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Spencer Aguiar looks back at Week 3 of the 2019-2020 NBA season, including fantasy basketball risers, fallers and takeaways from each night of action.
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight one key fantasy basketball takeaway from each night during the past week. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making.
Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types.
Without further ado, let's get right into the third week of the season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.
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Monday, November 4th
Eric Paschall Explodes For The Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors have been notorious for striking gold during drafts in recent years, and they appear to have done so again with the selection of Eric Paschall at the 41st pick this season. Paschall has had minutes open up in front of him with the plethora of injuries the team has taken on early in the year, and the former Villanova star has made the most of his opportunity.
Going into Monday night, Paschall had provided two 20-point games in his past three contests, but it was his career-high 34-point eruption on Monday that raised eyebrows around the league. Paschall was brilliant from the field, connecting on 11 of 19 shots and four of six three-pointers - adding 13 rebounds, one block and four three-pointers.
While Paschall has transformed into a must-add in virtually all formats, there are a few concerns I have with how much longevity we are looking at here. It is worth noting that Draymond Green and D'Angelo Russell both missed the game with injuries and could cut into the rookies' usage rate once they return, and there are some issues with how effective the 23-year-old can be in category-based leagues. He is currently sitting at 56th overall in nine-category settings, producing 16.7 points per game, but his totals of 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.6 blocks and 0.6 threes do make him feel a little one dimensional. I'd expect we see his three-point output increase with his added role and rebounds should follow with more on-court time, but his 60.3% field goal rate is going to be nearly impossible to maintain with his added workload. Points participants look to have found riches, as where category owners might want to shop him around and see what an eager league mate is willing to pay.
Tuesday, November 5th
Gordon Hayward's Bounce Back Is Real
Offseason hearsay about a player oftentimes doesn't end up coming to fruition, but there are occasions where you should listen to what personnel close to a situation are saying. Throughout the preseason, Gordon Hayward's name was consistently mentioned by his teammates and coaches as someone who might be in store for a huge campaign, and the early portions of the year are lining up with the talk.
On Tuesday, Hayward exploded for 39 points on 17 of 20 shooting from the field, adding seven rebounds, eight assists and one three-pointer on the night. I am a professional sports bettor, so I always try to look at things in an unbiased manner, but it is really difficult to not overemphasize this performance. We don't need to go down the long road and journey again, but I legitimately thought Hayward's career might have been over during his gruesome injury on opening night in 2017, so for him to be back playing at an All-Star level deserves all the admiration possible.
Gordon entered the season with an ADP of 76th overall on both Yahoo and ESPN leagues but has produced borderline top-25 value in nine-category settings early in the year. A regression will take place at some point when it comes to his field goal percentage, but I am not so sure we are in line for massive adjustments to where his current averages are in other areas. Sure, a small change may happen in his rebounding numbers from 7.5 a game to less, but if you drafted Hayward in 2019, it looks like you are going to get back at least top-50 production. Congratulations on your value!
Wednesday, November 6th
Jonathan Issac Continues To Stuff The Stat Sheet
There are a handful of players I can point to such as Malcolm Brogdon and Brandon Ingram, but it will be hard to find many options that have exceeded their draft capital more than Jonathan Issac's has early in 2019. Coming into the season, Issac was being taken 68th in Yahoo leagues and 117th in ESPN settings, but the former Florida State product has outperformed pretty much any expectation that was placed on him during the preseason.
In his eight games this year, the third-year pro is averaging 11.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 3.0 blocks, 1.6 steals and 1.3 three-pointers to go along with a free throw percentage of 94.1%. Those averages have placed him 15th overall in nine-category leagues, and his defensive prowess makes him one of the most unique players to own in fantasy.
During Issac game on Wednesday, he provided the ultimate collection of what he is capable of doing by posting 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, six blocks, four steals and one three-pointer on 62.5% shooting from the field and 100% from the charity stripe. His elite outputs defensively can help him to maintain top-40 value in category leagues, and if you are punting points, Issac becomes even more valuable.
Thursday, November 7th
BAMM-BAMM Is Far From Rubble
Bam Adebayo has been fantasy gold for managers in head-to-head points leagues and continued his strong early-season return against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday - delivering a stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, one block and five steals on 66.7% shooting from the field.
If you haven't been able to tell throughout this week's article, some of my favorite fantasy values come in the form of stat-stuffing players who aren't always respected the way they should be on the trade market. A lot of the reasoning for this stems from the fact that scorers receive much of the hype and recognition, but gamers can take advantage of this by understanding their settings.
Unlike Jonathan Isaac in the post above, Adebayo does have some flaws that will hurt his category league ranking, but the former Kentucky product has been a stalwart in points leagues this season due to his steady output at his position in blocks, steals, rebounds and assists. While his numbers in any one particular category will not blow you away, his consistent tabulation in those areas mentioned above has allowed him to generate the ninth-best scoring total for a player with power forward designation at 37.63 fantasy points per night. It is very important to understand the ins and outs of your league, and Adebayo could be a league-winner in the right settings - especially when you consider the fact that his cost to acquire may be worth the amount.
Friday, November 8th
A Change of Scenery Has Done Brandon Ingram Well
One of the most impressive players in the NBA has been Brandon Ingram, who has averaged 26.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 0.8 steals, 1.0 blocks and 2.5 three-pointers made while shooting and impressive 52.7% from the field and 44.4% from behind the arc.
Frankly, it doesn't matter how you want to slice it, Ingram has been exceptional in all game types this year. The former second selection in the 2016 draft is ranked inside the top-20 for both points and category leagues, and he extended his good fortunes on Friday with a 27-point display in New Orleans' losing effort at home against the defending champion Toronto Raptors.
The Pelicans talked up point guard Jrue Holiday during the offseason, but it doesn't surprise me to see that the team has decided to lean on Ingram instead to begin 2019. Holiday has never been a beacon of health and hasn't had a usage rate of over 25% since 2015-2016. Ingram, on the other hand, was never able to fully shine on the Los Angeles Lakers but still had his role increase in each of his first three years in the NBA. I am a big proponent of trying to pinpoint both positive and negative regression situations, but I have to be honest...this feels close to what we are going to continue to see from the 22-year-old this season, which makes Ingram one of the biggest steals of the draft at his ADP of 105th on Yahoo and 106th at ESPN.
