Poor health is the only thing that can prevent Kevin Durant from being a fantasy superstar
The small forward position is arguably the most important for an NBA franchise and your fantasy basketball team. Just when you think you have your cornerstone SF, an injury derails your team. Think of Kevin Durant last season. Those who owned him probably thought they were contenders but when he was finally out for the season, a backup plan was needed. Did anyone expect Durant to be out the entire season?
Don’t fret, because while small forward isn’t a deep position for the elite players, there are suitable replacements available if your superstar were to go down with an injury. Below you will find small forward tiers as a draft guide of who to take along with a few guys to keep in mind during your draft depending on how it plays out. You would also be wise to use your fantasy site’s ADP all the players so you can plan out when you may want to draft a particular player. One thing to keep in mind is that many players listed below will qualify for multiple positions.
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Superstar
• Kevin Durant
• LeBron James
Elite
• Carmelo Anthony
• Klay Thompson
• Kawhi Leonard
• Jimmy Butler
Potential 2016 All-Star
• Paul George
• Rudy Gay
• DeMar DeRozan
• Gordon Hayward
• Draymond Green
• Tobias Harris
• Nikola Mirotic
• Nicolas Batum
Impact Players
• Danilo Gallinari
• Chandler Parsons
• Tyreke Evans
• Andrew Wiggins
• Markieff Morris
• DeMarre Carroll
Starters
• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Thaddeus Young
• Trevor Ariza
• Khris Middleton
• Robert Covington
• Wesley Matthews
• Danny Green
• Kyle Korver
• Wilson Chandler
• Jabari Parker
Value Picks
• Luol Deng
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
• Ryan Anderson
• P.J. Tucker
• Jae Crowder
• Joe Johnson
Players to watch
• Bojan Bogdanovic
• Harrison Barnes
• Aaron Gordon
• T.J. Warren
• Gerald Henderson
• Tony Allen
• Nick Young
• Otto Porter Jr..
• Andre Iguodala
• Jeff Green
• Marcus Morris
• J.R. Smith
• Corey Brewer
• Shabazz Muhammad
• Evan Turner
• Matt Barnes
• Paul Pierce
• Omri Casspi
• Hollis Thompson
• Gerald Green
Stud – Kevin Durant (OKC)
LeBron James is the easy player to discuss here, but I am going with Kevin Durant, who is coming off a season of injuries. Part of the appeal with Durant is he was the best fantasy player on the planet the two previous seasons before his injury-plagued 2014-2015 campaign. By all accounts, Durant is healthy heading into the season and at only 27 years of age would be expected to regain his status as a top-three fantasy player. The only question you may have with Durant is his health during the season. If you believe he will remain healthy, then don’t be afraid to spend a top five overall pick on Durant and possibly the first overall depending on your preferences. If Anthony Davis is gone, go ahead and pull the trigger on Durant. He will likely reward you in the end.
Sleeper – Aaron Gordon (ORL)
Gordon had a modest rookie season with averages of 5.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.5 blocks while playing 17 minutes per game. The NBA Summer League isn’t the end-all-be-all in terms of indicating whether a player may be in for a breakout season, but Aaron Gordon was a star in the Orlando Summer League. In 32.7 minutes per game, Gordon averaged 21.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 steals per game all while shooting 50 percent from the field. Yes, that is a small sampling size and it’s against summer league talent but it also shows that Gordon can flash a stat line you want in fantasy basketball. With Channing Frye as his main competition for minutes, there is a good opportunity for Gordon to get upwards of 30 minutes per game. If Gordon can get 30+ minutes per game the opportunity is there for him to produce. Look to grab him near the end of the draft when you can afford to make a mistake.
Bust – Kawhi Leonard (SAS) and Paul George (IND)
Kawhi Leanard is not a good enough scorer to merit the high pre-season ranking he has. In fantasy basketball it is all about scoring. If you take any player who doesn’t average over 20 points per game in the first two rounds, it will end up being a very long year for you. Leonard averaged 18.5 points per game in 2014-2015. While that is a nice number, it needs to be up at 22+ to warrant taking a first round pick on Leonard. Too many people fall into the trap of taking guys who have good all-around stats but aren’t elite scorers. The first two rounds in a fantasy basketball draft are for scoring, so if the player can’t score you don’t want him. Nicolas Batum has also fallen into this category in recent years as well.
Paul George finds his way onto the bust list mainly because of the injury he sustained in the summer of 2014. George may have a nice season but let someone else take on the risk of owning him. There are plenty of other small forwards you will have the opportunity to draft in the early rounds with similar numbers to George but without the same injury risks. There is no doubt that everyone will be rooting for George to have a great return season, but it is best to pass on George in the early rounds of your fantasy draft. Look to grab players like Klay Thompson, Carmelo Anthony, Jimmy Butler, Gordon Hayward and Rudy Gay as all will have similar production to George and can be taken further back in the draft.
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Matthew Kloetzer is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Matt, check out his archive and follow him @mkloetz.
