Morris Peterson

Peterson has been given golden opportunities to start the past couple years but has failed to capitalize on them. He will likely get the chance to start at shooting guard once again with Rasual Butler jettisoned to the Clippers, but is far from a sure thing at this point. It's really his starting job to lose to James Posey, and given his unimpressive track record, it may just be a matter of time until Peterson hands it over.

Peterson was given a golden opportunity to take advantage of the departure of Desmond Mason and Devin Brown last off-season but failed to capitalize. Coach Byron Scott said he will initially start Peterson at shooting guard, but it is only a matter of time until Peterson drops the ball again and loses the job.

Peterson was marginalized in Toronto last season, as he didn’t quite fit the up-tempo game. In the right situation, and New Orleans is, Peterson can thrive as a perimeter scorer and like all Hornets, he’ll benefit from playing with Chris Paul. He’ll have to get his shots after Peja Stojakovic, David West and Paul get theirs, but he’ll get starter’s minutes and he can produce in categories other than points. A return to his 16.8 ppg season in 2005-06 is too much to ask for, but somewhere between that season and last year’s 8.9 ppg sounds about right.

Peterson broke out after the All-Star break last year, teaming with Mike James to form one of highest scoring backcourts in the league. Peterson averaged 20.7 points, 4.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.5 threes per game in 29 games after the break. With the shoot-first James now in Minnesota, and the pass-first T. J Ford manning the point for the Raptors, Peterson should be the clear cut second offensive option behind forward Chris Bosh. Peterson is a streaky shooter (43.6 FG% last year), but when on his game, can help a fantasy team in points, threes and steals.

Peterson is at best a fantasy role player. The 6-7 swingman’s best fantasy skill is the 3-point shot, of which he made 1.6 per game last season. Other than that, he is decidedly average or below in every category. He’ll score double-figure points (12.5), grab a few rebounds (4.2) with a steal per game (1.1) and shoot decently from the line (83%, but only 2.8 attempts per game), but he isn’t going to help much in assists (2.1 per game) or field goal percentage (42%). The Raptors also added another swingman in the first round of the draft in Joey Graham that could eat a bit into Peterson’s minutes.

Peterson failed to improve in his third NBA season -- his rebounds went up, but his scoring stagnated and his shooting percentage fell through the floor (mainly due to the extra three-pointers he attemtped). He's a complementary fantasy player at best; he'll score points and hit some threes, but that's about it.