Click here for the fantasy basketball Forecaster
Read below for weekly rankings and start/sit recommendations
You're in a weekly transaction league, and you need to decide by Monday evening who should be in your starting lineup for the week. Should you consider sitting usual impact starters like Lauri Markkanen or Tim Hardaway Jr.? Or perhaps start someone like Nemanja Bjelica or Jerami Grant who might generally be on your bench, perhaps even your waiver wire?
This is the first weekly rankings/projections we've published, though I've been doing the calculations all season. Essentially, I combine the projections that inform my rest-of-the-season points rankings with the upcoming weekly schedule evaluator of the fantasy basketball Forecaster, apply an injury correction and voila -- we've got weekly rankings. You can see them in their entirety, below.
Next, by comparing my weekly rankings to my rest-of-the-season rankings, I generate a list of players whose weekly value looks to be much higher than their seasonal value (dubbed "potentially startable"), as well as a list of players whose weekly value appears much lower than their seasonal value (dubbed "potentially sittable").
Below are both lists, and I go into a bit more depth to amplify some of the more interesting names. Ready? Let's go.
Potentially startable players
Turner was once expected to be a fantasy impact player, but a slow start to the season while teammate Domantas Sabonis took over the lead big-man role on the Pacers moved him down the rankings. However, he is playing outstanding ball of late, averaging 13.5 PPG, 10.5 RPG and 3.5 BPG in his past four contests entering the weekend. Both his level of play and the Pacers' favorable schedule suggest he should be in your starting lineups.
Redick is playing very well of late, averaging 17.0 fantasy points per game during the past two weeks, and the 76ers have a great schedule with four games that earned them a 10 on the weekly Forecaster this week.
Jackson is another big man who is posting impact numbers of late, averaging 17.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.5 BPG and 1.3 APG during the 15 days leading into the weekend. The Grizzlies have four games this week, including matchups against poor defensive teams such as the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.
Hayward seems to finally be waking up, averaging 17.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 5.3 APG during the three games leading into the weekend. This is starting-caliber play, especially given the Celtics' four-game schedule this week.
Hart just sneaks onto this list, and he could outperform projections if Brandon Ingram (ankle) is forced to miss time into next week.
Rodney McGruder would have made the startable list by the numbers, but he has been battling an ankle injury and has cooled off of late. Thus, he's relatively high on the weekly ranking list, but I'm cautious of naming him as startable for this week.
Potentially sittable players
Fantasy managers (like myself) have been waiting all season to get Markkanen back into the lineup after his elbow injury, and he just produced a double-double in his second game of the season. Thus, it is difficult to contemplate sitting him, even though he has only three games on a Bulls team with a Forecaster score of 2.
Young is shooting 31.7 percent from the floor for his past 12 games, with a 6.4-4.1 assist-turnover ratio. He had a strong start to the season, especially as a distributor, but his ice-cold shooting of late mixed with a tough weekly schedule for the Bulls (Forecaster score 1) has him on the sit list.
Rose has put himself back into play as an impact producer and is one of the primary perimeter contributors for the Timberwolves. With that said, he enters the weekend with averages of 14.0 PPG and 3.6 APG over the past five games, which is OK but not stellar, and the Timberwolves have three straight road games this period that tips off on Monday against the Golden State Warriors.
Weekly projections/rankings for Dec. 10-16
Methodology
The "potentially startable" list is generally comprised of players ranked below 80th in the season-long points rankings who ended up among the top-100 projected players for this week utilizing the Forecaster. Conversely, the "potentially sittable" list is generally comprised of players ranked in the top 100 of the season-long points rankings who ended up outside of the top-120 projected players for this week utilizing the Forecaster (or who are in the 120 range but projected much lower for the week).
There is also some correction for injury, so a player with injury question marks may have his value lowered enough to end up on the sittable list even if he's not officially out. Similarly, an understudy would get a boost in value if he is expected to play, and that could land him in the startable category. Finally, I have the license to add players to either list even if they don't fit the exact criteria, but if I feel that it is close enough to be of interest.