Having a strategy before you enter a fantasy draft is crucial for a successful season. It isn’t just about players to target, but also players to avoid. Figuring out which players you don’t want before the draft even starts is a good place to start as that will make picking the right players easier. Here are some players who I will not be drafting this season in fantasy basketball.
Wesley Matthews, Dallas Mavericks- A 29-year old player who is still recovering from a ruptured Achilles? No thanks! Matthews is unlikely to be ready for the start of the season, so drafting a player who is almost guaranteed to miss time early on is not how you want to spend your fifth or sixth round pick. We have no clue how Matthews is going to be able to perform, post-injury, which makes him a big question mark. The long-range sniper is good for points and three pointers made, but doesn’t really contribute in any other categories. I’d much rather spend a fifth or sixth round pick on a player who will start the season healthy and has high ceiling over a player who isn’t going to score more than 15-16 points per game and will start the season injured.
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers- The epitome of a fantasy headache. While he seems like a good value around the fifth or sixth round, Irving will only disappoint his fantasy owners. Early reports have him returning around January, which means he is going to miss at least two months of the regular season. But that isn’t the only problem. When he does return, he is likely to be on a minutes restriction and he could miss the second night of back-to-backs as a precaution which will make it difficult to trust him. If that doesn’t convince you, think about it this way -- you have to replace Irving with a bench player for at least two months of the season. No matter how great Irving is when he actually plays, he won’t return value considering you’re replacing him with an 11th/12th round pick for almost half the season.
Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls- Every rose has its thorn and for Derrick Rose, it is more like thorns. This is a guy who has played in a total of 61 games over the past three seasons. Last year, when he appeared in just 51 games, he averaged 17.7 points while shooting just 40.5 percent from the field. He also hasn’t averaged more than five assists per game since the 2011-12 season. Plus, Rose has averaged one steal per game only once in his entire career. This is not the same player who won an MVP. This is a player who can go down at any time and who doesn’t have the same burst of speed he had earlier in his career. Avoiding this Rose will mean less thorns on your fantasy squad.
Jrue Holiday, New Orleans Pelicans- At first glance, Holiday looks like a solid fantasy asset as he contributes 7-to-8 assists while scoring about 15 points per game. However, the truth about Jrue is that he is a huge health risk. He appeared in only 40 games last season and only 34 games the season before that. Both times Holiday has suffered a severe leg injury. It got so bad that at the end of last season, Pelicans head coach Monty Williams said that the team is “concerned” about his injury history. If the head coach and other people in the organization are worried about his injury history, you should be too. Holiday’s injury history will not affect his draft value as he’ll likely be taken in the third or fourth round, which is way too high for a player with his injury history. Be true to yourself by not drafting Jrue.
Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks- Melo is an elite talent, but just like in real life where he falls short in the playoffs, he tends to fall off during the fantasy playoffs as well. He is such a frustrating player to own because it always seems like he is playing banged up and/or could miss a game at any point during the season. Also, he has averaged seven or more rebounds just once in the past four seasons. I want a stud player who will be my rock and someone I can rely on throughout the season with my first or second round pick. Melo is not that type of player anymore, which is why I will not be drafting him this season.