Anthony Davis only strengthened his hold on the No. 1 overall spot in the roto rankings during the first week of the season, leading New Orleans to impressive wins over Houston and Sacramento, as the Pelicans lit up the scoreboard for 131 and 149 points, respectively.
While Davis' early averages of 28.5 PPG, 13.0 RPG, 7.0 APG, 2.5 SPG and 2.5 BPG are hardly surprising, the emergence of his teammate Nikola Mirotic is another story. We knew Mirotic could score and shoot the 3-ball, but the veteran has come out of the gates as confident as we've ever seen him.
Mirotic will never be a big presence on the defensive end, but his 30 points against the Rockets in the opener and 36 against the Kings showed that he can be the second option in this offense, even ahead of bigger names like Jrue Holiday and Julius Randle. Mirotic is mostly just a points/3-pointers/rebounds guy, but he moves all the way up to No. 32 this week after making 25 of 41 shots in his first two games, including 11 of 17 3-pointers, while adding 19 rebounds.
Like Mirotic, Utah's Joe Ingles is another veteran forward who turned heads during the opening week of the season. In games against Sacramento and Golden State, Ingles showed his value on both ends of the court, making 19 of 27 shots, including 11 of 17 3-pointers, while averaging 24.5 PPG, 5.0 APG and 3.0 SPG.
Finding players who take and make 3-pointers is becoming quite easy in today's NBA, but Ingles' contributions as a passer and defender from a forward position make him one of the most underrated glue players in the game today. When he is surrounded by stars in fantasy lineups, he is the type of presence who can catapult a roster to a championship. He makes a big leap to No. 36 in this week's rankings.
Irving isn't taking or making many 3s or distributing a whole lot compared to other top-tier point guards. Thompson is ice cold out of the gates, making just two of 16 shots from 3-point range. Green has been nonexistent as a scorer, twice finishing with four points or fewer. Porter averaged only 10.0 PPG and 6.0 RPG in his first two games and didn't record a single assist. And Hayward is showing the rust that comes from a serious injury and a missed season.