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Happy holidays RotoBallers! Christmas Day NBA games are right around the corner and All-Star voting has already begun. 'Tis the season to vote your home team's roster and snub the superstars that everyone hates from the rival team. Well, as long as that karma doesn't come back to haunt your fantasy team.
Welcome back to the Week 9 installment of the dynasty risers and fallers series. For those that may be new here, we take a look at three players rising in value for dynasty formats and three players that are falling. Sometimes, a player could be both throughout the matter of one season and other times they could show up as a faller or riser both times if they really go against expectations.
In dynasty formats, we tend to value the younger players a bit higher because they have more long-term value, but anyone is fair game in this list. So, let's get to Week 9's list of risers and fallers!
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including NBA Writer of the Year, Best NFL Series, MLB Series, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
Risers For Dynasty Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Trayce Jackson-Davis (PF/SF, GSW)
This is, by no means, a recency bias selection. Okay, maybe there's a smidge of recency bias, but that doesn't make Trayce Jackson-Davis a fluke of a rising dynasty prospect. He was drafted 57th overall in the most recent NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards and found his way to the Warriors via the trade that swapped Jordan Poole and Chris Paul.
So far this season, he's only seen the floor an average of 10.1 minutes a night across 16 games. Over the last two weeks, however, he's seen increases in playing time due to the Warriors' struggles and the fact that Draymond Green has been suspended indefinitely. In his last two games, he played 17 and 28 minutes, respectively, and posted great value in nine-category leagues. Against the Boston Celtics, one of the top teams in the league, Jackson-Davis posted 10 points, 13 rebounds, one assist, and three blocks while shooting 71.4% from the floor.
That kind of production isn't going to happen in every single game, especially the shooting percentages, but given the playing time, Jackson-Davis gives the Warriors something they've been missing. A lob threat, rebounder, and length in the paint are all qualities they've been missing in some of their most recent losses. The biggest hurdle is Steve Kerr giving him enough playing time moving in his rookie season, but he should see more action as time goes on.
Derrick White (PG/SG, BOS)
One of the unsung heroes of a top team and one of the most underrated players across the league is none other than Derrick White. Not only has he been one of the most consistent players on the Celtics ever since they traded for him, but he's also played many different roles to an elite level. Some could even argue that White has been the number-one most important piece to the Celtics' success so far this season.
After 24 games this year, White is averaging career highs in points, assists, rebounds, steals, threes, and blocks while registering highs in field goal percentage and three-point percentage. According to Basketball Monster, he has cracked the top 25 in terms of per-game fantasy value in nine-category leagues and he jumps to 19th in total stats. Across the last two weeks, he's even jumped to the number four spot after averaging 21.1 points, 4.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 2.0 blocks, and 4.3 threes per game.
Let's just tie this all in a neat bow by saying his only negative value compared to the league average is rebounding. Every other stat category is above league average and he's not even 30 years old yet.
Isaiah Hartenstein (C, NYK)
We are now at the start of Isaiah Hartenstein season! He had some chances last season to make a mark when Mitchell Robinson was out with various injuries, but he never consistently capitalized. His value didn't plummet to nothing after that because he was still a solid source of rebounds and efficiency for fantasy managers in deep leagues. Instead, he's back up, baby!
Across the first 27 games, Hartenstein may be outside of the top 150, so anyone questioning why his name has appeared on this list has good reason. Over the last two weeks, however, he's snuck inside the top 100! If we're talking about total stats instead of per-game value, he ranks even higher at 63rd! The three driving factors of that ranking are blocks, field goal percentage, and rebounds.
For any fantasy managers looking for big man stats, look no further than the 25-year-old seven-footer who averaged 10.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game over the last seven games. He also shot 64.5% from the floor for 7.6 points per contest. If scoring is what you need, then Hartenstein probably isn't the right option. He does have a shot at improving that too since Robinson will be out for the rest of the season and Hartenstein has seen his minutes jump from 20.6 per night to 32.3.
Fallers For Dynasty Fantasy Basketball Leagues
Mitchell Robinson (C, NYK)
Injuries are the absolute worst part of sports. Mitchell Robinson was originally expected to miss 8-to-10 weeks due to an ankle injury, but The Athletic reported on Wednesday that his ankle surgery is going to force him to miss the rest of the season. He had to miss the bulk of two out of the last three seasons due to foot and hand injuries and will have played 310 games out of a possible 492.
This year, he was putting up a career-high on the boards at 10.3 per game while posting another high in steals per contest. In terms of per-game value, he sits in the top 90 for category formats, which was a step down from last season when he reached 52nd overall.
Moving forward, it will be hard to trust Robinson to stay on the floor. Trying to trade him in dynasty leagues will be difficult because other managers won't want to risk quality assets for a player who's going to miss most of the season.
P.J. Tucker (PF, LAC)
Much like anyone reading this right now, I'm not sure how much value P.J. Tucker has left in fantasy basketball, let alone dynasty leagues. At one point in time, he was an average contributor in rebounds and steals while rarely turning the ball over and hitting a couple of threes per night. Well, that has turned into barely seeing the court.
While he was with the Philadelphia 76ers, he was receiving around 22-24 minutes a night. Since being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, he went from 20 minutes to none. As a matter of fact, he hasn't even played since November 27, in which he saw six minutes of playing time.
If anyone has him rostered in a dynasty league, it's better to just drop him to waivers at this point because there isn't a single person out there who's going to give up any value for a 38-year-old enforcer who's not even playing.
Santi Aldama (PF/C, MEM)
This isn't the first time we featured a Memphis big man on this list and it might not be the last this season. Santi Aldama has received what feels like unlimited opportunities to prove that he could start or at least play big minutes. Time and time again, he produces one or two good games and the rest are lackluster. Then, he gets moved back down the depth chart when others get healthier.
Bismack Biyombo is the latest addition that stole more of Aldama's minutes. Brandon Clarke and Steven Adams did a good job of stealing them before, but the Grizzlies felt the need to go and get someone from free agency because Aldama and Xavier Tillman Sr. weren't cutting it. There's nothing like acknowledging your big man isn't for the job like getting a 31-year-old Biyombo to take his minutes.
Aldama is sitting outside of the top 150 for per-game value in category leagues right now and is further outside in most points leagues. Over the last week, he's seen fewer minutes and has fallen outside of the top 215. His saving grace has been low turnover numbers along with almost two made threes per game. Outside of that, his production can be found anywhere else on any other team.
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