The 2013-14 NBA season is upon us and with it brings the excitement and disappointment that is Fantasy Draft Day. For those who struggled last year and likely endured ridicule and shame from their co-general managers, this is your time for revenge. Forget last season, embrace your previous failures and learn from them. This is a new season and with it brings new opportunity.
Sometimes a blessing of not playing in keeper leagues or a dynasty style fantasy format is that at season end you get to blow up your team and completely rebuild. Now this might not work in your favour if you had say a LeBron James or Kevin Durant, but on the flip side you are no longer shackled with an injured Rajon Rondo.
As important as it is to draft wisely in the early rounds, the same holds true for the later rounds. Educated and informed later round picks that consist of fantasy sleepers and flier picks are the ones that bolster your roster and add value where others who draft wildly see no return on their investment.
We will provide you with a division by division breakdown of those fantasy sleepers that will add value to your roster. I’m not talking about the Jeff Green or Evan Turner type analysis that you get elsewhere (gee, thanks there tips for those insightful picks), I’m talking about true sleepers, players with untapped potential and those of names you haven’t even heard of; till now that is.
Alright, let’s get it started in the Atlantic Division with the rebuilding Boston Celtics. The Celtics are in rebuild mode whether they want to admit it or not, unfortunately they are void of any real young promising players other than Rondo. I’m not sold on Kelly Olynyk and I wouldn’t draft him for all the late round picks in the world. Instead I turn my attention to another Celtic bigman who must perform if he wishes to carve out an NBA existence.
The pressure is on for Jared Sullinger this season as the time for patience and nurturing has past. I see Sullinger filling in nicely with a moderate scoring average and solid rebounding numbers. Sully won’t be called upon to score the rock, rather he will be tasked with securing rebounds, protecting the rim and getting put-back baskets. For a late round pick, I’m happy with those contributions and look for him to build off of last season’s 6.0 ppg and 5.9 rpg stat line.
Over to another divisional team in full on rebuild mode; the Philadelphia 76ers are wilting for Wiggins (Andrew) and they won’t be competitive this season in the slightest. In fact competitive might be giving too much credit, I think irrelevant would better describe them this season. Regardless, they still have to play the games and with that spirit in mind there are fantasy points to be had out there. The man in Philly will be Thaddeus Young as he figures to explode this season. I realize that Young is a known entity for hoops fans and fantasy geeks everywhere for his efforts last season; however, those numbers are going to be shattered this season. While others are loading up on the Paul Pierces and Josh Smiths of the world, sit tight and grab Young with a later round pick.
Yet another team in the Atlantic Division that is striving to simply compete on a nightly basis is the Toronto Raptors. This squad of current Raptors just isn’t quite talented enough; however, they will find a way to hover around .500 on the year and still be in the playoff hunt come season’s end. I like these mid-range teams for hidden fantasy gems as players will often be given opportunities to play in hopes of sparking some team success. Pick right on those players and you can have a fantastic fantasy gem on your roster.
Two players to watch for this season on the Raps are Amir Johnson and Dwight Buycks. Johnson, who by all accounts had a breakout year last season, will better those numbers this go round. In the absence of Andrea Bargnani and Ed Davis, Johnson the veteran will fill the power-forward void.
Buycks is a curious case as he was signed after an impressive NBA Summer League stint. The Raptors have a number of point guards on the roster, none of which are as cheap as Buycks and none are as exciting to watch. Buycks deserves to be the backup to Kyle Lowry and he will flourish in that role ahead of D.J. Augustin. Buycks will be at his best in an uptempo style of play as he makes fast decisions on the fly and has shown great court vision for a rookie. This kid will go undrafted in almost all leagues; however, he would make a solid last round pickup for those deep fantasy leaguers.