Top Fantasy Basketball Sleepers
Is Steph a sleeper? (Photo. Mannion)
Everyone loves a fantasy basketball sleeper. Some of these will workout and some these won’t. Here is my list of sleepers for the 2008-9 fantasy season:
Matt Barnes – He’s been consistently on and off both NBA and fantasy rosters for the past few years. Why? He has real statistical potential when he gets 30 minutes a night. That could happen on the regular for the Suns. 100% my favorite of the sleepers.
Rodney Stuckey – The Pistons are calling him their 6th starter. The media compares his game to Dwyane Wade. Sounds like a sleeper to me.
Andrea Bargnani – If he qualifies as a center he’s a huge a sleeper. Bargnani had a so-so rookie year, but he did one thing very well - he hit threes. This preseason he’s been one of the Raptors’ best players. He’ll come off the bench as the 6th man until JO gets hurt. I’d take him over Jamario Moon.
Udonis Haslem – It looks more and more likely that the Heat are going to go small and run Haslem at center. He could be a double/double machine with nice percentages.
The Knicks – No really. Four of them:
Wilson Chandler – The Knicks would LOVE Wilson Chandler to take the starting spot from Q. Rich and be a contributor in New York. He’ll have that opportunity (as long as the knee is healthy). He looks like the real deal.
Nate Robinson – He’s averaging 19 points a game for the Knicks this preseason. He’s essentially playing the Barbosa role right now. If that continues, he’ll have value. Best guess? In and out of the doghouse.
Chris Duhon – The shooting percentage won’t be good, but he’ll offer some nice value at assists and might even grab some boards.
Stephon Marbury – Only draft him if it’s deep, really deep, into the draft but Steph has played his way back into the rotation and maybe even the starting lineup. It is far from clear what the numbers will look like.
Ramon Sessions – Sessions played 17 games last year. In the last five he averaged 15 assists and 14 points. He’s a long shot that is probably more of a waiver wire pick up than a draft pick.
Luke Ridnour – Chances are Ramon Sessions isn’t the guy he was the last five games of last season. The Bucks have Luke Ridnour to solidfy their point guard position. On a team where there are plenty of players that can score, Luke could have a nice season.
Mickael Pietrus – The Magic need Pietrus to do a little bit of everything. A little bit of everything is a nice thing to hear in fantasy world. Wait… What?
Darko Milicic – If you follow my online column you know I love Darko. I say at worst he blocks two shots a game and he is still young enough to have legit potential.
Marc Gasol – He isn’t his brother. Not even close. But he could put up decent 3rd center numbers and for some, that equals second center numbers.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
that's whats up says:
Roger Mason - Spurs.
book it
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
akash says:
eric gordon or stephon marbury?
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
fallinup says:
Other than the ones above…
Brandon Bass - Rebounds, blocks, and putback points.
Kirk Hinrich - I see a lot of him and Rose with Gordon off of the bench. No more Duhon means more time.
Amir Johnson - Blocks, blocks, blocks.
Mario Chalmers - PG situation is crap in MIA. The position is there whenever Mario wants to take it.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
fallinup says:
To clarify because I forgot Hughes. It’ll be Hinrich and Hughes starting with BG and Rose backing up. Kirk’s gonna play more PG without Duhon in the lineup because he’s really the only true PG chitown has now.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
akash says:
how does trevor ariza look this year?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
The Fantasy Doctor says:
Hughes is out 2 months. Hinrich isn’t really a sleeper and shoots about the same percentage from the field that I would. I’m a huge Bass fan but unless Dirk gets hurt, I don’t see his stats being consistent enough.
Here’s my thing with Amir, because other people say he is a sleeper as well. Too many guys. Maxiell, Sheed, Mcdyess, Kwame, Amire. Too many options. Miami point guards are all deep deep deep sleepers. I wouldn’t take any of them.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Mooks says:
No Tyrus Thomas?
And don’t expect the same number of 3s from Bargnani this year — the Raps are trying to get him to bring his game closer to the paint.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
fallinup says:
I’m going on the fact that Hinrich has slipped in the draft. But I see him playing more of his own position.
I see Amir playing some SF mostly. The Piston front line was stacked last year and he still managed to get close to 100 blocks. I’d take him if I were hurting for blocks and had an open spot. I guess he’s more of a specialty guy than sleeper. But I do see his numbers improving.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Diego says:
Flip Murray, Hawks.
With Childress gone, Marvin and Bibby injury-prone, Acie still shakey, and an otherwise nonscoring bench, Flip is in for a lot of minutes and, as he has shown in the preseason, he can light it up.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Chaos says:
Brandon Bass - he is probably one of the better undersized power forwards (landry, hayes, dorsey, amir, maxiell, Haslem)
BG- will give you buckets (when they don’t matter in a game)
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Three Stacks says:
I agree with Pietrus, he’s gonna start at the 2 for Orlando, and there was a point last yr that even Keith Bogans was valuable in that spot.
Can’t believe everyone is sleeping on Thaddeus Young. Troy Murphy is gonna get minutes again in Indy. 16, 9 with a couple threes and great FT% from him is very realistic, and he’s not even in most top 100s. And whoever wins the PG spot for Memphis will have some value, my guess is Conley.
Stuckey ain’t no sleeper, I’ve seen him picked up in the 6th, 7th round, which is way too early.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
SayItAintSo says:
I agree with Diego, Flip Mode is going to bring significant fire power off the bench for he Hawks. He is much more of a scorer than Childress so he wont fill up all the columns but you’ll definitely get points.
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Big Sia says:
Hamed F. Haddadi
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
CPA says:
fallinup is NUTS. Rose is a lock to start. Captain Kirk can’t figure out how to play off the ball. I think he is spending too much time scouting the Rockford Lightening.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
dmitry of jersey says:
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peace
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
dmitry of jersey says:
PW live draft is this saturday 12PM Easter
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Fantasy Doctor says:
I don’t think Thad Young would be considered a sleeper either. He’s a solid 7th to 8th rounder. You can have Flip Murray. Good luck with that.
Not even replying to my man Sia.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Noter says:
John Salmons is the biggest sleeper. With Artest gone, he will shine.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Steve Nasty says:
JR Smith anybody…can he produce this year?
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Steve Nasty says:
Haddadi…lol
October 24th, 2008 at 2:23 am
Magnifico says:
Damn, it’s hard to be Stephon. Being paid superstar dollars then still be on the sleeper list…
If I were him, I’d go out and beast every single game.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:28 am
hansosword says:
Derrek rose looked like Wade in the Dallas game.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:37 am
solomon says:
add this:
Johan Petro - starting C by default, with iffy freddy kruger backing him up, collison locked to a 6th man role, sene years away from contributing, and a new found love for interior play, the dude’s gonna be a good 3rd or 2nd C for deep leagues
Bobby Simmons - most are hating him for an almost invisible 07 season, but in jersey, where there is almost zero post presence and VC bound to be double-teamed, he’d earn tons of 3’s, decent %’s and some boards being. he looks kinda healthy, too