeff Nichols will return in this space with much more thorough advice next Sunday.
One of the best teams in the NBA takes on four of the worst. The L.A. Clippers open in Detroit and finish in Phoenix, with home games against New Orleans and Sacramento in between. Only the likelihood of garbage time in any (or all) of those games keeps me from calling Chris Paul and Blake Griffin the two best players to own. One guy who is owned in only 12% of Yahoo leagues is Matt Barnes, the Streamer of the Week. Roll the dice on Eric Bledsoe (18% owned) though a bruised hip may slow him down on Monday. In very deep formats, even Lamar Odom (4% owned) can be streamed.
The Detroit Pistons will probably get run out of their own gym on Monday night by the mighty Clippers. Call that one a character-builder. The rest of the week, they make a short trip to Toronto, then have a home-and-home with the Washington Wizards. That’s the definition of an easy schedule. Use Brandon Knight and Greg Monroe with confidence and don’t shy away from Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince or Andre Drummond.
It’s four games in five nights for Golden State, all winnable if they sustain the momentum from that amazing 6-1 road trip. Finishing with the Lakers on Saturday (after Charlotte the night before) is the biggest challenge by far. The Warriors believe in themselves, and I’m a convert. Start ‘em all, and in deep leagues take a good look at rookie Draymond Green, whose excellent defense has earned him minutes. Already a source of REB, STL and BLK, his shooting can only improve.
| Team | MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
ATL  |
@WAS | OKC | @PHI | CHI | |||
BOS  |
@CHI | CLE | MIL | ||||
BRK  |
UTA | @NYK | PHI | ||||
CHA  |
@LAL | @PHO | @GSW | @DEN | |||
CHI  |
@MEM | BOS | @NYK | @ATL | |||
CLE  |
TOR | @BOS | IND | @MIL | |||
DAL  |
PHI | MIA | @MEM | @SAS | |||
DEN  |
SAS | @POR | CHA | ||||
DET  |
LAC | @TOR | WAS | @WAS | |||
GSW  |
NOH | @SAC | CHA | LAL | |||
HOU  |
@NYK | PHI | MEM | ||||
IND  |
@MIL | UTA | @CLE | @NOH | |||
LAC  |
@DET | NOH | SAC | @PHO | |||
LAL  |
CHA | @GSW | |||||
MEM  |
CHI | MIL | DAL | @HOU | |||
MIA  |
MIN | @ DAL | UTA | ||||
MIL  |
IND | @MEM | @BOS | CLE | |||
MIN  |
@ORL | @MIA | OKC | @NYK | |||
NOH  |
@GSW | @LAC | @SAS | IND | |||
NYK  |
HOU | BRK | CHI | MIN | |||
OKC  |
SAS | @ATL | @MIN | ||||
ORL  |
MIN | WAS | @TOR | UTA | |||
PHI  |
@DAL | @HOU | ATL | @BRK | |||
PHO  |
SAC | CHA | @POR | LAC | |||
POR  |
DEN | PHO | @SAC | ||||
SAC  |
@PHO | GSW | @LAC | POR | |||
SAS  |
@OKC | @DEN | NOH | DAL | |||
TOR  |
@CLE | DET | ORL | ||||
UTA  |
@BKN | @IND | @MIA | @ORL | |||
WAS  |
ATL | @ORL | @DET | DET |
Love the weekly report. Any way to color code your schedule, so that one can discern at a glance how many games a team will play in a given week? (i.e. red for two, yellow for 3, and green for four?) Thanks.