The NBA season is primed for tip-off and fantasy pools and pre-draft rankings are starting to take form in preparation of the action. Every fantasy season that passes there is inevitably a handful of players who were relative unknowns or under valued assets on draft day that come through and make a fantasy impact.
Identifying these potential sleeper picks can absolutely make or break your fantasy roster. The margin of error in fantasy basketball is slim as teams are loaded with fantasy studs who all get snapped up; however, when playing in deep leagues one must look down the roster in order to find contributing sleepers who are poised to have a breakthrough.
We start by giving our sleeper picks for the Eastern Conference which will of course be followed up by Western Conference sleeper picks.
We kick off our look by stopping in to Milwaukee where one has a few options here to choose from. The sexy pick here is of course Giannis Antetokounmpo who caught rave reviews last season for his freak athleticism and ridiculous length. I like the Greek Freak to have a good year but I can’t really call him a sleeper pick given the sheer amount of attention the young man has already received.
Another young man with high expectations in Milwaukee is Jabari Parker who is being tagged as the early favorite to take home Rookie of the Year honors. Like Giannis, Parker should have a decent year but again can one really tag him as a sleeper pick when everyone expects greatness? I think not.
Instead I’ll go with Larry Sanders from the Bucks who is healthy again and looking to bounce back from a disastrous 2013-14 campaign. New head coach Jason Kidd has all but announced that Sanders will be his starting center and that he expects Sanders to be a leader for the franchise. There is little question that Sanders behaviour last season leaves a lot of skepticism but so long as he can stay healthy and avoid further suspensions he will be an impact player.
After the all-star break last season Sanders averaged an impressive 12 ppg and 11.1 rpg and there is no reason to think that he won’t pile up the double-doubles this season as well. Add in the fact that Sanders is a fantastic rim-protector and his blocked shot totals make Sanders an absolute must draft. Folks have definitely undervalued Sanders due to last season and his pending five game drug-related suspension, but in my mind he is and will be an absolute draft day steal particularly at the center position.
From Milwaukee we check in with the Indiana Pacers who are going to be in desperate need for someone to step up and try to fill the void left by Paul George’s devastating injury. The most likely beneficiary of increased playing time and offensive responsibilities is none other than George Hill. Hill has been an unsung hero for the Pacers the past few years but this year will mark his time in the spotlight.
I’m expecting Hill to improve upon his career high of 14.2 ppg and he should also post around 5.0 apg and 5.0 rpg. A very nice addition to a fantasy roster as he could undoubtedly be had in the middle to late rounds due to the depth at the point guard position. While many folks are championing the cause of Darren Collison out in Sacramento it will in fact be Hill representing the late-round steal at the point guard position.
From Indiana we next target a real darkhorse sleeper pick in Philadelphia by the name of K.J. McDaniels who made news recently by signing only a one-year non-guaranteed contract that would allow him to become a restricted free-agent in only his second season in the association. For McDaniels and his agent they are betting large that he can be effective in his rookie season.
McDaniels has the tools as he demonstrated last season in Clemson. He stands 6’6” with a 6’11” wingspan that allowed him to average more than 2 blocks per game. He will be competing with the newly acquired Alexy Shved for starter-minutes and that is a battle for court time that McDaniels can come out on top of. Given starter minutes, McDaniels is definitely worth a last round pick or an early waiver wire pickup.
Lastly we stop in at the Motor City where we spy Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of the Detroit Pistons. KCP will be competing for a starting role versus Jodie Meeks and given the newly minted contract in place and his defensive tenacity, this should be a battle KCP will win. With Caldwell-Pope in the starting lineup he will be the beneficiary of plenty of shot attempts.
KCP did lead the NBA Summer League in scoring and he showed off a much improved shooting stroke in the process. Given the opportunity in Detroit, KCP will show a huge improvement over last season’s 5.9 ppg numbers.