Now seven weeks into the regular season, things are starting to heat up.  With most teams being through a little over a quarter of the season, we’re starting to get a good idea of who are the contenders and who are the pretenders and some players are really starting to separate themselves from the pack.

So let’s get to the updates:

Hurrikahane:

Team Embiid:

1. Starter 1: Joel Embiid
2. Starter 2: Kevin Durant
3. Starter 3: Damian Lillard (3rd update swap) Steph Curry
4. Starter 4: Kawhi Leonard
5. Starter 5: Kemba Walker
6. Bench 1: Ben Simmons
7. Bench 2: Steph Curry (3rd update swap) Damian Lillard
8. Bench 3: Jrue Holiday (2nd update) Nikola Jokic
9. Bench 4: Karl-Anthony Towns
10. Bench 5: DeMar Derozan
11. Bench 6: Jimmy Butler (2nd update) Jayson Tatum
12. Bench 7: Kyle Lowry (1st update) Al Horford

Team LeBron:

1. Starter 1: LeBron James
2. Starter 2: Anthony Davis
3. Starter 3: Giannis Antetokounmpo
4. Starter 4: James Harden
5. Starter 5: Victor Oladipo
6. Bench 1: Russell Westbrook
7. Bench 2: Rudy Gobert
8. Bench 3: Andre Drummond
9. Bench 4: Blake Griffin (1st update) Kevin Love
10. Bench 5: Paul George
11. Bench 6: Kyrie Irving (3rd update) John Wall
12. Bench 7: Zach LaVine

Pup:

Team Giannis:

1. Starter 1: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Starter 2: Anthony Davis
3. Starter 3: Joel Embiid
4. Starter 4: James Harden
5. Starter 5: Victor Oladipo
6. Bench 1: Stephen Curry
7. Bench 2: Kemba Walker
8. Bench 3: Paul George
9. Bench 4: Andre Drummond
10. Bench 5: Khris Middleton (2nd update) Jayson Tatum
11. Bench 6: DeMar DeRozan
12. Bench 7: Jimmy Butler (2nd update) John Wall

Team LeBron:

1. Starter 1: LeBron James
2. Starter 2: Kevin Durant
3. Starter 3: Ben Simmons
4. Starter 4: Kawhi Leonard
5. Starter 5: Russell Westbrook
6. Bench 1: Damian Lillard
7. Bench 2: Nikola Jokic
8. Bench 3: Chris Paul
9. Bench 4: Blake Griffin (1st update) Kevin Love
10. Bench 5: Tobias Harris (3rd update) Draymond Green
11. Bench 6: Kyrie Irving (3rd update)  Zach LaVine (1st update) Kyrie Irving
12. Bench 7: Bradley Beal

Marcus:

Team Giannis:

1. Starter 1: Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Starter 2: Steph Curry (3rd update swap) LeBron James
3. Starter 3: Anthony Davis
4. Starter 4: Ben Simmons (3rd update swap) Kyrie Irving
5. Starter 5: James Harden
6. Bench 1: Klay Thompson (2nd update) Jimmy Butler
7. Bench 2: Nikola Jokic
8. Bench 3: Russell Westbrook
9. Bench 4: Andre Drummond
10. Bench 5: Kyrie Irving (3rd update swap) Ben Simmons
11. Bench 6: LaMarcus Aldridge
12. Bench 7: Gordon Hayward

Team LeBron Curry:

1. Starter 1: LeBron James (3rd update swap) Steph Curry
2. Starter 2: Kevin Durant
3. Starter 3: Joel Embiid
4. Starter 4: Kawhi Leonard
5. Starter 5: Blake Griffin
6. Bench 1: Jayson Tatum
7. Bench 2: Kemba Walker
8. Bench 3: Rudy Gobert
9. Bench 4: Damian Lillard
10. Bench 5: Ben Simmons
11. Bench 6: DeMar DeRozan
12. Bench 7: Nikola Vucevic (2nd update) Kevin Love

Takeaways:

• The King reigns supreme
  • With Marcus making the first Captain update of the season, LeBron is now the Western Conference Captain for all three 76th Sense team members
• Simmons getting the hometown treatment?
  • Ben Simmons is undoubtedly picking up steam as the season goes on and now finds himself as an All-Star starter for two of the three Eastern Conference breakdowns
• Kyrie is back to being Kyrie
  • With the addition to both my and Pup’s team, Kyrie is now an All-Star for all three managers. It appears his slow start to the season is now behind him.
    •  With that, we now have our first flip-flop. Pup cut Kyrie for Zach LaVine in the 1st round of updates and then switched them back in the 3rd round of updates……
• Is Tobias Harris an All-Star?
  • He’s averaging 21.5 points, 8.5 Rebounds, and 2.3 assists and is arguably the best player on a Clippers team that’s been a pleasant surprise so far this year and finds themselves tied for first in the West through 23 games. While there might be some higher profile forwards in the West, Harris has is putting up career numbers and helping his team win games

Notable Snubs:

• Marc Gasol
  • Memphis is playing well and Gasol is a big part of that.  He and Conley are a deadly duo.  Gasol is averaging 18 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks……enough said
• Hassan Whiteside
  • When is someone going to pick Whiteside??? He’s averaging 13.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game.  While Miami is still on the outside of the playoff picture, they have won 2 of their last 3 and if they can start getting it going, someone will have to give Hassan his credit.
• Clint Capela
  • The Rockets have been struggling so far this year…..Capela has not. Capela is averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2 blocks per game, all career-highs. If Houston gets it together and Capela keeps putting up similar numbers, you’d have to think he’ll get some All-Star consideration.