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FANTASY BASKETBALL

HOW EACH TEAM WILL OPERATE & PREDICTIONS

(EAST)

By Muntradamus

BEAST DOME NATION.

#1. NETS

The Nets are as deep as any team can ask to be. Durant + Kyrie is already enough, but Dinwiddie and Levert are both All-Stars. Allen & Jordan are both All-Star capable. Prince and Harris are both great SFs. The Nets are too good for the NBA and it is not fair they got this team.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

KYRIE

KD

Dinwiddie

Levert

Allen

Jordan

#2. BUCKS

Jrue is now the point and he throws amazing lobs, what he is known for. Should work out great for Giannis who can run the pick and roll all day with Jrue, something he could not do with Bledsoe so much who is not a great passer. DJ Augustin comes off the bench, as well as Forbes, so Divencenzo who is starting, is still going to be a role player as Jrue will play a lot of SG with those guys. Middleton will play 24/7 and will probably end up doing exactly what he did last season. Nothing wrong with that at all. Last year there were many times he was go-to guy, with Jrue on the squad he will see less defensive attention. Brook Lopez will probably see less time this year with Bobby Portis joining the roster.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

 Giannis

Jrue

Middleton

#3. CELTICS

The Celtics bring in Jeff Teague to backup Kemba. They also lost Hayward to promote Marcus Smart as a Full-Time starter. With Hayward gone, Tatum/Brown/Kemba are going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. No problem for these guys who love to shoot. Daniel T. will likely be in a C by committee. Nothing to really love there. Celtics will rely on their big 3 to shoot, but Marcus Smart will now get ample minutes to be a Fantasy starter.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Tatum

Brown

Kemba

Smart

#4. 76ERS

Gone is Josh Richardson, in comes Seth Curry as far as offensive threats go who need touches. The 76ers will always rely on big Embiid to dominate games. Ben Simmons will have more freedom to be the man this year, at least ball in his hand with Richardson gone, Curry really just a spot up shooter. Tobias Harris will jack up a ton of shots with this team. Embiid will BEAST down low, Simmons will feed the rock, Harris will shoot all day.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Embiid

Simmons

Harris

Curry

#5. HEAT

Heat return with the same team more or less. They added defensive threats in Avery Bradley + Moe Harkless. Really making this a tough team to score on. Seems to be a new player will step up every night type of mentality for the Heat. Especially in the regular season until they get closer to playoffs when Butler really steps in. Butler has no problem getting assists to the shooters. Bam will always be a threat and possibly the go-to guy in this offense who they run plays off of, hurting Butler assists.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

BAM BAM

Jimmy Butler

Goran Dragic

Tyler Herro

#6. PACERS

Pacers rolling with the same team as last year. Maybe NBA Champions if they had Sabonis during the playoffs. Sabonis is the man on this team and they are going to run the offense through him. Brogdon is always a threat, Oladipo should step up more this season, and Warren can definitely score better than all of the above. Myles Turner has a great post season but now goes into will be good some games, bad in others.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Domant Sabonis

Malcom Brogdon

TJ Warren

Victor Oladipo

Myles Turner

#7. WIZARDS

In comes Russell Westbrook, gone is John Wall. Last year the Wizards all learned to be better players without Wall. Beal is now an official Superstar. Troy Brown Jr. has all the confidence in the world to score 20 if he needs to, Rui & Bertans are great power forwards for today’s NBA. Thomas Bryant is a BEAST.

Even the bench is strong with Ish Smith, Jerome Robinson, and Mo Wagner. Not great defense, but good scoring. Wizards have a good overall team.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Russell Westbrook

Bradley Beal

Thomas Bryant

Troy Brown Jr

Rui Hach

#8. HAWKS

All of a sudden, the Hawks are deep. Adding Rondo behind Trae Young. Brining in Bog from Sacramento to start over Huerter. Cam and DeAndre fighting for minutes, Danilo in the mix as well. Collins and Capela big men. Hawks can go big, they can go small, they can matchup with anyone. Trae Young should not see so much defensive attention. He will have the green light to shoot as much as he wants, which hurts everyone else. He will get the assists and everything else in between. John Collins will be limited by Capela when they play together, but not when he can play center and roam free.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Trae Young

John Collins

Clint Capela

—

MISSED PLAYOFFS

9. RAPTORS

Raptors lost their big men, but kept everything else together. Baynes comes into replace Marc Gasol, and do not forget Baynes had a Larry Bird game where he made what feels like 20 3PT shots. Expect the Raptors to rely on FVF and Lowry heavily, even more Siakim. Cannot forget OG who was clutch in the playoffs, but Norm Powell is on the bench looking for his moments. In the end, Raptors are one of the most team ball teams in the league, new players will step up nightly.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Lowry

FVF

Siakiam

OG

10. MAGIC

Magic barely made it to the Playoffs last season. Now they have the same team minus DJ Augustin + Bacon. Bacon could be a solid sleeper definitely must-watch in preseason. Fultz will have more freedom now, MCW still a capable backup and can definitely have a better season than people realize. Fournier and Ross will get a lot of touches in this offense, Aaron Gordon is still the go-to more or less. However Vuce is really the go-to and he will remain a Fantasy Basketball threat.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Nikola Vucevic

Aaron Gordon

Markelle Fultz

Evan Fournier

Terrence Ross

MCW

11. CAVS

Cavs have a great combo of big men. Drummond + Nance + Love + McGee. All those guys make impact. Okoro looks to be a nice rookie, but Kevin Porter Jr should get more love in the end. Garland and Sexton are the guys running the show, Sexton is the better of the two, but Garland could get easy assists this year. Cavs actually have a great squad of guys and they should be a fun team to watch.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Drummond

Sexton

Love

Garland

KPJ Jr.

Okoro

Nance

12. HORNETS

The Hornets are deep at guard. Ball/Rozier/Graham, all of those guys can ball and all can play PG and all will split time at the 1 & 2. Gordon Hayward will have the green light to dominate, Miles Bridges and PJ Washington are going to be asked to do a lot as well. Washington could play center in today’s NBA and the Hornets already said he will.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Hayward

Washington

Bridges

Ball

Graham

Rozier

13. BULLS

Patrick Williams is a bit raw, and the Bulls are stacked at 3-4 & 5. Lauri and Wendell Carter Jr should be fine, until Thaddeus Young checks in. Which leaves Wendell Carter fine, but Gafford can always come in or Kornet. Too many bigs and too risky for WC Jr. Otto Porter should be fine, but the Bulls have a capable Hutchinson and Williams on the bench. Where the Bulls are thin is at PG and SG with Lavine and Coby White. Those guys will be ball hogs for the Bulls and the Bulls want to see what these two have in store.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

Lavine

White

Wendell Carter Jr

Otto Porter

Lauri Mark

14. KNICKS

Knicks still loaded with average talent. No more Taj Gibson, in comes Nerlens Noel. Toppin will steal minutes as well and production from all the bigs like Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson. Randle is still the go-to guy in this offense who lack a good SF. Knox might get another chance to win the job. RJ Barrett is going to have to ball hog on this team, Alec Burks backs him up and he will definitely do that with the second unit. Elfrid Payton is the lead PG, but a ton of failed 1st Round Picks like Dennis Smith Jr and Frank Nit are waiting for their chances.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

RJ Barrett

Julius Randle

Mitchell Robinson

Elfrid Payton

Alec Burks

Kevin Knox

15. PISTONS

Killian is nice, but he is young and raw. Besides Blake Griffin, there is not one scoring threat on this team who can dominate a game, at least in the starting lineup. Mason Plumlee will get a ton of rebounds and double-double’s with this team. Will be interesting to see what Jahlil Okafor brings to the table as this team needs his offense. Okafor and Rose will be the scoring for the second unit, but that will not be enough. Jerami Grant comes to the team to take away minutes from Douyamba.

In the end the Pistons have all these guys who care more about the stats, then winning basketball.

DRAFT WORTHY PLAYERS

BLAKE G

Derrick Rose

Mason Plumlee

Jerami Grant