Angle Fantasy Basketball

As free agency begins to round out, I’ve narrowed down several players that to me seem to be primed for either a breakout or an entire season of fantasy relevance. Outside of the obvious ones like Chris Paul or Isaiah Hartenstein, I’m focusing more on some under the radar guys that not many people seem to be talking about.

1. Ricky Council IV

There is massive hole at guard for the 76ers. Yes, Kelly Oubre is back. Yes, they drafted Jared McCain. And I know Lowry is a strong candidate to return. However, Cameron Payne seems to not be returning, and De’Anthony Melton has moved on to Golden State. There is a significant chunk of minutes primed for the taking, and I think Ricky Council IV is ready for the opportunity. After being on a two-way contract for the majority of the season, Ricky Council played his way into a full NBA contract signing a 4 year, 7.6 million dollar deal with the Sixers after averaging 5.4/1.5/0.5 on 48% shooting, appearing in 32 games, and averaging 9 minutes per game.

I am aware that those stats do not jump off the page, but Council took advantage of every opportunity he was given, with the month of February being his strongest.

After scoring 17 points in 10 minutes on Feb 17, Council would go on to play over 20 minutes on 2/10, 2/12/, and 2/14, putting up an awesome stat line each time, including almost a 19/10 double double.

Council is an explosive athlete. He’s 6’5, over 200 lbs, and is a score first guard who regularly slams down explosive dunks. In the G-League he averaged 23/5/2.5 in 32 minutes per game last season. In college, he wasn’t much of a volume 3 point shooter, shooting just 27% on 3.5 attempts per game at his last season at Arkansas, but it seems like something has clicked for him in the NBA, as he shot 35% on 5.5 attempts per game in the G League, and 37% from 3 in his limited NBA action.

Council is not going to be a top 100 guy, but I think there’s an actual chance he’s very relevant in even 12 teams as a streamer. In terms of fantasy output, think Alec Burks but a slightly better rebounder.

2. Delon Wright

Delon Wright has been one of my favorite players for a long time. Perpetually undervalued by NBA teams, Delon is an incredible defender, and an elite bench piece for any team that has any aspirations of winning. Some of you may remember how good Delon was in Detroit a couple years ago, as well as his first season in Washington in 22-23. He is an elite streamer for guard stats on nights where he was in line for 20+ minutes, and after seeing what kind of role Patrick Beverley played for Milwaukee last year, I think Delon is primed for one of the best seasons of his career. He had the second highest steal rate in all of the NBA last season. He is one of the best at reading passing lanes and is an absolute menace off the ball.

Patrick Beverley averaged 21 minutes per game for the Bucks last season, and Delon will just slide directly into that role. With Lillard aging, and the Bucks being as shallow as they are, Delon has the ability to make his way closer to 22-23 minutes per game. Delon Wright finished #115 in 9 cat leagues with 24 mpg in ’22-’23 with Washington with averages of 7.4/3.6/3.9 and 1.8 steals per game. I don’t think he’ll average 4 assists, it’ll likely be closer to 3, but the steal rate has made him a worthy streamer for years now.

To me, he is a shoe-in to finish in the top 150, and on nights where the Bucks are down Lillard or Giannis, he has the potential for some really exciting stat lines. That’s nothing crazy, but I’d wager he’s under 5% owned in redrafts this coming season, and I think he’s definitely going to be a top tier streamer at worst, and in deeper leagues, somebody who you definitely should seek out to sneak onto your roster on draft night.

3. Dario Saric

A mainstay buy of my early season buy & sell lists, The Homie is back with a vengeance. With Denver being a little more shallower, the more obvious pickups right now would be Christian Braun (who is likely starting moving forward), and Peyton Watson. But those are obvious, and are the sexier picks here. I really wanted to highlight Dario here because of just how useful he was for the Warriors early in the season. He was a perfect punt blocks big or a big for guard heavy builds averaging 10/5.5/2.6 with 1.5 3PM on 48% shooting in 20 MPG up until about Jan 30, which is when he started to fall out of the rotation. Seeing his playing time dip in the second half of the season was quite the shame, although understandable with the Warriors wanting to prioritize minutes for other players and with the front court being a little crowded. What I really like about this Denver landing spot is his only competition for minutes is the corpse of Deandre Jordan, and Zeke Nnaji, who struggled so much at times that Denver was forced to play DJ.

Another resounding endorsement for Dario here is that he somehow was able to secure himself more than the vet min, signing a 2 year/$10.6m contract with a player option on the back half! This signifies to me that he is going to be a massive part of this bench unit that they are trying to cobble together, both as a direct backup to Jokic, and also some minutes playing the 4. 20 MPG is a very realistic range for him and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume he can get back to those averages from the first half of the season in Golden State, even with the high usage guys he’s playing next to in Denver.

My projection for Dario is something like 8.5/5/2.5 with 1.3 3PG. It’s not nothing, and can be useful on the right squads with the splash of out of position assists on a nightly basis. This is somebody I really like on your bench on draft night in deeper leagues as well, just like Delon. My assumption would be he may be off people’s radars after his lackluster finish. This isn’t a league winner guy, but he’s somebody that can help you get there on the right team.