Every Wednesday this season, I will publish my top-130 fantasy basketball rankings for the remainder of the season.
These rankings are based on season-long rotisserie formats. That means that players who excel in one or two categories will be ranked higher and those who fail miserably in percentages will be ranked lower than they would be in a points system.
So, a 3-point specialist such as J.R. Smith gets a bump, while a young star such as Andre Drummond, who misses a ton of free throws, sinks. You will want to adjust accordingly based on your league's scoring system.
These rankings are forward-looking. If you want to know where players stand based on what they have done thus far this season, check out the ESPN Player Rater.
My goal here is to give you an idea of how much I value each player for the rest of the 2015-16 campaign. In its most basic sense, I am asking myself if I would rather have Player X over Player Y through April. If so, I rank him higher.
As always, I value your feedback, so feel free to hit me up @AtomicHarpua.
The biggest name on the upward move this week is Damian Lillard, who leapt past Kyle Lowry and LeBron James to land at No. 8. Lillard has averaged about 30 PPG in the past month, which is a level Lowry can't attain on the Toronto Raptors. He also shoots high-volume free throws at a terrific clip and has little chance of being rested late in the season, which gives him an edge on LeBron.
Also benefiting Lillard's fantasy value down the stretch is a promising schedule, filled largely with teams that run high-paced offenses, so he should keep up his high-end production the rest of the way.
The biggest name sliding downward is Paul George, who slipped out of my top 10 to No. 15. His move has as much to do with the big-time production we have seen from the likes of Draymond Green, Karl-Anthony Towns, John Wall and Hassan Whiteside as it does his troublesome field goal percentage, which hangs in the low-40s and carries quite a bit of weight at 18-plus FGA per game.
Also heading upward this week is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has worked his way into the top 25. The move is tied directly to his heavy usage as a ball distributor lately -- at least seven dimes in each of his past four games -- which has led to a pair of triple-doubles. Combine that with his defensive prowess in the box score and we see the Greek Freak's crazy long-term upside in Fantasyland.
Jrue Holiday continues to work his way up the rankings, this week landing at No. 27. The stellar production we have seen him churn out lately is no surprise -- he has always been capable of this -- but the only question has been whether he can stay out of the infirmary. Anyone who has him rostered will be walking on eggshells the rest of the season, but the payoff will be excellent if he can just stay healthy.
Speaking of injury-prone players, the shoe finally dropped on Danilo Gallinari's best season in the NBA when he injured his ankle last week. The expectation is that he will miss at least a month, which means by the time he returns, the Denver Nuggets would have no more than 5-8 games left on their schedule. I left him in my top 130 for now, but you should move along if you have anyone more enticing available on waivers or don't have a deep bench.
Meanwhile, we continue to await any official word on the status of Chris Bosh. There has been buzz that he may sit out the rest of the season, but with nothing firm to go on, you probably should hold on to him if at all possible. Obviously, he could be a game-changer down the stretch for fantasy teams if he does get back in action. Nonetheless, I had to drop him way down my rest-of-season rankings because he has no timetable right now.
How about another couple of players who are dealing with long-term health issues? There remains no timetable for Nikola Mirotic to return from his surgeries that dealt with appendicitis and a hematoma. Even if he manages to get back on the hardwood in the next couple of weeks, it will take a while to get his game legs under him, so there is little incentive to have him rostered until we know a return is imminent.
As for DeMarre Carroll, his knee issue and ensuing surgery has cost him most of the past three months. It sounds as though he is headed in the right direction, but he still hasn't been cleared for contact, so by the time he actually returns to action and gets his game legs in shape, the season may be nearly over. Obviously, he posts terrific fantasy stats when things are clicking, so I still like the idea of stashing him if possible. On the other hand, the clock is ticking on this season, so don't feel like you need to stay married to him.
Let's wrap things up with an injury-prone player who is actually on the right track: Eric Gordon. After missing about a month with a finger injury, Gordon wasted no time getting his game rolling, as he racked up a season-high 31 points, while knocking down 4 3s and 9-10 FT and tacking on three steals, in his return to the hardwood Saturday. Generally speaking, Gordon's fantasy game is limited to scoring and 3-point shooting, but with Tyreke Evans out of the mix, he should churn out plenty of those numbers the rest of the way. He remains available in more than a third of ESPN leagues.