Fantasy Basketball Rankings: NBA Playoffs Cheat Sheet 2015

Fantasy Basketball Rankings: NBA Playoffs Cheat Sheet 2015

This article is part of our Fantasy Basketball Rankings series.

NBA Playoffs Cheat Sheet 2015

Some call the playoffs the real season because it's when things are ultimately decided, but in the NBA, it's more than that.

From a fantasy perspective, the playoffs are the real season because it's the first and only time all year you can be sure every player is going all-out on a nightly basis. No more players missing games to rest for the postseason. No more scanning the waiver wire for backups who could be potential studs when the normal starter shuts it down for the year. No more teams sitting their entire starting lineups, like the Hawks did about once per week for the last month. No, in the postseason you'll be getting every player's max effort, which makes a major difference.

The second big difference is that, in many NBA postseason leagues, you have to choose your players based upon which teams you think will fare best in the postseason. Games count, so it does little good to pick the No. 1 fantasy player in the league if he's going to be knocked out in the first round. Instead, it might be smarter to invest in a top-20 guy who has a shot to make the Finals and play in 20-plus games over the course of the postseason. NBA postseason fantasy leagues make you try your hand at predicting what will happen on the court, with dire consequences if you're wrong.

The Matchups

East

1. Atlanta
2. Cleveland
3. Chicago
4. Toronto
5. Washington
6. Milwaukee
7. Boston
8. Brooklyn

West

1. Golden State
2. Houston
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Portland
5. Memphis
6. San Antonio
7. Dallas
8. New Orleans

Team Tiers

Tier 1: GSW, CLE, ATL
Tier 2: HOU, LAC, SAS
Tier 3: CHI, TOR, WAS, POR, MEM
Tier 4: MIL, BOS, BRO, DAL, NOP

This tier system is based on which teams I feel have the best chance to make it the furthest. Golden State has been the class of the West this season, plus there is a clearer gap between the Warriors and their first and potential-second-round opponents than any other team in the stacked West. In the East, Atlanta and Cleveland have separated themselves from the field in a similar way.

The Rockets, Clippers and Spurs each have the ability to represent the West in the Finals as well, but the way the bracket is set up means they would have to get through each other to get there. Thus, they can't all play the same number of games and must be placed one level down from Golden State.

The Bulls and the 4/5 seeds in each conference comprise Tier 3, teams that I see potentially making the second round but not advancing much further.

If any of the Tier 4 teams make the second round, it would be an upset to me.

The tiers reflect an estimated number of expected games. For uniformity, let's say that Tier 1 teams are expected to play 20 games, Tier 2 teams 15 games, Tier 3 teams 10 games and Tier 4 teams five games. Of course, the estimates are not intended to be exact but instead to provide general expectations for the rankings.

Ranking method

I began with the Yahoo! season-long player ratings, sorted by average statistics. I then rearranged it a bit based upon some of my expectations for the playoffs. For example, I moved LeBron James and Tony Parker up on the rankings on the assumption that they will both play better and play more games than most teams in the postseason.

My modified rankings were on a scale of 0.5 to 1.5, with the idea that you would need about three games from a player rated 0.5 to try to approximate what you'd get out of a player rated 1.5. Again, this isn't scientifically rigorous, it's more to give us a cleaner break-down of player value.

Once each player had both a player rating and a rough estimate for the number of games played, the final ranking order was determined by multiplying those two values together. Injuries that haven't been officially deemed season-ending aren't factored into the rankings.

Without further ado, here is your 2015 NBA Playoffs Cheat Sheet.

Player

Team

Y! Ranking

Modified Rating

Estimated Games

Total

Stephen Curry

GSW

2

1.50

20

30

LeBron James

CLE

13

1.50

20

30

Klay Thompson

GSW

7

1.35

20

27

Kyrie Irving

CLE

8

1.35

20

27

Paul Millsap

ATL

12

1.15

20

23

Draymond Green

GSW

14

1.15

20

23

Al Horford

ATL

15

1.15

20

23

James Harden

HOU

3

1.50

15

22.5

Chris Paul

LAC

4

1.50

15

22.5

Kawhi Leonard

SAS

5

1.35

15

20.25

Jeff Teague

ATL

22

1.00

20

20

Kevin Love

CLE

25

1.00

20

20

Blake Griffin

LAC

28

1.20

15

18

Tim Duncan

SAS

17

1.15

15

17.25

Kyle Korver

ATL

26

0.85

20

17

DeMarre Carroll

ATL

35

0.85

20

17

Trevor Ariza

HOU

21

1.00

15

15

DeAndre Jordan

LAC

33

1.00

15

15

J.R. Smith

CLE

44

0.70

20

14

Andrew Bogut

GSW

48

0.70

20

14

LaMarcus Aldridge

POR

9

1.35

10

13.5

Pau Gasol

CHI

10

1.35

10

13.5

Harrison Barnes

GSW

63

0.65

20

13

Danny Green

SAS

18

0.85

15

12.75

J.J. Redick

LAC

34

0.85

15

12.75

Terrence Jones

HOU

47

0.85

15

12.75

Jamal Crawford

LAC

51

0.85

15

12.75

Tony Parker

SAS

90

0.85

15

12.75

Manu Ginobili

SAS

93

0.85

15

12.75

Josh Smith

HOU

105

0.85

15

12.75

Dwight Howard

HOU

108

0.85

15

12.75

Damian Lillard

POR

11

1.20

10

12

Timofey Mozgov

CLE

68

0.60

20

12

Andre Iguodala

GSW

76

0.60

20

12

Jimmy Butler

CHI

6

1.15

10

11.5

Marc Gasol

MEM

16

1.15

10

11.5

John Wall

WAS

23

1.15

10

11.5

Kyle Lowry

TOR

24

1.15

10

11.5

Iman Shumpert

CLE

89

0.55

20

11

Matt Barnes

LAC

52

0.70

15

10.5

DeMar DeRozan

TOR

49

1.00

10

10

Joakim Noah

CHI

65

1.00

10

10

Thabo Sefolosha

ATL

94

0.50

20

10

Tristan Thompson

CLE

106

0.50

20

10

Marreese Speights

GSW

107

0.50

20

10

David Lee

GSW

110

0.50

20

10

Mike Muscala

ATL

119

0.50

20

10

Donatas Motiejunas

HOU

77

0.60

15

9

Corey Brewer

HOU

78

0.60

15

9

Tiago Splitter (Inj)

SAS

82

0.60

15

9

Marcin Gortat

WAS

30

0.85

10

8.5

Mike Conley

MEM

31

0.85

10

8.5

Zach Randolph

MEM

39

0.85

10

8.5

Jonas Valanciunas

TOR

40

0.85

10

8.5

Nic Batum

POR

41

0.85

10

8.5

Bradley Beal

WAS

46

0.85

10

8.5

Derrick Rose

CHI

97

0.85

10

8.5

Anthony Davis

NOP

1

1.50

5

7.5

Pablo Prigioni

HOU

111

0.50

15

7.5

Boris Diaw

SAS

112

0.50

15

7.5

Marco Belinelli

SAS

115

0.50

15

7.5

Louis Williams

TOR

42

0.70

10

7

Patrick Patterson

TOR

55

0.70

10

7

Nikola Mirotic

CHI

66

0.70

10

7

C.J. McCollum

POR

98

0.70

10

7

Tony Allen

MEM

56

0.65

10

6.5

Robin Lopez

POR

58

0.65

10

6.5

Jeff Green

MEM

59

0.65

10

6.5

Brook Lopez

BRO

19

1.20

5

6

Amir Johnson

TOR

67

0.60

10

6

Taj Gibson

CHI

69

0.60

10

6

James Johnson

TOR

70

0.60

10

6

Paul Pierce

WAS

73

0.60

10

6

Courtney Lee

MEM

74

0.60

10

6

Mike Dunleavy Jr.

CHI

75

0.60

10

6

Arron Afflalo

POR

96

0.60

10

6

Aaron Brooks

CHI

95

0.55

10

5.5

Dirk Nowitzki

DAL

29

1.00

5

5

Khris Middleton

MIL

32

1.00

5

5

Isaiah Thomas

BOS

43

1.00

5

5

Tyreke Evans

NOP

45

1.00

5

5

Deron Williams

BRO

54

1.00

5

5

Giannis Antetokounmpo

MIL

57

1.00

5

5

Michael Carter-Williams

MIL

85

1.00

5

5

Terrence Ross

TOR

99

0.50

10

5

Kris Humphries

WAS

100

0.50

10

5

Greivis Vasquez

TOR

109

0.50

10

5

Meyers Leonard

POR

117

0.50

10

5

Chris Kaman

POR

118

0.50

10

5

Jrue Holiday

NOP

20

0.85

5

4.25

Tyson Chandler

DAL

27

0.85

5

4.25

Chandler Parsons

DAL

36

0.85

5

4.25

Monta Ellis

DAL

37

0.85

5

4.25

Jared Sullinger

BOS

38

0.85

5

4.25

Thaddeus Young

BRO

50

0.85

5

4.25

Joe Johnson

BRO

53

0.85

5

4.25

Evan Turner

BOS

91

0.85

5

4.25

Eric Gordon

NOP

60

0.70

5

3.5

Avery Bradley

BOS

62

0.70

5

3.5

Kelly Olynyk

BOS

64

0.65

5

3.25

Zaza Pachulia

MIL

87

0.65

5

3.25

John Henson

MIL

88

0.65

5

3.25

Ryan Anderson

NOP

61

0.60

5

3

Tyler Zeller

BOS

71

0.60

5

3

Ersan Ilyasova

MIL

72

0.60

5

3

Devin Harris

DAL

79

0.60

5

3

Jarrett Jack

BRO

80

0.60

5

3

Jared Dudley

MIL

81

0.60

5

3

Marcus Smart

BOS

83

0.60

5

3

Brandon Bass

BOS

84

0.60

5

3

Amar'e Stoudemire

DAL

86

0.60

5

3

O.J. Mayo

MIL

92

0.60

5

3

Rajon Rondo

DAL

104

0.60

5

3

Jae Crowder

BOS

101

0.50

5

2.5

Al-Farouq Aminu

DAL

102

0.50

5

2.5

Jason Terry

DAL

103

0.50

5

2.5

Alexis Ajinca

NOP

113

0.50

5

2.5

Alan Anderson

BRO

114

0.50

5

2.5

Jerryd Bayless

MIL

116

0.50

5

2.5

Omer Asik

NOP

120

0.50

5

2.5

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andre' Snellings
Andre' Snellings is a Neural Engineer by day, and RotoWire's senior basketball columnist by night. He's a two-time winner of the Fantasy Basketball Writer of the Year award from the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.
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