The Fantasy Basketball Vibe Check: Is Jalen Williams playing his means to four-position qualification?

Welcome to the Fantasy Vibe Check– your location to air vent concerning the highs, lows and head-scratchers from the NBA and dream basketball. We do not have a great deal of information to reference when resolving the victories or airing of complaints, however it’s been 3 weeks, which suffices to talk on a couple of gamers and their efficiencies.

Check out that I’m vibing with, and allow me recognize in the remarks or @DanTitus concerning what’s obtained you hyped, crazy and interested when it involves dream basketball.

I’m hyped concerning the Emirates NBA Cup

Formerly the in-season event, team bet the Emirates NBA Cup suggestions off tonight and will certainly run every Tuesday and Friday via December 3. While it might look like a newfangled collection of occasions, in 2015’s experience was a very easy W for the organization and followers. According to Evan Wasch, NBA exec vice head of state of NBA basketball method and analytics, ball games for team play were closer than the ordinary NBA video game, television rankings were 18% greater than regular-season video games, participation was greater as confirmed by last November damaging organization documents and social media sites interaction was “off the charts.” The schedule ducks the major NFL nights, and with re-designed courts and new rivalries shaping across groups, it’ll make for a more competitive and exciting on-court product.

So, how does this translate to fantasy? Well, the stars showed up last year and in most cases, were more productive during NBA Cup group play than the rest of the season.

Players in the 23-24 NBA regular season who:

• Averaged at least 30 ppg: 4

• Averaged at least 25 ppg: 18

• Averaged at least 50 fp/g: 7

• Averaged at least 40 fp/g: 32

• Averaged at least 30 fp/g: 88

Players in the 23-24 NBA In-season tournament who:

• Averaged at least 30 ppg: 9 (+5)

• Averaged at least 25 ppg: 22 (+4)

• Averaged at least 50 fp/g: 12 (+5)

• Averaged at least 40 fp/g: 33 (+1)

• Averaged at least 30 fp/g: 89 (+1)

Whether it’s the monetary incentive or bragging rights, if a 39-year-old LeBron James wants to compete at a high enough level to capture the inaugural In-Season Tournament MVP, then we can expect the bar to remain high during its second iteration. The Emirates Cup will be great to watch, and fantasy managers will also reap the benefits.

😡 I’m mad about Mikal Bridges not getting to the line

I have a few shares of Bridges this season and noticed that his free throw attempts are pacing to a career-low at 0.9 per game. It’s been nine games, so it feels too early to proclaim that he can’t increase his volume from the line. But that, of course, requires him to draw more foul calls.

According to Pivot Fade, Bridges’ game has thrived primarily as a jump shooter. He routinely ranks between the 80th and 90th percentiles in the mid-range, edge fours, catch-and-shoot possibilities and pull-ups.

Taking that additionally, he’s had the ability to attract shooting fouls in various ways throughout his occupation, and generally, he’s had the ability to do it at an 8.5-13% price. However, that number dipped to 3% in 9 video games so far. He’s capturing 0.066 free-throws per shot attempt, which is far below his previous career low of .183 in his fourth NBA season.

Fantasy managers with Bridges in 9-cat leagues were likely banking on his career 84% free-throw shooting as a floor-raiser for that category. Still, the lack of volume neutralizes any perceived gain. Unsurprisingly, his scoring is down to 15 points per game. Although, when evaluating Bridges’ underlining shooting numbers, he’s not far off from his 2022-23 campaign with the Phoenix Suns. The missing piece is the free-throw component. If he can get that up to three per contest and hit them at his career average, he’ll be closer to a top-40 player than his current 91st standing in 9-cat leagues. Raising that 3-point percentage would help, too.

🤔 I’m curious about if Jalen Williams will become a four-position player

Thanks to @Jalves_82 on X for prompting me to think about this topic. I can’t recall a player qualifying and obtaining four-position eligibility in fantasy basketball. Alas, in the wake of Chet Holmgren’s injury, Jalen Williams started at center on Monday, and Cleaning the Glass has him logging 87 possessions at center and 12% of his minutes coming at center as of Tuesday. Remember, Yahoo doesn’t remove any position once granted, so there’s a legitimate chance for Jalen Williams to get SG, SF, PF and C in Yahoo. Let’s discuss the criteria for granting a new position for a second.

Without going into great detail, it’s basically the Coca-Cola recipe (thanks, Dr. A, lol). The Yahoo product and customer care teams use several software tools and data sources to verify and assign players new positions.

Williams’ situation is interesting because if Isaiah Hartenstein isn’t ready to return next month and the Thunder continue starting Williams at center like they did on Monday, the case could be made if he hits 10 games playing center. That would make J-Dub the new cheat code — a player who can potentially start in four of five spots in your fantasy basketball lineup.