Miami Heat
Bust: Goran Dragic
People value "The Dragon" highly and I don’t really get it. He averaged 16.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, while shooting 50 percent from the field with the Heat last season. His field goal percentage is fairly high, especially for a point guard, but he doesn’t really excel in any category. He has averaged just one three-pointer made and one steal per game in his career. He shot 80.8 percent from the free throw line with the Heat, even though his career average is 75 percent from the charity stripe. So expect some regression in that department. Despite his old age, I’d rather draft Dwyane Wade a couple rounds later than draft Dragic, who has a limited ceiling, in the fourth or fifth round.
Value: Dwyane Wade
Speaking of D-Wade, he averaged 21.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game last year. Those are solid numbers, even more so when you consider that a player like Jimmy Butler, who is a late first/early second round pick this year, averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game last season. Don’t get me wrong, Wade is a risky pick because of his health issues, but you can’t argue with his high production. Be quick on the trigger by selecting "The Flash" in the sixth or seventh round of drafts, and watch your team speed to the top of the standings.
Milwaukee Bucks
Bust: Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Greek Freak saw his points per game almost double last year from 6.8 per game in his rookie season, to 12.7 last year. That was due in large part because his field goal attempts rose from 5.4 per game to 9.6, while increasing his field goal percentage from 41 percent to 49 percent as well. So why the bad vibes for Antetokounmpo this season? The Bucks added Greg Monroe, who will lead the team in shots, Jabari Parker is back from a serious injury and Khris Middleton continues to develop in a solid perimeter shooter. In other words, it is going to be hard for Antetokounmpo to increase his shots per game, especially since he hasn’t shown the ability to hit three-pointers – made a total of seven, while shooting 16 (!) percent from long range last season. Long term, The Greak Freak is going to have a phenomenal career, but his breakout season is not going to happen for the current 20-year old this season..
Value: Michael Carter-Williams
McDubs is a superb value option when it comes to head-to-head category or total points leagues. He averaged roughly 31 fantasy points per game last season (depending on the scoring format). That was more than guys like Jeff Teague, Kevin Love, Al Horford, Derrick Favors and Draymond Green, just to name a few. There is one knock on him: his poor shooting percentages. But some of that could be the fact he played for the Sixers. His field goal percentage is always going to be low, but not as bad as other fantasy pundits will have you believe. He shot 38 percent on 14.9 field goal attempts and 64 percent on 4.4 free throw attempts in 41 games with Sixers last season. In 25 games with the Bucks, he shot 43 percent on 12.3 field goal attempts (up five percent) and 78 percent on 4.4 free throw attempts (up 14 percent). Seems to me like he didn’t really care about what his percentages were when he played for Philly (ha, can’t really blame him on that), but stepped up his game when he got the chance to play for a real team. Carter-Williams was one of seven players to average 5-plus rebounds and 6.5-plus assists per game last year. Also, he has averaged 1.8 steals per game in his short career (two steals per game with the Bucks), which is pretty remarkable when you realize that a total of 11 players averaged 1.8 steals or more per game last season. MCW is going to be a sensational value option in seasonal leagues as well as in DFS this season.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Bust: Nikola Pekovic
Going to make this short and definitely not sweet, do not draft Zangief from Street Fighter...I mean Pekovic this season. The enforcer from Montenegro played in just 31 games last season, 54 in 2013-14, and 62 in 2012-13. He has yet to see game action as he is still recovering from an Achilles surgery, which is the reason why he missed more than half the season in 2014-15. Add in the fact that the T-Wolves drafted Karl-Anthony Towns first overall, still have a quality backup center in Gorgui Dieng, and have the super veteran Kevin Garnett on the team, and it is easy to see that Pekovic isn’t part of the Timberwolves' future. His playing time is going to be limited even when he finally gets healthy. There are better fantasy assets than Pekovic.
Value: Ricky Rubio
Another player that is going to be a superb value option in all head-to-head formats because of his elite assist and steal numbers. His career field goal percentage is a brutal 36.7 percent, but fortunately he won’t take more than about nine attempts per game. His career free throw percentage has always been around 80 percent, which is fine. The red flags about his injury stats will keep his draft value low, even though he should be healthy by the time the season starts. The return of interest could be huge on Rubio as he won’t cost that much to acquire in drafts.
New Orleans Pelicans
Bust: Eric Gordon & Jrue Holiday
As a fellow Hoosier, it pains to diss one of my own, but Eric Gordon is not worth investing in for fantasy owners. He has averaged 56 games played over the past three seasons as he is always dealing with some type of injury. The points per game and three-pointers made per game are nice, but are nothing special. His ceiling is low, his injury risk is high, which equals a player that you should avoid in fantasy drafts. It is all about injuries with Jrue Holiday, who puts up great numbers when healthy, but the health issues are too extreme to invest an early round pick on Holiday. The guy hasn’t played more than 40 games in each of the past two seasons because of a significant leg injuries. You have to have some risk management if you want to be successful in fantasy; you can accomplish that by passing on Holiday in your drafts.
Value: Tyreke Evans
The versatile player contributes stats in all categories. It also helps that he is eligible at PG/SG on Yahoo! and PG/SG/SF on ESPN, which is very rare. This versatility adds some extra fantasy value to his repertoire. Speaking of repertoire, Evans averaged 16.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game last season. Those are solid stats, especially for a player that will get drafted in the sixth or seventh round. Also, Ryan Anderson is a great value option in Roto or category leagues because of his ability to rack up three-pointers made with a high free throw percentage.
New York Knicks
Bust: Arron Afflalo
It is hard to find a bust for the Knicks, mainly because besides Carmelo Anthony, most of the roster does not have that much fantasy value. Ro-Lo (Robin Lopez) is a decent fantasy option, but his price tag is completely reasonable with his fantasy value. I’ve seen people reaching for Arron Afflalo and I just don’t get it. Double-A has never been that great of a shooter (career 45 field goal percentage), doesn’t really contribute in any other stats besides three-pointers made, which he isn’t even that great at either. Yes, he’ll get plenty of playing time, but I’d much rather draft a player with higher upside than Afflalo.
Value: Kristaps Porzingis
None of the top rookies are getting disrespected as much as Porzingis is and there is really no reason for it. The 20-year-old seven footer is likely going to start and play heavy minutes for the Knicks this season. He can score the ball from anywhere on the court, but we don’t really have a good idea of how he will rebound or block shots. Either way, he will play huge minutes and finish as a top-five rookie in fantasy.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Bust: Serge Ibaka
I will never own Ibaka because he literally does one thing great: block shots. Just because a player gets a volume of stats in one category doesn’t make him a top-15 pick. His 14.3 points per game last season ranked just over 70th, he was 30th in rebounds, and produces practically nothing in the assists/steals category. He shot almost 84 percent from the free throw line, but attempted a measly 1.7 free throw attempts per game last season. That will barely move the needle in any league that counts free throw percentage, so you can’t really say that he helps in that category either. I-Block-Ya is the fourth, even possibly fifth, scoring option in the starting lineup, which limits his ceiling. We know what Ibaka is, a center that can block shots and grab some rebounds, while producing similar numbers that he put up last season.
Value: Anthony Morrow
The sharp-shooting shooting guard/small forward is a great value option in Roto leagues because of his abilities to rack up three-pointers made. This is a bit of a cop out as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are great players and Enes Kanter’s value is reasonable, so there aren’t that many more players to choose from on this squad. Dion Waiters does nothing but shoot the ball, despite his inability to actually make those shots. Therefore, Morrow is the only player that could end up surprising people and providing decent fantasy production.