RADIO
If you are a long-time fantasy player, you know how it feel to getting snipped in a fantasy draft. You know how it goes: you enter the lobby with a few players to draft in mind, have everything planned for you to build the perfect roster, and just a couple of picks before the one where you expect to target your next great asset, some other GM snatches it from you.
Those "undervalued" players you are targeting late, then, might be worth drafting earlier instead of waiting a little too much for them and ending losing them. At the end of the day, not every GM is undervaluing great plays, so you have to be aware and stay a step ahead!
Today, let's talk about some undervalued players at the forward position. For whatever reason most fantasy GMs are making them sit at lower-than-they-should ADPs, offering you a great chance to draft some gems late. Don't sleep on your laurels, though, if you don't want to miss on them to another savvy GM!
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Pascal Siakam, Toronto Raptors
Sure, Siakam will miss the start of the year. Also true: Siakam should be balling come late November, which isn't that much time off the court over the full season if you ask me. Even in what could be a worst-case scenario, Siakam wouldn't be losing more than the 16 games he already missed last season while he remains out, and in 2021 he still finished as the 41st-best player league-wide and 14th-best F. I wouldn't mind having such an asset in my roster for the 69+ ADP he's currently getting drafted at. The minutes were insanely high at 35.8 MPG, Lowry is not in town to eat from Siakam's plate, and the 26.3 USG% might get close or actually into the 30%+. Siakam dropped 21.4 PPG last year, added a 7-4-1 rest-of line to that, and his shooting percentages (45.5/29.7/82.7 compared to a career 48.8/32.5/78.2 slash line) should bounce back up a bit.
Jonathan Isaac, Orlando Magic
Forget about negationism for a minute and focus on assessing Isaac's talent alone. I have Isaac--perhaps too obviously--as one of this season's potential bounceback/comeback players of the year after he missed a ton of time due to different injuries in the recent past. Isaac is still entering his age-24 season. The last time we saw him out there, Isaac was averaging as many FPPG as to have ranked inside the top-24 players at the F position last year. And that is playing only 28.8 MPG over his last year playing. Isaac, who is still away from reaching his peak, already reached a per-game 12-7-1-1-2 line in his last "healthy" season (he left with 34 games played), and the 2.3 BPG and 1.6 SPG he put up back then would have been mimicked by no other F player last year, with Kawhi, Nance Jr., Jimmy Butler, and Draymond the only others to reach the SPG average but none of them blocking more than 0.8 shots per game. Uh, oh.
Andrew Wiggins, Golden State Warriors
Speaking of vaccines... Well, turns out Wigg opted for the bag instead of the principles. LOL. Anyway, Andrew Wiggins will be available from day one and won't miss any time due to stupid issues, which you gotta love. That's because Wiggins put up the 20th-highest FPPG mark of the 2021 season among F-eligible players and finished the year as the 38th-best overall player and 12th-best F in fantasy leagues. There will be tons of changes in Golden State as the squad added new pieces via the draft and also will be welcoming Klay Thompson back eventually. In other words, Wigg won't be logging usage rates near 25% many days, and if he does that'd be down to some off-the-pine games getting in his way. In any case, the 15 FGA he put up with an FG% of 47.7 percent were very good and bested by only seven other forwards last year. Wiggins was a contributor all across the board, averaged an 18-5-2-1-1 line against just 1.8 TOV per game, and although some fancy stats like Box Plus/Minus kinda hated his outings, the truth is that he was a quite nice fantasy player.
Gordon Hayward, Charlotte Hornets
Hayward means risky fantasy business because he just can't find a way to stay healthy for more than 10 games a year... Well, that's stretching things a bit, as it's not that he's made of glass, but you get what I'm saying. Hayward is back healthy and projected to start every game over free-agent signing Kelly Oubre Jr. In his 44 games last year, Gordo put up the 16th-highest FPPG mark among forwards to the tune of a 19-6-4-1 line blemish-less. Hayward's shooting was more than good with a 47.3/41.5/84.3 line on 15 FGA, 4.7 3PA, and 4.2 FTA. Only Durant shot better from the long-range territory on a similar volume. Hayward also logged a 1.7 STL% and a 19.5 AST%, one of only six F-starters last season with such a combination (Paul George, Kawhi, Jimmy, Draymond, Giannis).
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