RADIO
Every year there are breakout, bust, and lock players in fantasy basketball. Max Kulish identifies one player for each category on the Golden State Warriors.
The regular season is just one week away and here at RotoBaller, we want to help prepare you for the 2022-2023 fantasy basketball season and your upcoming fantasy drafts!
If you play fantasy football, you'll probably recognize the format here as we had a series of preseason NFL articles that followed the same outline. The idea here is to hone in on several players from each team that we see as values for the upcoming season or that are possibly being drafted too high this preseason.
In this piece, you'll find a fantasy basketball breakout candidate, a fantasy basketball bust candidate, and a fantasy basketball lock (think steady production and being drafted correctly) for the Golden State Warriors based on early ADP for fantasy basketball drafts for the 2022-2023 season. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@Maxadelphia) for more fantasy basketball insight (amongst other things).
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Fantasy Basketball Breakout: Jordan Poole
Poole exploded onto the NBA scene last year after filling in admirably for Klay Thompson in his recovery from a knee injury. The former G-Leaguer put up career highs in every major statistical category and subsequently finished 4th in the 2021-22 Most Improved Player race.
Poole figures to once again profile as a high-usage 6th man, with eruption spot potential. The Warriors will almost certainly have a short leash on not only Thompson but most likely Steph Curry as well after a long playoff run. Should either of the Splash Brothers miss games either for rest purposes, or injury, Poole gets a huge increase in value.
goodness, Jordan Poole.
too smooth on NBA TV. pic.twitter.com/WyzhIk8kvk
— NBA (@NBA) October 10, 2022
Poole currently projects as a 7th-round pick, but he has legit top-50 upside, regardless of the health status of the Splash Brothers. He's cemented his sixth-man role and will close games out alongside Steph and Klay in the dreaded Warriors "death lineup" where they have all three of their top scorers out there with Draymond playing center.
Fantasy Basketball Bust: Draymond Green
The internet had a field day when the video of Green punching teammate Jordan Poole surfaced, and the fallout has made Green's fantasy value plummet. Steve Kerr hasn't exactly had Draymond's back through this ordeal, and it would not be surprising to see Green get fewer minutes as the young bigs on the Warriors roster (Kuminga and Wiseman) get more adjusted to the NBA game.
Asked Steve Kerr how might Draymond’s latest outburst affect trust: ‘No comment.’
— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) October 8, 2022
Draymond is a jack of all trades, but a master of none. He'll give you decent contributions in every stat (except anything 3-point related), but he won't singlehandedly tip the scales in your favor in any category.
It seems the fallout will include Green missing some games to start the season as well, which isn't a huge deal but certainly isn't ideal. He won't hurt your team, but he's no longer an early-round pick due to his age, health, and projected decrease in minutes.
Fantasy Basketball Lock: Stephen Curry
Steph is a fantasy unicorn because every single week he essentially guarantees you victory in 2 categories (made 3s and 3-point%), which is incredibly valuable. The reigning Finals MVP shot a career-low 38% from 3 last year, highlighted by a huge shooting slump as he closed in on, and ultimately broke, Ray Allen's career 3-point record. In case you're wondering; the NBA's 3-point% as a league is 36.7%, which means Curry is still one of the best shooters in the league even in a slump.
Even still, he averaged 43.1 fantasy points per game, which is marginally under his per-season average throughout his career. Curry's ADP has dropped this season all the way down to the 6-8 range, but I think Luka Doncic is the only PG that should be clearly drafted ahead of Curry.
Steph Curry going for that finals MVP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IFKrnpGFv8
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) June 17, 2022
Younger players like LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton are getting all the hype this year, but you can draft Curry in the first round with confidence and know exactly what you're getting from him year in and year out. He's a fantastic fantasy player and a great guy to build your team around.
Conclusion
The reigning champs got their first major test of the year 2 weeks before the regular season begins, and will have to block out the distraction that is the Draymond - Jordan Poole incident. Between Curry, Klay Thompson, and Steve Kerr, that locker room should be fine ultimately, but we've seen great teams be destroyed by less in the past. They kept their roster intact, and assuming they don't implode, they should be viewed as the favorite in the West until further notice.
As for fantasy purposes, the Warriors are very black-and-white. Everyone on the team knows their role, but that can lead to Warriors players being a bit one-dimensional (Klay Thompson with 3's, Kevon Looney with rebounding, etc). The Warriors are always a threat to score 120+ on a given night with their backcourt trio, and sometimes fantasy basketball is as simple as getting players on teams that score (and win) a lot.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your leagues this year!
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