With the regular season right around the corner there’s tons of fantasy analysis and season preview work to be done. If you’re a fantasy basketball junky (like we are) it makes it hard to remember that only a few months ago that the Warriors signed Kevin Durant and the next 82 games we’re about to watch is a glorified ritual while we wait for the post season. The Sunday Dish is here and Chef Curry was cookin’.

Warriors 112 Lakers 107

The combination of Curry, Durant, and Thompson combined for 55 points on 78.1 true shooting percentage in only 59 minutes. They played so little that Patrick McCaw ended up playing 34 minutes and putting up a tidy line of 13 points, four rebounds and five assists. Curry played only 18 minutes and though I would still select him first overall I do not think he’s going to be Curry of last year. Curry last year was worth nearly twice most first round draft picks, he’s going to end up much closer to his 2014-2015 numbers than last years now that he’s going to play reduced minutes, get nights off, and have do divide more usage with Durant. Klay Thompson is probably going under drafted as he could have insane efficiency from three point range this year. He could replicate his numbers last year even on less minutes. Durant was awesome and will continue to be a dynamo. Zaza Pachulia played 21 minutes and had 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a steal on a excellent efficiency. He’s their starting center and was a very solid contributor to fantasy teams for longs stretches last year. He majorly wore down, but he’s a nice temporary source of value for those stretches.

D’Angelo Russell was absolutely balling out in the preseason until this game where only scored eight points with five assists and four turnovers. I’d actually rather have him struggle and have his stock pushed down the board, he’s in for a very big coming out party but looks like the word is already out. Jordan Clarkson played a team high 30 minutes and scored 15 points with three boards and struggled from the field. He’s going to get much better burn this year but unless he’s getting an inordinate amount of usage or he really has improved his three point stroke he’s going to fall in the 70-100 range of the rankings by years end. Brandon Ingram came off the bench since the Lakers rolled out their presumptive starting lineup for opening night. Ingram posted 12 points and three rebounds with a block on good efficiency in 28 minutes. He’s not going to be KAT out of the gate so you should leave him for later in the draft.

Bulls 107 Bucks 86

The Bulls didn’t start anything close to their real lineup tonight but there’s a few guys who stood out. Bobby Portis got the “start” as Fred Hoiberg continues to insist, and some sources close to the Bulls say, that there is a legitimate battle ongoing for the power forward position. Even if Taj Gibson wins the starting job I don’t see him playing above 30 minutes on a nightly basis considering he’s going to play the bulk of backup center minutes as well. Nikola Mirotic is the man to target among the front court period, and if he’s going past the 80s in your draft you need to pounce. Mirotic picked up 14 points, five boards, an assist and a block with a couple of three pointers. Isaiah “Long Range” Canaan dropped 25 points, five boards, four assists and five 3-pointers. If time clears out for him he’s always had these outbursts and can be a nice streamer. Doug McDermott may not be getting enough love. His ability to shoot is going to keep him on the floor and there’s been plenty of talk about how well his offensive game has begun to translate to the NBA. He scored 22 points with five boards and an assist on excellent efficiency. He got the line four times and drained four 3-point shots. He’s going to get minutes and score, if he gets peripheral stats he could end up being a solid player this year.

Jabari Parker continues to dominate after pouring in another 21 points with six boards, four assists, two steals and a 3-pointer. He’s going to be good this year with Middleton out. Giannis did his thing and continues to look like a mid second round pick or better. Michael Carter-Williams didn’t play in this game, likely because there’s very strong buzz he’s being sent to Chicago in exchange for Tony Snell. That makes Giannis the primary ball handler, and gives a definite bump to Matthew Dellavedova, who contributed nine points and eight dimes. He’s a limited fantasy player, but in the end pretty much any starting point guard playing 30 minutes will end up a net asset. Second round pick Malcolm Brogdon continues to get run in the back court in the preaseason, he’s someone to keep an eye on as he seems like he can stuff the stat sheet.

Grizzlies 134 Rockets 125

The Grizzlies are not a high flying offense, and 135 points is high even on a preseason night. That’s going to be a likely regularity for the Rockets this year. Marc Gasol left the game after removing his shoe on his recently repaired right foot, sending a group clenching for those of us who’ve already selected him in our drafts. He’s playing lighter this year but Gasol is going to be scary to own, and he won’t be worth it unless he drops on the back half middle rounds to me. JaMychal Green was the other big story from this game. The new starting power forward for the Grizzlies dropped 21 points and eight rebounds while grabbing a steal and hitting two 3-pointers on terrific efficiency. Any starter getting good minutes is worth consideration, and the same goes for Green. If he can give a trickle of defensive stats then his 3-point shot will help  him add some versatility and fantasy value. Chandler Parsons sat out this game rehabbing from knee surgery. There’s currently no timetable for his return and that’s reason enough for me to drop him hard in drafts. Mike Conley is the biggest winner in Memphis this offseason. Not only did he get a banana boatload of money but David Fizzdale is going to dedicate the team to a higher paced system. Conley is going to benefit and we could finally see him back in the top 30 after being muted by Dave Joerger’s system the last few years.

James Harden was an assist shy of a triple-double and another three turnovers short of the infamous quadruple. The Rockets real rotations didn’t get a ton of burn which makes this a bit of a weird game to judge. Sam Dekker played a team high 34 minutes and scored 16 points, he’s completely off the radar and was recently out of the rotation. Clint Capela played only 12 minutes and gave way to more Montrezl Harrell who put on a show with 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. He also hit all four of his free throws. I don’t think Capela’s role is in jeopardy yet, but this certainly makes me uneasy especially since Nene Hilario is going to bring a night to night consistent 20 minutes. As my blurbs from last weekend noted Eric Gordon looks like a possibility to start. Mike D’Antoni said he wanted to keep Eric Gordon off the bench for the game on Saturday in anticipation for Pat Bev’s return…then turned around and said Gordon might end up starting over Beverley eventually anyways. I’m high on all Rockets players, and in the end it probably won’t make much of a difference in the minute totals. Ryan Anderson and Trevor Ariza had a dud, but they’ll be closer to top 50 plays on a nightly basis.

Wolves 101 Heat 96

Tom Thibodeau brought out what’s likely going to be his opening day rotation. They played ten deep with all bench players getting over 20 minutes with the exception of Brandon Rush. This was a pretty typical of what you can expect from the Wolves on a nightly basis. Wiggins scored heavily with a trickle of other box score stats, KAT went 16 and 14 and will likely score more nightly, and Rubio didn’t shoot much but dropped dimes. Zach Lavine had a subpar game scoring only nine points with eight rebounds and three assists. He’s a weird player but he’ll impact your box score on a nightly basis this season. Gorgeous Dieng made some defensive stat noise and contributed 12 points, he’ll be an excellent value target for his contributions other than scoring. The thing I want to talk about is the bench. Tom Thibodeau runs a notoriously tight rotation, and I’d expect an even tighter one than this 10 man rotation he used tonight. Kris Dunn struggled last night, scoring only four points and turning the ball over five times. He’s going to have wild nights, some great and some terrible, but overall I think he has some of the best upside of any rookie due to either trade of or aforementioned tight rotation leading to good minutes. I recently drafted Nemanja Bjelica in a highly competitive deep league and I’m rather pleased with myself about it. He played 23 minutes and scored 11 points with six rebounds, two assists, a block and a 3-pointer. He can play three different positions on the floor and his shooting will be valuable to the Wolves this year. If Thibodeau is going to play him minutes we could see a very good sixth man role for the former Euroleague MVP this year.

Every starter sat for the Heat except for Justice Winslow who played seven minutes. Dion Waiters continues to look unimpressive. Combined with the fact he’s the next most relevant player to get minutes in this game doesn’t bode well for his opening day chances of starting or fantasy impact. Willie Reed grabbed 13 boards. He could be a useful streamer if given minutes, and possibly even rosterable. Derrick Williams didn’t do much of anything and even if he did start at power forward I want no part of him. The only intriguing option at power forward this year might be James Johnson who played 27 minutes and scored 12 points with three boards, four assists, two steals and two 3-pointers. He’s always been an intriguing fantasy player when given minutes and that makes him worth keeping an eye on his playing time.

Celtics 119 Knicks 107

Another very low key game. No starter played more than Amir Johnson’s 18, and two players in the 15 man rotation broke 20. Marcus Smart played 21 minutes and scored 11 points with three boards and three steals. He hit a three as well while shooting 4-9 from the field. Smart has a tremendous opportunity with Evan Turner gone this year and it will all come down to if he can manage to improve his shot. He’ll be a fine specialist in fantasy regardless, but if he can translate that college scoring ability this year he could be a major steal. R.J. Hunter scored 17 points in only 12 minutes. Jaylen Brown played a team high 25 while scoring 12 points with a trickle of other stats.

Kristaps Porzingis put in a couple more triples Saturday night, an encouraging sign that he’ll continue to improve and fire away from deep. The starters played limited minutes for the Knicks and were pretty quiet overall. Brandon Jennings was especially quiet as he continues to take over for Derrick Rose amidst his trial. Jennings just has not looked the same since his Achilles injury. I hope he turns it around but I’m going to be bearish on him until I see something. Willy Hernangomez seems to pop up in the box score every time I look. He scored 12 points and dragged in 12 rebounds (five offensive) while hitting good efficiency from the field. Mindaugas Kuzminskas is not a dark wizard from the Harry Potter universe, he is a forward for the Knicks that posted 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and a block in just 19 minutes of the bench.

Pistons 97 Sixers 76

Henry Ellenson started for the injured Marcus Morris and Ish Smith for Reggie Jackson. Ellenson didn’t make any noise and is unlikely to do so. Ish Smith can contribute to your popcorn stats on a nightly basis but beware of what his turnovers and efficiency will do to you in the mean time. Andre Drummond, Tobias Harris, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all put in solid games, and you can expect the Pistons starters to be a consistent source of fantasy value on a nightly basis. The only thing I didn’t like seeing was Stanley Johnson playing nine minutes. I have much higher hopes for him this year.

Joel Embiid continues to impress in limited minutes and should absolutely be going in every draft for his monstrous upside. His minute cap was recently raised to 24 minutes a game. He put up 15 points with five rebounds and attempted another three pointer in his 20 minutes. He also turned the ball over seven times, and that’s going to happen with an Sixers player that’s given free reign. Nerlens Noel and Okafor both sat this game however, so he’s not going to get this much leash on a nightly basis. Dario Saric was a quiet eight points and five boards in his 22 minutes. He’ll have ups and downs but I’m betting on more ups. Jerami Grant came off the bench and played 26 minutes. He scored 12 points with four rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block. He’ll stuff the sheet if given minutes, but he missed both his 3-point shots which is really where he needs to prove himself if he wants minutes.

Wizards 119 Kings 124

Otto Porter sat this one out, giving way for Kelly Oubre to start and play 27 minutes. He made the best of the opportunity by scoring 15 points with three boards, an assist, two steals and a 3-pointer. He’ll be worth an add if Porter is to miss time. Markieff Morris returned from a banged up foot to play 15 minutes and contributed to the box score. He’s a real mystery man with talk of Porter playing some power forward and with Morris having such a turbulent last two years. Andrew Nicholson played a team high 32 minutes, the majority at power forward. He contributed 19 points and five boards with a couple of threes. He had some really nice games down in Orlando should be kept an eye on with a new coaching staff in Washington and Morris’ injury history.

Darren Collison is going to serve an eight game suspension but showed why he’s a standard league fantasy asset by dropping 22 points and eight assists on Saturday. Willie Cauley-Stein started and filled the sheet with 12 points, five rebounds, one assist, four steals and a block. He’s going to get good run this year and I like him as a late round or middle-late round pick. Skal Labissiere started the game alongside Cousins and WCS with Rudy Gay resting. I don’t think that’s going to be a trend, and he didn’t attempt a shot, though he did fill it up in the other counting categories. Omri Casspi kicked in 16 points with two 3-pointers. He was a top 100 player for much of last year thanks to his career best season from three. It’s possibly he’s able to contribute at times again this year.