RotoBaller Dynasty Basketball Start-Up Draft Results: My Team and Strategy

August 8, 2026

Zach's essential breakdown and guide for building a dynasty basketball team, which he explains as he takes you through his selections in the RotoBaller NBA Dynasty Start-Up Draft that took place several weeks ago.

Fantasy startup season is in full force again! Boy, do I love this time of year. It’s a great time to add more fantasy football and basketball leagues; you definitely don’t need to tide you over until the two sports begin. It feels like every year, I tell myself, “OK, let’s cool it a little this year. You have a life outside of all this basketball stuff.”

And what do I do? I add more leagues to my plate. In this article, as we get into the thick of startup season, I wanted to give a very in-depth look into a core part of dynasty basketball I don’t see as many articles about: team-building. There are a lot of key components to assess when building a dynasty team that will be rebuilt, reinforced, and torn down over time. While you can always change directions anytime, how you start and your process in doing so is very important to how you build down the line.

When you get started, what players or values should you be valuing and targeting? What does your league economy look like? When and where should I be targeting veterans versus youth? Do I need to assess key categories when making all of my picks? What should my timelines look like? These are all core questions I set out to answer in every startup I do. So, as part of this very, very long article, I will be giving some real-time, pick-by-pick commentary on how/why I make the decisions I do and what my process looked like in this new team I constructed. I will also grade out everyone’s picks to see how we all did. While my process is not perfect or may not be aligned precisely with yours, I hope that this can offer examples or some different strategies in building or maintaining your teams in the future. 

League and Draft Context

This is a 12-team categories league on Fantrax (which is, in my opinion, the best fantasy/dynasty basketball platform as of writing this). This league was created by and for RotoBaller writers, such as myself, Dan Palyo, and others. This startup draft went for 25 rounds and would round out to a total of 25 roster spots, with 12 active and 13 bench spots. Rosters are set weekly and run as standard head-to-head categories against one another. Also worth noting: we were able to trade startup picks with one another, so a few of us got busy with our trades. 

Here are all of the members of this league in the set draft order, and where you can follow them:

• Zach Reifschneider
• Andrew Ball
• Adam Koffler
• Jamie Calandro
• Kyle Ringstad
• Noah Rubin
• “Thunder Dan” Palyo
• Andy Webb
• Dan Titus
• Edward Fear
• Koby Hanson
• Josh Hayes

Upon entry and randomization, I lucked into receiving the first overall selection in this draft. As a standard snake draft with a third-round reversal, I selected 1st overall, followed by 24th overall, 36th overall, 37th overall, and so on. 

With that in mind, below is a full view of the results of this 12-team startup we participated in. I’ll touch on this draft both from my view and a wider view amongst the league, but if you'd like some context to parse the full order yourself and the value differentials (more on that below), go for it!

With each pick I made, I will go through and discuss the thought process, some other available players I considered selecting in that range, and compare the pick versus my own rankings and a wider consensus/community viewpoint from Dynatyze, a frequent collaborator of ours who is often discussed as “the KeepTradeCut of fantasy basketball”. Worth noting: Dynatyze places a weight on expert rankings along with consensus/subscriber votes. I publish my rankings on there, so you will see that mine may correlate a bit with some of theirs up to a certain point. 

On a cursory review of all these pieces, I do want to be clear here: rankings and values are not necessarily indicative of rankings and values for a startup. Startup value versus established league value are two different things entirely. While both my rankings and Dynatyze rankings give some context and ranges for where to come in with players, they are never going to paint the full picture for what your league economy looks like or where you should or should not take players.

One thing is true across the board, though: youth reigns supreme in startups and there is always value in going for young players. You will often see older players fall. There is a tax on young players, and it might require you to reach a little above your weight to get who you want. It’s not necessarily a good or bad thing; it’s just something to keep in mind and how you should approach team-building with an open mind. 

Without further ado, here are my selections.

Pick 1.01/1st Overall: Victor Wembanyama

• My Dynasty Rank: 1
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 1
• My Rank vs. Selection: 0
• Next in Queue: No one

I mean, come on, was there any real doubt I wouldn’t have taken Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick in a dynasty draft? It’s the easiest decision anyone would have to make in a startup draft. Zero thought to consider anything else. I’m pretty excited I now get another share of him as someone with very few shares. 

Now, I will talk about this thought process more as this team takes shape and in some post-startup commentary, but I often get asked about builds, areas to prioritize and what to punt, and what that should look like for startups. While there are natural areas you’ll begin to prioritize with your picks, I personally do not put too much stock into my builds or present-day punts. I think for me, my philosophy is rooted in taking the best value on the board or the best player available relative to my timeline.

In certain cases, I may pay slightly more attention to rounding out different areas and categories to bolster my team. Some examples of where that comes into play are if I’m aiming to compete, if I’m late in the draft when I need some upholstery work, or if there are two players in the same tier with drastically different skillsets where only one would realistically fit. However, in general, I don’t like to hamstring myself in different categories immediately as I start a dynasty team.

Rather, I just set my boards, assess value as it sits on the board, and let the team take shape. With dynasty, it’s building a multi-year plan and timeline, and I can tell you from experience that your team build is going to contort itself and change over time. My approach is largely BPA: let the team piece itself together, analyze my results and areas of skill, and fine-tune as needed. 

Now, again, I recognize that this is not everyone’s methodology, and I understand why some people would rather focus more on cohesion and synergy, especially if the plan is to compete heavily. For me though, I let the pieces come together in a startup and see where I end up, and I assess the build’s strengths and weaknesses from there.

Just to briefly touch on build anyway, Wembanyama keeps me very open and flexible based around whatever I want to do. There’s nothing I need to strictly abide by; the guy’s a straight-up unicorn and fantasy cheat code. Plus, having a healthy diet of blocks off rip shouldn’t be hard to build something with. 

Pick 2.12/24th Overall: AJ Dybantsa

• My Dynasty Rank: 18
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 21
• My Rank vs. Selection: +6
• Next in Queue: Franz Wagner, Austin Reaves, Caleb Wilson, Josh Giddey

Next up, we’re swinging for the fences as a lot of my ideal targets at 24th overall start to come off the board. I was really holding out some hope Jalen Williams would make it to me, but he went just one pick above me at 23rd. I can’t even be mad at the value there. Leading up, I was curious if one of the Big 4 rookies would make it to me at 24 with the way things were going. Sure enough, AJ Dybantsa made it to me, so I decided to have a little fun here and build an ultra-young, robust core. After some deliberation, I took the swing. 

You ever get that feeling where you know you made the right pick just based on your valuations/board, knowing the pick has a lot of upside beyond just being flat out fun, but you still get a little worried? That’s how this pick felt. It felt weird to get AJ Dybantsa at a value that went slightly under the hype and market price.

It was simultaneously an easy and hard decision and did make me overthink a little, considering that guys like Franz Wagner or Josh Giddey were still on the board. I also thought about how much fun a build around Wemby and Caleb Wilson would be, even though 24 is certainly a reach for him in my opinion. But, again, I stuck with my gut in the end and got the 1st overall pick of a potential all-time draft class lower than most would. So, I’m happy with this.

Pick 3.12/36th Overall: Darius Garland

• My Dynasty Rank: 30
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 29
• My Rank vs. Selection: +6
• Next in Queue: Bam Adebayo, Brandon Miller, Jalen Duren, Walker Kessler

Knowing that centers of this tier were going to start flying off the board, I thought it might be wise to use one of my picks around the bend on the best center available and then just take a general BPA. My targets started to whittle down quickly around the bend; Karl-Anthony Towns, Jaren Jackson Jr. That JJJ pick especially hurt considering just how fun a pairing with him and Wemby could be. I’ll say it too: it felt a little bit early to take Walker Kessler even though he was super tempting. Evidently, not everyone agreed, and Dan took him 43rd. Same with Jalen Duren, who I’ve gotten a little bit lower on recently despite the season he had. That would be a problem I’d assess with my next pick that I’ll touch on in my next piece of commentary.

For now, while I chewed on that, I took my best player available in Darius Garland to give myself my first guard of the startup. Readers may know that I’ve been a big Garland fan for years as both a Cavs fan and a general fan of his game dating back to Virginia. I remain pretty high on him coming into this next season with the Clippers, both for dynasty and redraft. I hope that Garland stays healthy this year and can keep up the level he’s been playing at, as he’s had some issues in recent years. My other hope is that this Kawhi Leonard investigation clears up soon so the trade can be complete and the Clippers have Garland and Brandon Ingram as their two leading men. This will definitely be good for both of them.

Pick 4.01/37th Overall: Bam Adebayo Traded For Pick 4.02/38th Overall: Brandon Miller

• My Dynasty Rank: 41
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 46
• My Rank vs. Selection: -3
• Next in Queue: Jalen Duren, Walker Kessler

So, as noted here with this pick, I conducted my first trade of the startup. With the 37th pick originally, with a lot of centers off the board, I decided to settle on Heat center Bam Adebayo as my best player available. Turns out I had sniped the manager drafting after me, who was fully planning to build with Bam as a core piece. He selected Brandon Miller, and after expressing interest and talking in the DMs, we decided on a trade:

• I gave: 4.01/Bam Adebayo, 13.12
• I received: 4.02/Brandon Miller, 11.11

I think this works out pretty well for both of us. I got the guy I feel a little better about from a value and timeline perspective with Miller, and he gets his fit with Bam. That’s not to mention the way Miller and Dybantsa will probably mesh well build-wise, which again, doesn’t matter as much to me in dynasty, but still worth noting. Plus, I get to move up a few rounds and stack some higher picks and better depth. Nothing wrong with that in a 12-teamer.

Worth noting also: I reached a little in terms of value in my ranks and in the consensus ranks in taking up Miller, but only being a few spots off and within that same tier? I think it’s perfectly reasonable to go off the path sometimes if it means tailoring your team based on timeline and context. One key thing to remember is youth reigns supreme in these startups, and oftentimes, you may have to reach a little if it means taking your BPA tailored to your specific situation or timeline. My team is young, and I have the luxury of being able to stock up on youth and see what I can hit on. 

One other thing I’m accounting for: while Miller has also taken a little jump in my ranks over the last couple of months from the season he had to the LaMelo Ball trade. There’s a good chance that Miller takes another jump this year with him and Kon Knueppel leading the Charlotte Hornets. We’ll see if I’m right, but there is a pretty easy route to Miller maintaining or increasing his value this year.

Pick 5.12/60th Overall: Mikel Brown Jr.

• My Dynasty Rank: 52
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 56
• Rank vs. Selection: +8
• Next in Queue: Matas Buzelis, OG Anunoby, Keaton Wagler, Collin Murray-Boyles

Count that as three hoopers in my first 60 picks. I took a swing on Dybantsa as a rookie, and now, I get another rookie with the Brooklyn Nets’ newest lead guard, Mikel Brown Jr. Value-wise, I think this is right in line with where he should be going, so this works for me. He fits with the timeline. If I were to account for build, he does mesh well, too. Good scoring, shoots, good passer. The game is somewhat theoretical and extrapolates off a mature Louisville profile that didn’t get to fully evolve due to injury, but if he hits like I think I will, this will be a win.

I think there’s a pretty great route to Brown being fantasy relevant somewhat quickly even though Brooklyn has Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle in town. This team needs quality guard play, and so far, Brooklyn’s only young prospect that has shown enough hints of longer-term starter promise is Egor Demin. Of course, the production may not be there for this year, and it rarely does much good to put too much hope into rookie guards from a fantasy perspective, but that’s not a big deal. Plus, that gives him some quality players whom he can pass to and bolster his assists. We’ll see if his value holds from the current value of his capital and skill profile. 

Pick 6.01/61st Overall: Matas Buzelis

• My Dynasty Rank: 68
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 75
• Rank vs. Selection: -7
• Next in Queue: OG Anunoby, Keaton Wagler, Collin Murray-Boyles

On the back end, I decided to snatch up Matas Buzelis to further bolster my starting forwards. Now, as you’ll note here, this is my second instance of which I went a little beyond my personal rankings to select Buzelis a few spots above where I rank him. I was also pretty surprised that there was such a difference between where I selected him and the Dynatyze rank. Granted, Buzelis is still within the tier of this pick, but still, that difference should be noted. 

Buzelis is one of a few young players I’m particularly interested in seeing this year. I wouldn’t say I’m terribly concerned about the team situation at this point, despite the additions of Caleb Wilson and Norman Powell surely taking some shots away from the team. I think it’s easy for him to coexist with these guys and still sit within this range with the way he contributes to the stat sheets. Worth noting too: Buzelis is also a very good stocks player, which does help me when looking at the short-term projections for this first season. 1.5 blocks per game and 0.7 steals. Not exactly bulletproof or sticky with just 2 years under his wing, but I believe in him enough to swing higher than I normally swing and what consensus thinks I should do. 

Pick 7.09/81st Overall: Dyson Daniels

• My Dynasty Rank: 76
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 77
• Rank vs. Selection: +5
• Next in Queue: Ausar Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Kyshawn George

Coming around the bend of the 7th round, I decided to move up a little, knowing I had very little chance of one of my top choices of this range falling. As you’ll note on my queue, I had a few specific targets in mind with Daniels, Thompson, Sheppard, and George. Having traded my 7.12 here to move up a little, I would only have this one and 8.01 to work with, so my assumption, probability wise, was that I had a good chance at getting at least two of my guys. Here was the trade:

• Gave: 7.12, 18.01
• Received: 7.09, 20.04

Having seen little difference between the 18th and 20th rounds, I didn’t feel like it was much of a difference to stress over, and really, I wanted to get my guys. Sometimes that’s just what you have to do, and that’s just what I did. 

As I mentioned, the main players I had up in my queue at this point were who I selected here: Dyson Daniels, along with Ausar Thompson, Reed Sheppard, and Kyshawn George. Dyson was my clear-cut BPA and likely the safest asset in terms of a floor/current level of production, given the defense and functionality of the Hawks with Daniels as a starter. 

Pick 8.04/88th Overall: Kyshawn George

• My Dynasty Rank: 83
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 85
• Rank vs. Selection: +5
• Next in Queue: De’Aaron Fox

In between my Daniels selection and my original 8.01, Ausar Thompson went next, who was my primary target. With my next two options staring me down with Kyshawn George and Reed Sheppard, I got an offer to move down a few spots. I was torn with the risk of losing out on both, but I decided to take my chances and run the risk with frontloading depth with this trade:

• Gave: 8.01, 19.12
• Received: 8.04, 17.09

With this pick, the new owner of the pick selected Joel Embiid. Morez Johnson went after at 8.02, and then Reed Sheppard at 8.03. Immediately, I went with Kyshawn George and kept things moving.

At the time of making this pick, discussion amongst my circles was generally good, as George has a lot of fans in the fantasy world. However, there is still some risk here. Given the entire state of the Wizards being in massive flux with Trae Young, Anthony Davis, and AJ Dybantsa locked in, even if Kyshawn George starts, what does the role look like? While it may see some scaling back, I still feel good about George long-term as a key starter on this Wizards team and being able to back it up with a fantasy-friendly game as a do-everything wing who can play a connective role really well.

Even if he has to scale back a bit, I think this is the right value to get him at, and I expect George will remain a worthwhile asset in this range for years to come. Plus, it at least helps hedge bets on Dybantsa and George. At least one will be worthwhile at worst if someone struggles or busts, right?

Pick 9.12/108th Overall: Jabari Smith Jr.

• My Dynasty Rank: 113
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 118
• Rank vs. Selection: -5
• Next in Queue: Egor Demin, Isaiah Hartenstein, Payton Pritchard, Tari Eason, Anthony Black, Toumani Camara

This is one of the more interesting picks I wanted to discuss. As you can see, this was another pick in which I reached a bit despite being fairly close in range to my rankings and Dynatyze’s. 

In my work over the last few years, I have been a little mixed on Jabari Smith Jr. for a bit. But, in working on my next rankings update, I did go back to review his season, and I think I’ve come away a little higher on him. I like more of what he showed at the end of last season and his being Mr. Playoff Savior. Part of my process in the offseason is also going back to see if I missed or underrated anything, and honestly, I was a little more down on his 2025-2026 season than I should’ve been.

As usual with Smith, I’m hoping for further growth and consistency ultimately, but really, even if he never hits the highest of high outcomes, he’s pretty clearly a good NBA role player and would be a starter for a lot of NBA teams. The pathway to long-term top 100 returns in a dynasty format is easy to see, and he’s clearly been quite important to the Rockets to date. Plus, there is always the potential for Kevin Durant to leave town and leave an opening for opportunity. It's not like this isn't the type of player NBA teams draft high and pay big money for. 

I’ll say on roster fit and structure too, Smith definitely works out here. He’s the second center-eligible guy I’ve taken thus far and has a solid fantasy game as a big who can shoot and block shots. That definitely helps things. I will be looking for more centers as I go down the line, and as you’ll see below, there were some interesting value plays I made.

Pick 10.01/109th Overall: Egor Demin

• My Dynasty Rank: 103
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 110
• Rank vs. Selection: +6
• Next in Queue: Isaiah Hartenstein, Payton Pritchard, Tari Eason, Anthony Black, Toumani Camara

Some people are going to say this is too high to take Egor Demin, or that I’m overindexing Summer League. To that, I say that myself and our team at Dizzler Dynasty has been high on Egor Demin for quite some time. He’s remained right around this range from the 100s to 120s essentially throughout his rookie year. Mind you, this was already happening prior to Summer League, but him showing such significant strides does really want me to go even further and argue he should’ve gone in the 90s or possibly higher. I will hold off on that for now.

Ultimately, I love the value here. Egor’s game continues to grow, and he and Mikel Brown Jr. are the best young building blocks this team has by a long shot. I’ve got both on lock now. Does that worry me? Not one bit. As I’ve mentioned, I take the value where it lies, and that was why I made this decision. 

Pick 11.11/131st Overall: Tari Eason

• My Dynasty Rank: 99
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 101
• Rank vs. Selection: +32
• Next in Queue: Mark Williams, Miles Bridges, Paul George, Andrew Nembhard

Dear Reader, when I tell you I was FEVERISHLY trying to trade up from this 131st pick so I could slide up and take Tari Eason, I don’t think that even begins to describe it. The guys in this league can attest. I was pestering people like crazy to move up at different points in this draft, and this was definitely one. I won’t lie to you, I had seriously considered just taking Eason over Jabari Smith Jr. at 108. Eason just kept sliding, and sliding, and sliding, and sure enough, he made it back to me. Don’t you just love when you get who you want far later than you would’ve needed to take them ordinarily?

I’m stoked on the value, but more importantly, I’m happy to get to double up on Eason and Smith as two guys I’m feeling decent about heading into this next season. This is another opportunity to hedge my bets with teammates to see what sticks. Eason has had some injury issues recently that have caused him to miss time, but make no mistake: this guy is impactful, straight up and down. 

Pick 12.01/132nd Overall: Tre Johnson

• My Dynasty Rank: 128
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 135
• Rank vs. Selection: +4
• Next in Queue: Mark Williams, Miles Bridges, Paul George, Andrew Nembhard

For my second of three picks in a row, I decided to swing a little on some value and hope he can find his way back up: Tre Johnson. Remember Tre Johnson? You know, the 6th overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft that it feels like a lot of people have already forgotten about? Johnson simply hasn’t had a good enough shake for people to be as out on him as I’ve seen. I recognize that the situation has changed, and yes, he is arguably the big loser of Trae Young and AJ Dybantsa here. Still, it’s not like shooters of his caliber that are 6 '5 with a 6' 11 wingspan grow on trees.

He’s an effective scorer and has shown a willingness to pass. If he can improve more at the rim and improve as a defender, the upside could be quite high. His physical profile definitely suggests he can improve at both, and hopefully will. Either way, I’m willing to swing and hope Johnson pans out, falling as low as he has. I should also say, I’m not too worried about picking three Wizards through 12 rounds, but I should probably cool it for now and diversify more. 

Pick 12.02/133rd Overall: Mark Williams

• My Dynasty Rank: 111
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 116
• Rank vs. Selection: +22
• Next in Queue: Miles Bridges, Paul George, Andrew Nembhard

Mark Williams is always kind of a touchy one, and even more so now that people are ready to crown Khaman Maluach after a fiery Summer League performance. Don’t get me wrong either, it’s obvious Maluach is next up just as he has been, but you know who’s also still in Phoenix and signed for a few more years? Mark Williams.

That’s just the thing that makes this situation a tough evaluation. We know Mark Williams is not the guy. The lack of strong commitment with his new contract being a hair under $13 million annually, his injury history, and poor defense tells us everything we need to know about that. Khaman Maluach is knocking on that door, and Oso Ighodaro isn’t a slouch by any means. That all being said, Williams is absolutely still going to play for Phoenix for at least this year, and he has shown he can be a pretty solid player to warrant more opportunities elsewhere if Maluach is ready sooner rather than later.

For me, there’s been enough from both a play and value perspective that will let me buy in for lower, hoping that he ends up with a favorable split for the year and can be reassessed from there. Again, there is hope for Mark Williams, and as I’ve said, the value here just makes this make sense. 

Pick 14.01/157th Overall: Aday Mara

• My Dynasty Rank: 104
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 113
• Rank vs. Selection: +53
• Next in Queue: Carter Bryant, Hugo Gonzalez, Jakob Poeltl

Can I be honest? I shouldn’t act spoiled like Aday Mara isn't what I would consider a ridiculous value in the late 150s range based on both Dynatyze and my rankings. Even still, I feel a little stressed that I didn’t take Carter Bryant and couldn’t trade up for another pick in this range to take both Mara and Bryant. To be fair, I couldn’t have possibly anticipated both or either of them being available with my belief that their value is higher. Sometimes it’s just like that in startups; guys fall, you get lucky, you get unlucky and get sniped, or you’re not able to trade up. That’s just how it goes. 

On Mara, I am incredibly happy with this value, no doubt. You just don’t see Mara falling this low much. It’s going to take a little bit for him to work his way into OKC’s rotation, and I have zero expectations for anything this year. That in itself does give me some pause, but Mara’s projected fantasy game is pretty strong and could be a really synergistic pairing with Wemby and this group I’ve assembled. In doing this, I’m willing to be patient with Mara even if it means occupying a roster spot for a year and change before I see ideal results. 

Readers of my rookie rankings might recall that I’m quite a fan of Mara coming out of Michigan, and he’s shown quite an interesting value disparity in a lot of leagues I’ve seen. Pre-draft, he was going quite high and was mocked around a top 6-10 rookie spot pretty consistently. Post-draft, he’s climbed down into and slightly outside the top 10. Post-Summer League, I’ve seen him occasionally fall out of the top 14, which is a definite overreaction to me. Either way, I’m happy to take the swing on him here to see what sticks eventually. This is just good value and good process, ultimately.

Pick 15.12/180th Overall: Bennett Stirtz

• My Dynasty Rank: 139
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 147
• Rank vs. Selection: +41
• Next in Queue: Dailyn Swain, Julian Champagnie, Jakob Poeltl, Dereck Lively II, Naji Marshall

What’s better than one extremely talented rookie that’s going to a really good team with a lot of players to fight for minutes? Two! As I’ve said about a dozen times so far, take the value where it lies, and I did just that with this pick. 

Now, I acknowledge that I am higher than some of the dynasty community on Bennett Stirtz, despite Dynatyze’s consensus vote coming surprisingly close to my own.

Let’s get it out of the way. I know OKC is stacked. I know Stirtz is older. I’ve heard every complaint about it under the sun, but I’m standing firm on my belief that he's going to find a route to minutes and play well for the Thunder. Much like Mara, I am more than willing to be patient with Stirtz and Mara, knowing they’re not going to have an immediate route. And like Mara, both have electric fantasy games coming into the NBA and I’m willing to bet on that. I chased value here, and I took it.

However, I will say this: I think Stirtz could end up playing more minutes than people might think for Oklahoma City, depending on how he plays in preseason and out the gate. He’s got a very ready-made game that fits the Thunder to a T. They love Dribble-Pass-Shoot players, and that’s precisely what Stirtz offers.

He’s a good defender, an excellent scorer and shooter who can play on and off the ball and can play a steady floor general role. He’s just one of those guys who can adapt to whatever role you put him into. Given OKC’s depth losses this offseason and the potential for more when it’s time to pay Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell, there is a pretty clear path. If he plays a good bit early, awesome. If he doesn’t, I can live with it. 

Pick 16.01/181st Overall: Dailyn Swain

• My Dynasty Rank: 134
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 138
• Rank vs. Selection: +47
• Next in Queue: Julian Champagnie, Jakob Poeltl, Dereck Lively II, Naji Marshall

Mr. Rookie Fever over here, huh? I don’t often end up with this many rookies when I do startups, but as I re-reviewed the board at the halfway point, I couldn’t help but notice the value to capitalize on in these last couple picks. I decided to go with my fourth of five rookies selected in this startup and took Dailyn Swain, Chicago’s newest wing selected 15th overall. Swain was a draft favorite of many out there and was someone I also liked, despite the lack of shooting. So far, those who overindex Summer League are probably pretty worried considering Swain’s poor Summer League performance, but I’m not. 

Swain has a high fantasy ceiling if he can improve as a shooter, if he can be used to the best of his abilities with some on-ball play, and develop further as an off-ball player. Do all that, and there are some fantastic outcomes here. I’m willing to hope for the best here, and much like my other rookies, if it takes some time, it takes some time. 

Still, there is the question of if I’m banking too hard on this draft class I consider to be pretty elite relative to recent history. What if these players don’t pan out as I think? It’s definitely something in mind as we dip into the bottom third of this draft. 

Pick 17.09/201st Overall: Christian Braun

• My Dynasty Rank: 164
• Dynaytyze Consensus Rank: 168
• Rank vs. Selection: +37
• Next in Queue: Ron Holland, Jakob Poeltl, Daniel Gafford, Scotty Pippen Jr.

Boy, am I glad I ended up with a second 17th round pick. Getting down into this range, a lot of the players on the board were pretty enticing. People might think I’m a little too much of a sicko for that, but as someone who consistently plays 24- and 30-team leagues where waivers get paper-thin, I take late picks pretty seriously. Especially after coming off taking a few rookies, I needed some production. 

As you’ll note in the spreadsheet detailing every pick, players who went around this range include Ron Holland, Scotty Pippen Jr., Mitchell Robinson, Dillon Brooks, Naji Marshall, Dereck Lively II, Grayson Allen, and Herb Jones. I was torn for a bit between Christian Braun and Ron Holland, and I decided on the former, knowing I probably wouldn't be able to get both of them in this range. Sure enough, he was taken with the next pick. We’ll see if I’m proven right.

At the time of making this pick, we still had no real resolution on the Peyton Watson-Nuggets business. As of publishing this on Friday, August 7th, we still don’t have any resolution. In any case, I took Christian Braun well below where I and consensus seem to value him, and I was happy to do so. The way I see it, there are three main scenarios in mind here: 

1. Peyton Watson is signed and traded, and the Nuggets end up with some lackluster wing depth that requires they lean on Braun for lack of options.
2. Peyton Watson is kept, and both him and Braun will remain in the same space of competition.
3. Watson is kept so that Braun can be dumped elsewhere to another team. 

I think in any case, the opportunity is there for Braun to bounce back from this past season and look more like the guy who got that 5-year extension in 2024-2025. We’ll see what happens here. Regardless, this is good value, and if a guy I drafted 201st in a startup doesn’t pan out, I’m really not too broken-hearted about it. I can’t be too mad about dart throws and depth not working out. 

As you might be guessing, my next target is centers that can play now, and thankfully, I had some excellent options available. Starting with…

Pick 17.12/204th Overall: Daniel Gafford

• My Dynasty Rank: 154
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 164
• Rank vs. Selection: +50
• Next in Queue: Jakob Poeltl, Grayson Allen, Herb Jones

Budget centers seem to be the name of the game in the remainder of the draft, which is hilarious, considering I drafted Victor Wembanyama. But, I’ve just seen a lot of value floating around that’s kept me from stacking a lot of center-eligible guys that can produce now. That changes here.

Compared to my rankings, Daniel Gafford is one of my best value picks of this draft. It actually surprised me that a player that could legitimately start the majority of the season at center was available, but it is understandable. Gafford struggled a bit this past season relative to his normal expectations, and while he has certainly lost his value from when he was in the past, he’s been a regular top 150 finisher on a per-game basis for years.

Despite a lot of pieces in the frontcourt, I’m encouraged by his opportunities with Lively hurt and surely missing a good bit of time this year. Plus, who knows what happens with Dusty May, AKA the Center Whisperer, in Dallas? He’s a real wild card that could potentially make Gafford a very good player. Plus, I think Gafford still maintains some decent trade value in real life, so opportunities are out there if they’re not as plentiful this season. He’s regularly been on the trade block, and it wouldn’t be that surprising to see a team go after him. 

I’m going to bury the lede a little here, but Poeltl being this low is such a shock to me. Surely he won’t make it much further. Right?

Pick 20.01/229th Overall: Jakob Poeltl

• My Dynasty Rank: 133
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 144
• Rank vs. Selection: +96
• Next in Queue: Aaron Nesmith, Kobe Sanders

It was a long, long wait until this next pick, let me tell you. I kept thinking to myself, “There is no chance Jakob Poeltl makes it back to me.” There’s just no way. 

Sure enough, I ended up with perhaps the best value pick of my entire draft at 229th with Jakob Poeltl. How in the world did I land him here?

So, to defend my fellow leaguemates for letting him fall, this would be my guess about the thought process: Jakob Poeltl’s back was a significant issue this past season, and it’s definitely has affected his play to the point where we have to wonder if he’s fallen off the cliff. Plus, that contract is just aging so poorly and might result in Toronto having to salary dump him. 

However, I’m of the belief that he may be able to get things right in the offseason, ensuring the back is not going to be a debilitating problem as Toronto gears up for a potential playoff run. I think it’s also worth mentioning that there’s a lot of pressure on Toronto to win while (if?) they still have Kawhi Leonard in his prime. Poeltl can be a key part of that if/when he’s able to play at his best. If he continues to struggle, a salary dump is still on the table, and we can’t rule out a possible early retirement.

In whatever case, I’m willing to take a chance on Poeltl, knowing there is potential his back never gets better and he’s either shipped off or falls out of the NBA in a couple seasons. The value’s just too good to pass on here, and that’s remained the case with a lot of centers in the bargain bin in the bottom 100 picks. This is incredible value for a guy I had pretty high up in my queue from the 150s to now. 

Pick 20.04/232nd Overall: Aaron Nesmith

• My Dynasty Rank: 162
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 172
• Rank vs. Selection: +70
• Next in Queue: Kobe Sanders, DeAndre Hunter

I was really excited about this pick as one of my biggest value moves. Aaron Nesmith was a crucial piece for the Indiana Pacers during their playoff and Finals run against the Thunder. When Tyrese Haliburton went down, it was essentially a lost year for almost everyone in Indiana. In Nesmith’s case, despite averaging his most PPG (13.8), he shot worse and ultimately only played 45 games as he did in the prior season. 

This year, with the Pacers hopefully getting back on track, I’m hoping this is the year Nesmith is coming through with his best season yet, where he’ll shoot well and contribute in all the key areas. He’s a fantastic shooter and will likely be Indiana’s 5th starter after Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac and Andrew Nembhard. Again, as you’ll note with the value disparities, this is just unbeatable for the level of production he offers. 

Pick 21.12/252nd Overall: Jayden Quaintance

• My Dynasty Rank: 202
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 217
• Rank vs. Selection: +50
• Next in Queue: Draymond Green, Jalen Smith, Dylan Cardwell

I sure ended up with a lot of rookies. I don’t know what that means for my team and how I’m doing compared to the rest of the field here, but all I know is I got here by doing what I normally do: take value where it lies. 

In this case with Quaintance, it’ll be pretty easy to just stick him on IR and let the year ride out if he indeed misses his entire rookie year. When he does return, he’ll help my squad and further bolster my stocks if he ends up becoming the defender I think he can be. He was a player I once viewed as a top 8 talent in this class. I bet on talent, and I’m hopeful the situation ends up being pretty feasible when he’s able to get on the court. 

Pick 22.01/253rd Overall: Draymond Green

• My Dynasty Rank: 199
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 212
• Rank vs. Selection: +54
• Next in Queue: Jalen Smith, Dylan Cardwell

As we start to close things out with the last handful of picks, I wanted to keep angling for some production and someone who can help me in a few areas. There weren’t a lot of scorers left, so my idea was mostly to aim for bolstering the non-points categories. Draymond Green felt like the natural choice as my current BPA.

With the Lakers missing on the LeBron James sweepstakes, the Warriors opted to re-sign Green to the original deal he was on for another year. Knowing the value Green has provided in years past, even when he’s not scoring and coming off the worst fantasy year of his career on a per-game basis, I thought it might be smart to see what he can do. It’d be hard to believe he doesn’t return positive value at 253rd. Why not, right?

Pick 23.12/276th Overall: Dylan Cardwell

• My Dynasty Rank: 240
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 264
• Rank vs. Selection: +36
• Next in Queue: Sam Hauser, Justin Champagnie, Terrence Shannon Jr., Richie Saunders, Rasheer Fleming

You know what’s funny? I was getting a little worried early in the draft that I wasn’t going to end up with enough big men. Now? I’ve got plenty to work with. Granted, I’m not exactly rife with star power at the position, but I do have a lot of quality options I can roll with, and Cardwell with one of my last picks feels pretty great to me. Again, I’m just not really used to this much depth being available as a 24- and 30-team league manager. 

Specifically with Cardwell, I’m pretty happy with getting him here. It’s about right in line with his value even though I’m a bit above consensus in terms of rank. Now, I haven’t emphasized build as much, but I do want to call out that he was one of the last players available that both plays real/consistent NBA minutes and averages over 1 block per game. Good way to round things out as a quality block/stock team. 

At this point, I felt pretty satisfied with my big man room. In 44 games and 20.1 minutes per contest, Cardwell averaged 1.5 blocks. He’s a very solid defender, and regardless of how the center position looks in Sacramento when the season begins (Domantas Sabonis staying, maybe Jalen Duren in a sign-and-trade situation, etc.), Cardwell will be playing a role.

Having a backup center that can defend this well when your current starter, your most ideal target, and the other rookie big you drafted (Maxime Raynaud) are all poor defenders is very ideal. Accounting for nuggets like that and drafting players with valuable skills that differ from starters is something I always try to pay attention to. 

Pick 24.01/277th Overall: Sam Hauser

• My Dynasty Rank: 224
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 247
• Rank vs. Selection: +53
• Next in Queue: Justin Champagnie, Terrence Shannon Jr., Richie Saunders, Rasheer Fleming

Two picks left. I didn’t want to get too cute with this pick and, once again, am just looking to take the value where it lies. At the end here, there’s a lot less pressure to hit given the amount of talent available on the wire. Even still, Sam Hauser is a player I’ve had eyes on for a bit now, and this felt like the right place to end up with him.

Hauser isn’t all that exciting in terms of a fantasy player. A lot of the guys I named above could be solid pieces with more robust fantasy games, so I do have the reality of skipping over them in my mind. Hauser is mostly a 3-point specialist, but as someone who has consistently delivered value in this range for years, I’m happy to take him here. I also think there is a possibility of a career year in 2026-2027 with the loss of Jaylen Brown.

At worst, I can just drop him for waiver players, so there’s no real downside to a pick like this. At best, he gives me the best production of his career and is either someone who gives me production on the year that well outperforms his draft position, or someone I can use in a trade.

Pick 25.12/300th Overall: Sam Merrill

• My Dynasty Rank: 249
• Dynatyze Consensus Rank: 271
• Rank vs. Selection: +51
• Rank vs. Selection: Royce O’Neale, Derrick Jones Jr., Quinten Post

With the last pick in the 2026 RotoBaller dynasty basketball draft, the Dizzle Dynasty selects Sam Merrill. Funny coincidence: Just as I’m taking Sam Merrill with the final pick and crowning him Mr. Irrelevant of our RotoBaller draft. Merrill was also Mr. Irrelevant in real life, being selected 60th in 2020. Bet on the guy beating the odds and who balls out for your home team.

Much like Hauser, Merrill is another 3-point and scoring specialist who can give you a couple assists. That’s not very special production-wise, but make no mistake, he is a crucial player for Cleveland and will play a role. He’s a steady spot starter and bench scorer that has plenty of runway to continue the hot stretch he’s been on, and I’m hopeful he can maintain a decent 10+ point per game output moving forward. Much like the Hauser pick, zero downside to a pick like this, as I can cut them for waiver pickups if need be. It’s just rounding out my roster in key areas. 

Final Thoughts, Draft Analysis and a Full Overview

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about my team. I mean, it’s hard not to when you have a pretty young core built around Victor Wembanyama, right? I will admit that I don’t think this is going to be a championship-winning team immediately, but that was never the goal in mind to win big immediately. Can I be competitive in the playoffs as soon as this year? Sure, I think I can. Wemby alone can certainly make it that way, his health permitting. 

As I’ve mentioned above, there wasn’t a lot of attention on build until I got to rounding out my roster, and as it comes together, I think this is a pretty solid team to work with. Good stocks, especially blocks, field goal percentage, and probably turnovers out the window, which is fine. I like a good, balanced squad, so any punts that happen are wholly just what comes out of the year, as you can see judging from last year’s results. 

Process-wise, I followed my philosophies just as they are. Take the best player and value you can see on the board where it makes sense. Round out your roster with overlooked and undervalued players with a high chance of positive return on investment. Build with balance and a clear timeline in mind. I struck on a lot of value, and as you’ll note below, the assessment of everyone’s value was interesting to study. 

Now, with a full view of my team, I do have some questions I’ll need answered about the rookies and other youngsters on my team. Here are a few of the main questions I’m hoping to answer this year:

• How much more of a leap can Brandon Miller take without LaMelo Ball?
• How much will AJ Dybantsa show as a rookie with an interesting supporting cast around him in Washington?
• What does the pecking order look like for some of the other Wizards youngsters, including Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Will Riley and Bilal Coulibaly?
• Will Mikel Brown Jr. start out hot, or will he need some time to gel with Egor Demin and co.?
• Where does Matas Buzelis fit into the Bulls’ pecking order with Caleb Wilson looking better than expected in Summer League?
• What does the Mark Williams-Khaman Maluach-Oso Ighodaro timeshare look like this season?
• Can Christian Braun bounce back to his 2024-2025 form with more pressure than ever?
• Will Bennett Stirtz, Aday Mara and Dailyn Swain show something this year?

As a fun exercise to close things out, I want to go back into the above rankings for each player I drafted. As you’ll note, every single selection I made also included data points for where they grade out on my rankings, on Dynatyze’s consensus ranking, and the differential between their draft position and my personal ranking. I thought it would be an interesting thought exercise to go through everyone’s full teams and see how they graded out.

In doing so, I will reiterate my point from the beginning of this article: rankings and values are not necessarily indicative of rankings and values for a startup. This is purely just context for what an established league’s values will be within the range of. Don’t take these as scripture by any means; just something to consider about the present moment and what the league valued versus what I valued in July/August 2026. I've had egg on my face with startup decisions a year or two down the road many times. That's just how it goes. 

In closing, here are everyone’s team grades, featuring total grades based on their position in my rankings and Dynatyze’s rankings relative to their draft position. The higher the number, the better you did in terms of value compared to the two sets of rankings I used.

As you might’ve expected, I graded out to major pluses on my own rankings value and with consensus. I’ll let you decide what that ultimately means about my team and everyone else’s and how this looks in time.  

Zach Reifschneider

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +711
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +528

Andrew Ball

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +109
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -210

Adam Koffler

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -675
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -972

Jamie Calandro

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -138
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -396

Kyle Ringstad

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +13
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -236

Noah Rubin

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +213
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +75

“Thunder Dan” Palyo

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): +53
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -175

Andy Webb

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -440
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -527

Dan Titus

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -144
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -360

Edward Fear

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -142
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -334

DFSKoby

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -440
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -673

Josh Hayes

• My Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -138
• Dynatyze Rankings Grade (Rank vs. Selection): -344

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