In-Season Strategy: Week 7 Schedule Considerations

Here's hoping you had a Happy Thanksgiving Week, with a bountiful schedule for nearly everyone in the NBA. This week the schedule is a lot stingier, with only 11 teams playing four games and three teams getting only two on their plate.

Four Games: WAS, UTA, SAS, PHO, NO, LAL, IND, HOU, CLE, CHI, CHA

Three Games: TOR, POR, PHI, ORL, NYK, MIN, MIL, MIA, MEM, LAC, GSW, DET, DAL, BOS, BKN, ATL

Two Games: SAC, OKC, DEN

We always say that when it comes to start players, their production and consistency trumps volume. Of course, that applies to players with three games in a given week a lot more readily than it does with players with two games. That's doubly true if you happen to have two stars with only two games, as could be the case this week. What if you have the combination of Russell Westbrook or Paul George, andNikola Jokic on the same team? That sort of combination is easily possible, especially with them slotting at different positions.

If you're in a head-to-head league, this is where you need to look at your opponent's roster, and see how many games their star players have. At some point that mountain becomes too tall to climb. In a season-long categorical league, at the star level it's a much easier decision - you want as many games from your stars, period, and how they're apportioned in a given week becomes less important.

It's the next level down where this discussion becomes trickier. Take Paul Millsap, for instance. He's a fine player who can help across multiple categories when he's on. But he's averaging just 26.5 minutes per game this year, down nearly four minutes from last season, with wild swings in performance. Maybe you'll get two great games from him, and survive Denver's two game week. But what if he does something similar to Saturday's output, where he scored just eight points against OKC? That's a disaster that's hard to recover from when you have just one other game from his roster slot. That's especially true in leagues where you start fewer players.

Other players on that sort of tier that you need to be wary of include Jamal Murray and Mason Plumlee from the Nuggets, Dennis Schroder and Jerami Grant from the Thunder, and De'Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley and Willie Cauley-Stein from the Kings. I'd put Steven Adams a half-step above this group -- obviously in a tier below the stars on these two-game teams, but consistent enough at a scarce position that it's still awfully tough to bench him.

Fortunately, there are 27 other teams in the NBA with plenty of interesting players to discuss this week. Let's dive into a few of them for this week's discussion.

Tristan Thompson, Cavaliers

No matter the sport, I've frequently found abundant opportunities to profit from players on losing teams as they fall under the national radar. Thompson is coming off a monster week and is getting a lot more opportunities to produce with Kevin Love out. The big change recently is that the Cavs also moved Larry Nance to power forward, and Thompson has been pounding the offensive glass, with 27 offensive rebounds over the last three games. The downside to Thompson is that he's very limited in categorical leagues - in particular he doesn't give you blocks, which is a killer when compared to other centers.

Julius Randle, Pelicans

Randle had a massive game Saturday night against the Wizards with Anthony Davis out, posting a 29/15/7 line in 39 minutes in the Pelicans' loss. Davis is expected to play Monday night against the Celtics before the Pelicans play those same Wizards on Wednesday night. While Randle's production spikes with Davis out, he's had some big nights with the MVP candidate in the lineup, as well. For the season, Randle's usage has gone up with his new team, and he's shooting a little more often beyond the arc. He gets four games this week, with the final two coming on the road against Miami and Charlotte.

Jabari Parker, Bulls

Because Parker is in his fifth season in the NBA and with his second organization, it's easy to forget that he's still just 23 years old after being a one-and-done at Duke. While we're not suggesting that he's about to fulfill the potential many dreamed of him as the second overall pick in the 2014 draft, there is still time for him to take it to a level he never achieved with the Bucks. He's getting that chance right now for the Bulls with both Lauri Markkanen and Bobby Portis still out, and he's averaging 20.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.6 three-pointers over the last five games, playing over 36 minutes per game in the process. Both Marrkanen and Portis remain out for an indefinite period of time, though Markkanen is participating in controlled contact practices.

Speaking of players from Duke, there are currently 24 players in the NBA that attended Duke, but only nine of them currently are averaging double-digits in points. Can you name them? (It's tricky - you need to include first and last name here!)

Donovan Mitchell, Jazz

Mitchell's owners are in a tough spot this week. He missed Sunday's win over the Kings with a rib contusion suffered Friday night against the Lakers. They have a quick turnaround Monday night against the Pacers, a team that blew them out a little over a week ago. Then they head east for the remainder of the week for three more games on the road. The Jazz didn't have one player step in and take all of his minutes, but rather dispersed them fairly evenly between Dante Exum, Alec Burks and Grayson Allen. Check as late as you can Monday before setting your weekly lineup.

Harrison Barnes, Mavericks

Barnes is the rare player who had to leave Golden State to start getting more three-point attempts, but here we are. That's not entirely fair -- the Mavericks certainly lack the equivalents to Curry and Thompson to be the primary options beyond the arc. But there's no mistaking how often the Mavs are turning to Barnes lately, albeit with varying results. He has a whopping 22 three-point attempts the last three games, making five each the last two games. Unfortunately, when he's not hitting from distance he's limited in what he can provide, averaging just 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Jeremy Lamb, Hornets

Even with teammate Kemba Walker's recent scoring explosion, Lamb's production hasn't suffered. Lamb has had at least 18 points in his last five games and double-digits the last 10 games. Lamb has produced more than your average shooting guard in other categories during that stretch too - in his last five games he's averaged 6.8 points and 1.2 steals per game. It's been teammate Nicolas Batum that's seen his production suffer as a result of the guard explosion in Charlotte.

Trey Burke, Knicks

Since not playing three games in a four-game stretch at the whim of coach David Fizdale, Burke has had a productive five-game stretch, averaging 22 points, 3.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds and two three-pointers per game. We'd like to see more assists from a point guard, however, and even during this stretch Burke has been getting just 26.6 minutes per game. It's going to be difficult to expect Burke to get much more run than that, however, given that they have the three-headed monster at point guard between Burke, Emmanuel Mudiay and Frank Ntilikina.