Fantasy Basketball: Zak Hanshew’s Studs and Duds

Identifying value is essential to fantasy basketball drafts, but it’s an inexact science. With that in mind, the Rotoworld staff has identified a few of its “studs” and “duds” ahead of the 2024-25 season, predicting high- and low-value options projected to go in the early, middle, and late rounds of drafts. Next up is Zak Hanshew, who’s high on Phoenix’s newest addition and potential starting PG.

STUD: Trae Young

Some fantasy basketball enthusiasts – including my esteemed colleague Raphielle Johnson – are skeptical of Young’s outlook heading into the 2024-25 season. It’s understandable considering Young’s high turnover rate and low FG%. Hey, pobody’s nerfect, right? You’d be hard pressed to find a high-usage guard with phenomenal efficiency and elite ball security. Despite two notable deficiencies, Young is excellent as a scorer and tremendous as a facilitator. He finished 36th in per-game value in 9-cat leagues but 14th in 8-cat leagues last season. For managers in 8-cat leagues punting FG%, Young was a top-10 option.

Since his rookie season in 2018-19, Young has increased his assists per game in five straight campaigns. Over the last two seasons, Young averaged a healthy 25.9 points, 10.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.7 triples while shooting 43% from the floor, 87.4% from the charity stripe and committing 4.3 turnovers. Young produced at an elite level over those two seasons despite sharing the backcourt with Dejounte Murray, but Murray was traded to New Orleans in the offseason. Young’s 30.4 Usage Rate in 2023-24 was the lowest since his rookie campaign, and fantasy managers should expect that to tick up with Murray out the door. We project Young to lead the NBA in assists this season, and I expect him to finish as a top-10 player in 2024-25.

DUD: Joel Embiid

I’m not touching this dude with a 10-foot pole in 2024-25 fantasy basketball drafts. Early ADP data (via Hashtag Basketball) shows Embiid going on average at pick 8.2. For a guy perennially in the top-3 in per-game fantasy hoops value, his opening draft position reflects fantasy managers’ weariness. Embiid is a perennial per-game monster,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-basketball-zak-hanshews-studs-140000572.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-23 14:00:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.