Monday, October 16, 2017

2018 JBL Preseason Rankings

2018 JBL Preseason Rankings

Hello and welcome to another season of dynasty basketball! It has been an exciting off-season with many big changes. As usual, I am here in an attempt to make sense of everything. To do that, I decided to rank all our teams from bottom to top. I evaluated each team on their ability to produce fantasy points this year while factoring in their prospects of adding more firepower over the course of the season.

I judge all this based on three main resources: production, prospective upside, and contract values. I also considered if a team has extra picks that could be used to trade for production in-season. However, above all else, these ranks are about expected production because that is what everything comes back to.

Enjoy!

Tier 4 - Pining for the Playoffs
Who can elevate their team to the playoffs?

12. TimAin't Duncan (Nick)
Top Producers: Nikola Vucevic, Carmelo Anthony, Jeremy Lin
Top Prospects: Lonzo Ball, Luke Kennard
Top Trade Assets: Lonzo Ball, Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier

Many improvements have been made on last year's regular season sacko squad. Carmelo, Gallinari, Batum and Fournier are all quality assets that could help any playoff team. Meanwhile, Lonzo Ball is one of the most interesting incoming rookies on what should be an above-average rookie class. An improvement on last season's win total seems inevitable but the overall production is still below average. Work may still need to be done for a coveted playoff spot.

11. MAMA Said Knock u out (Rich) 
Top Producers: Chris Paul, Paul Milsap, Klay Thompson
Top Prospects: Jamal Murray, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum
Top Trade Assets: Jamal Murray, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown

This team is bizarre because while it has a lot of quality individual assets, the group really sputtered last season. I like the acquisitions made but I'm not sure it will be enough to jump start this team back into playoff contention. I love the core of prospects but it is hard to see them always pulling their weight this season. This bunch strikes me as a team that could either trade all their prospects for a push this season or trade all their producers for top tier prospects. Either way, I believe this is the season where a major move is made.

Tier 3 - Playoffs or Bust
Who will be spectators come playoff time?

10. All-NBA 5th Team (Matt)
Top Producers: Hassan Whiteside, Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin
Top Prospects: Lauri Markkanen, Caleb Swanigan
Top Trade Assets: Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving

The surprisingly good team of last season may see a regression this time around. The squad relies mostly on veterans with injury histories. Meanwhile, there is a general lack of resources here which puts the unit at a disadvantage for making improvements through trade. All this leads me to believe that Matt will have to be one of the more attentive wavier wire owners if he wants to experience the same sort of success he did last season.

9. Balls to the Wall (Brett)
Top Producers: John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Gordon Hayward
Top Prospects: De'Aaron Fox, Skal Labissiere, Thon Maker
Top Trade Assets: De'Aaron Fox, Skal Labissiere, extra picks

Brett's squad has been a reliable playoff team since he took charge of the sputtering franchise. However, this season may be his biggest challenge yet. Although I feel uncomfortable ranking what I know to be a good team so low, I think there is going to be a real battle at this range of the league. I imagine a lot of shuffling of the standings this season and Brett's depth has questionable immediate production. Fortunately for Brett, his team appears to be a more attractive trade partner than most which should come in handy over the course of the season.

8. Draymond Green Tornado Kick (Nathaniel)
Top Producers: Marc Gasol, Kristaps Porzingis, Dennis Schroder
Top Prospects: Markelle Fultz, Malik Monk, Frank Ntilikina
Top Trade Assets: Dennis Schroder, Draymond Green, Avery Bradley

One of the more intriguing collection of assets, Nate might have the most trade-able roster in the league. Last season has pretty disappointing but we can excuse a lot of that with injuries. Meanwhile, Nate might have had the best rookie draft out of all of us since he is entering this season with three NBA rookies who all ought to see rotation minutes by season's end. The on-court production is still a slight question mark but there is more than enough here to have playoff expectations.

7. RIM JOBS (Alex)
Top Producers: LeBron James, DeAndre Jordan, D'Angelo Russell
Top Prospects: Kris Dunn, Justin Jackson
Top Trade Assets: DeAndre Jordan, extra picks, D'Angelo Russell

After the most productive season in franchise history, this year's most mysterious team had a bit of an awkward off-season due to it's changing of owners and, in turn, visions. As the team's fourth owner in six seasons, Alex will hopefully bring some lasting stability to our cursed franchise. There are certainly tools to work with here, including the King himself and Alex is an owner that brings championship experience. All things considered, there is a lot to be optimistic about here since this team could very well be in the finals hunt if everything breaks right.

Tier 2 - Contenders or Pretenders?
Who are the real contenders?

6. Love Kaman My Bibby's (Danny)
Top Producers: DeMar DeRozan, CJ McCollum, Eric Bledsoe
Top Prospects: Hernangomez, Saric
Top Trade Assets: McCollum, Randle, Saric

Since taking over this team, Danny has consistently produced a playoff-level squad. This off-season was the most active I've ever seen Danny be and I believe it will pay off for him this year. The additions of McCollum, Randle and Aldridge will prove a big boost while Gasol and Wade should provide nice value from the end of the bench. The only thing holding this group back is the general lack of trade appeal. Danny may have to look to waiver wire for a majority of his improvements this campaign.

5. Deng Girl (Freddy)
Top Producers: Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Paul George
Top Prospects: Josh Jackson
Top Trade Assets: Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, Clint Capela

The most disappointing team of last season has two more seasons with the core we all know and love. This year demands a bounce back and I believe Freddy has every intention of making that happen. This team finished our first three regular seasons as a serious championship contender and everything that made that happen is still on the team. While the core is undoubtedly elite, the difference will come down to what kind of production Freddy can get from the ends of his roster. If that is right, true contention is definitely possible.

4. Blow Me (Tyler)
Top Producers: Karl Anthony-Towns, Kawhi Leonard, Kemba Walker
Top Prospects: Ben Simmons, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen
Top Trade Assets: Kawhi Leonard, Ben Simmons, extra picks

Tyler has one of the rare collections of top tier talent, prospects and assets all on one team. It is easy to see all kinds of moves being made that could put Tyler into serious championship contention and that bodes well for his squad. Most teams don't have any round one talents and this group might have two. Meanwhile Simmons, Mitchell and the extra picks are all assets that could field serious firepower in the trade market if it came to that. All of this is to say that Tyler is a clear front-runner to break up the Chris-Michael trilogy.

3. Admiral Kryptonite (Me)
Top Producers: Miles Turner, Kevin Love, Devin Booker
Top Prospects: Dennis Smith Jr., Brandon Ingram, Taurean Prince
Top Trade Assets: Devin Booker, Miles Turner, extra picks


This feels like possibly the most abundant glut of assets I have ever had yet the team lacks obvious pizazz due to noticeable absence of any first round talent. I may have the deepest team in the league but it is going to take much more than that to actually knock on the championship door. Much like with Tyler, I feel prime to make some moves but moves are most certainly going to need to be made if I want to elevate to the next tier. It's hard to tell if I'm so close or so far.

Tier 1 - Championship or Bust
There can only be one Fantasy King

2. Team Greek God (Chris)
Top Producers: Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant
Top Prospects: Marquese Chriss, Jonathan Issac, Dragan Bender
Top Trade Assets: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker

Three first round talents, two second round talents and two third round talents. In any other league, this would be an outlier champion but, in our beloved league, there happens to be two outlier, champion-level teams. It really is remarkable how close these two teams are while being so dominate, like two perfectly paired outliers, battling it out. Chris made a lot of intriguing acquisitions this off-season, injecting his squad with a lot of youth on useful contracts. However, the investment in guys like Parker and Embiid might be the difference in this razor thin race for supremacy.

1. Team Penetration (Michael)
Top Producers: Anthony Davis, James Harden, DeMarcus Cousins
Top Prospects: John Collins, Buddy Hield, Juan Hernangomez
Top Trade Assets: Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert

The defending champions start this season where they left off last season: in pole position for the first back-to-back championship ever. I hope it doesn't happen! Really though, this team is going to be tough for anyone to beat and that includes Chris. With five first round talents all on one team and one of the most attentive owners around constantly uncovering diamonds in the rough, there is no doubt that this team will be a team to be feared come playoff time. Until something dramatic happens, this is the team to beat.

That's it! Good luck everyone! I hope you all beat each other and lose to me!

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