1. Ausar Thompson, Forward, DET- Ausar finds himself in a good spot for fantasy relevance, he's really good at basketball, he's going to have a lot of time to play, and he's on a bad team. We don't have an idea of how new coach Monte Williams will deploy his personnel, but their is not much in his way of getting very good minutes and collecting alot of empty stats as well. From observing Thompson in the G league and the preseason, he reminds me of a diet Westbrook. He's going to get alot of rebounds, and defensive stats as well. He is not going to be the main distributor so his assist numbers might be down, but he possesses the skill.
2. Chet Holmgren, Center, OKC- Chet is considered a rookie because his injury last year. Chet is in a similar boat with Thompson, a great player, and on a team where he is a focal point without alot of depth; except, OKC is half decent they were dead even with the Pelicans, Lakers , and Timberwolves. Chet almost averaged 3 blocks a game on Gonzaga in college, and that was on reduced minutes from a standard star. He also is a very good passer, and will be receiving lobs from SGA. I think he will be both every impactful in fantasy and in real life.
3. Victor Wembanyama, Center, SAS- Don't read what some nit-whit is saying about Victor being a bust in the comment section on Facebook. He is the real deal. He is averaging 21.5 pts on 21 mins a night! The Spurs are god awful, and the keys to this broken down hooptie is giving to Victor. Some comments made by head coach Gregg Popovich also give us hope for a monster breakout fantasy campaign. Something along the lines of just letting him play and coaching him up later. A large fear of rookies is a short leash and coaches keeping their minutes low and bending them for every bad mistake. Amongst all the hullabaloo, this is a good setup for Victor to have an impactful season. He's going to have full reign of the offense, and will also provide a lot of defensive upside as well.
4. Scoot Henderson, Guard, POR- I loved Scoot in the G league. He is a very bursty scorer, and Dames departure will take a committee to replace. I don't see Scoot as the focal point of the audience right away, but I think his skillset and draft pedigree might allow him to take over in the season.
5. Cam Whitmore, Forward, HOU- Cam had an inexplicably fall of grace in the draft. I've been scared to draft any Rockets in redraft because there isn't enough ball to go around, but I feel like Cam is more a mid season stash. He's a true 3 and D player with a chip on his shoulder and a bad team to get empty stats on. Keep an eye on his minutes and if injuries somehow land him into north of 30 minutes a night, he will have end up paying off.
Photo credit Steve Cheng, Bruin Report Online.
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