Fantasy Basketball - Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama highlights Rookies to Watch in 2023

Dan Titus and Justin Henry talk about some rookies worth keeping an eye on this season.

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DAN TITUS: Let's talk about some rookies, man. And at top of mind, we've got to talk about Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren. Which one do you like for fantasy purposes?

JUSTIN HENRY: I'm just going to take the better player in the situation where they're grooming him to be the guy, right? Victor Wembanyama, obviously, we know all the alien stuff, LeBron talking about him being an alien, a unicorn. Whatever you want to call him, he's a freak of nature, plays like a guard as a big.

But the one difference between him and Chet is that this team is invested in him being the guy. Victor Wembanyama is being groomed to be the future of the league, let alone the Spurs. And so I think with a team that has less weapons, there's more opportunity in a rookie year.

Chet Holmgren, they can play with kid gloves. And I think that when you got a guy like Josh Giddey, you got an MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, there's other pieces on this team. And the Thunder can kind of slow roll him into the season.

Pop's going to put Wemby-- I think he's going to be out there. I'm taking Wembanyama even at a two, three-round cost ahead of time-- or ahead of Chet's place.

DAN TITUS: You're not lying because you took him third round in one of our recent industry mocks. So I like-- I like the conviction there. Now, you used-- you used one word a couple times, groom. That's the concern I have about Wemby. He's going to be groomed. It's going to be taking time. He's got to get adjusted to his game, and the physicality of the game.

Chet's already been watching on the sidelines for a year. I think this man's ready to go on an ascending Oklahoma City Thunder team that's absolutely going to cook. And you're right, there's a lot of talent around him. But if we're looking at the skill set, these guys are pretty similar. They're going to score. They're going to rebound. They're going to block shots.

And if I can get Chet two rounds later, I'm all in. I'm going to-- I'm going to pick Chet in this situation, but definitely get the argument for the alien, the generational freak, the-- however you want to describe Wembanyama, man. This guy is going to take the NBA basketball world by storm.

JUSTIN HENRY: I ain't going to lie, half the reason you got to take him in the third round is just to say you have him on your fantasy team.

DAN TITUS: Exactly.

JUSTIN HENRY: It's the wild ride. We have no clue what to expect. I'm expecting fireworks, baby.

DAN TITUS: So what are you expecting-- we just talked about Portland. What are you expecting out of Scoot now that Dame Lillard's out of the way? Like, are you expecting him to just be the guy right away, like, he's got the keys to the offense, to the franchise?

Like, this Portland Trail Blazers team, they also have a little bit of talent there. But how are you expecting him to kind of adjust in year one?

JUSTIN HENRY: They do. And he's a dog. Like, don't get it twisted. Scoot Henderson is a dog in real life. But when it comes to our fantasy teams, I think we've got to peel back the expectations a little bit.

This is a team that does have some veterans in place and is rebuilding, right? They just invested-- we talked about the trade at length. Deandre Ayton is going to be a part of this team now. Obviously, Anfernee Simons is there.

But then when we take a look at his usage, and even in the G League, he's not a great efficiency player. And I think that's where in specifically in head to head leagues, we're going to see a little bit of a falloff here.

I kind of compare it to, like, Jaden Ivey, right, somebody who's in the lower 40s when it comes to field goal percentage, mid 70s when it comes to free throw percentage. And then the turnovers, we're probably going to see somewhere in the three to four turnover range.

So I like Scoot Henderson as a player. But I think in real life, he's going to be a much better player than for our fantasy teams this season, at least.

DAN TITUS: I think that's a fair take. And I love the comparison to Jaden Ivey, a guy that averaged well over 15 points with five dimes. And I think that that's kind of the floor that I'm expecting with Scoot Henderson in year one. There's going to be those turnovers. He's going to struggle from the field.

He's a middy guy. So I feel like that shot's going to be a little bit different. It's going to hit a little bit different when you're not in the G League, and you got seven footers challenging your shot. So there will be an adjustment period.

But I still like Scoot. If you want to pick him up as a late round guard, I'm all for it because I think he's going to get better as the season progresses once he gets a little bit more used to that NBA game.

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