As we prepare for Week 4 of the fantasy basketball season, here are a few musings from the Hoops Lab.
As you prepare for this week's games across a packed NBA slate, keep in mind the Fantasy Basketball Rest of Season Rankings, which are updated on Mondays.
Between the rankings and this article, we'll help you find some good Buy Low/ Sell high candidates. Let's start digging into it.
In the month leading up to the season, I project the season statistics for every rotation player in the NBA. Projections are used to rank players. Every year, I come up with a per-game estimate for Irving, then decrease his projected total fantasy points. I usually do that for injured players. I've known for a long time that he will end up missing a significant portion of the season for some reason.
He's missing games this season because of an indefinite suspension that is at least five games, but has no end in sight. I dropped Kyrie about 20 slots to 50th in the rankings. He's ranked 14th in fantasy points per game. He's the closest thing I have to a Do Not Draft player, so I don't have him on my fantasy team.
You can join a Fantasy Basketball league and draft your team before the first game starts. Your league starts with a clean slate.
You can sign up for nothing.
He's on your fantasy team. I would try to trade him now if you could convince someone that his absence will only be five games. This could be a good time to trade for him if you don't have him on your team and the manager thinks that his season is in jeopardy. The strategy is only for the bold.
I'm not sure if the Nets are close to pulling the plug. We're in the fourth NBA season since Irving and KD both signed, and there's been little drama to show for it. The two players asked to be moved this winter. The team has a losing record, Irving is suspended due to a scandal, and Ben Simmons is out with a knee injury. Is it possible that the Nets' brass will decide that enough is enough and give the two players what they want? What would the fantasy basketball values of all involved be like? It's hard to see how it hurts the values of the two players. Right now the Nets offense is built around them, so we don't know where they might go in this hypothetical. They are given every chance they possibly can. If they move on to a team that wants to compete, their volume will go down.
It would be a boon for the fantasy values of the Nets if they were to be moved. The Nets could start to resemble the pre-KD Nets if they lost their two superstars. Is it possible that players like Royce O' Neale and Nic Claxton are the modern-day analogs?
Simmons, what about him? If the Nets were to start a rebuild, it would take the spotlight off Simmons and give him the ball back in his hands. Simmons would benefit the most from such a scenario.
We are waiting for events to play out in Brooklyn and so we need to think about some things.
The host would always ask me how I would fix the Lakers. It became necessary to talk about trading for more shooting and young talent, to build a more balanced team around the likes of James and Davis, but if they couldn't trade him, they would always have to think about what to do with him. They had to allow Russ to cook if they were going to keep him.
If the plan was to play him off the ball, it made no sense to have him on the court. I had thought that in the reported meetings between the two players, they must have agreed that Westbrook would take the ball. In Miami, where he played more off the ball, he produced some of the most efficient scoring seasons of his career, as well as winning two NBA titles. He must have agreed to bring Westbreook to town.
Yes, right?
I'll never know what those conversations were about, but for a year-plus I watched the Lakers continue to run the offense through King James and put the ball in the basket with regularity. In his first month as a coach, Darvin Ham has been able to get Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook off the bench. I don't care what the Lakers' record is, they should be considered for the Coach of the Year because of their two miracles. It's on the fantasy basketball front. Russ seems to have learned how to cook.
In the five games he's been on the bench, he's averaged over 30 minutes of playing time. He used to be an impact fantasy hoops producer. I'm not sure if the current Lakers team is the one that they'll finish the season with.
There is a smooth basket.
We can all be forgiven for thinking that the Jazz were going into full rebuild when they traded away Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovich this summer. It was only because they hadn't found the right deal that they hadn't traded Mike and Jordan.
Through the first three weeks of the season, the Jazz are the best team in the conference. They don't really need to trade more vets for picks since they already traded for 10 additional first round picks over the next seven seasons. The Jazz can try to win and maintain their culture while still being a rebuilding team.
This could be a sign that the rotation of players might stay through the season. Markkanen should continue to be a borderline FBA star as well as being a borderline FBA flex player. Walker Kessler is more of a dynasty play than the will-get-major-minutes-on-a-rebuilding-team prospect he was previously thought to be.
Markkanen got up for the dunk.
This season's averages were factored into my projections for this week's rankings. Some players moved in the rankings because of this. Among those that had been in the top-40, the biggest positive move was made by Darius Garland, who moved up to 27th.
Among those already in the top-20, Dejounte Murray moved up to 11th. Two blockbuster trades helped the four All Star lead guards on their teams. I had to think about the diminishing returns in matching up multiple ball-dominant talents when I was projecting this season. That has not been a problem so far. All are doing well now.
Young and Murray have both averaged 50.2 PPG, 17. APG and 9.6RPG. They have dominated the production of the main unit. John Collins is in the midst of his lowest scoring season since his first year in the league, and is joined by Clint Capela and De'Andre Hunter to average 3.0 APG. The rest of the Hawks don't average more than 1.7 APG. This does work. Everyone else on the team is either a 3-and-D or paint-finishing role player.
In Cleveland, Caris LeVert is a third lead guard type and each of Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Kevin Love is a good scorer. Garland has only played 2.5 games in Cleveland because of an eye injury. Mitchell will move further away from his 31.1PPG and 7.1 APG if Garland plays for a long time.
There are only so many shots to go around, so there should be upside from the combined 41PPG they average. The game on Sunday may be a good example of what to expect in more games. Mitchell and Garland were back in the lineup after missing Friday's game. In 30 minutes, LeVert managed three assists and Allen/Mobley/Love scored 31 points. The other players will have their days, but Mitchell and Garland are likely to eat first. Make a plan for your trades and values.
The 76ers will be without their floor general for a month. It could be a good thing for the other impact players on the squad. He ended a lot of possessions with a usage percentage of 26.6. Harden was one of the leaders in the NBA in time of possession with the ball. When the big man is healthy, everything in Philly flows around him, but when Harden is out, it's up to Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to lead the way.
Harden will return next month. If you have a 76ers star on your team, you should be aware that trade values may not go much higher than they will be in the next few weeks. Before the bearded one comes back, you might consider trading high.
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