Raymond Felton

Coming into the season at 33 years old, Felton will be joining his seventh NBA franchise during his 14th year in the league. Standing at only six-foot-one, coach Doc Rivers and the Clippers often deployed Felton at small forward last season where he performed admirably given the circumstances, but he’ll head back to a more traditional role with the Thunder while serving as the primary backup to Russell Westbrook at point guard. Felton has proved himself worthy of deep-league value in recent seasons despite coming off the bench, but he’ll have a tough task at hand since Westbrook has averaged more than 34 minutes per game over the last three seasons, which doesn’t leave much court time for the veteran. On top of that, coach BIlly Donovan will almost assuredly stagger Westbrook and Paul George’s minutes, meaning that Felton won’t even necessarily run the offense when Westbrook heads to the bench. In terms of Fantasy value, there are much better options around the league among backup point guards, but he’ll be a solid flyer across all formats if Westbrook goes down at any point in the season.

The 10-year veteran point guard never found his footing in Dallas after an offseason trade from the Knicks. A league-mandated suspension for weapons-related charges and a lingering ankle injury limited him to just 29 games played during the 2014-15 season. The midseason trade for Rajon Rondo only further limited Felton's minutes as he averaged just 10 minutes per game for the season. Felton finished with career lows across the board, averaging 3.7 points, 1.4 assists, and 0.9 rebounds per game. He shot 41 percent from the field and 29 percent from behind the arc. While Felton showed promise earlier in his career, he remains buried on the Dallas depth chart behind Deron Williams, Devin Harris, and J.J. Barea. The 31-year-old will be hard-pressed for playing time and a chance to improve on last season's poor performance.

Raymond Felton is entering his 10th season in the NBA. During the 2013-14 campaign, Felton averaged 9.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 31 minutes per game. Injuries to his hip and leg limited the much-maligned point guard to just 65 games played. He shot 40 percent from the field on 9.4 attempts per game and 72 percent from the free-throw line on 1.9 attempts per game. Felton joined Dallas as part of a six-player trade that included Tyson Chandler. The Mavericks will be Felton's fifth team in five years, as questions about his motivation and work ethic have followed him from city to city. Dallas has had previous success with players with similar track records, including Nick Van Exel, Jerry Stackhouse, and even Monta Ellis last season. However, the team will have to wait to begin their latest reclamation project, as Felton will miss the first four games of the season due to a league-imposed suspension for gun charges. Felton will battle with Jameer Nelson and Devin Harris for minutes, and improving on his career-worst scoring numbers from last year may prove difficult.

Felton put up solid numbers last season as he averaged 13.9 points, 5.5 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 three-pointers. He averaged 34 minutes a game last season and is likely going to see significant playing time again this season. While he may not be a flashy name, Felton provides solid all-around production and can be a valuable fantasy option. However, fantasy owners will have to live with a poor shooting percentage as he has only shot 41 percent for his career.

Based on last year's performance, Felton probably fell off a lot of draft boards. He showed up for training camp badly out of shape last season, played poorly, and is one of the reasons Nate MacMillan is no longer coaching the Blazers. His return to New York changes his fantasy status considerably. In Felton's first stint at Madison Square Garden--from the start of the 2010-11 season until he was sent to Denver in the Carmelo Anthony trade--he averaged over 17 points and nine assists per game and developed excellent chemistry with Amare Stoudemire. It's unreasonable to expect that sort of performance this year--the situation in New York has changed considerably with Mike Woodson as coach and Anthony commanding the ball so much--but a significant bounce-back season shouldn't surprise anyone.

Has any player’s fantasy outlook changed more in the last year than Raymond Felton’s? He started last season as the floor general for Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks and was producing at a borderline all-star level before seeming to wear down in January. At the trade deadline, he was sent to Denver, and into a time-share with Ty Lawson; his minutes and numbers dropped accordingly. Draft day brought another change-of-address, with Felton heading to Portland in exchange for Andre Miller. From a fantasy perspective, the Blazers are a better spot for Felton than Denver, but not as good as Madison Square Garden. He’ll be the starter there, with Patty Mills likely serving as primary backup. But Nate McMillan’s offense is among the NBA’s most deliberate, closer in pace to Felton’s Charlotte teams under Larry Brown than what he was running at any point last season.

This season, Felton leaves Larry Brown's plodding, half-court-oriented defense-first Charlotte Bobcats and takes over as floor leader for Mike D'Antoni's hummingbird-on-Red-Bull, seven-seconds-or-less New York Knicks… which is sort of like trading in a John Deere tractor for a Corvette. The big question, of course, is "can Felton handle that much car?" We're inclined to believe he can; he always seemed miscast in Brown's half-court scheme, and he certainly has the athleticism to keep up with Amar'e Stoudemire, Danilo Gallinari and the rest of D'Antoni's Knicks. He's not a prototype Mike D'Antoni point guard… but when people say that, they really mean "he's not Steve Nash," and let's face it, Nash is a unique talent. Felton's a good enough three-point shooter to keep defenses honest (.385 from long range in 2009-10), and is an adept finisher on the break. With weapons like Stoudemire, Gallinari and Anthony Randolph at his disposal and the extra possessions that come with playing a faster pace, it's reasonable to expect new career highs from Felton in points and assists this season.

Last spring, the Bobcats hired Larry Brown and drafted D.J.Augustin – and many observers assumed Felton wasn’t long for a Bobcat uniform. But Felton turned in a pretty respectable season, averaging over 14 points per game for the third straight year with healthy averages of 6.7 assists and 1.5 steals. He still isn’t a prototype Larry Brown point guard, but his solid all-around play made was enough to earn him a contract extension and regular spot in the ‘Cats rotation going forward Or was it? A restricted free agent at press time, Felton is currently in limbo. It’s possible the Bobcats are waiting on a long-rumored deal with Allen Iverson before nailing something down with Felton. With most teams extremely hesitant to take on contracts that extend beyond this season, Felton could be forced to accept a one-year deal and seek a long-term contract next summer… but the Bobcats could also cut Felton loose if management decided an Iverson deal puts the team too close to the dreaded luxury tax threshold.

After first-time head coach Sam Vincent yanked Felton between point guard and shooting guard last year, we were looking for Felton to settle in as the full-time starting point in 2008-09. But after Larry Brown came in, and the team took D.J. Augustin in the first round of the NBA draft, we’re now looking for Felton’s next NBA destination. Augustin will not be ready for a lead role this season, but you can see that Felton is caretaking until such time. The Bobcats were at their best when Vincent wasn’t forcing him to play shooting guard. Jumpshooting is not a strength, and Brown won’t put up with him taking 12 shots a game when he’s making only 41 percent of them. Especially with Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace on the court. Felton’s averaged 7.2 assists the past two seasons, despite sharing the position with Brevin Knight and Jeff McInnis, so he’s got the playmaking ability. His name has come up in offseason trade rumors, so that could be a possibility as the season wears on if it becomes clear that Charlotte won’t make the playoffs.

Felton has been on the cusp of a breakout the last two seasons and has another chance to do it in 2007-08. With Brevin Knight waived, the Bobcats are his team now. Felton averaged 7.0 assists per game while Knight got enough action to average 6.6 apg. Knight’s departure, along with the arrival of Jason Richardson from Golden State, should help Felton achieve better assist numbers this year. He needs to work on his jump shot (38.7% FG), but still managed 14 points per game.

Felton came on strong at the end of last season, effectively cementing his role as the starter going into 2006-07. With starter Brevin Knight out due to injury, Felton posted an impressive double-double in points (16.3 ppg) and assists (11.5) over Charlotte’s last six games of the year. Yes, it’s a small sample, but those are Steve Nash-type numbers. Charlotte management was so impressed with Felton’s rookie season, they’ve exercised his third-year contract option – a full year before most teams lock up their rookies – and they considered dealing Knight. (At press time, it appears that Knight will back, in a bench role behind Felton.) Clearly, this is now Felton’s team. He might not put up the numbers of the truly elite points, but look for him to be one of the top players in the second tier, and possibly a much better value than some of the bigger names on this list.

Felton is a very talented player, but we expect the Bobcats to bring him along slowly behind Brevin Knight.