Hashtag Basketball projections update (Notebook drop)

Hey all - here's the latest notebook drop of my fantasy basketball projections update.

Atlanta Hawks:

Trae Young is absolutely tanking people's FG% to start the season, his scoring will pick up once he starts shooting above 35% from the field, but for now, I've lowered his projections for both FG% and points. Have also lowered Saddiq Bey's minutes.

Brooklyn Nets:

The Cam Thomas correction is in. I've upped his minutes and usage even more this week. He's still not providing much outside of scoring, though. Have also increased the minutes of Dorian Finney-Smith and Lonnie Walker IV while Cameron Johnson is out injured.

Boston Celtics:

Lowered Al Horford's minutes, but mostly unchanged.

Charlotte Hornets:

Mostly unchanged. The buy-low window on LaMelo is closing.

Chicago Bulls:

Lowered Patrick Williams' minutes, but mostly unchanged.

Cleveland Cavaliers:

Took six games for them to be able to play their expected starting 5. Lowering Evan Mobley's scoring a touch.

Dallas Mavericks:

Lowering Kyrie Irving's scoring and upping his assists. He's a career 47% shooter from the field, so I'm keeping a close eye on his FG% since it's sitting on 44.3% to start the season. Have also upped the usage of Grant Williams.

Denver Nuggets:

Upping Nikola Jokic's scoring and lowering his assists a touch. Jamal Murray is a few more bad shooting games away from a projections edit, but I'm not there just yet.

Detroit Pistons:

Is 2 weeks enough of a sample size to crown Ausar Thompson the new stocks (steals+blocks) king? I upped his rebounding, steals, and blocks mid-week. I missed on Marcus Sasser being a rotation player, so I've put in a correction.

Golden State Warriors:

I'm not expecting Andrew Wiggins to continue playing this bad, but I've lowered his projections and minutes across the board.

Houston Rockets:

I had read that Dillon Brooks tweaked his shooting form in the off-season, but I wasn't expecting him to start the season shooting 60% from the field. Have upped his FG% (and scoring). Have also upped the scoring of Alperen Sengün.

Indiana Pacers:

Mostly unchanged.

Los Angeles Clippers:

Mostly unchanged. Projections were updated when the Harden news broke, so it's a matter of seeing him playing for a week to see how it plays out.

Los Angeles Lakers:

Mostly unchanged.

Memphis Grizzlies:

Increased Desmond Bane's scoring and lowered Xavier Tillman's minutes (his shooting numbers have to pick up at some point).

Miami Heat:

Added an extra two minutes to Tyler Herro's playing time.

Milwaukee Bucks:

Lowered the blocks projection for Brook Lopez mid-week - Milwaukee looks to be playing a different defensive scheme, which is funneling less movement to Lopez (less chances to block shots). The 8 block game is skewing his average (which was the first time he got more than 1 block in a game this season). Will monitor it to see how Milwaukee's defense is looking. Have also lowered Damian Lillard's minutes by a few since he's not playing Portland minutes.

Minnesota Timberwolves:

Mostly unchanged.

New Orleans Pelicans:

We're waiting to see how long CJ McCollum is going to be out for with a lung injury (he had a similar injury in 2021 which saw him out for multiple weeks). I'm upping the minutes of Jordan Hawkins and the usage of Herbert Jones in the short-term.

New York Knicks:

You can't ignore Julius Randle's start to the season (shooting 27% from the field and 61.7% from the line). Have lowered his %s and increased Mitchell Robinson's rebounding.

Oklahoma City Thunder:

Mostly unchanged.

Orlando Magic:

Wendell Carter Jr.'s injury opens the door for short-term value bump for Moritz Wagner and Goga Bitadze.

Philadelphia 76ers:

I gave Tobias Harris and Kelly Oubre Jr. a bump last week. And I'm giving them an extra usage bump again this week.

Phoenix Suns:

Upping Devin Booker's assists, lowered Jusuf Nurkic's minutes, and increased Drew Eubanks' minutes.

Portland Trailblazers:

Mostly unchanged.

San Antonio Spurs:

Mostly unchanged.

Sacramento Kings:

Mostly unchanged.

Toronto Raptors:

Upped the minutes and usage of Scottie Barnes and Dennis Schröder.

Utah Jazz:

Is it a Walker Kessler slump, a bad fit with the current roster, or a hidden injury? Whatever it is, it's not good.

Washington Wizards:

Have taken a few shot attempts away from Jordan Poole and increased Deni Avdija's usage.

Chat soon,
Joey