Yahoo Fantasy Mailbag: Buy, sell or flat-out panic after opening week?

The NBA season is underway and panic has set in with fantasy GMs all over the world.

I took your questions from Twitter and Instagram to try and sort through what we’ve seen. Let’s get to it.

@gibstagib: Is Otto Porter Jr a drop in 10 team leagues? Surely he can be better…. surely?

It has been a terrible start to the season for Porter and the Chicago Bulls in general. Through three games, he is averaging just 16.27 fantasy points per game, down from 28.73 last season, and is playing only 23 minutes per game.

He hasn’t forgotten how to play, but with how the Bulls are treating him, it is hard to find the justification to hold in those shallow leagues. Chicago has him on a load management plan, which is strange for a guy who is only 26 and isn’t actually injured.

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He is shooting below 25 percent, which will definitely improve, but if Chicago keeps limiting him, it’s hard to get excited with Porter. In a 12 team league, I would hold, but in a 10 team format, in fantasy points, he is very close to a drop.

I am generally cautious, so I would likely give him one or two more games, because the path to improvement is clear (more minutes and better shooting), but it’s been a rough start.

@spurs_fan98: What’s up with Eric Bledsoe? Try to sell or hold?

This question brings up a more general point regarding trading. Bledsoe is the 177th ranked player for fantasy points league, which isn’t what you want from a guy you likely invested a fifth-round pick on. But, trading him now is at the worst point of his value.

Anyone who is looking to acquire Bledsoe is looking to buy him low and send a bad player to hope to hoodwink the Bledsoe manager. So, now, you absolutely hold. Remember, he missed most of preseason and wasn’t expected to even start the season with a rib cartilage issue.

He had early foul trouble against the Rockets in game one and ended with five fouls in game two. He is a little off, but in general, he is a player I would target to get onto my team, by offering a player at the end of my roster.

@scottaengle: Is Rudy Gobert a buy, sell, or flat-out panic?

Gobert averaged 41.94 fantasy points last season. This year, not quite as many. He is at 21.43 per game in three games for the Jazz this season, which is hugely disappointing for a second-round pick. So, as I referenced above, it’s the worst time to sell a player.

Is he a buy? Yeah. There is no way I see Gobert being the 138th ranked player for the rest of the season. The first thing that is wrong with Gobert is his usage, down under 15 percent when it had been at over 17 for the last seasons.

Maybe it stays lower with Mike Conley around so perhaps that is a concern. But, Gobert is a guy who has blocked over two shots per game for five straight seasons. So far, he has blocked two shots - in three games. Total.

He is also hitting just 59 percent of his shots, down from 67 percent last season and is at only 25 percent from the line. If all those three numbers jump up, then Gobert is fine. He is a buy-low if his manager is panicking.

@graemekhunter: Will Gregg Popovich change his lineup at all in the near future, and if not, is Derrick White now droppable?

With Dejounte Murray looking great and Bryn Forbes off to a hot start, I don’t see Pop changing that starting lineup any time soon. In fact, I’m getting more worried about White when Murray’s minutes limit gets lifted.

Basically, White is only playing as Murray’s backup at this stage. Maybe when Murray plays more, Patty Mills or Marco Belinelli are the guys who lose and we see the White and Murray combo, but I have significant fears.

Depending on what free agent is available, White could indeed be droppable. I’ll give it a couple more game, but the writing is on the wall.

@DNoze: What do you think is the right sample size to make a good call on dropping players? Clearly two games is too small for most examples.

This is a question without a definite answer, but it’s important to discuss. You can’t say there is a clear amount of games because context is all-important. If I said three games, then Otto Porter is a clear drop, but given he is shooting 23 percent and playing just 23 minutes, the path for improvement is glaringly obvious.

Whereas, like the White example above, finding how his minutes go up is a lot tougher to do. So, I’d happy to pull the trigger on White over Porter because of circumstance. A player who is struggling, but also has a low ceiling is a lot quicker to be dropped than a player who may be performing worse but has a higher ceiling.

I am willing to take a loss in Week 1, and probably Week 2, to wait for situations to settle, but I also don’t want to miss hot free agents, so investigating the circumstances as to why guys are sucking is almost as important as to their actual on court play.

@D34thA: Is Kevon Looney a drop?

I was very high on Looney heading into the season (high as in, maybe he can crack the top 100), but he missed all of preseason with a hamstring injury, started opening night and was out after the first half.

The Warriors said it was precautionary, but then said he is out indefinitely with a neuropathic issue, which isn’t great. That sounds like he will miss quite a bit of time and be limited for a while. Given his upside isn’t all that high, I would rather move on and grab a waiver-wire star.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and keep an eye out for the next mailbag tweet to gather your questions.