NBA.com Draft Preview

Ordinarily, I’m not to keen on rookies as fantasy options. Too often, players come into the NBA needing to learn new positions. Or put on some bulk. Or how to succeed when they can’t get by on size or athleticism alone.

That’s especially true of high lottery picks – who often need to adjust to the fact that they’ll lose more games as rookies than they did in their entire college and high school careers.

But a funny thing happened on the way to this year’s lottery. The top two teams just aren’t that bad.

Look at some of the players on the Chicago and Miami rosters: Dwyane Wade. Shawn Marion. Kirk Hinrich. Ben Gordon. Luol Deng. These are not the teammates lottery picks usually get. A wide variety of factors put the Bulls and Heat on top of the lottery – injuries, internal turmoil, trades and coaching changes – but both teams seem well-positioned for a quick turnaround. And that means the prohibitive favorites to be chosen first and second – Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose – won’t be toiling for terrible teams. The won’t be forced into leadership roles while they’re still getting their feet wet at the next level.

And that could mean the best rookie seasons we’ve seen in a long time.

Here’s my projection for the lottery. We’ll take another look after the June 26 draft.