Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we pose a question to a panel of ESPN fantasy basketball experts to gauge their thoughts on a hot topic.
Today's contributors are ESPN Fantasy's Joe Kaiser, Jim McCormick, André Snellings, John Cregan and Kyle Soppe.
The NCAA tournament provides an opportunity for fantasy managers to scout talent we'll soon see in the NBA draft. Which player are you most excited to watch from a fantasy futures perspective in the tourney and why?
Joe Kaiser: I'm watching Deandre Ayton of the Arizona Wildcats. Physically, he looks a bit like Houston's Clint Capela to me, and in the Pac-12 he has been able to separate himself with his size and athleticism. I am hearing so much hype about him being a lock as the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NBA draft and a future All-Star with Hall of Fame potential. That's a lot of hyperbole. I want to see how he's going to play against the elite teams in the NCAA. Can he dominate in the same way he did against small Pac-12 frontlines like ASU and Washington?
Jim McCormick: Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Michigan State Spartans went from being a fringe lottery pick late last summer to a legitimate candidate for a top-three pick by March. Jackson's unique "3 and D" profile is tantalizing for fantasy basketball upside. I'm interested in how Jackson responds as a relatively high-usage contributor for the Spartans (usage rate of 23 percent). Since 2009-10, Jackson is the only player in college hoops to sustain a true shooting rate of .650, a block percentage of at least 14 percent and a 3-point clip of at least 39 percent. Once he acclimates to the league, I can envision Jackson performing like Shawn Marion in his prime -- sans the funky release -- or perhaps a savvier Andre Kirilenko.
André Snellings: I'm most looking forward to seeing Trae Young of the Oklahoma Sooners. I've been hearing about him all season, and keep hearing that he could be the "next Stephen Curry". I'm not looking for him to be that, but the NBA is set up so that players with that kind of skill set -- great shooting, great ball-handling, strong passing -- have the potential for dominance. Thus, I'm curious to see if his game lives up to that level of hype. He seemed to fade a bit in the second half of the season, but the NCAA tournament is an opportunity for a strong offensive guard to get hot and carry his team through multiple rounds. I saw Curry do that when he was in college at Davidson, and want to see if Young really has that type of game.
John Cregan: As a rule, I'll always gravitate towards rookie guards over big men, so put me down for Trae Young in the tournament as well. He's faded a bit down the stretch, but his 3s and steals potential could make him a fantasy sleeper -- depending on fit. ESPN's latest mock draft predicts Young will land with the point guard-starved New York Knicks, which would be a great fantasy opportunity for any incoming floor general.
Kyle Soppe: There are a handful of elite prospects that everyone is well aware of, and while I will be watching those guys, they really don't have a ton to prove to me. I have no doubt that both Deandre Ayton and Duke's Marvin Bagley III and will be able to produce the second they step on an NBA court. My opinion of them isn't going to change regardless of what they do over the next two weeks.
I will, however, be watching those Duke Blue Devils games carefully, as Wendell Carter Jr. stands to gain some value over his final days on campus. He's a 6-foot-10 athlete who has flashed the sort of inside-out game that provides fantasy goodness. See his 9.3 rebounds per game while also shooting 46.2 percent on his limited number of tries from distance. I think many fantasy NBA players are so caught up in Bagley that Carter's potential could be overlooked. He's going to be a lottery pick and, given that I think Duke makes a deep run, I'm going to take advantage of the last game film we will get on Carter before having to form my final opinion on him.
