Upsyde Blog

UPSYDE SPORTS PRESENTS: FANTASY HOOPS: 5 PLAYERS TO WORRY ABOUT, 5 PLAYERS TO NOT: So the title of the article is self-explanatory, yet I'll brief you on the point of his article. Honestly, the inspiration of this article was from personal experience - mostly Robert Covington. While, the temptation to abandon him crossed my mind, his reliable production over the years quickly squelched the idea. Then, like clockwork, Kevin Love goes down and thus, an article is formed. Here's my list of players I'd be worried about if they were on my fantasy team, and players you should just hold onto before doing anything rash. WORRY: Kevin Love - He's already hurt, putting up lows across the board, and just looks run down. The Cavs team is 3-1 to start the season and the offense runs through their backcourt and Andre Drummond. With this fast paced team, Larry Nance is probably the better fit at the 4, possibly even small ball Isaac Okoro. Love has a very difficult contract to move, bu...

UPSYDE SPORTS PRESENTS: WEEKEND WINNERS AND LOSERS: It's still really early and a lot of these takes are probably overreactions. That being said, we look at this in a vacuum and try to predict the long-term repercussions of the events during this time period. There will likely be a 2-4 week grace period before you really start panicking or getting excited. In the meantime, enjoy the article. WINNERS: EASTERN CONFERENCE BOTTOM FEEDERS: It appears that the Cavs and Hawks might not be bottom feeders anymore. Don't worry, Detroit and Bulls still are, but the Cavs and Hawks actually look really good. The Cavs have an aggressive backcourt duo in Garland and Sexton, Drummond is in a contract year, and Okoro looks to be a solid rookie. The Cavs are doing all of this with a broken down Kevin Love and Kevin Porter yet to debut. The Hawks have really shown how important a veteran presence can be on a young team. They have yet to introduce their rookie Okongwu, Danilo is already hurt, and ...

 UPSYDE SPORTS PRESENTS: WINNERS AND LOSERS OF DAY 2 OF NBA SEASON: WINNERS: CAVS FANS: This was a really good night for Cavs fans. There were a lot of things in their favor yes, Cody Zeller went out early, their match-up was soft, but they were without Kevin Love. That being said, their rookie Okoro looked solid - he was very efficient on offense. Their questionable back court duo combined for almost 50 points. The team overall did not commit very many turnovers. Things look much more positive than you'd expect from this team. They still have some things to work out - Okoro did allow Hayward to score 28 points, Drummond had more turnovers than assists, Sexton was 6-9 from the line, and they already have a slew of injuries early on. Overall, this team definitely appears to be heading in the right direction and they might end up being a fringe playoff team in an Eastern Conference Completely up for grabs. TERRY ROZIER: After getting a solid bag in last year's off-season, many we...

UPSYDE SPORTS PRESENTS: WINNERS AND LOSERS OF OPENING NIGHT: WINNERS: LEBRON JAMES - His performance overall was a let down, but that ring was bonkers! Coming off another Finals MVP, he more than deserved the most expensive championship ring of all time. He continues to look like one of the premier players in the league and will likely continue to look MVP-caliber for the foreseeable future. DENNIS SCHRODER - Many were expecting him to return to his normal role off the bench, but Frank Vogel made it clear that he wanted Schroder to start and play alongside LeBron in the first unit. His rebounding was somewhat a surprise, but he contributed across the board and will be looking to secure his first ring alongside two top-5 players in the league. KEVIN DURANT - He looked very good. Contributing on both offense and defense, he looked like he could've played 35 minutes had the game not been so lop-sided. There will be some things to iron out in his game as tries to get back into a rhythm...

UPSYDE SPORTS PRESENTS: OFF-SEASON GRADES ATLANTA HAWKS: Assets Acquired: Danilo Gallinari Rajon Rondo Kris Dunn Solomon Hill Bogdan Bogdonavic Onyeka Okongwu Skylar Mays Cash Considerations (Oklahoma City) Assets Lost: Dewayne Dedmon Jeff Teague DeAndre’ Bremby Charles Brown Jr Treveon Graham Damian Jones Skal Labissiere Khyri Thomas Vince Carter 2025 2nd Round Pick (Oklahoma City) - Top 55 Protected The Hawks had a really good off-season. They drastically accelerated their rebuild and it’s pretty obvious that the front office was tired of being a lottery team. Trae Young enters his 3rd year, and Atlanta has done a great job of adding defensive complimentary pieces to this roster. Locking up Gallinari after consecutive solid years of production, Bogdan in the middle of his prime, and the veteran presences of Hill and Rondo will be major upgrades of this team. There are some questions left to be answered like why use a top-6 pick to draft Okongwu, who plays a similar role to Clint Cape...