The sleeper is Batum. Most of us thought he'd be in the NBADL this year. I would think if you are a fantasy league player, he'd be a great pickup in the last round because nobody knows anything about him. Bayless probably doesn't get more than 7-10 mpg this season. Given that there are two combo guards far superior to him and actually fit the team makeup better (Roy, Fernandez), I think you have to look at him as the dud for this season. Somebody on this team is going to perform way below general expectations (somebody always does), and Bayless looks to be the candidate. Call me a wild-eyed optimist, but I think the hottest debate by midseason is whether Rudy or Roy is the better guard of the future.
No way... having those two on the floor together will be what we need to win the title, along with Aldridge and Oden. The only question is who our fifth guy will be on the floor, do we need another PG (Blake) or an SF (Webster, Outlaw or Batum)? And we need Rudy to prove that he can hold up over 82 games plus playoffs because he is a little skinny and will take a lot of bumps this season.
You're a wild-eyed optimist. Maybe I'm a closed-minded pessimist, but I'm not buying the Rudy hype just yet. He's slight and he's subject to a lot of mistakes... Roy, on the other hand, is more controlled and has a body that (at least on paper) should hold up better to the rigors of an NBA season and career. Ed O.
I just got a feeling in my gut. Twice in the past I've made such bold predictions about players, long before I'd really had a lot of evidence to go on. Zach Randolph in his very first season. Brandon Roy right after his first summer league. Seems like every year one or two guys emerge out of nowhere and become the Hot New Thing in the league. I really think Fernandez is going to be one of those guys. Now comparing him to Roy, I'm not terribly worried that he's less controlled than Roy. Really, is there another guard in the league who better exhibits the word "control"? I'm not even too worried about Fernandez's frame. Guys like Rip Hamilton and Allen Iverson have proven you don't have to be 230 lbs to make it in the league. (Fernandez better bulk up some, though, if he wants to continue attacking the rim.) It's Rudy's passing and shooting that I think will lift him into that debate. He has the potential to be one of the very elite perimeter shooters in the game, combined with the potential to be the best passing shooting guard in the game. You add those two things together, and you've got somebody who really could be better than Roy.
You obviously didn't see the Sac game. This guy has game, not just flash. You can tell when somebody has court vision and basketball IQ. He has it all.
I'm not so sure about that. You have to realize that he won't average many points and probably not that many rebounds. While he has shown the ability to shoot the 3, his percentages are going to be crap. Also, even if he's a lockdown defender that means he might be above average in steals or blocks. At a potent position like SF on fantasy rosters, that's not the kind of talent you want to put out there. A few years ago I said that James Jones and Raja Bell were good sleepers as it was their first year in the Phoenix offense. You need a player with more minutes and opportunities than Batum will get. IMO, if a player doesn't average 25 minutes per game (and that is a low minimum, I prefer 30+) he is probably not startable in a standard fantasy league. And yes, I do know what I'm talking about.
I kind of like the fact that a lot of people are probably sleeping on Batum right now. While he may not be the most gifted player on the offensive end, he could end up having a bigger overall impact than most anticipate.
