October 23 Fantasy Basketball Streamers: Isaiah Stewart, Dennis Schroder, Zach Edey and More
Wednesday's NBA players who are widely available and have good matchups.
Yesterday, I looked at six NBA teams who are worth targeting with fantasy players over the first few weeks of the season. Until we get five games or so from every team, it’s hard to know what to expect in terms of offensive and defensive performances. At the beginning of the year, all we have to go off is last season’s stats.
To find the teams to target, I went through 2023-24’s top 10 teams in pace and bottom 10 teams in defensive rating. I’m looking for a lot of possessions against bad defenses. Here are the six teams who were on both lists:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Detroit Pistons
- Indiana Pacers
- San Antonio Spurs
- Utah Jazz
- Washington Wizards
Five of them will probably be good targets again, but I’m skeptical about the Spurs given the presence of reigning Rookie of the Year and first-team All-Defense member Victor Wembanyama. I will tentatively target the Spurs, but that could change quickly.
Let’s run through the four opponents of our target teams who are in action on Wednesday (the Spurs and Wizards are off until Thursday). We’ll look at some of the best fantasy options who are widely available in fantasy leagues and could contribute due to the good matchups.
This is about streaming players; no one here is going to be a superstar. The margins of your roster are best used targeting the best matchups, so this is an exercise in finding the players to put in the last few spots of your lineup.
Players within positions on each team are listed in order of fantasy value. Always check inactives before game time as players will be scratched late; you don’t want someone listed here in your lineup if he ends up not playing.
Indiana Pacers @ Detroit Pistons
We’ll start with the only game to feature two of our target teams today. The Pacers were the second-fastest team and had the seventh-worst defensive rating; Detroit was ninth and sixth, respectively.
Most of the teams that end up on both lists have bad records. It makes sense that those bad teams would have the worst defenses, and speed often correlates to game situation, when the losing team needs to play faster to score more points and catch up.
The Pacers were the one oddity, as they were a playoff team and made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. They were a better defense in the second half of the season, so their defensive rating could improve, but they are going to play lightning fast and will be worth targeting.
The Pistons fit into the bad defense/play fast model and will likely continue that way. Detroit curiously signed veteran Tobias Harris to a sizeable contract, but he’s unlikely to change things too much.
Both teams were top 10 in most points allowed to shooting guards, small forwards, and power forwards, sitting more in the middle against point guards and centers. All positions are worth targeting against both teams.
Pacers’ Streamers
Guard
Forward
Center
- None
Pistons’ Streamers
Guard
Forward
Center
Brooklyn Nets @ Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks played at the sixth-fastest pace and had the fourth-worst defense. They traded Dejounte Murray and added a couple rookie rotation players, so Atlanta’s defense could be worse than last year.
Atlanta was in the top 10 in most points per game allowed to all positions except center, where they were in the middle.
Nets’ Streamers
Guard
- Dennis Schroder – Schroder is likely to put up a lot of empty stats on a bad team. He’s a guy worth keeping if you’re short at guard.
- Ben Simmons
Forward
Center
- None
Memphis Grizzlies @ Utah Jazz
The Jazz played at the 10th-fastest pace and had the worst defensive rating in basketball. There are a few names in Utah who could give hope of better days ahead, but the Jazz lack top-end talent, and they are likely to be a good fantasy target again.
Utah was in the top 10 in most points per game allowed to every position except point guard, where they were in the middle.
Grizzlies’ Streamers
Guard
Forward
Center
- Zach Edey – Edey is going to be a keeper. He will rack up stats simply due to his sheer size, and with center often the toughest position at which to find value, Edey is going to be a valuable fantasy player. Pick him up or trade for him now before his value explodes.
