Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we pose a question to a panel of ESPN fantasy basketball experts to gauge their thoughts on a hot topic.
Today's contributors are ESPN Fantasy's Jim McCormick, André Snellings, Joe Kaiser and Kyle Soppe.
Damian Lillard (11th), Jimmy Butler (13th) and Kyrie Irving (15th) all rank in the top 15 of the Player Rater, based on averages. Which member of this trio would you rather have the rest of the season? Does your answer change from roto to points scoring?
Jim McCormick: Butler leads this trio in rebounding while averaging the same number of assists as Irving. Minnesota's star wing also averages twice as many steals as Lillard. Sure, Lillard and Irving both hit a lot more 3-pointers than Butler, but you can find those deep baskets from a lot of sources.
Despite a somewhat slow start to the season, Butler has been far more productive than both Lillard and Irving over the past two months. Over his first 22 games in Minnesota, Butler averaged 17.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG and 4.5 APG. Over the past 25 games, Butler has averaged 25.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 5.4 APG and an awesome 2.2 SPG.
Over the last 30 days, Butler ranks No. 3 overall on the Player Rater, while the other two candidates are both outside the top 40 over this same stretch. Yes, I trust both Irving and Lillard to be top-20 producers going forward, but Butler is the only one of this trio with top-five potential.
André Snellings: For the rest of the season, pending health, I'd take Butler in either format. The season-to-date rankings are relatively similar in the Player Rater and, in standard points, Butler and Lillard are essentially tied, just slightly ahead of Irving. However, those both include the first six weeks of the season, when Butler was still figuring out his role for the Timberwolves.
Since then, Butler's play has blown away Lillard and Irving in both formats. If he reamins healthy going forward, there's really no reason that he wouldn't continue to perform this strongly. His combination of scoring, wing playmaking, shooting and defense is stronger than what either of the point guards can achieve. He really has no roto weakness, and he also produces at a high volume.
The only question mark is his knee, which has caused him to miss the last couple of games, but assuming that's just a temporary issue and he'll be fine moving forward, I'll take Butler.
Joe Kaiser: I'd want to have Butler, who touches the most categories and is very likely to play the most minutes per game out of the star-studded trio. He doesn't score as much as Lillard or Irving, and he doesn't match their 3-point output, but he shoots at a high percentage both from the field and at the free throw line. He's also far and away the biggest contributor in terms of steals (2.0 SPG) while also adding 5.4 RPG and 5.0 APG.
Kyle Soppe: Butler is having himself a great season and if I was starting an NBA team from scratch, he'd be my first pick of this trio. That said, his usage rate isn't in the same tier as the two point guards here, so I have to view him as the least likely to sustain his current production rate.
As for the difference between Lillard and Irving, you're really splitting hairs, but give me Dame D.O.L.L.A. for the raised production floor. The passing and shooting numbers are going to be similar, but Lillard is averaging 25-plus points for a third straight season, which is something Irving has only done once. He's also giving you four-plus boards for a fourth straight season, which is something Irving has never done.
On a per minute basis, this is a coin toss, but Lillard's track record suggests that he's a good bet to average 2-4 more minutes than Irving. That's enough to sway me in roto leagues. In a points setup, I'll give the edge to Irving, as his average distance of shot is 9.5 percent shorter than that of Lillard, thus keeping his shooting percentage edge quite sustainable and making him the slightly preferred option.