Fantasy basketball: How will Eric Bledsoe do with the Bucks?
The first trade of the 2017-18 NBA season happened less than a month in. Eric Bledsoe finally got his trade wish a little over two weeks after the Suns benched him indefinitely for comments made on social media. The deal looks like this:
The first rounder is lottery protected, but the Bucks certainly don’t seem to be headed for the lottery. Especially after this deal.
Bledsoe is expected to take over the starting point guard duties. Defending Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon will go to the bench. This does hurt his value quite a bit for DFS purposes, but for those of us in season long leagues, it may not be as bad as it looks. Brogdon can play off the ball as well, which will leave him mostly in a sixth man role.
His minutes will most certainly take a bit of a hit. Instead of playing 32-35 minutes, I would expect Brogdon to see about 24-28 minutes instead. That will put a dent in his production, but not enough to warrant dropping him. The real loser here is Matthew Dellavedova. He was a fringe standard league option anyway. Now he can probably be dropped in any league.
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As for Bledsoe,this clearly helps since he wasn’t playing for the Suns anyway. However, expecting numbers like he put up last year in Phoenix wont happen. Bledsoe won’t play 40 minutes a game. He will be lucky to see 35. Also, he is not the alpha on this team. Giannis is. Khris Middleton is likely ahead of him in the pecking order too, and that isn’t even taking into consideration what will happen when Jabari Parker returns.
If you can get someone to pay for Bledsoe’s 2016-17 numbers, do it before he plays more than a couple of games with the Bucks. His value could drop very quickly. Bledsoe’s scoring will likely go down, but his assists could go up. Keep that in mind if you need assists.
Greg Monroe is already being shopped by the Suns, and it is very likely that he will never take the court in a Suns uniform. He may be worth stashing, but not unless your league has plenty of bench slots. His absence in Milwaukee opens the door for John Henson and Thon Maker. Henson has the most short-term upside, but neither are worth a look in standard leagues yet. Henson is far more valuable in roto leagues. Maker is better suited for points leagues right now.
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Bledsoe is expected to make his Milwaukee debut tonight. If you can get him on the cheap, do so. However, in the leagues that I am in, I find that Bledsoe is being hoarded and valued way over what he will most likely produce for the Bucks.