This article is part of our Rebound & Rant series.
Holy guacamole, it's almost time for the regular season opening tip off! Give up on your 2-4 fantasy football team and focus on The Association! LaMarcus is in San Antonio, Monta is in Indy and Metta World Peace is employed – it's insanity out there, people.
With season-long drafts and auctions coming up this weekend, it's time to develop your early awkward man-crushes. Since Wes Unseld and Jon Koncak are enjoying retirement, let's hunt through the 2015-16 depth charts and pick out some sleepers. And, of course, I'll sprinkle in some mindless entertainment, which is how the R&R rolls, baby.
My Friday podcast partner, Shannon "McNasty," was the first RotoWire scribe to start the "All Portland Trail Blazers not named Damian Lilliard should be SLEEPERS" bandwagon, and I'm hopping on board. In particular, the minutes boost and ceiling for Leonard seems particularly high. As McNasty pointed out, Leonard hit 0.9 threes per game while only averaging 15 minutes last season. Now, with LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez gone, he's looking at 25 minutes per game, easy. That means 1.3 threes and 0.9 blocks per contest, plus a free throw percentage north of 85 percent, are well within reach.
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I will be the first to admit that Lee's help defense is atrocious, even laughable. But who cares, this is fantasy. And Brad Stevens is a genius, GENIUS, I SAY! (Yes, I'm completely drinking the Stevens kool-aid). He will get the most out of Lee, who Stevens has picked to start alongside Tyler Zeller. That means probably 28 minutes per game and a return to his double-double years. Lee is eager to prove himself after riding the pine during the Warriors' championship season. Don't forget he practically averaged a double-double from 2007 to 2013.
Someone must play point guard in Utah, and it's going to be Trey Burke. Over five preseason games, he's averaging 15 points per game from 48% shooting with 1.6 steals and 2.6 assists. Shot percentage is where Burke needs to improve, so this is encouraging. He's looking at 25+ minutes per game this season.
Many a basketball coach has said "you can't teach height." Turner is a seven-foot tower of power who will eventually see big minutes at center for the Pacers. His competition is only Jordan Hill and Ian Mahinmi – I'm using the term "competition" very liberally. Turner's only real restraint is age – the 19-year-old needs experience. But come January, he could be a 1.1-block, 10-point and eight-rebound per game machine.
Do you really think Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Garnett are going to be healthy and play significant minutes? Me neither. Dieng, who should qualify at center, averaged 30 minutes per game last year, collecting 9.7 points, 8.3 boards, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals with solid percentages. Sure, he has Karl-Anthony Towns to contend with, but Towns is the fancy real estate where everyone will to be focused. You should swoop in late and grab Dieng in the lower rounds.
While we're talking about the Timberwolves, did you see the Sam Cassell – Flip Saunders story that came out this summer via Zack Lowe at Grantland? Remember the 2004 Western Conference Finals when the Timberwolves faced the Lakers? It was the best chance the T-Wolves had to do something productive with a young Kevin Garnett on the roster. Well, remember the "big balls" dance Cassell would do after he hit a big shot? That's how Cassell hurt his hip and missed the WCF series. From Flip regarding Cassell's injury:
It was his hip. He made a shot out of the corner against Sacramento in Game 7 [of the conference semifinals], and he did his little Big Balls dance, and from that, he created a little avulsion fracture in his hip. No question, I think about that dance all the time.
The Josh Smith shot machine has moved on to the Clippers, my man D-Mo (Donatas Motiejunas) is having serious back problems and Jones will return to Houston's starting lineup and play major minutes. Before last year's mysterious leg issues, Jones was a monster, averaging 11.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.8 blocks in 27 minutes per game. He even chipped in a few threes. Now he's expected to be healthy by the start of the season, despite a concussion issue. Jones made it through 76 games in the 2013-14 season, he'll return to that consistency this year. Enjoy the ride.
Speaking of the Rockets and Clippers, it's hard for me to decide whose new uniforms I hate more. And I'm not sure about the new Hawks' unis either. Here is a look at all three – use the comment section to tell me which you hate the most. Peace out!
Opposing viewpoints! Are the new Atlanta Hawks uniforms ugly?: http://t.co/uFtUwsVVRZpic.twitter.com/lIv8zaLwEq
— NCHS Newspaper (@NCHSNewspaper) August 26, 2015A first look at DeAndre Jordan in our all-new uniforms. 🙌 #GearUpLAhttps://t.co/4w7PXJLaTy
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) July 21, 2015Rockets New Alternate Uniforms | The Proper Gentlemen of Sports on SportsTalk 790 http://t.co/ZZp94S55lzpic.twitter.com/Y89TWVErYF
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRRockets) September 21, 2015OK, I think Houston's are the ugliest.
