premier league fantasy

>> on the today's show. smash verses march. last night's battle. >> look out playoffs the thunder are hot and streaking back toward the post-season. >> and in mailbox we pick the fantasy players we regret drafting most.

>> start ers starts now. >> we're happy to have you and along side me is tas mulli's "the starters" blog editor trey kirby and finally the aussie, it's leigh ellis. >> friends. >> chandler binges. we do have mailbox and you are

fantastic in sending in your questions but we had attaining game last night between the warriors and grizzlies. golden state running into a team they couldn't beat losing to the grizz 105-98. the dub winning streak. grizzlies now 20-4.

just one game behind the warriors an a battle of the two best in the league. some controversial technical fouls called late in the game but very entertaining and a few takeaways to share with everyone. the first is obvious the

warriors need andrew bogut especially against this team. >> got into the grit and grind late in the fourth quarter and you probably need this man. andrew bogut could be defensive player of the year and that's fair and clear that green, he's playing a lot larger than his

6'7" frame allowing for a ton of switches but if there's one man that can make you look small it's the be hive of zack randolph and you just need this man back there. as you see, he's causing a lot of bogey tas the rim. number 1 at defending this year.

opponents field goal percentage and players with at least five attempts and bogut is number 1 causing 38.6%. his opponents to shoot that poor percentage. that's five attempts per game. there's one above that. the new sixers big man but what

the - we're not putting him on there. >> i just love his name so you obviously need him. >> right. 41 combined points i thought gasol was great aggressive. taking more shots than usual with no bogut and green trying

to guard zebo inside. >> did a good job putting his hand on the ball but he as to small against the grizzlys to play the entire game. >> on offensive as well. bogut setting screens for those guys. especially steph curry and they

tried set those and did okay but it shows how important it is to steph curry to get good clean looks. only went one for ten. >> because bogut is important you need to rest him while he's injured. can't bring him back too soon.

that's the most important thing and they're winning without him. against the big front line. >> bad match-up. >> they also said knee tendonitis and you want to be careful with him. they need him for the playoffs especially running into the

giant grizzly team. someone else that would help. david leigh although would he have been able to guard zebo or mark, probably not? we seen him get killed by blake in the playoffs before. >> last career when he was the starting center because bogut

was out. we'll talk about david leigh and his, what he's going to of the team and give later in the week when he does eventually come back but the warriors took him. they'll wait until bogut is healthy. >> another takeaway despite the

win. memphis needs more shooting. some perimeter shooting. vince carter got hot last night. really the only one. the bench combined a lot of points but tayshaun prince they were leaving him and courtney leigh didn't shoot well either.

>> that's the question. everyone saying that they just don't have that perimeter guy that can score. i think the combination of courtney lee and carter combined a new gasol because he's shooting more and better mike conley can take the pressure off

the wings they don't have to be spectacular. courtney lee is shooting 54 from three. >> also not himself technically. >> but vince, is that type of guy. you saw what he did last year in limited minutes he shoots a lot

from three-point land and his playoff stats were good. you remember that game winner against the mavs or spurs in game three of that series. he likes taking big shots. not playing a lot of minutes and i don't care if he's turning 38. he can play 20 minutes and be

the wing guy in the fourth quarter. combination of leigh and carter i think can get them by along with improved gasol. who has to keep shooting. quite important. they can't carry a team and conley has to be good as well.

>> home-court advantage so huge for the grizzlies at home they shoot 27% and on the road 26%. huge factor because the starters were played evenly the warriors and grizzlies. huge run at the beginning of the second quarter if they can play at home and be cozy in the

"grind house" then maybe they can shoots a well because that is a huge factor being able to knock them down. >> it was surreal. tayshaun prince just a leaving them. hit a huge three in the game when it got close.

>> yeah. >> these minutes have come back up again. >> can't shoot right now. did knock the huge one down and turned in favor of the grizzlies. another takeaway and chime in on twitter #starters the mike

conley year? is this his western conference all-star? >> i don't think so. probably five shots for guards and seven for big men and that's how it goes. and then that extra wild card spot.

we know curry and kobe get voted in. that's clear. harden is making this team. you're nuts. cp3 even though people are not talking about him so that's four spots. right now i think mike conley

would be my fifth guy but westbrook takes that spot. >> he hasn't played in half the team's games so i think it's fair to leave him off at this point but he is a monster and he's going to take that fifth spot and call it the third, fourth, fit and whatever.

those five guys. curry, kobe and cp 3 and westbrook will make the. >> showing you the stats of all the guards in the west. loaded and we're an um... tooing curry and kobe are voted in and this is who you pick from. you say they could be picking

four guys from this and it's possible it's only three. look at the western and do the same thing. who do you leave off? >> i think it's three. >> that would be a shame. you may have heard greg anthony on game time really talking up

mike conley and how much to an lead another winder he is. and just stockton and the way he can have an impact. maybe not crazy numbers but impact on how his team performances. >> doing this for a number of years as well.

been there point guard and over looked so many times and the grizzlies are consistent i hope that the coaches maybe respect the grizzlies record around the time they vote. top two in the west i think that helps his case and they may still go with zebo assuming

gasol is already in the team. >> west is so good though. >> doesn't stick out as much because he's the third guy and it's gasol and randolph and probably tony alen. mike conley amazing for them. he's just the fourth guy for our team.

>> so many playoff teams that are fantastic. you're probably going to take one and then you have to take anthony davis and gets back healthy so two guys is probably both so you're not going to get a lot with two guys odd to say. >> definitely playing like an

all-star. one more fun takeaway from the warriors and grizzlies last night. hot new dance craze we can call it that the iggy travel. ignacada igadalo. what?

do the igadalo do the igadalo. you're forgetting this part? dance camp. what's up? >> wish i had my button. >> do the igadalo, do, do the dance craze is officially over. he jumped the shark. when we return will look so much

soul man. >> 90 percent of dancing is in the face. >> will iggy dance into the starter mailbox. >> look there's male. >> woo-hoo. >> back on the starters into the mailbox.

keep sending in all of your questions to "the starters" at nba.com. first question the rumors the pacers may try to bring a trade. if you could bring a player back to the team who would you pick and why? that one is a fun one.

everyone watching and listening. what's a trade you just like to takeaway and reverse. >> similar to what anglo-said in won the championship. still average over a block and steal but i can tell my grandkids but it wasn't the bulls.

it it was wizards verses the raptors. >> i would want rasheed to be traded. scrapped him for tyrus thompson. and lamarcus and tyrus thompson. great ncaa tournament. next to noah and rose - we wouldn't have gone through the

boozer era. no one has discussed what it would mean for the all-star game. would fans vote for ten cities no matter what players those fan ys in. who are your 2015 starters? who are we taking?

>> it is a fun question. the first was better than the second. lebron and marc gasol making up the front line. kyle lori as stooting guard. we want action in this all-star and pau gasol. our starting center.

what did we learn. four eastern conference players. count that? thank you and seven western conference players. >> if they were healthy. probably would have snuck in >> this why they need to be important than all-star teams

when you come to hall-of-fame it comes down to that. all nba teams are important because it's an an honor. there's no fan voting. all nba. the waller, lori one. you can flip a coin between those two guys.

final question. fantasy related. quarter of the season in the books of who is what player? please include what round you picked the player? >> i regret picking dragic. made the all nba last year and maybe i should have known he

wouldn't have the same year. he played off ball which he didn't do last year. i drafted him at 21. currently ranked 51. your playing too much hero ball and you're three and seven and you're going to play it ch. he should be your hero.

it'sed to see. so their work it out and it probably should not have picked him at that spot. obviously scoring less and had less opportunities and less across the board. >> leigh? >> fareeb.

thought it was a steal because i thought he was in for an all-star type season. he struggled and the nuggets did and he doesn't seem to be able to get it going. he had such a great summer i thought he would be at the right place to explode for the nuggets

but hasn't worked. jeff teague and korver and i could use anyone of those as i'm second last. >> you have a korver t-shirt. two. >> who dough you regret taking? >> afflalo at the last pick. he didn't do anything for me.

shot 37% in the couple of weeks i had him. he got hot right away and that's not why i regrit but two picks arron afflalo after went off the board was jimmy butler but he's having a great season and would have been happier with him. >> that hurts the.

the guy i regret we've talked a few times. lance stephenson. heard of him? >> who? >> i took him in the last round. number 62 over all. i had a lot of bigs in the first couple of picks and thought i'll

get a big guard that can rebound and shoot high percentage and of course he can't shoot the ball. 38%. leigh ellis has more threes made than lance stephenson and he turns the ball over at times. sorry lance. i dropped him this morning.

i feel so much lighter. >> take a break. so much more to talk about here on the show. when we return that >> welcome back to the starters the oklahoma city thunder. picked up the 7th straight win this time against the kings and

while we talk about it a lot a months ago on the show. tas and i about the story line of when the thunder started 3-12 with all the injuries would they make the playoffs. you were pro thunder and they were going to play great basketball and i was more

worryed so i will definitely be eating crow now. they're already in the race and we're not at christmas and their half a game back. i will say, my reasons for this, you would have never been able to predict of what happened because first off i didn't think

katy was coming back. i didn't think he'd be back until christmas and westbrook came back earlier than expected the other part is no other team took advantage of that three and 12 start and i'm talking about the lower teams like your pelicans and suns and the poor

sacramento kings who their best player in demarcus cousins gets viral meningitis and without him they go 2-8 and play four on five basketball and things crazy in sacramento. started jazz band so it was tough to predict that and i was completely wrong and they're

already back in eye sa atom as said the same thing. >> to me all about the time they had left. i didn't care who was above kings or suns and how many games they're winning because the kings are on pace for a 46 win season.

going extremely well and the thunder are much better than that when they have k.d. and russ. they have shown the last three years they've won at a 70% clip. three wins is nothing. two guys being 26 years of age. they're better and i didn't

think the playoffs were far off as long as they had season to come back and that was earlier than expected for a lot of people but 48 win pace for the suns it's not enough when you look at these two guys top ten in the league. >> we did for get. russell

westbrook gets faster and stronger. unbelievable. k.d. a little history the fourth quickest second youngest player in league history to 15,000 points. funny timing we were all going crazy with kobe passing m.j.

this last week and here is a guy already at 15,000. 26 years old and knock on wood, or anything that he's going to have another seven or eight years and this guy easily could be knocking on the kobe numbers and jordan numbers more. >> this injury could be a

blessing in disguise and gave his body a bit of a chance to rest and now that is they approach the new year he's coming not with 15 or 20 years and the thunder can make a surge up because they're one game back of eight but five of seven. they still need to keep up the

momentum to get in the top four. >> role players getting burn because if they goes step up like sefolosha did last year they go deeper the playoffs so lamb all those guys getting repetition. >> not long until we have the argument are the thunder the

best team in the west. could be a week or two. >> unfortunate news yesterday this is a bummer we learned that buck's rookie jabar parker is out for the rest of the season after tearing his acl in left knee on monday. see it here.

he took an awkward step. the step itself and the buckling of the knee wasn't because he banged into anyone. this is a huge blow for a franchise off to a good start. the east but under kidd there and he's been great. look at the ma'sh unit of the

draft. >> taking a hit. >> i'll say. unclear. emeb embid. others. >> not great candidates. >> a bummer.

especially with the way the bucks were playing. got to take one more break and "pick 'em, payoff results" and leigh's very solid play of the from the christmas gait. i can't wait. you're watching "the starters". >> time for the starters, a

look at last night's pick and playoff results. 4-1, 3-2012 the big game we disagreed on was the grizz and warriors. up one game for the month of december. >> things are become to being right.

>> i'll take the celtics at home. tas likes the visiting orlando magic. another close race. we're going to new orleans. >> it's not the pelicans, it's actually the utah jazz with the boomarang play.

you remember that. hand it off and he finds daunte back underneath. >> this is horrible. look at the defense here. >> it's not good. >> are we switching? >> that's a good smart play. that's what i call a very solid

play. >> i actually saw a play last night that i was guaranteed you were going to choose as a very solid play. here is around and around they go, where they stop, nobody goes. this is a solid coaching play.

you got screens, a lot of ball movement and of course to cap it off, the swish bomb. anyone else? good stuff, guys. thanks for joining. subscribe to the show on itunes. back tomorrow to do it all over

again. >> when it comes to the holiday season, you got to eat hard and play hard. >> embrace the night, people. >> eat hard, play hard, eat hard, play hard. you got to eat hard.