Ahhh…it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Caroling in the snow, holiday greetings and cheer, and best of all the start of the NBA season.
All the grueling drafts, research, and time we have put in will come to fruition in just a few days! My brain is fried from all the drafts lately, but it’s worth every second. Let’s have some fun and go over some preseason standouts. Hopefully, you drafted some of these guys!
Steph Curry: Let’s start it off with a guy named Stephen Curry. I’m sure a few of you are a little leery of him, but the injury was a fluke and Steph is set up to have a monster season. He looked to be in mid-season form for this preseason averaging 22.7 points and draining 4.3 threes per game. The sky is the limit for him and if you drafted him you have to feel good about your investment right now.
Zion Williamson: The hype came a year too late, but it is here nonetheless. He averaged 28.5 points with an impressive 77% ft percentage and 57% fg percentage. If Zion can average somewhere around that it will greatly boost his category value. He played 33.5 minutes in his two games which were the most in the entire NBA in the preseason.
Domantas Sabonis: Man, this guy is so solid. He showed that coming into this season fully healthy while playing three games and averaging 26 minutes during the preseason. Sabonis averaged a beautiful double-double with 20 points and 11 boards while shooting 56% from the field. He’s not a big name in the league, but he can put up some big stats!
Nikola Vucevic: Santa consistently delivers every year, and so does Nikola Vucevic. What can’t this guy do? He is the definition of a perfect fantasy player and if you’re lucky you can get him in the 3rd round. Vooch averaged 19.3 points and 12.5 rebounds this preseason. He helps you everywhere and hurts you nowhere, kind of like a watered-down and slightly more handsome version of Towns.
Ja Morant
The holiday season is about love and positivity, but I’ve been getting a lot of hate picking Ja early. Hear this: Ja Morant will have a great season. He actually could average a double-double this season. If Ja were to get his steals up and start knocking down some threes, we would see him take a massive leap in terms of value. He played in four games this preseason averaging 17.5 points with an impressive 55% fg percentage and 9.8 assists. Ja also showed up in the steals departmen with 1.5 per game, which is one of his areas of concern. The sample size is small, but he has so much room for improvement coming off his rookie season. I love me some Morant, and Ja should too.
Dillon Brooks
We can’t have a column without a little Canadian content, and Dillon Brooks fits the bill!. I’m seeing him go undrafted in a lot of 12-team leagues and I just don’t understand why. He has been firing this preseason making 2.5 threes and putting up 16.5 points. He is absolutely worth a late-round selection especially if you need some scoring on your squad.
