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In order to ascend past your peers in a competitive fantasy basketball league, youll need to score on a few bold calls. Trusting last seasons surface numbers rarely delivers fantasy glory, as we must work to project and price in shifts in usage and development for various NBA talents.With audacity in mind, we break down eight players and provide bold predictions for the upcoming NBA season.Evan Fournier averages more than 20 points, flirts with a top-10 scoring rateThe average scoring clip for finishing 10th in the league in per-game scoring over the past three seasons was 22.2 points per game. Fournier averaged 15.4 points last season, so this claim certainly qualifies as daring, given that were projecting a nearly 30 percent leap in scoring output from the French swingman. The reasoning begins with the premise that hes the Orlando Magics best perimeter scorer in the wake of Victor Oladipos?trade, and he is the teams best shooter, as he was one of just nine NBA players to shoot at least 45 percent from the field, 80 percent from the stripe and 40 percent from beyond the arc.As the teams most effective and efficient outside scorer, we could see Fournier command the ball-dominant wing role Paul George has served in Frank Vogels offense the past several seasons. It costs only a midround pick to find out if Fournier -- who turns 24 later this month -- will make a sizable surge in scoring.Dennis Schroder finishes as a top-five fantasy point guardEven in a down season, Jeff Teague finished 13th among point guards on the Player Rater. The index is a standard deviation model that essentially rewards statistical balance and positive differentiation from a given position pool. With Teague in Indiana, Schroders rare usage rate the past season, combined with an expected uptick in minutes, touches and shots this season, could see him become a full-fledged fantasy stud in his first year at the helm of the Hawks fantasy-friendly offense.ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton is a fan of the upside?for the upcoming campaign: SCHOENE projections have him averaging 17.0 points and 6.2 assists in 30 minutes per game, similar to (and in fact slightly better than) Teagues averages of 15.7 points and 5.9 assists last season while splitting time with Schroder. To go full meta, Schroder doesnt have Schroder to compete with this season, as in a high-usage asset on the same point guard depth chart. Given that he was tied with Blake Griffin for 18th in usage rate?last season, the sky is the limit for what could be a breakout campaign.Hassan Whiteside becomes a top-five fantasy optionThis isnt entirely bold, considering Whiteside is being drafted in the middle of the second round on average in ESPN leagues, yet the leap from that range to a top-five asset is sizable, given the sheer number of superstars hed need to surpass. Whiteside is a Ron Popeil All-Star in that you can set it and forget it in regard to dominating blocks in your league if you draft him. Although we worked hard to get that analogy to work, the idea is that if you invest in Whiteside, who led the league in blocks last season and was third in rebounds, you can then spend the rest of your draft sourcing high-usage guards without much allocation on big men. With Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng off the court, both top rebounders for their positions, and Chris Bosh looking unlikely to return, Whitesides minutes, usage, scoring and rebounding opportunities should soar.Devin Booker hits 200 3-pointersIn league history, weve seen 52 seasons of an NBA player hitting 200 3-pointers. Booker, who turned 19 last fall, hit 99 shots from beyond the arc last season in becoming the fourth-youngest player to tally 1,000 points in a season. The Suns backcourt is led by Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, and though it would make sense for roster balance to see one of them dealt this season after trade rumors swirled around both this past summer, we buy Booker taking a sizable leap, even with these high-usage assets in place.With Bookers size, he can net minutes at small forward, and hes already clearly the teams best perimeter scorer, thus minutes and workload shouldnt be an issue for the second-year star in Earl Watsons rotation. If one of those guards is traded, Booker could vault into the top 30 of fantasy assets. With his shooting prowess and our bold prediction for 200 made 3-pointers, Booker delivers a high fantasy floor and an impressive ceiling.Rondae Hollis-Jefferson leads the NBA in stealsAs a rookie, Hollis-Jefferson ranked 38th in the NBA in steals per game, with 1.34, while Steph Curry led the league with a rich rate of 2.14 thefts per game. Why then are we proclaiming a nearly 60 percent leap in steals for the second-year wing? Minutes, for one. The Brooklyn Nets thin depth chart at the wing should see Hollis-Jefferson top 30 minutes per game.As Pelton noted in a recent breakdown of the 2015 draft class on the doorstep of their sophomore season, When he was on the court, Hollis-Jefferson ranked fourth among rookies who averaged at least 15 minutes per game in ESPNs real plus-minus. Chad Ford called RHJ a defensive monster in that same piece. With strong rebounding metrics and per-36 rates that equate to 2.3 steals and nearly a block per game, Hollis-Jefferson could help you secure a valuable volume of steals this season.Andrew Wiggins becomes a second-round fixture in 2017 draftsLost in Anthony-Towns amazing rookie season was the quiet surge we saw from Wiggins across the board as a professional sophomore, as he significantly improved in scoring efficiency. To continue on the bold theme, Wiggins will become a top-five scorer this season, which has meant finishing in the mid-20s the past several seasons.Glowing offseason reports combined with a new coach prone to ride his starters with heavy minutes and high usage bode well for Wiggins statistical stock. If we see any marked improvement from 3-point range, Wiggins could truly become an elite fantasy asset, and hes already poised to become a plus-version of DeMar DeRozan in just his third season.Clint Capela is a top-10 fantasy centerWith nearly a steal and 1.2 blocks in just 19.1 minutes per game for the Houston Rockets?last season, Capela is a fun fantasy investment, given breakout ingredients heading into the new season. With Dwight Howard in Atlanta, Capela becomes the rim protector of choice for the Rockets, as hell anchor the teams interior defense.Per-36 rates can distort expectations for Capela, as we dont expect him to ever near that exposure rate, so if we just adjust to 30 minutes per game based on last years rates, Capela averages 9.3 points, 9.9 boards and nearly two blocks. This young, emerging pivot could thrive in Mike DAntonis up-tempo scheme. The Rockets were 22-11 when Capela played more than 20 minutes last season, a sign that he should see increased usage this year.Myles Turner is also a top-10 fantasy centerWith a massive 7-foot-4 wingspan and elite per-36 rates, Turner is due for a massive leap this season. If you dont want to spend on Whiteside early, wait on the duo of Capela and Turner, and you might still dominate your league in blocks. We saw Turner earn 28.1 minutes in the playoffs this season, as he led the postseason in blocks per game and block rate, compared to just 22.8 minutes during the regular season as a rookie. He is still just 20, and pricing in a leap in minutes and production for Turner could prove profitable for those willing to invest in him in the later rounds, as hes going 89th off the board on average in ESPN drafts.Akiem Hicks Womens Jersey .7 million, one-year contract, a raise of $2.2 million. Wieters had asked for $8.75 million and the Orioles had offered $6. Akiem Hicks Jersey . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display. https://www.bearssportsgoods.com/Womens-Dick-Butkus-Inverted-Jersey/ .C. -- Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said after all of these years in the NBA hes still amazed at some of the things LeBron James does. Mike Singletary Youth Jersey . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Khalil Mack Jersey . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week.TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Martin Truex Jr. showed up at Talladega Superspeedway determined to be at the front of the field and in control of his chances in NASCARs playoffs.A pole-winning run Saturday put him at the top of the field for the critical elimination race.Truex turned a lap of 193.423 mph to earn the top starting spot Sunday. The run came after NASCAR confiscated a bolt from his Toyota, but Truex said he was not worried about ramifications to his Furniture Row Racing team.The jack bolt issue is really not a big issue, Truex said. They just took the left front, so its not a big issue. It was a parts manufacturing issue, no big deal at all.Winner of two races in the first round of the Chase, Truex is winless in round two but above the cutoff point. Four drivers will be cut from the field on Sunday.All we have to do is make it through to the next one, he said. Weve got some good tracks coming up for us and (Sunday) is going to be a tough race. A lot is going to happen, but we just have to hope for the best and do the best job we can do.I feel good about my car and its got a lot of speed in it, obviously.The inspection issue with Truex provided a little early drama on qualifying day, as there was some speculation the team could face a penalty. NASCAR typically issues penalties in the middle of the week, and a point deduction could in theory knock Truex out of the Chase.However, NASCAR vice president of competition Scott Miller said a points penalty is unlikely, and that Truex had no competitive advantage. The bolt taken could have been considered a safety issue, though.I would say it would be unlikely but it has to go through our process, he said. We dont typically do that on a weekend. Because it is the playoffs, everyone has a heightened sense of everything. This is no different than things we have done all year, and we will treat this one like we do all year long.Miller was unsure if NASCAR would accelerate its review process to determine if a penalty will be issued before the race.We dont have any precedent for doing that, Miller said. We will be circling up and trying to figure out the best way to proceed from this moment forward until (Sundays) race.Brad Keselowski, in nearly a must-win situation on Sunday, qualified second. He won the knockout race in 2014 to stave off elimination, and said his best starting position at Talladega bodes well for him.I feel like quaalifying well is certainly a very strong omen for Talladega and Daytona, he said.dddddddddddd I think all of the races Ive won here, weve had good starts and the races that we havent won or been super-competitive we usually dont have any speed in qualifying, so its certainly a confidence-builder.Its not a guarantee by any means, but a confidence-builder that you carry into this weekend and carry into (the) race.Keselowski won at Talladega in May and at Daytona in July.Matt Kenseth qualified third and was followed by Chase Elliott, who is also in a must-win situation on Sunday.Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were fifth and sixth and Roush-Fenway Racing put three of its cars into the final round of qualifying as Trevor Bayne was 11th.Rounding out the top 12 were Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Paul Menard and Reed Sorenson was 12th. It was a huge drop-off for Sorenson, who was the fastest car in the first round of qualifying.Hamlin is also facing a must-win situation, and said he prefers that to points racing all day at Talladega.Im actually trying to lead every lap, he said. Thats all I can do is try to go out there and lead every single lap possible and put ourselves in position at the end. Definitely want to be in the lead if we get down to a shootout and try to defend from there, so weve got our work cut out for us, but its nothing we havent done before.Before the first round runs, NASCAR made the Joe Gibbs Racing teams of Hamlin, Kenseth and Kyle Busch adjust the top of their left-rear quarter panels. The teams were required to go back through inspection and Miller said the body of the cars had been manipulated.It doesnt have to be big to be an infraction, he said. It just has to be fair for everybody and thats what we strive to do.Truex, runner-up to Hamlin in the Daytona 500, is one of the many drivers who doesnt plan to fade to the back of the field on Sunday in an effort to avoid potential accidents. Hes said all weekend he feels more in control of his race if hes near the front, and the pole position puts him right where he wants to be.The strategy is to stay there, but the problem is that its pretty hard to do, he said. Its definitely the place to be to start the race. This is obviously a big race with a lot on the line. ' ' '