Preseason Winners and Losers

I love the preseason too much and have been checking out all of the sub patterns for every game. It’s a lot of info for the true sickos, so I thought it might be cool to do a quick-hitting piece on a winner and loser from each team in an easily-digestible style. Some of it is about how they played, and some of it is based on sub patterns or rotation-based moves from coaches.

Hawks

Winner – Jalen Johnson looks like he has a legit chance to start, and we know he can really fill it up.

Loser – AJ Griffin couldn’t really separate, and he’s still being treated as more of a SG than a SF. He’ll still get minutes, but he’s not close to being on the fantasy radar.

Celtics

Winner – Payton Pritchard played great and really locked up the seventh spot in the rotation. It could lead to more small-ball starts over getting Al Horford in there to start, but they do get the Knicks for the opener. Dalano Banton was also a decent winner.

Loser – Svi Mykhailiuk could not elevate and is clearly not in the top 10, as Banton beat him out to possibly be the last guy in.

Nets

Winner – Ben Simmons. Duh.

Loser – Lonnie Walker looks like he couldn’t beat out Cam Thomas, who is also a bit of a winner.

Hornets

Winner – Brandon Miller got subbed in as a SG/SF/PF to really give him an opportunity even though he looks like he didn’t win the starting job. JT Thor also is a smaller winner for earning a rotation spot.

Loser – Miles Bridges having more legal trouble is not great.

Bulls

Winner – Coby White was the biggest winner of the preseason. While he’s a lock to start, it’ll be interesting to see if Patrick Williams can hold his job, and Donovan likes to keep Coby and PAW together at times.

Loser – Patrick Williams got benched in a preseason game and didn’t really have a great response. His starting job is on thin ice, especially with terrific defenders behind him in Torrey Craig and Alex Caruso.

Cavs