Before I get into today’s “Heat Check” I want to send a special shout out to all of our servicemen and women on this Veteran’s Day. Thank you all for your service and providing us with the freedom that we all enjoy every single day.

Now let’s get down to business and delve into a subject that has really caught my eye in the opening two weeks of the NBA season. It’s not the struggles of the Golden State Warriors, or the strange resurgence of the Lakers. I don’t really care all that much about the Clippers playing their best basketball in a couple of seasons either.

For me, I’m wondering when Anthony Davis is finally going to get some help in New Orleans. Davis will likely win Comeback Player of the Year, and could be in contention for a few other awards by the end of the season. The problem is he plays on the second-worst team in the NBA and until last night had the same record as the 76ers (who are incapable of winning in October-November).

Let’s all be honest here, Davis is a top-five talent in this league and when he is playing at 100% there are few players who can match his level of play. It honestly blows my mind how the Pelicans can have one of the few franchise cornerstones and still be this bad. Last season you could give the Pelicans a pass for being in the lottery because both Davis and point guard Jrue Holiday were both injured for much of the year.

This season though? I don’t think there are many guys playing better than Davis. Right now he is averaging 31 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals per game. He also sports the second highest efficiency rating in the NBA. Obviously this is only through an eighth of the season, but we’re witnessing Davis return to his superstar form at the tender age of 23.

In a star driven league such as the NBA, it blows my mind how the Pelicans haven’t been able to sell the idea of playing with one of the premier big men in the league to potential free agents. You see that small failure in the makeup of this roster. New Orleans seems content on trying to build around Davis through the draft. Which is all well and good from a long-term view but only when you are hitting big on those lottery picks.

Just because the Pelicans have Davis locked into a five-year deal through 2020 doesn’t mean they shouldn’t at least be more competitive. Most teams would kill to have a player of the caliber of Davis, hell the Sixers have spent three seasons tanking just to find one (and may have found two).

Getting back to this roster, there aren’t really any guys who can be a competent second option in this offense and no one who can lockdown defense. Granted, this is a younger team so there are bound to be growing pains.

This is a franchise that has traded lottery picks and whiffed on other high picks (Austin Rivers at 10 in 2012…ugh). We’ll see if Buddy Hield is part of that championship puzzle that New Orleans tries to piece around Davis. He drew a ton of negative hype despite being one of the nation’s top players last year at Oklahoma. I definitely saw the criticisms, including that he was a senior dominating underclassmen, but he can shoot the ball well from deep which is a valuable asset in a league that is becoming more and more enamored with the three pointer.

I am very interested to see what the Pelicans will do with an extra $31 million in cap space opening up after this season added to what will be the largest salary cap in league history in 2017. New Orleans has until the 2020 to become a relevant team in the NBA or they will risk seeing Davis walk away in free agency by declining his player option.

Unfortunately, it looks like Davis is going to be an All-Star on a horrific team this season. So for the love of all that is good and right in the world, can we please get Anthony Davis some help?

Have a great weekend everyone! I’ll be back on Monday to recap a massive weekend including college football, college basketball, NFL, NBA, NHL, and UFC 205 from NYC. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook

Week 10 is here folks; it’s a Fantasy Football Friday here at Shooting the Moon. Today’s “Reality of Fantasy” will focus strictly on the matchups for Sunday. There are a lot of very intriguing games this weekend and this could end up being one of those weird weeks for fantasy. Basically there are a few great games for fantasy and a heap of games that could go any way. As usual I will be going over the best games to target and the ones to avoid. Since there isn’t any game where you should outright bail on, the “worst” matchups are just ones that I wouldn’t have a ton of confidence in. Let’s jump right in and get to the best and worst matchups of the week.

Best Matchup: Chicago vs. Tampa Bay

I love this entire game from a fantasy perspective. Both teams don’t play spectacular defense, which is music to my ears. Don’t be scared off by the injuries to Jameis Winston and Mike Evans. They had ten days to recover and look ready to go for Sunday.

That is all I need to hear to advocate going with Winston if you are streaming QBs this week. Evans should always be in your lineup anyway, and if he’s not we need to have a chat after this column. In other injury news here, keep an eye on Doug Martin. If he is good to go, he could be in line for some worthwhile touches, even if he doesn’t get his full workload.

On the Chicago side of this game, Jay Cutler is back and looked great against that tough Minnesota defense two weeks ago. Now I always have my worries about Cutler considering he can turn into a turnover machine at anytime. That being said this is the definition of a “plus” matchup against a defense that allowed a 500-yard passer two weeks ago, and most recently got 43 points put up on it ten days ago.

Start your studs on both sides, this could be a fun game. Las Vegas sports books have the over/under at 46 so they expect a good amount of points. I think that is a conservative number.

Worst Matchup: Los Angeles vs. NY Jets

Oh boy, where do I start with these two teams. First thing’s first, Los Angeles may be the worst fantasy offense in the past five seasons. There are players on Cleveland that I would trust more than the skill players for LA, and that is saying a lot. Todd Gurley reportedly has barely practiced this week and is going against one of the best run defenses in the NFL. As Bernie Mac would say, “Nuff said.”

The Jets have been a mess all season, and this is one of the more difficult matchups they will face all year. The Rams are stout against the run, which is bad news for Matt Forte and Bilal Powell. I was already not too high on the Jets receivers considering that Ryan Fitzpatrick is currently questionable and a game-time decision with a knee sprain. All signs point to him playing, but a banged up QB against this Rams defense usually doesn’t mean success.

This could be an ugly game, one of those matchups that makes us all happy that the Redzone channel exists.

Good Matchup: San Diego (vs. Miami)

As long as Philip Rivers is in at QB, the Chargers will always be a fantasy friendly offense. The only issue is outside of Antonio Gates and Melvin Gordon, which weapon do you trust. Well, at receiver I would put my money on Tyrell Williams and Dontrelle Inman. Obviously I would take whichever one draws Byron Maxwell, but that won’t be known until game day. San Diego should be able to throw the ball around all day against the Dolphins shaky secondary.

**Playoff Note: Definitely get some stock in this offense now as San Diego has a great playoff schedule (Weeks 14-16)**

Tough Matchup: Kansas City (vs. Carolina)

This could be another ugly game on Sunday. Kansas City is not the most prolific offense and doesn’t take a ton of deep shots despite the emergence of Tyreek Hill as a deep threat. Jeremy Maclin is banged up and Travis Kelce is one of the most underutilized weapons (yes, I realize that he is the leading receiver…still he is potentially Gronk-lite). Carolina has looked much better on defense coming off of the bye week. Don’t love this matchup and I wouldn’t be confident rolling with any of the Chiefs here.

Other Good Matchups: Arizona (vs. San Francisco), Atlanta (vs. Philadelphia), Dallas (vs. Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh (vs. Dallas)

 Other Tough Matchups: Seattle (vs. New England), Washington (vs. Minnesota), Green Bay (vs. Tennessee), Houston (vs. Jacksonville), Jacksonville (vs. Houston)

Good luck with all of your fantasy games this weekend. I’m working on a brief “Heat Check” to finish off the week so stay tuned to Shooting the Moon. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.