Cleveland Cavaliers Roster Fantasy Basketball Projection 2014

I love Fantasy Sports and obviously Cavaliers Fantasy Basketball.

There’s just this thrilling feeling of opening up an ESPN fantasycast and seeing the players with their names highlighted in yellow propelling your team to a W (or to the top of a category, if you’re a rotisserie type of guy). It’s fun talking trash to your friends, and it’s fun giving your team goofy names. But with the hype around Fantasy Football, there’s just not a lot of love for Fantasy Basketball.

Fear not, though, because with the season (surprisingly) right around the corner, here at KJG I’ve compiled what to (roughly) expect from the Wine & Gold in the fantasy department this year. While definitely as clear-cut as last year, where Irving was head-and-shoulders above all his teammates, it’ll be fun to try to project how this team will distribute the scoring, and what it’ll mean from a fantasy perspective. Let’s get to it.

LeBron James:

We all know how good he is, so let’s try to be a little critical here. LeBron is nearing his 30s, has seen his blocks go to nil, and saw his rebounding numbers drop off greatly. He’s coming to a team that is even deeper than the one he played on last year, and may see his minutes diminish if he’s involved in a bunch of blowouts. His FG% has been going up, but may have plateaued. His supporting cast is not only deep but arguably the best he’s had, meaning he’ll have the ball in his hands even less. The point of this isn’t to roast LeBron (it’s not like he left for 4 years or anything)but rather to say that perhaps he’s not the top-overall fantasy guy anymore. Heck, he might not even be top 3; After Durant, I think people will have a hard choice on whether they’d like to have LeBron over Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry. Nevertheless, LeBron remains near the top of the fantasy food chain, due to his production across the board and remarkable durability. Just don’t be expecting a historically good year.

Fantasy stock change from last year: down (rotisserie leagues), down (head-to-head points/total points leagues)

How he contributes:
Points, rebounds, assists, FG%, FT%, steals, 3PM

Kevin Love:

In Chris Bosh’s final year in Toronto, he averaged 24 Pts, 10.8 boards, and 2.4 assists per game. In his first season in Miami, he averaged 18.7 Pts, 8.3 boards, and 1.9 assists. While it’s not fair to simply say that Love will have the exact same decline in numbers, some sort of drop-off is almost inevitable, if for no other reason than because his minutes will decline. I don’t buy into Tristan Thompson, being the young talent that he is, only getting about 10 – 12 minutes per game just because Love is here. If Andy doesn’t hold up then Loves’ usage would rocket, but as things are now, I’m really iffy on spending a top-10 pick on him. Some will argue that Love is somewhat compensated for his loss in volume by an increased FG%, but I’m not sure that this is a given; Bosh’s FG% actually dropped off over 20 points in his first year in Miami. I’m aware I’m being uber-critical here, but with all the new weapons, I think (emphasis on think) that with the new offense, he’s not worth the pick over guys like DeMarcus Cousins, Al Jefferson, and LaMarcus Aldridge, and so while he may be great for the Cavs, I’m not sure he’s worth the investment for your fantasy team.

Stock change from last year: down (rotisserie), down (points)

How he contributes:
Points, rebounds, assists, FT%, 3PM

Kyrie Irving:

Gosh do I worry about Irving; not necessarily even from a fantasy perspective, but from an overall “can he play a full season” perspective. The poor guy is always hurt, it’s always something different, and it’s frustrating to see such a talent and overall awesome guy being limited by his health. From a pure fantasy perspective, however, I think (emphasis on think) Irving will be the guy least affected by all the Cavs big acquisitions; despite the mad influx of players, the backcourt is still pretty thin, so Irving’s play time may not be cut as some other guys’ might. While his volume of shots may go down, his FG% should go up, as should his chances to get other guys in the offense involved (leading me to believe he’ll have improved assist numbers). If he can stay healthy, I actually like his fantasy prospects this year, but with so much speculation as to how much of the load each guy will be taking on this offense, whether he’s worth the pick over guys like Damian Lillard, Ty Lawson, and Kyle Lowry remains to be seen.

Stock change from last year: slightly up (rotisserie), down (points)

how he contributes:
Points, FG% (slightly), FT%, assists, steals, 3PM

Anderson Varejao:

Ehhh, I’m not touching Andy this year. He might end up being productive, but the risk with his health is wayyyy too high to justify taking him when his counting stats are almost certainly going to take a hit. Where he’s ranked right now, he’s being taken around the same time that guys like Enes Kanter, Larry Sanders, and Andrew Bogut are going off the board. While there is definitely risk involved with all three other big guys, I believe each has upside that Andy doesn’t possess, and at the point in the draft where you’re considering taking Varejao, you’re more or less drafting on upside anyway. I’ve loved what Andy has brought to the Cavs for years, but the former double-double machine may have his best fantasy days behind him.

Stock change from last year: down (rotisserie), down (points)

how he contributes:
Rebounds, FG%, steals

Dion Waiters:

A lot of people are very sour on Waiters’ fantasy prospects this year, but I’m actually quite intrigued on what kind of role he’ll play in this offense. Despite the Cavs’ massive talent influx, they still remain quite thin at SG, with only Matthew Dellavedova and Joe Harris currently backing up Dion. In addition, you have to think that with all the attention that is going to be paid to James, Love, and Irving that the attention on them, paired with their passing ability, it will open up a boatload of open looks for Waiters. While he may not get many chances for boards or assists, he’s not really known for that anyway, and without a cut in minutes, I think Waiters could score at close to the same clip he did last year, and perhaps boost his FG% too. In that way, his stock may actually rise this year, despite being the fourth option on the team. He probably won’t be a consistent option, but he may have stretches where he gets hot and becomes a viable starter for a couple weeks.

Stock change from last year: up (rotisserie), down (points)

how he contributes:
Points

Tristan Thompson:

Sometimes things that you can’t really control just don’t go your way. You can’t really blame anybody, but sometimes unfortunate events occur that adversely affect you, and there’s really nothing you can do about it. Some people call this, “getting the shaft”. Guys, Tristan Thompson really got the shaft this offseason; after a very successful year in which he played over 30 MPG, became a double-double machine, and increased his FT% by 85 points after a switch in shooting hands, the Cavs go out and land one of the premier PFs in the game, leaving Thompson only the scraps in playing time, and in doing so, completely demolishing Thompson’s fantasy value. The only real value Thompson has now is as a potential handcuff to Kevin Love owners, if you’re league has rosters big enough to justify using a roster spot on a handcuff.

Stock change from last year: way down (rotisserie), plummeted (points)

how he contributes:
Points, rebounds

Shawn Marion:

Shockingly, Marion is still plugging away at age 36, and not only that, but maintaining a high-level of play, averaging 31.7 MPG last year. His fantasy stock obviously enters free-fall having to play behind LeBron James, but he may warrant usage as a handcuff due to his defensive abilities and surprisingly adequate Pts, FG%, and FT% abilities. Not that LeBron typically gets injured, but, you never know…

Stock change from last year: rock-bottom, unless LeBron gets hurt.

Mike Miller:

If he plays, he can still shoot 3’s I guess.

Stock change from last year: none

how he contributes:
THA 3-BALL BABAYYY

Brendan Haywood:

Haywood is actually a little bit interesting due to the injury history of Varejao. He’s not worth drafting unless your league is egregiously deep, but he may be worth monitoring on the waiver wire in case the injury bug bites the Cavs’ bigs again. Of course, he’s trying to overcome his own injury problems (foot) himself.
Stock change from last year: Up (rotisserie), Up (points)

Matthew Dellavedova:

If scrappiness was a rotisserie category his value would be much higher. As it is now, however, Delly’s fantasy value is almost nil as long as the guys around him are healthy. He should stay in the rotation, however so if anybody gets hurt he might replicate his post all-star break performance, where he was able to provide 3’s and assists to fantasy owners.

Stock change from last year: down (rotisserie), down (points)

how he contributes:
3PM, assists.