Fantasy Basketball 2017: Top NBA Player Rankings and Underrated Sleepers
The NBA regular season starts Tuesday night, which means it's time to do a last-minute fantasy draft or firm up the squad you already have. Your league may have some unowned players that deserve your consideration before meaningful games tip off.
Let's take stock of the NBA's projected top 30 fantasy players in the 2017-18 season. Then, we'll focus on the fantasy upside of three players who are being undervalued in most projections.
Fantasy Basketball Top 30
1. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder (PG)
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks (SF/PF)
3. James Harden, Houston Rockets (PG/SG)
4. Kevin Durant, Golden State Warriors (SF/PF)
5. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers (SF/PF)
6. Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans (PF/C)
7. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors (PG/SG)
8. Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves (C)
9. Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs (SG/SF)
10. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets (PF/C)
11. John Wall, Washington Wizards (PG)
12. Chris Paul, Houston Rockets (PG)
13. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers (PG)
14. Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz (C)
15. DeMarcus Cousins, New Orleans Pelicans (PF/C)
16. Jimmy Butler, Minnesota Timberwolves (SG/SF)
17. Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics (PG/SG)
18. Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers (PF/C)
19. Paul George, Oklahoma City Thunder (SF/PF)
20. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers (PF/C)
21. Mike Conley, Memphis Grizzlies (PG)
22. Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers (PF/C)
23. Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks (PF/C)
24. Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors (SF/PF)
25. Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors (PG)
26. Hassan Whiteside, Miami Heat (PF/C)
27. Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies (C)
28. C.J. McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers (PG/SG)
29. Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors (SG/SF)
30. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers (PF/C)
Underrated Sleepers (Fantasy Pros consensus ranking in parentheses)
Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons (53)
Andre Drummond's career arc hasn't gone as expected. While he's arguably the best rebounder in the NBA, his post skills, defense and free-throw shooting have failed to improve in the past few years. The athletic 24-year-old center often finds himself on the bench at the end of close games because of those weaknesses.
Drummond wasn't perfect in the preseason, especially on defense, but the career 38.1 percent free-throw shooter knocked down 16-of-20 shots from the charity stripe. Sure, it's a small sample size, but the young center has never made that many freebies in a 20-shot sample during his five-year NBA career.
If Drummond continues shooting even close to that well from the line during the regular season, Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy will be more likely to play him in crunch time. That means more minutes for Drummond and more points for your fantasy teams in the volume categories.
Another encouraging sign for the Pistons big man is his passing. He dished out 3.7 assists per contest in his three preseason contests, which is a huge upgrade from the 1.1 dimes per game he averaged in 2016-17.
Tyreke Evans, Memphis Grizzlies (183)
The Grizzlies offense needs production from someone besides Mike Conley or Marc Gasol. Chandler Parsons is an obvious source, but Grizzlies.com's Michael Wallace reported Sunday that he will be a reserve this season.
Which of Memphis' high-minute guys outside of Conley and Gasol has the talent to stuff the box score? Enter Tyreke Evans, who boasts career averages of 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
The 28-year-old swingman is a crafty scorer, strong rebounder and slick passer who can operate as the starting unit's No. 3 option. Per-game averages in the ballpark of 15 points, four rebounds and five assists seem totally realistic.
A couple of other factors help Evans' case, as well. First, the Grizzlies are embracing a much more fast-paced attack than in previous seasons, which will help inflate player stats. Second, Evans is on a one-year contract worth just $3.3 million. That's a below-market price for someone of Evans' skill set, so he'll be motivated to prove himself worthy of a more lucrative contract next summer.
Justin Holiday, Chicago Bulls (202)
Even more so than the Grizzlies, the Bulls are a team that just needs players to eat up offensive touches and shots. This is especially true with Zach LaVine sidelined as he recovers from a torn ACL.
Justin Holiday, surprisingly, was the Bulls' No. 1 offensive option by a significant margin in the preseason. He was an elite across-the-board fantasy contributor who put up 22.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.4 steals and 4.2 made three-pointers per 36 minutes. With how weak the Bulls roster is, don't be surprised if Holiday ends up playing that many minutes.
It's doubtful that the 28-year-old shooting guard is as good as he showed in the preseason, because he's always been a three-and-D specialist throughout his career. But it still looks the Bulls will give him plenty of minutes and a featured role in those minutes this season. He'll easily be better than the 202nd-best fantasy basketball player in the NBA in 2017-18.
