Derrick Favors looks like he’s ready to make the jump to superstardom

The beginning of the fantasy basketball season is a time of great opportunity. Every year someone on the waiver wire is picked up within these first few weeks who suddenly becomes a top-60 player. Pickups like these can win leagues.

This is also the time of year to take advantage of slow starts. Players drafted in the top half of your draft start cold, and owners begin to panic. Find that diamond in the rough, buying low on guys with slow starts, or knowing when to cut an underperforming player is the key to starting your season off right.

In this weekly column, I will be focusing on the best/worst performances over the past week. I will focus on out of the ordinary trends, or players that have strayed greatly from their average draft position. Great performances by top players or bad performances by bench warmers will generally be ignored.

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RISERS

• Derrick Favors (PF – Utah Jazz) – Favors has busted out of the gates over his first three games. At 21.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, Favors seems to be showing that he is ready to take the next step. His 74% free throw shooting and 2.3 steals per game should drop closer to his career average, but he is the centerpiece of this Utah offense and will continue to have a high usage rate.

• Greg Monroe (PF/C – Milwaukee Bucks) – Monroe’s departure from Detroit has allowed him to play the type of game he was built for instead of being forced to work around Andre Drummond. As the starting center for the young Bucks, Monroe is allowed to go to work in the post, have more chances for rebounds and even improve his shot block opportunities. He has always been an elite steals big man, and now that he is allowed to round out his game, he is set for a breakout season. For a guy who slipped into the fifth and sixth rounds of drafts, he could potentially pass Nikola Vucevic in center rankings.

• Ricky Rubio (PG – Minnesota Timberwolves) – Rubio got off to a very hot start with a career-high 28 points and 14 assists against the Lakers. This means you should always play any point guard against the Lakers, and that a healthy Rubio has huge fantasy potential. Steals and assists have been elite for Rubio throughout his career, but the problem has been his shooting and staying on the court. With a much more athletic team around him, Rubio should thrive in a run-and-gun heavy environment. Don’t expect him to shoot this well every night, but even a slight improvement and the addition of a three-point shot should help his fantasy value jump immensely.

• C.J. McCollum (SG – Portland Trail Blazers) – McCollum as played his way into a starting role for Portland. While this is enough to increase his original value, he decided to drop 22 points in the first quarter of his first game of the year. Finishing with a career-high 37 points, McCollum has made his announcement as a must-own player in all leagues. His ability to play with, without and often emulate Damian Lillard proves he isn’t a fluke. There will certainly be ups and downs throughout the season, but it is not often a dynamic scorer of his caliber will be available on the waiver wire.

• Marcus Morris (PF – Detroit Pistons) – Challenged in the preseason by teammate Stanley Johnson, the other Morris has not just earned a starting role in Stan Van Gundy’s rotation, but has averaged 38.1 minutes per game. He is set to be an important part of Detroit’s offense and can bring in points, rebounds, threes and the occasional steal. He will lack in free throw percentage and doesn’t block much for a big man, but anyone averaging that many minutes has value in all but the shallowest leagues.

• Karl-Anthony Towns (C – Minnesota Timberwolves)– Turns out the hype train was true for Towns. He was projected to come off the bench to start the season, but after a few games he is not just a starter but a full-blown talent in the NBA. An across the board fantasy performer and elite shot blocker, Towns should only improve as he gets used to life in the NBA.

• Nikola Mirotic (PF – Chicago Bulls) – A late-season breakout player last year, Mirotic was on a lot of experts’ radars and suspiciously low in most draft site rankings. With new coach Fred Hoiberg championing offensive creativity over ridge defensive rotations, Mirotic has moved into the starting five for the Bulls. His ability to launch threes, grab rebounds and average a steal and a block per game, makes Mirotic an instant fantasy commodity.

• Dennis Schroder (PG – Atlanta Hawks) – Hovering between roles as a fringe starter and sixth man for the Hawks, Schroder has earned 24.5 minutes per game over the first week of games. His ability to both score and run the offense improves his value high enough to be considered in most standard leagues.

• Rodney Hood (SG/SF – Utah Jazz) – Hood was thrust into the starting role in the Utah backcourt. He is primarily a scorer but has shown some versatility with a six-assist game, five rebound game and even four steals. With ample playing time, his value is trending upward.

Fallers

• LaMarcus Aldridge (PF/C – Portland Trail Blazers) – Finding himself figuring out how to play with the unselfish Spurs, Aldridge could barely reach double-digit scoring in his first two games. Finally able to put together a 24-point and 14-rebound game on Sunday, Aldridge only needs time to find his form and place with his new team.

• Gordon Hayward (SG – Utah Jazz) – A jack of all trades, Hayward seems to have lost his touch in the first week of the season. Averaging only 12 points, three assists and four rebounds, some Hayward owners might be wondering why they used such a high draft pick on this guy. Hayward will find his form and should be considered a buy-low candidate from panicking owners.

• The Boston frontcourt – David Lee, Amir Johnson, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Zeller all make up the incredibly deep Boston frontcourt. The problem with this is that there are not enough minutes to go around. Instead of clear starters emerging, the Celtics seem to want to go with short, situational rotations which severely reduces minutes for everyone. With none of these players averaging over 20 minutes per game and little consistency in the rotation, their fantasy value drops below standard league ownership.

• Joakim Noah (C – Chicago Bulls) – Moving to the bench in favor of a more offense-centric coaching style, Noah has only averaged six rebounds, three assists, one steal and a point in his first three games. Only getting 17.3 minutes per game has crippled his value in all leagues.

• Meyers Leonard (C – Portland Trail Blazers) – A high percentage shooting center with the ability to shoot threes, rebound and block sounds like a great fantasy player to own. Leonard has instead shot 32% from the field and only averaged seven points, four rebounds and fewer than a three a game over the first week of the season. A disappoint start that fantasy owners will hope he can turn around.

• Gorgui Dieng (PF/C – Minnesota Timberwolves)– Dieng has been relegated to a bench role for the Timberwolves. Now that he’s only averaging 16.8 minutes per game, his production is so limited that he is no longer viable in most leagues. Unless he is able to earn starter’s minutes, Dieng’s fantasy value will continue to freefall.

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Mike Catron rambles on about the fantasy impact of NBA box scores and provides other insights on strategy at WatchtheBoxes.com. You can follow him on Twitter @WatchtheBoxes where he will be live tweeting various NBA games, answering your fantasy questions and mostly retweeting stuff you need to know from people you already follow.