Exploiting the Default Rankings: ESPN

If you’ve played fantasy basketball on ESPN before, you know there’s some really good edge on being prepared. You’re certainly going to want to hop in on a mock draft just to get with the flow of the draft, where some of your favorite players are, and just an overall feel at where the positional tiers drop off. If you don’t want to, we’ve got you covered.

Last year, ESPN had skewed their bigs to have a bit more value, which led to guys like DeAndre Jordan popping up way too high. This time, that wasn’t the case, but ESPN still has to update the back end of their rankings with a slew of standard-league options ranked really far down there. ESPN’s ranks are for points, so scoring is generally going to be ranked really high for those drafting on ESPN to have a category-based league. Points are really easy to replace on the wire, so generally you shouldn’t be overly concerned if your nine-cat team is light on points.

Here’s a look at guys who are higher than I thought, lower than I anticipated, where the buzz guys are ranked, and a list of players to scroll down for to close your draft.

PLAYERS LISTED HIGHER THAN EXPECTED

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo