RADIO
The regular season is inching closer by the day, and most offseason moves have already been completed--barring a surprising Simmons/Beal/Dame trade before tipoff. Each team's depth chart is mostly complete, so it makes sense to start analyzing how it could work come October. Before diving into the fantasy season, RotoBaller has you covered with some last-minute basketball depth chart recaps for each team, including some useful bits of analysis for players you want to keep on your radar.
The charts below are based on usage rates and minutes per game data from the 2021 season, while the rosters have been updated to reflect these offseason moves. The charts don't include players drafted this past July, as we don't have data about them regarding MPG/USG% in the NBA. That being said, comments will be made on rookies when deemed necessary in each team breakdown blurb.
Here are the current preseason depth charts for the Western Conference Northwest Division.
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Western Conference - Northwest Division Depth Charts
Utah Jazz
Although Donovan Mitchell was the lone Jazz to break the 30 USG% barrier last season, as many as six players from the Utah squad finished 2021 as top-100 performers, including oft-reservers Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles. The truth is that none of those six (O'Neale, also depicted above, finished 109th) was a volatile player at all in fantasy terms and that all of them with the exception of Bojan Bogdanovic (0.84; league average at 0.90) put up above-average FP/min marks over the full season.
Gobert's (12th-best fantasy player last year) usage is putrid, but he doesn't need it to grow; he will stay there handing you the fantasy goodies with his near 14-14 average line, so you can't ask for more. DoMi is a walking bucket, though his rest-of-line is a bit low with just 4 boards and 5 dimes per game. But both of those two are sublime. Now, the problem I have with Utah's remaining players is that it's hard to know if they'll keep doing the same or if they'll suffer from some gameplan change. No reason for it given the fantastic record and postseason run (a little upsetting at the end, though), but who knows.
Clarkson had a massive season that might have been an outlier in his career and the pinnacle of it---past, present, and future (he'll either win you the day or murder your upside with no middle ground,; that's what I mean). Hassan Whiteside was brought to town after Derrick Favors' departure and I can advise you enough to get the former in your team, as he'll be the linchpin of the second unit and easily average some 10-10 even if he plays just around 20 minutes, not to mention his bonkers 1.3 BPG on just 17 MPG last season. If the system stays as productive as last season's then Rudy Gay, Joe Ingles, and Eric Paschall could turn into good-not-great investments acquirable for free via WW. Conley is a very efficient player... but old and facing potential injury woes, so don't go overboard with a super-early pick on him.
Denver Nuggets
Mourning year ahead for the Nugs as they will miss Jamal Murray for the length of the regular season and maybe even the postseason if they make it there. That doesn't mean all of Denver's players are going to stink. Actually, the opposite might be what happens in the Rockies come 2022. Jokic was the MVP of the L and also the best fantasy player in total FP by year's end having played all 72 games averaging 35 MPG. If only because of the bananas playing time and availability, he should be a clear go-to target for you even if you are in possession of the first-overall draft pick. The stupid 26-11-8-1 line only adds wood to the Joker's fire.
But that's too simple. The mojo of these Nuggets will be found in their secondary pieces and how they perform. With Jamal out for the year and the championship chances almost unexistent, Denver only flipped Paul Millsap (FA) for Jeff Green. That's it. That's all that's new for the Nuggets. One guy that should definitely bounce back next season is Aaron Gordon. After arguably play Orlando's franchise guy role for more than a few years, AG arrived in Colorado and straight-flopped. He finished the year with a 12-5-3 line in 27 MPG with an average 20.7 USG% that left me wanting way more from him. With Murray vacating 16 FGA per game and erasing his 24+ USG% from the equation he should step up into a heavier role.
The same goes for Michael Porter Jr., who in his case is not that he needs to log higher usage rates, but rather become more efficient nightly. Don't get me wrong, he was as good as a top-55 fantasy player last season and posted a fantastic 1.07 FP/min mark, but he should still have something more inside of him when it comes to diming/stealing/blocking rocks as his numbers were all about points and boards (19-7 per game baseline). I think Jeff Green will be cheap enough to have him rostered in most leagues for nothing, and his numbers might be good as part of a second unit in which he could very well be the USG% leader.
Portland Trailblazers
I'm mad at myself for not having written this breakdown in advance of last season. That's because I could have just copy-pasted Portland's section in full without even thinking about double-checking it. Carmelo Anthony is the only notable player to leave Portland for the 2022 season, and that's more because of his name rather than his game these days. Zach Collins is also off to San Antonio, but he'd been out one year and a half so it's not that his absence will change what we already saw last season.
Kanter left for Boston, I know, but he's been replaced by the combination of C Cody Zeller (9-7 in 21 MP last season) and PF Larry Nance Jr. (9-6-3-1 in 31 MPG). The production of those two is obviously below Kanter's dub-dub average last season, which sucks, but overall Portland kind of improved the roster as a whole. Nurkic should retain the highest upside of all biggie boys (he already posted an 11-9-3-1-1 line last season in just 24 MPG), though, so if you chase any of them make sure it's Nurk.
Dame and CJ are as good as ever, but I won't be falling for Gary Trent Jr. He's still ultra-young and (I have to assume) far from reaching his peak, but his numbers were ridiculously low outside of the 15 PPG (in fact, he posted a putrid 0.75 FP/min mark, way below the league average) so I'm not enamored at all. Robert Covington is just not worth rostering in fantasy leagues and Anfernee Simons looks to be ways away from performing to palatable levels at least for now.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Pretty much the same as Portland, Minny is bringing back the crowd and just making small changes here and there. To wit: Ricky Rubio was sent to Cleveland while Patrick Beverley arrived from LA by the way of Memphis. There is a big question regarding the Wolves' point for the upcoming season, though. Is D'Angelo Russell going to start every game at the PG spot, or will he leave that duty to Pat Bevs as he comes off the pine? Will D'Lo start at SG next to Bevs while oft-starting SG Malik Beasley gets to the bench as part of the second unit? Does any of this mean Ant Edwards might slide to the SF slot?
This team is what it is, full stop. I don't love him, but I guess I don't hate it either. It doesn't work as a unit, but the individualities are there and all of KAT, D'Lo, and Ant make for great fantasy players by themselves. Edwards was a ball hogger but at least he dropped 19 pops a game to go with some bearable -rook-ish 4 RPG, 3 APG, and 1 SPG. Towns won't stop putting up nightly dub-dubs, and Russell was über-efficient thanks to his 1.17 FP/min and fantastic off-the-pine play.
The sleeper here, though, gotta be Naz Reid. Reid finished the season ranked 116th in the fantasy realm. That's not great, sure, but considering he played just below 20 MPG and that he posted a nice 11-4-1 baseline with a block per game on top of that, the slightest of increases in playing time could see him rack up fantasy goodies. The Wolves also added Taurean Prince this offseason and he could be the ultimate under-the-radar guy of the team: best PF in the squad, already a vet (27yo in 2022), and a low-maintenance performer. Don't lose your mind going after him (he's most probably WW fodder), but keep an eye on his role and level of play, just in case.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Impact Rookies: Josh Giddey (SG)
Salute to the OKC Tankers! Draft SGA, fade the rest. That's it. I could just end this section right there and no one would be mad at it. But we're here to extract the most substance from even the stinkiest of teams, so I have to keep digging a bit deeper. Losing Al Horford would have been bad... but the very own Thunder shut him down last season because they didn't want to win helped by Al's game. Kemba Walker was acquired from Boston in exchange for Horford (great!) but later bought out and is now in New York (bad!). Moses Brown (8-8 with 1.1 BPG in 21 MPG) looked good for a 21 young guy, but he's now in Dallas.
OKC only added one impactful player this offseason in rookie Josh Giddey, though he was forced out of Summer League just five minutes into it. Can't catch a break. Lu Dort is a fantasy no-go you should avoid at all costs, and probably the only inspiring players in this team for us fantasy GMs are Darius Bazley (13-7-2 last year starting all 55 games he played and logging a healthy 31 MPG) and Kenrich Williams (8-4-2-1) only if the latter somehow finds a way to start over Aleksej Pokusevski/Derrick Favors, though. Yes, those are the best of the rest, and it's not that they are truly great, I know.
What Oklahoma City might become as the regular season advances is a good WW/spot-start source of players if anyone gets hot and puts a nice run of games. Outside of that, no player other than Shai should be getting any interest from fantasy GMs to come draft day. Another possibility that could develop through the year: OKC landing a high-salaried vet to give relief to a struggling franchise in exchange for draft stock. That could turn such veteran in (best-case scenario) a hogger and a chucker that puts up numbers trying to rebuild his reputation before inevitably leaving via buyout to join the Lakers/Nets/Whoever in late February/March. Hold your fantasy-horses when it comes to the Thunder, folks.
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