Last Updated on November 1, 2023 10:14 am by Keith Cork | Published: November 1, 2023

It’s time for our first Dynasty Check-In of the NBA season! Given it’s only been one week into the season, it’s too early to start diving into any stats and draw sweeping conclusions. It takes roughly 5-10 games for system and process-related stats (such as pace, location eFG%, free throw rates, etc) to begin stabilizing. Individual stats such as steal rate, efficiency, etc will take about 20-25 games to start stabilizing.

So no, I won’t be discussing sample sizes of just a few games here, and I would caution citing just stats to base evaluations on players (it doesn’t mean not to use them, just don’t treat them as gospel). What we can observe is how rotations are shaking out and what new skills players are displaying. I’ve emphasized how important it is to actually watch as many games as you can to properly match the eye test to what the stats are telling us.

To that effort, I have logged close to 20 games watched, making sure to get eyes on at least every team in some capacity. Below are my impressions for each and every team, highlighting the more important dynasty fantasy storylines. If I don’t mention a player, it’s most likely I haven’t seen anything worth commenting on so far. Lastly, BE PATIENT with rookies! Most of the time they don’t have a rotation role early, it’s natural. Don’t trade them off at a discounted rate.

If you have further questions, feel free to hit me up (@Mark-C) in our premium discord in the #dynasty-NBA channel! Let’s get to it.

Atlanta Hawks

It looks like the Hawks have reverted to last year’s tendency to settle for mid-rangers and stagnant offense, which isn’t helping most of their players succeed early.

Better days should be ahead for Trae Young, but this inefficiency is killer right now.

Jalen Johnson has seen his role expand and correspondingly is putting up a well-balanced statline. If anything, he’s a buy-high for me as a top-80 dynasty asset; I’m that big a believer.

I tweeted about it, but it doesn’t look like the big Onyeka Okongwu breakout will happen until Clint Capela isn’t there. Clint Capela does the more typical big man stuff better (namely rebounding and screening), which holds a lot of value on the court. I recommend holding Okongwu, but I don’t hate exploring the market and seeing what people are willing to trade for him. On that note, if you need Capela’s stats, I love him for contending teams at his price. He’s in that 100-110 range for me as a solid effective NBA center for a few more seasons.

Brooklyn Nets

If Cam Thomas is just going to shoot this well from now on, yeah I’m going to have to take a mea culpa on him. He still isn’t doing much besides scoring, but if you’re doing it this well that has value. I still prefer selling him for a top-120 guy since he still projects as a points player.

Ben Simmons is back playing starter-level minutes, giving fantasy managers strong boards, assists, and steals. I still don’t love his lack of physicality but if he stays healthy he’ll shoot up my rankings. He is a great player in the right build but not for every roster.

Mikal Bridges is keeping pace with last year, just with less usage. I’ll be keeping track if this is a blip with Cam Thomas’s recent run or more of just a blip.

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Mark C

After years of playing redraft fantasy basketball leagues with my friends, I branched out to dynasty leagues. As my hunger for competitive leagues grew, I found myself having lengthy conversations in various forums and developing my own thoughts on rookies and veteran players alike. Among the dynasty community, I found a gap in understanding on-court play and valuing transactions properly and thought to myself “I have a lot to say that could help dynasty managers!” I eventually came onto Sports Ethos as the Dynasty Lead, producing Dynasty Fantasy Basketball content such as rankings, rookie profiles, and other sorts of articles to enable managers to make informed decisions on their own squads. I pride myself in marrying on-court NBA and fantasy basketball analysis, giving readers and listeners of my content a holistic knowledge base of not only dynasty basketball projects but also the NBA itself.

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