Every Wednesday this season, I will publish my top-130 fantasy basketball rankings for the remainder of the season.
These rankings are based on season-long rotisserie formats. That means that players who excel in one or two categories will be ranked higher and those who fail miserably in percentages will be ranked lower than they would be in a points system.
So, a 3-point specialist like J.R. Smith gets a bump, while a young star like Andre Drummond, who misses a ton of free throws, sinks. You will want to adjust accordingly based on your league's scoring system.
These rankings are forward-looking. If you want to know where players stand based on what they have done thus far this season, check out the ESPN Player Rater.
My goal here is to give you an idea of how much I value each player for the rest of the 2015-16 campaign. In its most basic sense, I am asking myself if I would rather have Player X over Player Y through April. If so, I rank him higher.
As always, I value your feedback, so feel free to hit me up @AtomicHarpua.
With two months of the season in the books, it's time for a full reassessment of fantasy players, committing to those who have proved their mettle and giving up on those who have tanked. With that in mind, many players have moved significantly in this week's rankings.
A prime example is DeMarcus Cousins, who slipped out of my top 10. After he averaged a 46.7 field goal percentage and a 73.8 free throw percentage last season, I thought he had top-5 upside. Unfortunately, 27 games into the season, he is averaging just a 43.1 field goal percentage, a 73.8 free throw percentage, and is taking a large volume of both shots (19.6 FGA, 9.6 FTA). Until he turns his percentages around, he can't be an elite fantasy stud.
On the flipside is Boogie's teammate, Rajon Rondo. Putting aside the coincidental back malady that kept him from playing Tuesday in his first game back in Dallas, the man is flat out balling. His dimes, swipes and field goal percentage are elite, and his weak 50.0 free throw percentage matters little at just 2.2 FTA per game. Even the return of Darren Collison hasn't impacted Rondo's production. He jumps from No. 40 to No. 26.
For many years I ranked Pau Gasol higher than most people, but I had to sink him in my rankings early this season, since he was scuffling so much as a scorer. Well, he has ironed that out and is back to form as a fantasy stud, so I corrected his ranking and put him back in the top 20 where he belongs.
The Brooklyn Nets lost Jarrett Jack for the season due to reconstructive knee surgery. He wasn't churning out high-volume stats, so his absence won't have a devastating impact on fantasy teams that had him rostered. Still, there will be more opportunities for his teammates. I'm not intrigued enough by Shane Larkin to put him into my top 130 at this time, but I slid Bojan Bogdanovic into the rankings and bumped Thaddeus Young up a few spots. I think both of them are more likely to soak up the statistical opportunities created by Jack's absence.
Field goal percentage can be a tricky category. As a young player gets his feet wet at the pro level, we can assume he will shoot poorly and slowly get better in that regard. However, at a certain point, a player is who he is and we can expect his shooting percentage to level out at the same rate over time. This leads me to Kemba Walker, whose rank I had suppressed early this season because he had shot below 40 percent from the field during his first four seasons. However, 34 games into this campaign and he is averaging a respectable 43.8 field goal percentage. Even if that dips closer to a 40 field goal percentage, he is doing enough elsewhere in the box scores to warrant a top-35 spot.
When I recommend being active on the waiver wire, Will Barton is exactly why. Most of the time, you just add a player for a week or so when hot and drop him when he fades. But working the wire -- especially early in the season when rotations are in flux -- can lead you to add a player who locks himself in as a stud for the rest of the season. Barton is a top-50 player and you could have got him for free.
I still love the fact that the most comments I have received about my rankings have been about Marcin Gortat's low ranking. That a player most casual fans don't even know would generate that kind of love speaks to how passionate fantasy junkies can be. I kept his ranking low because he doesn't block a lot of shots or score a ton, but he has done enough of both the past month to earn a spot in my top 100.
Last season, Jeff Teague's combination of scoring (15.9 PPG), dimes (7.0 APG), swipes (1.7 SPG) and shooting (46.0 field goal percentage) made him a special all-around fantasy point guard. This season, all of those numbers have slipped (15.5 PPG, 5.6 APG, 1.3, SPG, 41.9 field goal percentage) to the point that he isn't worthy of being in the top 50 anymore. He could well turn things around in the second half of the season, so he is worth keeping an eye on, but I'm skeptical.
Already posting mediocre stats and now facing an extended absence due to knee surgery, Al Jefferson is clinging to the last spot in my rankings. He may well slip out of them once final word comes on his recovery timetable, but I wouldn't be bending over backward to keep him on my roster, especially if there is a decent waiver-wire pickup available.