Right before each fantasy sports season the site Fantasy Lounge Sports, a common name round these parts, comes out with a free fantasy draft kit for those of us who are trying to prepare for the upcoming season. They do all kinds of articles from team previews to sleepers and so on. This year I've been invited to write some of them, and to get my feet wet I chose to write a fantasy preview on my team. We all know who that is...the Golden State Warriors. So with no further adieu here is a special sneak preview of that article...
The Warriors made a plethora of moves this off-season, instigated by the departure of their star point guard Baron Davis. By opting out of his contract at the very last minute and signing with the Clippers days later, the 29-year-old point guard left a major hole for the team to fill. By playing the role of team leader, top scorer, go-to-guy, distributor, and his ability to guard off guards – allowing the lighter Monta Ellis to guard point guards – he was an invaluable member of the team.
In the wake of exit, the team went on a spending frenzy. After all the wheeling and dealing was over the
Warriors landed free agent wing man Corey Maggette and big man Ronny Turiaf. They also acquired PG Marcus Williams for
a conditional future first round draft pick. Most importantly, though,
the Warriors re-signed their pair of bright 22-year-old stars, Monta
Ellis and Andris Biedrins, to lucrative long term contracts.
Upon leaving, Baron Davis, Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes took 889 three-point attempts with them. In the Warriors shoot-first think-later offense, the remaining Warrior bombers are sure to see their share of three point shots. Expect the assist totals of Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson to go up too as they try to make up for the absence of Davis’ 7.6 APG.
Throwing another chink in the armor, Ellis is scheduled to miss at least the first month of the season with a severe ankle sprain. Marcus Williams’ draft value just shot through the roof. The 22-year-old point guard will step in and feed, dish and deliver the ball to the Warriors scorers, racking up a ton of assists in the process. C.J. Watson will likely make the squad and is Williams’ only competition for minutes on the court, but after what the Warriors gave up to get him, they will give him every possible chance for success, while evaluating him in Nelly’s system. And by the way, he already looks to be in much better shape.
Depth Chart
PG Monta Ellis / Marcus Williams
SG Corey Maggette / Kelenna Azubuike
SF Stephen Jackson / Anthony Randolph
PF Al Harrington / Brandan Wright
C Andris Biedrins / Ronny Turiaf
Value Picks
Monta Ellis The 22-year-old will slide pretty far down
fantasy draft lists, possible landing between the 5th and 6th rounds.
At that point he becomes a pretty good value pick because he has been
resilient to injury in 
the past and age always plays a factor. In the last two seasons Monta
had missed a total of six games. Upon his return, Davis’s departure
will likely lead to mixed results in his fantasy game. Many people will
find extra reason to stay away from Ellis because of his move to point
guard. Make no mistakes about it; Ellis is a scorer first and foremost.
He will still see plenty of shots, while having a reasonable boost in
assists (3.9 last season). Monta saw a lot of open shots being a major
beneficiary of Davis’s creating, so his FG% (53.1% last season) is
likely to take a hit as he is asked more to create his own shot.
Corey Maggette Last years numbers were a major boost from Maggette’s recent totals due to the injury of Elton Brand. The Warriors have 20 point scorers though and they brought him in to be just one more. He’s a lock to go to the line over 10 times a game, where he has shot nearly 82 percent for his career. His 5.6 boards from the wing position are sorely needed from one of the weakest rebounding teams in the league. Expect an extra board per game over last years totals.
Andris Biedrins
Modest improvements for the very efficient center are to be expected
this year. He led the league in FG% last year at 62.6 percent but many
of those baskets came on easy looks from Davis so you can expect a
slight dip there. His value also lies in his low TO total (1.1 per
game) and rebounding. He averaged 9.8 boards per game last year, but
was third in the league in rebounds per 48 minutes. If Biedrins can
climb into the range of 32 minutes per game, he could be a beast in the
rebounding and FG% categories, while still maintaining relatively low
turnovers. The 22-year-old Latvian worked hard the past few off-seasons
to improve from the free throw line, progressing from 30 percent in ‘05
to 52 percent in ‘06 to 62percent last year. Expect modest improvements
there
Stephen Jackson Last year Jackson put up the best fantasy numbers of his career, setting career highs in points, 3 PTM, assists, FTA, and FT%. As a result he had one of his weaker years in FG% and TO. No Baron means increased ball handling for Captain Jack, which will lead to more assists and turnovers. Most of his value lies in H2H leagues where FG% and TO play less of a factor and the cumulative cats are more valuable.
Free Agent Additions / New Additions
Ronny Turiaf This will most certainly be Ronny’s best year as a pro barring injury. Last season he was fifth in the league in blocks per 48 minutes and just think…a high-energy power forward coming to a fast paced team in desperate need of a big man. Sounds like a great situation. While he might not be the rebounding big the team needed (only 3.9 per game last year) he will be a huge source of blocks given adequate minutes, which he will certainly see next season.
Marcus Williams
You can basically throw all of Williams’ old stats out of the window
because under Don Nelson anything can happen. Once Ellis returns, he’ll
need to learn how to defend off guards to earn court time. He’s the
team’s biggest wild card this year because from the look of things he
could either end up in Nelson’s doghouse where it’s very hard to get
out (ask Al Harrington) or he could fill the needed role of true point
guard and see a glut of minutes.
Rookies
Anthony Randolph In summer-league the 6’10” raw product out of LSU put on a show, averaging 19.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in eight games, while being the Warriors primary ball handler. The Warriors have said this year they are looking to give their young guys more PT. Coupling that with his game you’ll see he has a better chance for big minutes than Brandan Wright did last year. If he can get upwards of 20 minutes per game he could be worth a look in deeper leagues. Expect a good FT% (82.2% on 73 attempts in summer-league) but a high TO rate as well.
Richard Hendrix He is the banger on the boards the Warriors needed. Don’t expect much fantasy production at all here. Hendrix likely won’t crack the rotation at any point this year and when he does play he won’t average more than 10 MPG.
Projected Stats
Monta Ellis – 51 FG% / 77 FT% / 0.4 3PG / 22.5 PPG / 4.9 RPG / 5.8 APG / 1.7 SPG / 0.3 BPG / 2.6 TO
Corey Maggette – 45 FG% / 82 FT% / 1.4 3PG / 21.5 PPG / 6.0 RPG / 3.0 APG / 1.0 SPG / 0.2 BPG / 2.5 TO
Stephen Jackson – 42 FG% / 83 FT% / 2.1 3PG / 19.6 PPG / 4.1 RPG / 4.7 APG / 1.3 SPG / 0.4 BPG / 2.6 TO
Al Harrington – 45 FG% / 74 FT% / 2.1 3PG / 14.7 PPG / 5.6 RPG / 1.8 APG / 0.9 SPG / 0.3 BPG / 1.5 TO
Andris Biedrins – 59 FG% / 66 FT% / 0.0 3PG / 12.3 PPG / 10.4 RPG / 0.9 APG / 0.7 SPG / 1.9 BPG / 1.6 TO
Ronny Turiaf – 48 FG% / 73 FT% / 0.0 3PG / 10.0 PPG / 5.7 RPG / 2.8 APG / 0.4 SPG / 1.8 BPG / 1.2 TO
Kelenna Azubuike – 46 FG% / 74 FT% / 1.1 3PG / 9.5 PPG / 4.5 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.6 SPG / 0.3 BPG / 0.8 TO
Marcus Williams – 42 FG% / 79 FT% / 1.8 3PG / 8.7 PPG / 2.7 RPG / 4.8 APG / 0.7 SPG / 0.1 BPG / 2.1 TO
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