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And we’re off! One week into the season and already so much to digest. We’ve had some big rookie showcases, some veterans struggling to piece things together and numerous rejuvenated franchises across the league.
In this weekly column, I will be highlighting four players whose dynasty stock has risen over the past week. It will include both young players breaking out and veterans who are fighting off father time and keeping their fantasy relevance alive.
This week’s batch is more on the youngster side of things with a rookie, a pair of sophomores and a fourth-year player who looks to be on the verge of a huge climb in the fantasy rankings.
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Miles Bridges (SF, CHA)
Few players across the league have been as hot out of the gate as Charlotte Hornets small forward Miles Bridges. Named the Easter Conference Player of the Week last week, Bridges has been lighting up the scoreboard with a mix of high-flying dunks and efficient shooting. He looks well on his way to being one of the biggest breakout players of 2021-22 and a prime candidate for the league’s Most Improved Player award this year.
Through four games this year, Bridges is averaging 25.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 2.5 threes per game. From a purely statistical level, he looks like a completely different player than the one we’d seen in previous years. The former Michigan State Spartan had a solid all-around season last year as he averaged 12.7 points per game while shooting 50.3% from the field, 40.0% from three-point range and 86.7% from the line. Yet that’s been nothing compared to what we’ve seen from him so far this year.
What’s been most impressive about Bridges’ early breakout has been his ability to maintain strong efficiency numbers despite the heavy increase in usage. His field goal attempts per game are up from 9.4 last year to 17.5 this year, but he’s actually increased his field goal percentage to 52.9% this year – something you rarely see when field goal attempts nearly double. He’s also averaging 4.3 free throw attempts per game this year (up from 1.7 last year) and he’s shooting 94.1% from the strike. Additionally, he’s averaging just 1.5 turnovers per game on the year, down slightly from 1.6 last year.
Bridges is a perfect fit for the young and emerging Hornets offense. Going into Wednesday’s action, the team was second in the league in points per game (121.5), trailing only the Memphis Grizzlies. Point guard LaMelo Ball operates best at a fast pace with players around him who can hit outside shots and finish alley-oops. Luckily for Ball, he’s got both of those assets in Bridges.
Cole Anthony (G, ORL)
When the Orlando Magic selected point guard Jalen Suggs fifth overall in this year’s draft, it seemed to spell doom for fellow point guard Cole Anthony. The former North Carolina Tar Heel was selected 15th overall by the team in 2020 and he went on to be the team’s primary point guard throughout the 2020-21 season following Markelle Fultz’s torn ACL. Anthony put up strong counting stats for a rookie last year (12.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 4.1 APG), but he was wildly inconsistent and as a result, it was far from a sure thing that he would maintain his starting gig in year two.
As it turns out, Fultz has remained sidelined to start the year and Anthony has been starting alongside his rookie counterpart, Suggs. While Suggs has struggled to the tune of an ugly 28.8% field goal percentage through the early going this year, Anthony has been one of the team’s top overall performers.
Through four games, Anthony is averaging 15.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.3 threes per game. His best game so far came on Sunday against the New York Knicks, when he dropped 29 points to go along with 16 boards and eight assists.
Two of the main critiques on Anthony when he entered the league last year were that he was too much of a score-first point guard and that he wouldn’t be able to perform well without the ball in his hands. The latter of those two concerns will come into play more as Suggs matures and demands more time with the rock. However, the former has been mostly silenced by Anthony thus far in his career. He’s proven to be a strong distributor and a remarkable rebounder from the point guard position.
It’s hard to imagine both Anthony and Suggs reaching their highest potential in fantasy terms while they are both on the same team, so fantasy managers rostering Anthony may want to hope for him to be traded at some point in the next year or so. But this past week has proven that Anthony still has a lot to offer from a fantasy perspective even while he’s splitting touches with Suggs.
Chris Duarte (SG, IND)
Sure, Jalen Green had the single-most impressive showing from a rookie so far this year when he dropped 30 points and shot 8-for-10 from three-point range against the Boston Celtics this past Sunday. And Evan Mobley’s stat-stuffing and efficient shooting has been remarkable so far as well.
Yet no rookie has raised their dynasty stock as much as Indiana Pacers shooting guard Chris Duarte so far this year.
Duarte, who was selected 13th overall by the Pacers this year, was either a late round pick or undrafted in fantasy drafts this fall. However, he should now be rostered in all fantasy formats – not just dynasty leagues.
Duarte looked like he belonged in the NBA the moment he stepped onto the court. In his NBA debut, he shot 9-for-15 from the field and 6-for-9 from three-point range while racking up 27 points.
Through four games, he’s averaging 19.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 3.3 threes per game. He’s shooting 44.8% from three-point range and he has hit each of his 10 free throw attempts on the year.
Despite already impressive numbers, there may still be a lot of room for growth in his stats. Duarte was a fantastic defender in college. In his last year at Oregon, he averaged 1.9 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. Through his first four games this year, he has compiled just three steals and no blocks. Look for those stocks (steals + blocks) to start materializing at some point this year.
Now there are two major downsides for Duarte. First, is that he’s abnormally old for a rookie in today’s NBA. He’s 24 years old, so his overall skill set doesn’t have as much room for growth as his rookie counterparts. Additionally, the team should have Caris LeVert back from injury soon (maybe even on Wednesday) and his arrival could lead to Duarte seeing fewer minutes. Justin Holiday might be the odd man out of the starting lineup, but Duarte (who is averaging 38.3 minutes per game) could see his minutes dip a good amount in the short term too.
Desmond Bane (SG, MEM)
The Memphis Grizzlies have had one of the league’s best offenses out of the gate this year. While star point guard Ja Morant has been the fuel and leader of the offense, the emergence of shooting guard Desmond Bane has also contributed a great deal to the team’s hot start.
A second-year guard out of TCU, Bane is averaging 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.7 threes and 1.3 steals per game so far this year. He’s had the green light from downtown this year as he’s jacked up a team-high 23 three-point attempts while knocking down 34.8% of them.
At 6’5”, Bane has ideal shooting guard size. He has great form and a quick release on his outside shot. He should continue to be a strong knockdown shooter for the Grizzlies going forward.
In addition to his shooting promise, Bane also has defensive upside and he can contribute on the boards and by distributing the ball as well. Three-point shooting and points are his most promising assets from a fantasy standpoint, but don’t think of him as someone who only has one dimension like a Luke Kennard or an Eric Gordon. Bane could develop into someone who can help in as many as six or seven categories for fantasy managers, making him a potential top-50 player as soon as next year.
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