Day 24: CP3 stays hot and Ervin Santana shows some love

Broken Leagues reached a milestone of a sort on Thursday, or at least the Twitter account did. In case you haven't yet bothered to click the Twitter icon-button at the top of the screen, Broken Leagues is indeed on Twitter at the predictably easy-to-remember handle of @brokenleagues. And yesterday, the account got its very first professional athlete follower: Royals pitcher Ervin Santana.

When I first got the notice that Santana, with his verified blue checkmark, was following the site on Twitter, I kind of geeked out a little. I mean, I actually had Erving Santana on my fantasy baseball squad last year, and now here he was, ostensibly giving his approval of my little shindig here. I started envisioning Santana becoming a traveling spokesman on behalf of Broken Leagues. I thought about how cool it'd be if Santana started directing all of his teammates to this site, and then one by one, each and every member of the Kansas City Royals would become a loyal member of Broken Leagues.

But it wouldn't stop there. Oh no. I'd reach an agreement with SharkRobot, and Santana -- who of course would become a "friend of the site" -- would go on TV clad in his custom "I break for BrokenLeagues.com" t-shirt. (Slogan pending.) Basically, in the span of a couple minutes, I imagined a fantasy world in which Broken Leagues would become one of the 32 most popular websites on the planet, and this sudden wave of popularity would stem entirely from my association with Mr. Santana, who would no doubt devote all of his free time to support the website that he so clearly adores.

Of course, I came back to reality when I actually clicked on the dude's Twitter account and realized he was following about 25,000 other people. So, more than likely, Santana doesn't even know this site exists, and likely only followed me because he assumed, and rightly so, that I'd follow him back. So... that's not quite as cool as it would be if Santana was an actual, factual, pledged reader of this website. Although, it's still pretty cool to have a professional millionaire athlete listed as one of my followers, even if it's mostly a superficial fact. If nothing else, I'm 1% closer to Ervin Santana than I was on Wednesday.

Anyway, it's time to flip this patty and start talkin' bout some fantasy bball. After all, this blog isn't about Ervin Santana; it's about fantasy basketball! (Which isn't to say that I won't happily pump out as much pro-Santana propaganda as possible if it means retaining him as a follower.)

Blurbage:

• Joakim Noah had by far his best game of the year on Thursday, posting 11 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and a block against Denver. Noah's been quiet in the early part of the year and he's still yet to block more than 2 shots in a single game. But you know what? The only other centers capable of putting up a line like this are Kevin Love and Marc Gasol, and it's much harder for a center to come within a few assists of a triple-double than it is for him to block three shots in a game. If he can do this, it's only a matter of time until he picks up his rejecting.
• Derrick Rose came awfully close to shooting 50% from the floor. But alas, the Bulls guard went a mere 9-20 in Denver, scoring 19 points to go with 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Slowly but surely, Rose is rounding into form. Barring an unexpected Deron Williams-esque ankle injury, one would expect Rose to break out sooner rather than later.
• Blake Griffin looked damn good against the Thunder, posting 27 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Griffin showcased his much-improved mid-range game, hitting turn-around after turn-around over Serge Ibaka. Griffin is having easily his best season since his rookie year, though for fantasy purposes, he's only slightly better than he was last year because his shot-blocking and free-throwing shooting are still below average. If he can eventually nix his problems at the foul line, Griffin could be a second-round pick in fantasy drafts next season.
• Chris Paul's amazing start to the season continued, with the Clippers guard totaling 17 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds. His gaudy assist totals have been well-documented lately, but it's also worth noting just how much he's rebounding the ball too. Thursday marked the fourth straight game in which Paul pulled down at least 5 boards; he'd be the easy choice for league MVP if the Clippers had a better record than 8-5.
• Starting in place of the hurt Jimmy Butler, Mike Dunleavy scored 15 points on 2 three's to go with 5 rebounds. With Butler expected to miss a few weeks, Dunleavy is a decent stopgap for anyone seeking 10-14 points and a few three's a game from a small forward.
• Kenneth Faried was productive for the Nuggets, notching 12 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes against the Bulls. After a fairly shaky start to the season, Faried has really picked up his play with the injury of JaVale McGee; Thursday marked the fifth time in six games that he's finished with double-digit rebounds. Given how much his name is being floated in the news, it's not at all unlikely that he'll be traded at some point in the next few months. Still, Faried is a terrific talent and is likely to average 10-and-10 numbers regardless of who he plays for.
• There were only two games on Thursday, so I'm saved from having to write more. Have a good weekend y'all!