We are now officially entering the final hours of the NBA preseason. In just a few days we’ll be watching real games, counting real stats, and likely overreacting to real performances. That is to be expected when weeks of anticipation meet lofty predictions and unrealistic expectations.
After posting articles with my Big Leap Candidates and Part 1 and Part 2 of my most undervalued players with top 100 ADP, I had every intention to write up a deep sleepers article. However, time and life were not cooperative the past couple of weeks, and we’re now so close to the start of the season that such an article would be seen as too little, too late for most of our readers.
Instead, I’ve decided to take one last look around the league before the season starts in an effort shed light on a few fantasy relevant developments that have popped up over the past couple weeks of the preseason. This is not intended to be a comprehensive look at the fantasy landscape. Instead I picked a few teams and players of interest and dove right in.
Here we go…
Something To Kawhi About
We’ll start with a development that surprised absolutely no one, and that’s the recent news that Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely and will miss the start of the season with a knee injury. I’ve stayed clear of Kawhi for years in large part because he’s so undependable as a fantasy asset. If you’re currently rostering him, you probably have no choice but to grit your teeth and store him on your IL until he returns — unless you can find that one guy in your league who willing to make the same mistake you made hoping Kawhi can provide a big boost when he returns from injury, assuming he does.
Kawhi’s absence is likely good news for team’s rostering James Harden, because he is now in a full-fledged hero ball scenario similar to when he played in Houston. I’ve seen people wonder out loud if Harden is now a top 10 guy headed into the season. Personally, I don’t think he is. Not at age 35 coming off his worst season. He will put up tons of stats, but he’s not the guy I want to build my roster around at the end of the first round.
Ivica Zubac now becomes an even better value play in the middle rounds of drafts, and this should also create more opportunities for Normal Powell and Terrance Mann. Aside from Zubac, I just don’t love anyone on this roster. There will be players who provide fantasy value, especially as they fill in for Kawhi, but I’m personally not excited about any of them.
Un-break My Hartenstein
News of Isaiah Hartenstein’s hand injury no doubt came as a big surprise — and disappointment — for fantasy managers. I have him in my 30 team league and was eating up all the pre-season hype about his potential role and impact in OKC. One man’s misfortune is another’s opportunity and this injury does have the potential to create more opportunities down the roster for the Thunder, including one of my favorite deep sleepers, Cason Wallace.
Wallace is still very young and raw so his best fantasy days are likely a year or two down the road, but he showed glimpses of his upside last year as a rookie. I like him as a bench piece with the potential to boost steals and contribute modest totals across the board. Should an injury befall one of OKC’s wings, Wallace’s impact could be even bigger.
Of course, Hartenstein’s injury also likely means more minutes and a bigger role for Chet Holmgren too. If your league hasn’t draft yet, move him a couple spots up your draft board. While Hartenstein will return at some point, increased production from Chet for a quarter to a third of the season warrants even stronger consideration.
Scoot Over
Scoot Henderson is turning into one of the most polarizing players in the league. One game he looks awful, the next he’s the second coming of Derrick Rose. Scoot stands to be one of the biggest wild cards in fantasy leagues this season. I honestly don’t know what to expect from him, except perhaps a continued mix of good and bad like we’ve seen so far.
Personally, I prefer to let someone else take a chance on him. While the highs will at times be exhilarating, the lows, particularly in percentages and ratios, will likely leave you wanting to pull your hair out. I’ll keep what’s left of my hair, thanks.
The Latest ‘Buzz’ Around Charlotte
As a Charlotte Hornets fan, I would feel remiss if I did not share the fanbase’s enthusiasm around the team’s pre-season. New coach Charles Lee has the team playing hard, playing together, and buying in on defense. This is still a very young team that will experience a lot of highs and lows, but three players have my attention going into the season.
LaMelo Ball has been predictably awesome and I am more confident than ever that he will return something close to first round value this season.
Brandon Miller has also been terrific and looks poised to absolutely rain threes all season.
The third player generating buzz — pun intended — is Tre Mann. After his trade from OKC, he put up really strong numbers at the end of last season when Melo was injured and the team was tanking. Should Melo miss extended time again, Mann would be the player to benefit the most. Even with a healthy Melo, Mann seems ready to contend for 6th man of the year with the confidence of his coach and what seems like a second team green light. I would expect double digit points, a healthy but modest supply of boards and assists, a three, and a steal — making him a great get at the end of most drafts.
Dip In The Melodic Sea
The Jazz have had their fans singing the blues the past couple of seasons. This year that might start to change and we’ve seen glimpses of improved play — particularly from their young players — this preseason.
Walker Kessler has been posting strong numbers and could be a solid buy-low candidate.
Collin Sexton is one of the most underrated players in the league. He should’ve made my most undervalued column.
Taylor Hendricks and Keyonte George are both immensely talented.
And of course, the big guy from Finland — Lauri Markkanen — is pretty good too.
While Markkanen and Sexton will take the lions share of the shots, one of Hendricks and George could be the real breakout candidates here. Both already receive a fair amount of hype, but these are guys generally going around pick 150 who could easily return top 100 value. At the end of drafts, these are the kinds of shots you should be taking on talented second and third your players to push your team over the top.
A Real Life Risacher Test
Those who were once seen as duds, are now seen as future studs. This year’s rookie class was bemoaned as one of the worst in recent history, but you wouldn’t know it from what we’ve seen this preseason. Zaccherie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Reed Shephard, Stephen Castle, Tidjane Salaün, Donovan Clingan, Rob Dillingham, Zack Edey, Matas Buzelis, Bub Carrington, Kel’el Ware, Jared McCain, Dalton Knecht, AJ Johnson, Kyshawn George, Dillon Jones, and Ryan Dunn have all shown varying degrees of flashes as future fantasy relevant players.
Rookies generally don’t make a big fantasy impact, so I advise you don’t get too rookie happy in drafts or on waivers. If you’re already rostering one or more of these player in a re-draft league, you may want to take advantage of their strong preseason performance and try to move them for more steady and predictable players. That’s what I would do, anyway.
