RADIO
A key part of doing a fantasy draft is avoiding players who find themselves in a bad situation. The wrong pick can completely tank your season. On the other hand, rostering players in perfect situations can be the ultimately league-winning move for savvy fantasy GMs.
Today, let's talk about some potential busts and sleepers that have been part of the Summer League tournaments held in early-to-mid July. For whatever reason – be it talent, lack of opportunity, chances to rack up minutes, good and bad environments, etc – these are players who fantasy GMs are currently buying too high or too low this early in the pre-season and who should be kept under the radar to track their progress in training camps as we each closer to the regular season's tipoff.
Let's look at some guard-eligible players that have bust potential this year in fantasy basketball leagues that appeared in July's Summer League tourneys and explore their situations going forward.
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Summer League Losers: Guards - 2022-23 Fantasy Basketball
Johnny Davis, PG/SG - Washington Wizards
If there is a Least Valuable Player award for the Summer League competition, then there shouldn't be one. That said, if there was one, then Davis would probably be the consensus pick all across the basketball nation. Davis wasn't atrocious, but he wasn't remotely good either.
The Wiz spent a pretty high top-10 pick on who is supposed to be Bradley Beal's partner in crime for the remainder of the untradable (now literally) guard's career. Davis' per-game line: 8-4-1 in 25 MPG of playing time and 75 total minutes over three Vegas games. No bueno. Davis, supposedly a bonafide shooter and scorer, shot a mediocre 29.6% from the field and just 33% from three-point range on 9.0 FGA and 3.0 3PA per outing. The only thing saving him was the 100% charity-stripe accuracy.
Washington covered its back by trading for Monte Morris and Delon Wright this offseason, just in case. You can rest assured they had not projected such a bad start like the SL one for Davis while already being part of the D.C. organization. Things will change (most probably) because talent always flowers and Beal/Porzingis will enhance whoever happens to be by their side and their numbers. Give it some pause and don't go chasing Davis crazily in your drafts for now.
R.J. Hampton, PG/SG - Orlando Magic
The Magic are so deep into their rebuild that they barely have legitimate veterans (with long careers under their belts, I mean) rostered these days. Other than Terrence Ross and Gary Garrys, no other Magic has been in the League for more than four seasons – and that would be Markelle Fultz, just imagine.
Hampton got to Orlando as part of the Aaron Gordon trade with Denver and although he's increased his role, he's still a little bit in limbo. His SL performance was good, but probably not great. RJ didn't hit a single three-point shot, and even though he finished the tourney with a nice 12-7-2-1 line, he also dropped 3 TOPG in that time. He only played a couple of games and 58 total minutes, mind you.
The Magic have Fultz (who seemed to be recovering his mojo last season barring his injuries), Cole Anthony, and Jalen Suggs as up-and-coming talents in their squad and all three of those are clearly above Hampton in the pecking order. Even veterans Harris and Ross (the latter one is expected to get traded at some point, though that's been the case for years now) might take developmental minutes from Hampton, which is nothing to like for him nor for your fantasy options if you have shares of RJ.
Killian Hayes, PG - Detroit Pistons
I want to stay a Hayes Believer, but he's making it tough and tougher for me these days. It's now been two seasons of Piston Hayes, but the kid still doesn't seem to get this NBA thing quite right. Hayes, the no. 7 pick in the 2020 draft, got to the SL with his teammates (already a red flag considering he's about to enter his third NBA campaign), and while he was expected to play in all games, he only appeared in one of them. Ugh.
While the point guard should not have a problem averaging some 10 PPG and 5 APG off the pine (and the fans in Motown would probably be happy with that at this point), that's not a given with Hayes. You know the Bust label is hanging above Hayes' head when Detroit picked a lead-man in Cade Cunningham last season and a scoring guard in Jaden Ivey this last draft, both of them clearly fading Killian.
Hayes had a 7-3-4-1 game in Vegas facing Portland, but that's not really the relevant thing here. It's mostly about the stiff competition he'll need to dodge and the few chances (in worse contexts than the guys above him) he'll have to excel at to prove he's worthy of a larger role. A larger role, by the way, that might ultimately be totally out of his reach as the Cade/Ivey pairing is going nowhere other than the nightly starting five. The collateral damage of Detroit's moves is more than a typical SL underperformer.
Shaedon Sharpe, SG - Portland Trailblazers
Just a quick note on SS to wrap it all up when it comes to guard-eligible guys. The latest official NBA reports say that Sharpe dodged a bullet and after undergoing further evaluation, he is expected to be good for the fall training camps. This means that it's been determined that Sharpe won't have to undergo any type of surgery for now, which would have definitely shortened his debut season by forcing him into a late debut, thus missing time.
That said, Sharpe entered the draft as the Mystery Man and leaves the Summer League portion of the season as, welp, the Mystery Man still. It would have been great to get some glimpses of Sharpe playing ball next to a similar-level competition – remember, he sat out last year and is virtually jumping from HS to the pros – but we'll have to wait. I'd like to say that Sharpe has done enough to consider him a viable (if only for those in deep leagues) fantasy asset, but now I'd rather give him some more time and marinate for a minute at least. There will always be a chance to grab him from the WW in most fantasy leagues out there, anyway.
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