The Bucks’ Knight Rises

Brandon Knight has been killing it in the early goings of this NBA season.

Not only has he been scoring at a very good clip (20.5 pts per), he’s been rebounding (6.8), assisting (7.3) and knocking down the three ball (2.0) and his free throws (88% on 6.3 attempts per game) at levels much higher than his career averages. Is this going to continue over an 82 game season? In a word, no (though the other two players doing those stats this season – Steph Curry and James Harden – have a good chance of repeating Gary Payton’s epic season).

A contract year will do a lot for a player in fantasy – just look at Trevor Ariza and Isaiah Thomas last season for their respective teams. Knight is in a precarious position somewhat as nobody is sure a) what he’s worth in the open market in terms of salary per year, or b) how much the Bucks like him going forward as their lead guard.

I’m one of those fantasy players who will shrug at ‘unforeseen’ early success in the season, so I’d be opting to trade Knight for a bigger name while his value is extremely high. Names I’d be looking at for Knight in a one-for-one deal would be Paul Millsap, Goran Dragic and Nicolas Batum – three guys having slow starts but all likely to finish better in the rankings than Knight.

If you choose to hold Knight where there’s no harm in doing so, as he could turn in a top 50 season, be aware that the Bucks might not want to pay him $10m annually, so he could be dealt to a contender around the trade deadline, which could kill his fantasy value.

Don’t Duck Donald Sloan

Who?

The Fix’s fantasy NBA guru Zack Rewis touched on Sloan in his latest piece right here as a cheap player to target until the Pacers’ horrid injury run irons out the rotation a bit more.

Sure, he’s only keeping the seat warm for George Hill (knee) or C.J. Watson (foot), but Sloan’s doing a pretty decent job at running the patchwork Pacers. He’s not a big name, nor does he have a particularly enticing fantasy skill-set as a PG who neither makes his free throws at a high clip or hits a lot of threes. This season Sloan has been solid as the starting PG, averaging 11.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.3 threes, with 80% free throw shooting. Just look elsewhere for FG% as he’s made just 17 of his 45 field goal attempts (38% – his career clip also).

You likely won’t win a league based on a stopgap addition like Sloan, but you can make a dent in the standings especially if the starter being replaced isn’t on your team (ie last year Reggie Jackson/Russell Westbrook). Of course I did the majority of my write-up last night – prior to Sloan crapping the fantasy bed with his awful 5pt-2reb-6asst-3t/o game against Milwaukee – but hey, he’s had at least 6 assists in each game this season.

KFC: KENTUCKY FANTASY (TEAM) CARRIERS

What a start to the fantasy season for the Kentucky alumni.

Needless to say if fantasy teams were based on College attended, UK would mop the floor with the rest of the NBA.

Anthony Davis is well on his way to producing one of the top across-the-board fantasy seasons in recent memory, averaging video game type stats and making the Western conference tremble with fear. Kevin Durant’s injury coupled with Davis’ combination of PTS/REB/STL/BLK along with elite percentages is making many an owner (including yours truly), regret drafting LeBron James number 1 overall this season. (Something I never thought I’d type right there!)

John Wall is feasting on opponents to the tune of 19.o points, 3.8 rebounds, 10.0 assists and 2.8 steals per game, shouldering the majority of the back-court ‘load’ while Bradley Beal is out (though Garrett Temple and Otto Porter have stepped up admirably also). Wall is hitting career highs in FG%, FTA, AST and STL and looks primed to improve on his already stellar numbers from last season.

DeMarcus Cousins is a player who divides NBA followers – is he worth the outbursts and tantrums? In fantasy circles, are those massive PTS/REB/STL/BLK stats worth the often disastrous FG%/FT%/TO numbers? In my eyes, yes. This is a legit first round talent who is still just 24 years old and there is a monster (i.e. 26pt/13reb/3.5asst/1.6stl/1.3blk) season coming in his career, knowing when it’s going to happen is the problem.

MKG is A-OK in fantasy NBA this year it seems. Acronyms aside, the guy can play and when he isn’t racking up defensive stats, he’s rebounding at an elite level for a small forward. He’s likely going to produce Josh Smith-lite stats, without the putrid percentages or solid assist numbers – but for 1/3 the price he’s definitely worth it as he rounds out a bench nicely. He’s on the shelf with a rib injury at the moment, so check your waiver wire as he may have ended up on there by a twitchy owner.

Brandon Knight has been so good he got his own individual write-up earlier in this piece, but he warrants another mention because he’s averaging stats only the Big O and Magic have done over a season. Yes, that Brandon Knight.

Nerlens Noel is a first round pick in the NBA Hair Fantasy draft (along with Elfrid Payton, Joakim Noah, Anderson Varejao, Kenneth Faried, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Robin Lopez), but he’s still getting his feet wet in terms of fantasy stats. There’s already been lots to like in terms of defensive stats (2.0 steals and 2.0 blocks per), and he now has a 6 steal game on his resume – racking up the absurd amount for a C in just 30 minutes against the Rockets. The solo rebound versus Houston wasn’t great, but the five assists was a nice surprise. Hold him, despite urges to either trade or drop him due to the low scoring and inconsistent percentages and rebounding.

Rajon Rondo is doing what he does. Racking up the rebounds, assists and steals at the expense of his own scoring, while absolutely laying waste to your percentages (38% from the field and an abominable 17% from the line…ok only six attempts, but still!). He’ll continue to help you in less categories than he actually hurts you in, but man those REB/AST numbers are alluring. He’s another player I’d sell high on due to his incredibly bad injury history.

Lastly for the Wildcats, Terrence Jones went from being an early fantasy draft steal (Yahoo had him ranked a ridiculous 147 entering October), to being slotted in 20 spots late still, at 81. Jones has a nice shooting stroke from the outside while making enough threes (0.8) to help, but FT% continues to be his downfall, but he doesn’t really take enough to hurt you – yet. His skill-set is appealing though, as he qualifies at either F spot and he’s a threat for a double-double each night, while flirting with 2.0 blocks per. If you can get him cheap through trade, or as a throw in on a bigger deal, do it now.

Layups:

Harden Heavy

James Harden already has three games of at least 14 free throw attempts at 90% made. Last year he had six total. The scoring opportunities will always be there for Harden due to his driving ability and outside shot, but it’s his assist and rebound numbers that have him locked in as a top 3 fantasy player this season. The fact he’s a SG who qualifies at SF, despite playing more mins at PG, makes him particularly useful if you have SG/SF types who don’t hit their free throws or make many threes, such as Lance Stephenson or Tyreke Evans.

Illard

Very few players came in with so much hype this upcoming season, with fantasy owners picking Damian Lillard anywhere from in the top 8 right up to the mid 20s. He’s a specialist PTS/3s/ASST/FT% guy, offering little in terms of rebounds, field goal percentage or defensive stats – but he is a top 15 talent. He has a very friendly fantasy game though due to his epic three point levels and this is one player you should be trying to trade for right now, because when he bounces back it will be in a big way. He’s had a terrible start to the season, whether due to fatigue or expectations, but either way this start is an anomaly and he’ll be right at 20-3-6 by the end of the season. Nothing like a game against Kyrie Irving’s inept defense to right the ship! 

That’s Amar’e

Amar’e Stoudemire‘s days of being a fantasy beast are done. But, the big PF/C for the Knicks still has enough gas (and in a COUGH contract year COUGH!) to potentially produce a useful fantasy season. His last two games he’s averaged 11.5 points and 11.0 rebounds – starting the last one against Washington. Sure, the minutes are on the low side (25mpg thru four games), but he should score close to 12-14 points and rebound at a decent rate due to the ungodly amount of bad shooters currently on the Knicks.

Suns’ Strokes Off

Along the lines of the aforementioned Lillard, Goran Dragic has been in a hole in terms of offensive output this season. Coach Hornacek heaped praise on his All NBA guard over the last few months, but even he expressed that the Dragon would need to adjust to both expectations and defenses adapting for him. His helter skelter play is very difficult to guard, but early in the season teams are tweaking their line-ups to factor his barrel-into-the-lane play. There are very few players as entertaining in the open court as Dragic – a rare thing to say for a player who isn’t a high flyer.

The Suns offense doesn’t produce many assists, despite having three legit studs at PG, so don’t expect Dragic to top his 5.9 per game from last season.

The shots will start to fall for Eric Bledsoe as he looks to prove that he’s worth the $14m per that the Suns are paying him for the next five seasons. The rebounds, assists and steals are there, as is the explosive athleticism (putback dunk) – so don’t hit the panic button yet.

The addition of Isaiah Thomas seems to be hurting Dragic and Bledsoe in terms of their fantasy value, so tread carefully with these three guards and don’t trade them away (yet) until the dust has settled and we know the minute distribution a little better. It is interesting to note that Thomas has more 20 point games (3 in 4 games) than Bledsoe and Dragic do combined 15 point games!

As always we welcome your feedback, so feel free to hit me up on Twitter (@macetastic) and I’ll do my best to reply to any comments.