2012 - 2013 NBA PREVIEW:
Top 10 Fantasy Basketball Busts
What makes up a fantasy basketball bust? Well, there's a few things...Players who are expected to have a big year and fail to live up to expectations, or someone who just flames out entirely and finds themselves with a whole lot of bench time. Most importantly though, it's essentially a player who you draft with the intention of playing, and they end up letting you down big time.
Here are our predictions for the Top 10 NBA Fantasy Basketball Busts for 2012-2013. Use our list to avoid bust players when playing Daily Fantasy Basketball contests for real cash.
Andrew Bogut (C - Golden State Warriors)
Bogut is slated to get a ton of run with his new team - the Golden State Warriors. But their run and gun offense features a whole lot of work for the shooters and David Lee. I don't expect Bogut to stay healthy the whole year and he'll end up being a back-up fantasy option and therefore a fantasy bust.
Jeremy Lin (PG - Houston Rockets)
Now it's important to note that this doesn't mean that Lin won't have a solid season... He's just overhyped and is going to be drafted far too high and used too often in daily fantasy basketball games. His options with the Rockets aren't nearly as strong as they were in New York, and I think he was in a better system for his fantasy value when playing with the Knicks.
Dirk Nowitzki (PF - Dallas Mavericks)
I simply think that Dirk is getting drafted too high. He started last year incredibly slow before getting it going later on, and this year I think that he's going to struggle a bit more as he gets older. Dirk will still get a lot of looks, but the team is going to take a step back this year, even more so than they did last year. He could end up being the biggest fantasy bust of the 2012-2013 NBA season.
Zach Randolph (PF - Memphis Grizzlies)
The argument on Zach Randolph is that if you look outside of last season, he's a double-double machine. This is true, but last season is telling in the fact that Randolph isn't the same player he used to be. Fantasy owners are going to use the same mindset and draft him too high, and he'll end up being mediocre like last season.
Amare Stoudemire (PF - New York Knicks)
Stoudemire has failed to impress from a fantasy perspective, and that will roll into this coming season. Even though he hasn't been an incredible option for fantasy basketball players, this doesn't mean that they still aren't overdrafting him. He's going to be a fantasy bust yet again in 2012-2013, so stay away.
Paul Pierce (SF - Boston Celtics)
Pierce is getting older and slowly starting to show his age, but still was producing for the most part last season. I think that the Celtics gameplan is going to change drastically this season though, and that they are going to work the Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett connection. Pierce won't be the same type of player he was before.
Tyreke Evans (SG - Sacramento Kings)
I don't get what happened to Evans - he had a ton of upside and looked great to start off his career, but maybe he's just not a fit with the Kings. Everyone is going to expect him to rebound, but I'm not one of those people. Evans is going to be a fantasy bust this season, so don't overdraft him and avoid him regularly in daily fantasy games.
Anthony Davis (PF - New Orleans Hornets)
Rookies aren't often considered busts in the NBA, but his ceiling is SO high that people are expecting Davis to come in and absolutely dominate, and I just can't see that happening. The NBA is a different game than the NCAA college game is, and just because you're 7 feet tall doesn't mean that you're going to be able to dominant inside right away like he did in college.
Trevor Ariza (SF - Washington Wizards)
Ariza is either going to be a stat stuffer one game, or will be one of those players that you don't even realize is on the floor the next - a fantasy nightmare. Unfortunately, I think there will be more games where we don't even realize he's out there, and that's bad news for fantasy basketball owners and disaster for daily fantasy players.
Jeff Teague (PG - Atlanta Hawks)
I'm not buying into Jeff Teague just yet. He was great at times last season, but just like Ariza above, he had more games where he struggled and couldn't get it going offensively. That's a scary thing in the fantasy basketball world and makes me want to avoid Teague if he's drafted too highly. If people let him fall a bit, then sure, I'll give it a shot, but I smell fantasy bust here.
