Yahoo Fantasy Mailbag: The most surprising players so far

Catastrophic injuries, suspensions, coaching malfeasance. We’ve had it all in the NBA, throwing all sorts of confusion into fantasy leagues. I took your questions from Twitter and Instagram to try and parse through what we’ve seen. Let’s get to it.

@2percentMulq Better short-term fantasy asset: Jordan Poole or Eric Paschall?

Both of these Warriors rookies have been rotation players to begin this season, but with Steph Curry out for three months, and now Draymond Green dealing with a finger ligament issue, they have been thrust into the starting lineup.

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Green’s issue isn’t anywhere near as serious as Curry’s, so Paschall’s minutes may not be as high as they were across the weekend. I’ve loved what Paschall has done so far, a top 140 player in standard points league in 28 minutes a night, while Poole ranks outside the top 230 so far in 25 minutes a game, mainly because he is shooting an abysmal 23 percent from two point range.

My short-term projections have them coming out pretty much equal, but that assumes an improvement in Poole’s shooting which may not come. Let’s go with the better on court player, and that’s Paschall, but Poole is worth monitoring also.

@Utep2Stepz Who’s the biggest disappointment and most surprising player so far?

Nobody and I mean nobody, thought Malcolm Brogdon would be a first round player. So far this season, prior to Monday’s game, Brogdon is the 12th ranked player in standard fantasy points leagues.

He’s averaging over 10 assists per game, scoring over 22 points, and swiping steals, giving him 48.46 fantasy points per contest. That places him over Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons, and Nikola Jokić.

It probably won’t continue when Victor Oladipo returns, but it’s been great to start. As for disappointing, it’s between Rudy Gobert and Otto Porter Jr, but I’ll go with Porter.

Currently ranked 159th after six games and a mysterious minutes limit, Porter’s shot hasn’t fallen and the steals are down.

I do believe he will bounce back, but the fact that the Bulls are being weird with limiting his playing time without an actual injury is concerning.

@Stevo_11 Do you have any hope for Mikal Bridges getting increased minutes this season? What do you think his dynasty outlook is?

Last season, as a rookie, Bridges played 30 minutes a night and averaged 20.57 fantasy points per game, which placed him 179th. This season, he is averaging just 14.13 fantasy points and playing only 19 minutes. So, what changed?

First of all, this needs to be made clear, Bridges is a better categories fantasy player than points league, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has been disappointing. The Suns have a new coach, Monty Williams, and he doesn’t seem to have the same view of Bridges as a player that former coach Igor Kokoškov had.

I thought we would get more Bridges and Kelly Oubre Jr. playing at the four alongside Booker while minimising Frank Kaminsky’s playing time, but with Kaminsky stepping up, Bridges has been relegated to playing almost exclusively behind Oubre.

Bridges missed time in the preseason with knee soreness, so perhaps that is causing his playing time to be reduced, and his last game against the Grizzlies was his best of the season, pulling in 30.4 fantasy points, but still, in only 19 minutes.

For dynasty leagues, I do still believe in him, but for this season, I think he is a drop.

@denniswang0418 Explain how to stream with Yahoo’s new default FAAB bidding system?

A lot of people are confused by the FAAB system Yahoo has instituted as default for acquiring free agents.

It is by far the fairest and best way of managing a waiver wire for fantasy basketball, but the execution has had some teething issues. These are mostly because of the time it takes to get players on to a roster, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stream and stream effectively.

It just means that you need to plan it out in advance and can’t just jump on an hour before game time to add someone for that day’s games.

@chris_sato Mario Hezonja or Skal Labissiere will be a better pick up?

Zach Collins is undergoing surgery to repair his dislocated shoulder and while they haven’t released a timetable, multiple months, possibly up to the All-Star game is a fair assumption.

That leaves a gaping hole at power forward for Portland. Anthony Tolliver has been starting for Collins, but after Sunday’s action, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hezonja get that job.

Labissiere has also been impressive, but he is playing more as a centre and saw his production leap Sunday with Hassan Whiteside out.

Hezonja is a better player and better fantasy contributor, and also should see more minutes, so to me, he is the better option to add.

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