Happy New Year from all of us here at Hoop Ball! Here’s to a wonderful 2018 with excellent basketball action and fantasy winnings for you and yours.

Kicking off 2018, we’ve got a week featuring two of the most important games of the season. One involving the number one ranked fantasy player of the season up to now taking on the defending NBA Champions. But will the best fantasy player in the league be healthy enough to play? Speaking of healthy enough, a superstar could make his season debut this week and it might be in time to go up against his former team in the city he became a folk hero. All that and much, much more. Let’s take a look at the Week Ahead:

Games Played Breakdown

Four Games: Blazers, Bucks, Bulls, Knicks, Lakers, Spurs, Suns, Wolves

Three Games: Cavs, Celtics, Clippers, Hawks, Heat, Jazz, Magic, Mavericks, Nets, Nuggets, Pistons, Raptors, Rockets, Thunder, Warriors, Wizards

Two Games: Grizzlies, Hornets, Kings, Pacers, Pelicans, Sixers

Of all the teams with four games on the ledger this week, look toward the Spurs as the most lethal team this week, with a beautifully fantasy friendly schedule.

Two of their games this week are played against teams that surrender at least 108 points per game. The Spurs have the Sixers (allowing 108.8 ppg) on Wednesday and the Suns (allowing 112.4 ppg) on Friday. Beyond that, the Spurs travel to the Knicks on Tuesday and the Blazers on Sunday. Overall, this slate actually gives San Antonio a lot of defensive stat potential. All four of these teams rank in the bottom half of the league in opponent’s steals, opponent’s blocks and turnovers per possession. With the Spurs’ lockdown defense, allowing the fewest points per game in the league, the whole team could be a box score dynamo this week.

One of the Spurs’ opponents has a nice schedule for streaming purposes this week. This week oddly holds a four-game slate, two five-gamers and a two-game night. The Blazers suit up on the four-game night (tonight) and both five-game nights (Tuesday and Sunday). Portland will be a great option to find guys on lighter nights.

Looking beyond fantasy for a moment, this week showcases what could be Conference Finals previews in both the East and West on back-to-back nights. The Cavaliers travel to Boston to take on the Celtics on Wednesday night. The huge storyline developing is Isaiah Thomas’ impending season debut with Cleveland. The latest word is that IT could make his first appearance as a Cav on Tuesday night against the Blazers, making him available to play against his former team in the city that loves him.

On Thursday night, we’ve got only two games and one of them is a doozy. The Warriors travel to Houston to take on the Rockets in a matchup of the league’s best teams. But after last night’s game against the Lakers, James Harden’s status is up in the air. He strained his hamstring late in the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ eventual double-overtime win and didn’t return. We should know more in the next few days as the Rockets’ next game comes one night before the duel with the defending champs, Wednesday night in Orlando against the Magic.

Wire Watch

Ish Smith, PG, Pistons

Reggie Jackson is expected to miss at least the next month of action so Smith will take over the point guard duty for the Pistons. In the last five games, Ish is averaging nearly 15 points per game with four rebounds, four assists and 52 percent shooting. Smith isn’t a 3-point shooter, he’s made only four all season. But he knows his limitations which is a major help for his percentages. Between those percentages, his scoring volume and the extra minutes he’s now afforded, Smith is a must own.

Jordan Bell, C, Warriors

Bell hasn’t seen less than 18 minutes in the last ten games and he’s making opponents pay with his extended minutes. In those ten games, Bell is averaging 8.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.4 blocks and shooting 63 percent from the floor in 23.4 minutes of action. Bell is seeing more time with the Warriors’ fearsome foursome, serving as the unit’s rim protecting do-it-all defender and even filled Draymond Green’s shoes pretty well during Green’s absence. Since the hyper-athletic Bell is on the floor with those guys, he should be on your waiver wire no more.

Tyus Jones, PG, Wolves

With Jeff Teague out, Jones has been a great source of assists. He’s averaging four assists per game in the last four games and that number is hurt by last Wednesday’s game with the Nuggets where he was held without an assist. In the two games without Teague, Jones has amounted 12 points, 11 assists, six rebounds, seven steals and only two turnovers. Tyus has really stepped up this season and become a serious rotation player in Minnesota. Teague’s injury provides an opportunity to take it to the next level.

Injury Report

James Harden (hamstring) is expected to be a game-time decision for the Rockets’ game against the Magic on Wednesday.

Isaiah Thomas (hip) is expected to return to the Cavs’ lineup this week, as early as Tuesday night’s tilt against the Blazers.

Victor Oladipo (knee) will be re-evaluated early this week and could very well return to the Pacers’ lineup later on in the week.

Damian Lillard (hamstring) is a game-time decision the for the Blazers’ game against the Bulls tonight.

Joel Embiid (hand) is not expected to miss time for the Sixers this week though he could be held out for precautionary reasons.

Several Heat players are on the bubble to play this week. Justise Winslow (knee), James Johnson (ankle) and Dion Waiters (ankle) are all questionable to start the week.

Lonzo Ball (shoulder) is out for at least Monday night’s game against the Wolves. He’s questionable to return shortly after that.

Avery Bradley (groin) is a game-time decision for Wednesday’s game against the Heat.

Austin Rivers (Achilles) says he’s ready to play on Tuesday despite how serious his injury looked on Friday night.