Deni Avdija

Last season marked Avdija's first away from Washington - the franchise that drafted him No. 9 overall in 2020. His role was expected to decline in Portland. At first, it did. The forward came off the bench for 18 of his first 30 appearances, seeing just 26.4 minutes per game. However, he became a full-time starter from Dec. 28 onward, averaging 19.7 points and 1.9 threes on 49/37/78 shooting, 8.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steals in 32.6 minutes. Impressively, Avdija reached both career highs in assists-included usage rate (23.8%) and true-shooting percentage (60.5%). Arguably, the biggest stride in his game was creating for himself off the dribble to finish at the rim. He took 6.2 free throws per 36 minutes, which ranked 12th in the NBA, and was up from his prior season of 4.4 free throws per 36. With Anfernee Simons now in Boston and Deandre Ayton on the Lakers, a lot of usage has opened up in Portland. Some of that will presumably go to Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Jrue Holiday. But Avdija may be able to expand his role more, too. At the very least, Avdija should be able to maintain what he accomplished across the whole of last season - 16.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.0 minutes. Assuming that's the case, Avdija projects as a top-75 fantasy player.