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 Jim McCormick, Kyle Soppe and Joe Kaiser.
Name a player you recommend trading away because you think his value will decline in the coming weeks.
Kyle Soppe: Probably not a popular pick given our New England location, but I'm striking while the iron is hot and moving Jayson Tatum (37th on the Player Rater).
Listen, the kid is talented and has a promising future in this league, but you're looking at an overachieving 19-year-old who is getting a lot of love, given the Celtics' 16-game win streak ... capitalize on the exposure!
Did you know that he has a higher shooting percentage from outside of 24 feet than he does from inside of eight feet? The rebounding numbers have been a bit sporadic (six games with at least eight rebounds and eight games with no more than four rebounds), and by averaging nearly 2.0 steals-plus-blocks per game, I think his value is getting close to its peak.
That's not to say you trade him for peanuts, but given his buzz (people love a player who they've yet to see fail) around him and the stats he has put up in the first month of the season, there is potential to improve your team for the rest of the season in a Tatum-centric deal.
Jim McCormick: I would look to market Darren Collison, given his early-season success still drives lofty results on the Player Rater.
The Player Rater is a simple index of value that uses a standard deviation model to reflect how well a player is producing at each statistical category relative to his position pool. Collison currently sits 10th among point guards on the Player Rater, ahead of the likes of John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Dennis Schroder and Jrue Holiday to name a few.
Collison started the season hot from the field and with an elite assist rate, but the larger career sample suggests this is merely an outlier of success that should prove unsustainable. I'd use his currently lofty perch on the Player Rater and the Pacers' surprisingly competent start to the season as marketing tools for working the trade market, as even some slight regression in assists and scoring efficiency will reveal Collison's more pedestrian career pattern.
Joe Kaiser: The player who stands out to me is LaMarcus Aldridge. His numbers (22.2 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.2 BPG) have been inflated while Kawhi Leonard is out, which is to be expected when you consider that his workload (33.2 MPG) is the highest since his final year with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2014-15.
Once Leonard returns, Aldridge's minutes, points and rebounds all stand a good chance of falling back into the range he posted last season (32.4 MPG, 17.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG), which will drop Aldridge's fantasy value from a top-30 player to someone in the 45-55 range. I'd recommend trading Aldridge now while his value is at its peak.