There are so many factors why a certain player gets picked so high in a fantasy draft and it is our jobs to acquaint and warn you about them.
It could be some inherent biases we all have towards our favorite teams (if you’re a Cleveland fan, you might pick J.R. Smith over, say, Nikola Mirotic), we might be looking way up on re-tooled squads, or simple believed the buzz.
Yeah, we have all been there before and fantasy basketball is by no way an exact science, but these players pretty much should make you doubt clicking that DRAFT button way too early.
Kevin Martin, SG/SF (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Interim head coach Sam Mitchell just named Zach Lavine the team’s starting shooting guard by virtue of his, well, age. A full-on youth movement is in motion up in Minny that it’s not a good time to be a veteran in a T’Wolves uniform.
Lavine is still in his second year so it’s not that Martin will be relegated to a cleanup role as good a scorer as he is but wasting your top seven roster spots for him is quite a stretch.
Kobe Bryant, SG/SF (Los Angeles Lakers)
Ah, Kobe. If that Achilles had not broke down in 2013, he might still be one of fantasy’s elite by now. Sadly, he wasn’t even close.
Bryant played 41 out of a possible 164 regular season games the past two seasons and while we have reason to believe his FG% might improve, the possibility of him missing that many games should be enough to repel anyone, even the most ardent of Mamba fans.
Derrick Rose, PG (Chicago Bulls)
I know, I know. I’m fed up writing about D-Rose’s injuries year after year, so I may as well put an end to it by putting him in the blacklist. One way or another, Rose does not run out of ways to hurt himself so unless something miraculous happens (and there’s no way to know), I’d save myself some headache and target healthier options than the former MVP.
Blake Griffin, PF/C (Los Angeles Clippers)
Obviously, Griffin is not the second coming of the plague and he will still be a very valuable option in fantasy but not as high as he is currently drafted. Right now, Blake does not merit the low first/high second round ranking he deserves. Maybe a few steps down and he’ll be a viable option at the 16-20 range.
Paul Pierce and Josh Smith are there to provide more help for the Clips so Griffin’s rebounding and scoring could suffer a little this season. Anyway, I suggest Blake kind of reverse his mindset a little bit and start blocking shots instead of them highlight dunks. For us fantasyheads, it can be just as fun.
Enes Kanter, C (OKC Thunder)
Photo credit: AP via Sports Illustrated
Kanter is the Turkish version of Nikola Pekovic who can score a lot of points, grab a lot of rebounds, and not much else. Kanter’s second-half surge made him somewhat a fantasy darling but remember, those numbers are done without Serge Ibaka and Kevin Durant in the rotation.
In all likelihood, Kanter should get the starting nod but the availability of the commodities he provides within his own team will not be the same as it was.
Featured Image via: sportamericano.it