This article is part of our Rebound & Rant series.
October is my favorite sports month of the year. Is there anything more exciting than debating who among OG Anunoby, Danny Green or C.J. Miles will start for Toronto?
The NBA faces many different job battles during the preseason. Let's first analyze key battles in the East. We'll get to the West next week.
A few teams -- Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee -- have fairly locked-in rotations, especially when putting aside job battles that have no fantasy significance. But for the most part, the East is loaded with intriguing question that may not be answered until the regular season action begins.
Chicago Bulls
What a bummer for the improving Bulls to lose Lauri Markkanen for the better part of the next two months. The Finnish big man played 30 minutes per game last year. That opens up lots of time for others
Power Forward: Jabari Parker, Wendell Carter, Bobby Portis
While losing Markkanen stinks, Chicago has lots of options to fill the void. Parker was originally penciled in to start at small forward but can easily slide over to the four, allowing Justin Holiday more minutes at the three. Portis started four games last year and is more than capable of using his 6-11 frame to bang with other bigs. Portis' three years of per-36-minute-stats show he's capable of being a double-double machine, if the minutes are there. And, yet, the big question mark is rookie Wendell Carter. Carter is more likely to steal minutes from Robin
October is my favorite sports month of the year. Is there anything more exciting than debating who among OG Anunoby, Danny Green or C.J. Miles will start for Toronto?
The NBA faces many different job battles during the preseason. Let's first analyze key battles in the East. We'll get to the West next week.
A few teams -- Boston, Philadelphia, Milwaukee -- have fairly locked-in rotations, especially when putting aside job battles that have no fantasy significance. But for the most part, the East is loaded with intriguing question that may not be answered until the regular season action begins.
Chicago Bulls
What a bummer for the improving Bulls to lose Lauri Markkanen for the better part of the next two months. The Finnish big man played 30 minutes per game last year. That opens up lots of time for others
Power Forward: Jabari Parker, Wendell Carter, Bobby Portis
While losing Markkanen stinks, Chicago has lots of options to fill the void. Parker was originally penciled in to start at small forward but can easily slide over to the four, allowing Justin Holiday more minutes at the three. Portis started four games last year and is more than capable of using his 6-11 frame to bang with other bigs. Portis' three years of per-36-minute-stats show he's capable of being a double-double machine, if the minutes are there. And, yet, the big question mark is rookie Wendell Carter. Carter is more likely to steal minutes from Robin Lopez, who isn't a part of the Bulls' future plans. Parker, Portis and maybe even Holiday deserve a positive bump on draft boards.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Suddenly, this could be a team that is difficult to watch. Oh, the excitement of George Hill over-dribbling, then sending a lazy bounce pass to Kevin Love for an awkward iso. No thanks – where is the remote? The Cavs have issues at both the point and small forward.
Point Guard: George Hill, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson
What do you do when all your point guards are actually combo guards? George Hill has averaged 3.3 assists per game over his 10 year career. Sexton averaged 3.6 assists per game his one year at Alabama. Clarkson is worse – he's averaged 2.8 dimes per contest over his four years in the NBA. Are you noticing a pattern?
The door is wide open for Sexton to be a shoot-first point guard. But he'll likely be prone to inefficient shooting, so while he's the future at the position, he might be a percentages-killer in Year 1. Fantasy-wise, you might want to avoid this job battle altogether.
Small Forward: Cedi Osman, Rodney Hood
Ugh, this situation is uglier than point guard. But then I remember how everyone is always hunting for cheap threes. Osman could be your cheap free agent "I need threes" pick up. His minutes could more than double this season, which would mean a possible 1.2 made threes per game. Sounds good, right? But wait, he can't free throws. "How the hell can you hit threes, but not FT's," you ask? Well, Osman shot an ugly 57% from the charity stripe during his rookie year. Expect some improvement, but not much.
Cleveland's other option is malcontent Rodney Hood. Hood has the potential to create his own shot, something this team will desperately need. But he's also been widely inconsistent over four years in the NBA. At 25 years old, most folks have stopped caring about his first round pedigree. With J.R. Smith out, both Osman and Hood started Cleveland's first preseason game, with Osman having the much better performance. Both are worth late-round flyers in large leagues for their potential big-minute upside. That said, they might also be your first cut after visiting the waiver wire.
Charlotte Hornets
Center: Cody Zeller, Willy Hernangomez, Bismack Biyombo
This might simply be a matter of choosing the lesser of a few evils. Zeller can't stay healthy and doesn't offer much rim protection. Biyombo's only offensive skill is the occasional tip in. As for Hernangomez, he somehow angered the Knicks, despite their dearth of young talent.
What makes this situation intriguing, though, is the Hornets don't really have a strong candidate for power forward, either. Marvin Williams is average at best, and Frank Kaminsky is somehow seven feet tall, yet can't rebound. Come to think of it, Williams stopped rebounding, too (only 4.7 boards per game last year). That means whoever wins the center job should gather rebounds by default. I suspect Zeller will look good early, then get hurt. Suddenly, Hernangomez will be a very hot waiver wire pick up. Most leagues are thin at center. You could do worse than stashing Hernangomez for the long haul.
New York Knicks
Kristaps Porzingis is out probably until January, at the absolute earliest. That means plenty of minutes at the forward spot for some not-so-well known options. I smell opportunity.
Forward: Kevin Knox, Lance Thomas, Mario Hezonja, Courtney Lee
Even if Porzingis was healthy, there are ton of open minutes at the forward spots in New York. Kevin Knox has the big intrigue of a being the night overall pick this summer. But he's only 19 years old and Madison Square Garden is a pretty big stage for a kid who played well but didn't dominate during his one year at Kentucky.
Knox has tremendous upside in keeper leagues, but for one-year contests, let some Knicks fan overpay. The short-term winner will be Mario Hezonja. Hezonja is still only 23. He was buried on a horribly mismanaged Orlando squad, behind Aaron Gordon, despite showing the rare ability to grab steals (1.1 per game last year), drain threes (1.2 per game) and deliver decent percentages. He could deliver across the board production at a cheap price. Lance Thomas is the required 30 year old vet, who coach David Fizdale will play to wrongfully punish the young Knox and Hezonja for making young-person turnovers. Thomas offers very little fantasy value. The aging (33) Courtney Lee will clog minutes at the two or three until NY finds a trade partner. There is no reason for a rebuilding squad to hold on to a vet like Lee, but he could provide valuable bench strength for a contender.
Now enjoy these Kevin Knox Summer League highlights:
Detroit Pistons
The win-now approach didn't work for Stan Van Gundy, and now new coach Dwane Casey is left to clean up the mess. The cupboard is particularly bare at shooting guard.
Shooting Guards: Luke Kennard, Reggie Bullock, Langston Galloway
Casey has two so-so options at SG. Kennard started all of nine games last year, but has a good shot to start for a Pistons squad that needs outside shooting. Kennard did drain 1.1 threes per game last year with a respectable 44% overall field goal percentage. The Duke product is only 22 years old with rare upside among this thin roster. He's worth a look, that's for sure.
But if Kennard's defensive limitations frustrate Casey, expect to see the similar Reggie Bullock. In fact, the veteran Bullock started Wednesday's pre-season game. Playing on a one-year option, the 27-year-old Bullock isn't really in Detroit's future plans, so expect them to be patient with Kennard. Both Bullock and Kennard could be Detroit's go-to three point threat. Galloway has been on four teams in four years – enough said.
Toronto Raptors
Kawhi Leonard is obviously now in Toronto. The question is, which fellow wing gels best with his game?
Kawhi's Wing Man: Danny Green, OG Anunoby, C.J. Miles, Fred VanVleet
One must assume that Danny Green has the leg up here due to familiarity with Kawhi. His 3-and-D game should endear itself to new coach Nick Nurse. And presumably Toronto will do anything to make Kawhi happy. The dilemma is that Green only posted 9-4-2 in 26 minutes per contest in San Antonio. Green is now pretty one dimensional, focusing on 1.7 treys per game.
OG Anunoby plays solid D, but he's a much better real-life player than a fantasy commodity. C.J. Miles is a great catch-and-shoot option, but at 31, his gradual minutes decline will probably continue. Expect new coach Nick Nurse to tinker with lineups through January. Green and Miles will be an excellent source of cheap threes in deep leagues.
Well, ballers, that's it for job battles in the East. We'll address the West in a few days.
