Fantasy Basketball 2016: Top NBA Player Rankings and Underrated Sleepers

The 2016-17 NBA season finally gets underway Tuesday night. By now, you’ve read all that there is to read on the internet.

There has been a litany of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant profiles for your perusal. The Utah Jazz are the belle of basketball Twitter’s ball. Kris Dunn is rapidly becoming an early favorite for Rookie of the Year. The Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers may be half of a dumpster fire this season.

Oh, and fantasy basketball is happening.

By now, most leagues have already run their drafts. But for those remaining stragglers who haven’t or are for some reason waiting for the Halloween weekend, here is a look at some potential sleepers to target and rankings for every position.

Sleepers to Target D’Angelo Russell, PG/SG, Los Angeles Lakers

It’s unfair to call a second-year player a sleeper. Guys typically make massive leaps between Year 1 and Year 2. Grading on a regular performance curve, something like 17 points, five assists and five rebounds with a pair of threes per game seems like a bare-minimum expectation for Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell this season.

But there’s reason to hope for more. Gone are Kobe Bryant and former head coach Byron Scott, who seemed at times determined to not allow Russell to blossom. Bryant hogged a ton of shots that should have gone to developing players, while Scott was the worst coach in professional basketball last year. His antagonistic relationship with Russell alone seemed like a fireable offense.

Luke Walton, a players-first guy who absorbed Steve Kerr’s philosophies during his stint as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors, has replaced Scott. Walton’s fluid style of basketball should open things up for Russell, a left-handed Brandon Roy clone with a …

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