October 17, 2016

Jake Finnen looks at three overvalued NBA guards to avoid as potential draft busts in 2016-17 fantasy basketball leagues. Think twice before drafting them.

I'll keep this quick because the title says it all. These guards should be avoided during your 2016-17 fantasy basketball drafts due to their minimal potential in season-long formats.

This does not mean to avoid them for daily games, because all players will have good games. But solid seasonal fantasy options need a combination of production and consistency. These players are lacking one or the other, which seriously hinders their fantasy outlook.

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Leave Them Alone on Draft Day

Wesley Johnson, SG/SF, Los Angeles Clippers

After last season, Johnson wasn't really doing anything worth noting. He was a below average scorer on a team that was desperate for scoring and thrived off of 36-year old Jamal Crawford even though Wesley is only 29. Wesley was overlooked last year and I don't see much of that changing this upcoming year. Even with Chris Paul playing his best wouldn't be enough to give Johnson the touches he needs to be worth drafting.

I doubt anything could make Johnson fantasy relevant but I bad harping on a guy but then again...he makes millions to play basketball and I get paid squat as a writer, so he'll be ok. Anyway, he averaged 6.9 PPG last year which is nothing special. Add in low rebound and assist totals, 3.1, 0.6 respectively, and you have one of three guards fitting to write an avoid/busts column about.

Patrick Beverley, PG/SG, Houston Rockets

I made this list before the injury but that just cements the reason why he's here in the first place. The knee injury should only put him out a couple weeks but even then, his defense alone doesn't make him fantasy relevant other than some risky DFS plays on a night to wear he may have a good matchup.

He is one of the top defensive guards but even if he led the league in steals it wouldn't equal fantasy numbers worth rostering. He CAN hit threes. It's rare but he can shoot and when he gets hot, like every other player, he can be savior to your team if you had him. Keep an eye open for the occasional tasty daily matchup when he might blow up, but for regular fantasy, keep on looking.

Matthew Dellavedova, PG/SG, Milwaukee Bucks

I am going to get crap for this but this is one option I feel confident about. I'll tell you this now. I don't like Dellavedova. I don't like him at all. I think he's a bad basketball player.

Ok, now to tell you why I firmly stand by my bias. Look at his production last year. He had decent averages, 7.5 PPG, 4.4 APG, shooting 40% from 3pt range and 41% from the field. Remember that he was playing with the best team in basketball, so if opposing teams were going to let anyone beat them by himself, it would be Dellavedova. I would hope you would have solid numbers playing alongside one of the best players of the century, another rising superstar in Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love all creating space. All those guys made every opposing team tread backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova as the weak link, hardly bothering to cover him.

The problem now is that Dellavedova is on Milwaukee that won't create near the openings for Delly that he got in Cleveland. It's not like he'll even significantly bump his per minute touches, with a lot of other young Bucks also demanding the rock. I think the Bucks took Dellavedova for his defense but if you watched him play throughout the regular season… you'd wouldn't understand why.

Just remember he was playing with LeBron James and company so Dellavedova was usually the most open man on the court and teams would basically let him do what he wanted. Dellavedova only took shots where he had the three seconds it takes for him to get a shot off and that was much thanks to spacing created from the rest of his ex-squad, the championship winning Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm happily avoiding Dellavedova.