Alright, fantasy basketball fans it’s time to for my latest installment of my GF2 team previews. In my latest NBA preview, we’re going to take a closer look at a very intriguing team, the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans made waves last season and are expected to be even better this year. Star power forward Anthony Davis is by far my favorite guy this year for fantasy, so we’ll stray away from discussing his absolute greatness. We’re going to look at three guys who I have rostered over the last few years who all have tremendous upside.
Keep your eye on each of these Pelicans who should be flying high in 2015-16. So here we go, my New Orleans team preview:
Tyreke Evans, PG
Evans has been a big part of some of my fantasy teams over the last few seasons. He’s a solid player in tons of different kinds of categories and can really shine for the Pelicans this year. Last season, Evans had a nice stat line of 16.6 points, 6.6 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game. He’s a player that can score you that rare triple-double type of game for a small forward sized guy. Coach Gentry has officially moved Evans over to point guard, which I think will greatly impact his value. As a point guard, Evans should rack up even more assists during the season.
Evans does have some consistency issues that hopefully he can fix this upcoming year. Turnovers are the big hole in Evans’ game, this is something that the coaching staff will be targeting during the off-season. Just last year, Evans averaged a treacherous 3.1 turnovers per game, I’d like to see this number decrease, but it doesn’t ever make me shy away from him in drafts. Overall, like most years if I can get my hands on this guy in my drafts, he will be a part of my fantasy squad.
Fantasy Prediction for 2015-16:
17.5 points, 8 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game
Jrue Holiday, PG
So as we discussed above, Evans has been moved over to point guard for the upcoming year so what does that mean for Holiday? I honestly think that it could be a good thing for him because less pressure will surround him. Holiday had a nice season a year ago, posting stats of 14.8 points, 6.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He also shot very accurately from the free-throw line, averaging 85 percent for the year. Holiday also always looks good in the field goal percentage category, making 44 percent of his attempts.
Over the last two seasons, Holiday had a tough time battling serious injuries that have held him out of games for long periods of time. Holiday missed 42 games because of a stress reaction injury in his right leg. This leg injury has haunted him for two seasons now and the team is hoping that this last surgery fixed the problem. It’s been said that Holiday’s minutes could be shortened a bit, but he is still a solid play and has a great shot at making my fantasy team during 2015-16.
Fantasy Prediction for 2015-16:
15.5 points, 7.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game
Ryan Anderson, PF
Unfortunately for Anderson he has to back up the best power forward in the game in Davis. He still has excellent upside because of his sheer consistency on the basketball court. The thing that I enjoy most about Anderson is his ability to really shoot the ball, last year he shot 48 percent from the field and 85 percent on free throws. On any given night, Anderson can get hot and sink a ton of three-pointers. If he continues to put up consistent fantasy stats this year then there’s no reason not to scoop him up in your drafts.
Last season, Anderson contributed for the Pelicans in all types of ways, averaging 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. These are solid numbers with the amount of minutes given to him on a nightly basis. In 61 games played last season, Anderson averaged 27.5 minutes per game. I hope to see these minutes increase a bit this year because the team isn’t super deep at the power forward/center position. Overall, this will once again be a year where you should roster Anderson with confidence that he’ll contribute in all types of fantasy categories.
Fantasy Prediction for 2015-16:
14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game
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