2019-2020 NBA Defense Deep Dive: December Edition

As the NBA season intensifies, the story lines about best teams and best players start to heat up. While there is nothing more exciting than watching offensive highlights of thunderous dunks and deep three pointers ripping through the net, I personally love to bury myself in the defensive side of basketball. Some may toss out... Read More

Mikal Bridges: 2019-20 Fantasy Basketball Sleeper

Welcome to October. NBA season is encroaching and drafts are looming. I wanted to key in on one of my sleeper candidates for the upcoming season. There might be a load of biases heaped onto this as I had him on my fantasy roster last year, but let me try to convince you why Mikal... Read More

NBA Young Boy(s) :The NBA 2018 Rookie Class

The NBA curates a level of interest beyond crazy athletic ability or spectacular winning teamwork; the league lives on the storylines that it creates, and what better storyline than learning how 60+ young, newly minted millionaires will fare in the brutal professional world of the greatest basketball in the world? Today, I return from a... Read More

Pick & Roll Kings: A Short List of Top NBA Duos in 2018-2019

One of the most fundamental plays in basketball is the pick and roll. Although it is simple, it is also effective. As a Houston resident, there is no play that got me more hyped watching the Rockets than James Harden slipping a bounce pass between his legs to Clint Capela, leaping to the rim to... Read More

Free Throws Mean Free Wins: NBA Picks Who Draw Contact

Basketball is built on the basics. Fundamentals make a player and great fundamentals make a great player. There is nothing more fundamental than free throws. It may not be the most exciting thing for fans to watch, especially coming from the past decade which included debacles like three-point flopping or Hack-a-Shaq. It does slow down... Read More

The NBA Defensive Player of the Year Goes to...

The end of the regular season draws near, but, as the hype builds, don’t let the numbers fall to the side. One of my favorite parts of the NBA is end of season awards – a culminating triumph to highlight the sustained strengths of a single, heroic player. Most Valuable Player – give it to... Read More

Nerlens Noel: The Nerlen Wall

Two summers ago, it was a wild free agency ride for big men in the league. Players like Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng made out like bandits on notorious contracts (good for them, by the way!). The summer following, teams had to compensate for the overpay, and big man money was harder to come by.... Read More

The Unsung Raptors: Fred VanVleet and Jonas Valanciunas

First in the Eastern Conference. Third best record in the league. Most threatening second unit. The list of Toronto accolades at this point in the season grows more and more daunting. They are an interesting team that has seen a massive change in playstyle. Their superstars, Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan are still incredible leaders,... Read More

Dragan and 'Quese: Big Futures in Phoenix

Well, that’s it. First, I started looking at young players who don’t have sufficient data to back up their future and now I’m looking at one of the worst teams in the league. Not the most hard-hitting news, but it is interesting. Today, we will be diving into the careers of two young players for... Read More

Brandon Ingram: Lake Show Star

As one of the greatest tankathons in the NBA is underway, a few teams stand out. The Brooklyn Nets, who still don’t have their own pick this year, and the LA Lakers, who lose their 2018 first round pick to Boston or Philadelphia in a convoluted manner, both stand to continue to fight for wins... Read More

Hustle Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Hustle

As lovers of fantasy basketball, we often have eyes trained to identify the valuable box score stats. But that’s not to say that we don’t appreciate the nuances of the game of basketball. Many of the most important players on an NBA roster provide help in areas that don’t get credited. Today we’re going to... Read More

Dynamic Denver: The Nuggets’ Foray into Fame

Ok I’ll admit it… I’m totally bought into the hype surrounding the Mile-High City’s basketball team. They have an extremely talented youth, their own unicorn, and a thrilling offense. In my heart, they’re vying for the best kind of nuggets out there (Sorry McDonald's). Denver is currently 6th place in the Western Conference with a... Read More

A Bite-Sized Analysis of Nicolas Batum

Quick! How many current NBA players are French? If you got 11, you’re correct, but maybe ask yourself why you know that…?! One of our beloved baguette ballers is, none other than, Nicolas Batum of the Charlotte Hornets. Batum is known to be a versatile wing who can fill the stat sheet with solid points,... Read More

Domantas Sabonis and Indiana’s Big Man Query

This past summer, the good basketball fans of Indiana were stunned to hear their superstar player, Paul George, was departing for greener pastures in Oklahoma City. They were even more shocked to learn that they would be getting back Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis in return. This new team, on paper, looked to scrape the... Read More

Fantasy Basketball's Stock(s) Market - 2nd Half Outlooks

In fantasy basketball, there are nine common categories that managers try to create the most value out of. Three of these categories are very important because of their more limited value, and, thus, their higher potential to swing victories. These categories are three pointers made, steals, and blocks. For our analysis today, we will collectively... Read More

Pace Pace Baby: A Mini-Study on NBA Team Pace

Basketball is a sport of many dimensions, and that’s why it draws so much intrigue and adoration. As analytics has come to the forefront of traditional sports, we have been able to understand a lot more about how the game works. But, with the hubris akin to all humans, we continually try to master the... Read More

ADP Outperformers Part II: Josh Richardson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and Aaron Gordon

Hello again, it’s me, the burgeoning young upstart, back at it again with my fantasy basketball snippets. As promised, here’s part two of my ADP Outperformers, where we are comparing the average draft position of players to their current fantasy rank. The names today should basically be household names for any serious fantasy managers, but... Read More

NBA ADP Out-Performers, Part I: Lou Williams, Taj Gibson, Nikola Vucevic

We’re closing in on the halfway mark of the NBA regular season. Enough games have been played to show how well players are fitting into new teams and new roles. Some players have been exceeding expectations and producing enormous fantasy value for their owners. But as fantasy fanatics, we want to know more than just... Read More

Defense Wins Fantasy Championships - A Mini-Study

A new year means you get an excuse to try new things. But rather than promising to get fit or eat well, I’ve resolved to release my inner nerd. Today I want to focus on how the fantasy value of an NBA center can be correlated with his defensive prowess. Centers are important for fantasy... Read More

Fantasy Basketball's Three Point Stream Team

In weekly head to head fantasy matchups, there’s no worse feeling than losing a WHOLE category by a single three-point shot! Especially given the high frequency of outside shooting in the modern-day NBA, you feel like you definitely you could have done a little more to affect your week’s matchup. Here’s where this article is... Read More

Steven Adams: A Dive Down Under Oklahoma City’s “Big 3”

Fresh off a fantastic triple overtime victory on Friday over the 76ers, the Oklahoma City Thunder look to ease off its fans’ worries. It’s been a rollercoaster in the past two years for die hard Thunder fans: a gut-wrenching 2016 loss of Kevin Durant to the League’s villains, the Golden State Warriors, followed by a... Read More

Brook Lopez: Fantasy Basketball's Biggest Bust?

Hey guys, I'm new here at RotoBaller. Just a basketball numbers guy trying to make some moves out here. I appreciate any feedback so always hit me up on Twitter @undraliu (especially if you want to nerd out over the NBA or if you want to say nice things to me) Among the crazy off season... Read More