Day 38: Throwing some kudos to DeAndre Jordan

(Kaneda, of Akira. Illustration courtesy of the insanely-talented Fresh Doodle)

It was a slim night of NBA action on Thursday, as is usually the case, what with TNT having near-exclusive rights to all Thursday night games. So the blurbs section is going to be rather succinct today. (Hooray!)

But before I get to the blurbs, I want to take a minute to pimp a very, very cool movie that's going to be appearing on [adult swim] tomorrow night. That movie is Akira, and it's basically one of the greatest movies ever that you never, ever see on TV. It doesn't even get airtime on premium movie channels like HBO or Cinemax. Why? Because it's a cartoon. A cartoon with copious amounts of violence, and destruction, and bloodshed, and there's even a very brief rape scene featuring nudity. In other words, the subject matter is such that it's kind of a hard sell to put on TV. But holy crap is it a good movie.

Akira is pretty much the most critically-acclaimed anime property of all time. It's a gritty story of a teenage biker gang in post-apocalyptic Japan (is there any other kind?) in which the aftereffects of the country's nuclear fallout begins to affect one of them in a rather horrific way. It's made for adults, and if there's any reason why I'm spreading the word about it, it's because it's exceedingly difficult to sit a grown-ass man in front of an anime show or movie without him going, "This was made for little kids." That's not to say that Akira is perfect, because it is pretty damn confusing at points. And sure, the violence is so frenetic that if you're not in the mood to see random extras die by the dozen, this may not be the flick for you.

However, if you've ever had even the tiniest inkling of getting into anime, and if you don't piss yourself every time you see blood on a television screen, I highly recommend you watch this movie. And tomorrow could be the last time for years and years that you'll actually be able to see it on TV. (That's not a big deal, I guess, but it is cool to be able to sit down and watch a movie without having to set it up yourself once in a while.) I'm sure the [adult swim] version will have a few edits, but I doubt it'll be anything that extreme. If you're searching for something to watch tomorrow night and you don't feel like sitting through Saturday Night Live, you should really give Akria a shot. Or don't. I mean, whatever you want to do, dude.

All righty (*cracks knuckles*). Who's up for some good ole fashion fantasy basketball news?

• Iman Shumpert had a nice night against the Nets, going for 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 5 three's, so kudos if you own(ed) him. Shumpert isn't consistent enough for my liking, but he's capable of helping owners in a lot of categories. So in situations like this where you might be looking at someone to stream on a slim night of NBA action, Shump is worth a look.
• Kevin Garnett had just 6 points and 6 rebounds in 20 minutes for the Nets. It really doesn't matter how much life he may or may not have in the tank at this point, because he just doesn't play enough minutes -- even with Deron Williams out -- to justify being owned. (KG is owned in 71% of Yahoo! fantasy basketball leagues, which is just insane. Forget the name, and just look at his stats, folks.)
• DeAndre Jordan was productive against the Grizzlies, going for 10 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Jordan is kind of like Andre Drummond, except that he truly has no offensive game whatsoever. Still, he gets just as many rebounds and blocks and steals as Drummond, and he gets slightly more assists than Drummond, and he goes to the line so infrequently that he's unlikely to mulitate your free-throw percentage, unlike Drummond. Now, I say all that while stipulating that I'd take Drummond over Jordan in a heartbeat, because come on. But... Jordan is very quietly having a terrific year and is 85% of the player that Drummond is. So if you can't deal yourself into owning Drummond (which might be very difficult right now), I suggest giving Jordan a look.
• Darren Collison had a good game off the bench for the Clippers, scoring 15 points on 6-9 shooting to go with 3 assists. Collison is playing behind Chris Paul (15 points, 8 assists), so it's hard to see him carving out a statistical sweetspot, even with J.J. Redick hurt. If you're owning Collison, it's because he's the ultimate handicap, as he's primed to become a tremendously valuable point guard should something ever happen to CP3, perish the thought. (When Paul got hurt in the 2009-10 season when he was with the Hornets AKA Pelicans, Collison was his backup. In 37 starts at point guard that year, Collison averaged 19 points, 9 assists and 3.5 rebounds a game. And that was without Blake Griffin to throw it to.)
• Zach Randolph returned from his ingrown toenail injury (wait, what?) to put up 12 points and 12 rebounds against the Clippers. Randolph's unwillingness to event attempt to block a shot or steal the ball is rather annoying; in 521 minutes this season, Randolph, who's 6-foot-9, has 2 blocks and 9 steals. Even Nick Young and Mario Chalmers have 4 blocks this year, so what does that say? Still, Randolph is a double-double machine and is worth unconditionally starting when he's healthy.
• Ed Davis, who I recommended as a streaming option the other day, was well on his way to having a good game, posting 6 points, 2 rebounds and a block in 8 minutes... and then he sprained his ankle and missed the rest of the game. D'oh! Davis has significant appeal as a fantasy option when Z-bo is injured. But until/if that happens again, it's hard to own Davis outside of those mythical ultra deep leagues that some people are allegedly in.
• Joakim Noah played well again, going for 17 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists. Thanks to Derrick Rose's injury, Noah is getting a lot of minutes and is starting to put up the numbers that he did a year ago, minus the blocks.
• Taj Gibson had his fourth straight awesome outing, scoring 19 points and adding 6 rebounds and a block against the Heat. Gibson is averaging 18.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in the five games since Rose went down, and is a decent speculation add. Unfortunately, because he's in something of a timeshare behind Noah and Carlos Boozer (27 points, 9 rebounds), and because it's very hard to see Gibson, Boozer and Noah sharing the floor that often, Gibson is really only a passable fantasy option, though I'll admit he's playing terrific right now.