Kevin Durant leads the fantasy basketball pack, while others, like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, drop a bit.
When drafting a fantasy basketball team, it's important to consider what the scoring system of the league is. The type of league can greatly affect the value of a player.
Pay attention to your league scoring system
Rotisserie leagues focus on a balance, where a deficiency in one statistic can severely hurt. Head-to-head (H2H) leagues typically focus on each category separately, where a manager can afford to 'tank it' in one or two categories without hurting his or her chances of winning. Of course, there are varying types of H2H leagues. In some cases, a H2H league might give the winning team for that week one victory, while in other leagues the team's record might be reflected by the score of that week (for instance, if a team defeats another team 5-4, it may be reflected in the overall record of the team as five wins and four losses).
With that in mind, here is one player rankings for rotisserie leagues to consider when drafting for your fantasy basketball league.
Top ten
- Kevin Durant, OKC Thunder - With LeBron James moving to Miami and Chris Paul coming off an injury last season, Durant's the clear cut number one. Expect him to have a decent start, but to really turn on the burners after the All Star break. That's what he tends to do.
- Chris Paul - New Orleans Hornets - Sure, he missed some games last season, but when he's healthy he's a fantasy stud. Paul is consistently among the league leaders in assists and steals, two difficult categories to compete in, while averaging around 20 ppg, rebounds well for a point guard, shoots 50% from the field (great for a guard) and in the mid 80% range from the line, and doesn't turn the ball over much.
- LeBron James, Miami Heat - Sure, he'll have to share the ball with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, but James will run the point often, which means his assists number shouldn't be affected, he'll get plenty of rebounds, and his steals and blocks shouldn't be affected too much either. In fact, the only real thing that should be affected is his points production, but he will still probably score around 20-24 ppg at least.
- Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks - Dirk is consistently in the top five for roto every year. He might drop a little in H2H leagues, but don't underestimate his production at your fantasy draft.
- Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat - Some might find this a risky pick, since he's teaming with James and Bosh, but Wade should do the bulk of the scoring among the three, with Bosh handling the boards, and James handling the point guard duties much of the time.
- Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers - He's getting up there in age, but his minutes haven't declined in recent years like so many might've thought, and his production hasn't waned all that much, despite the Lakers adding talent around him.
- David Lee, Golden State Warriors - Many might put Pau Gasol ahead of Lee, because of his shot blocking ability, but Lee's a safer pick. He's younger, will be more needed by the young Warriors team, and hasn't shown as much of a proneness to injury as Gasol. Plus, since Don Nelson's run-and-gun offense is similar to Mike D'Antoni's in New York, Lee should easily adapt to the new team.
- Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors - Curry's only a sophomore, but his spread of stats makes him a very intriguing fantasy player. While his most noticeable numbers (17.5 ppg, 5.9 apg) are merely respectable, it's the other numbers that make his fantasy game great. 4.5 boards per game is excellent for a point guard, 1.9 spg and 2.1 treys per game are near the top of the league, he doesn't turn the ball over all that often, and his percentages are solid.
- Pau Gasol, LA Lakers - Gasol had an impressive season in 2009-2010. He's really toughened up in his prime years, which is evidenced by an increase in board production (11.3 per game). Gasol also brings a solid amount of blocks to the table (1.7 per game), shoots a high FG%, and even contributes solid assists for a big (3.4 per game).
- Deron Williams, Utah Jazz - There are a few players who could go here. Williams shouldn't be considered any higher, because while he gets great assists, solid FG% and decent points, he doesn't do much else. His steals and threes are non-existent, and the key thing holding him back from being an elite fantasy contributer. Still, locking up a top point guard this early could open doors to select other needs in later rounds.
On the bubble
- Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks - No Nash means no spoon-fed stats. That said, he reunites with D'Antoni's run-and-gun offense, and should get plenty of chances to post big numbers.
- Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers - When he's good, he's great, but he's missed nearly 20 games in each of the last two seasons. That's very scary.
- Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks - Horrible FT%, but contributes a lot of hard-to-get stats, like blocks and steals.
- Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets - Gives you a solid big man without hurting you in any category.
Why they're not listed
- Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic - People don't seem to realize just how much Howard's poor free throw percentage hurts a team in rotisserie. Consider that he shoots only 59% from the line (a team typically needs to shoot better than 80% to win the category). Now consider that nobody in the league shoots as many foul shots per game as Howard, who shoots around 10-11 free throws per game. That means, you would need about three to four players like Jose Calderon just to balance Howard's abysmal foul shooting to balance that out to 75%. Meanwhile, that's three to four spots a manager could have filled with player he or she actually needs. The other option is to simply tank the free throw percentage category, but that only means that dominating in something that Howard's great at (like rebounds) just cancels out the loss in free throw shooting percentage. It's all about the numbers. In H2H, this doesn't matter much, since it's easier to tank categories and still be competitive.
- Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics - Rondo provides great assists and steals, as well as good boards for a point guard, but his weak free throw shooting (while not as bad as Howard's is still bad), lack of points and threes eek him out of the top ten, and maybe top fifteen.
Copyright Phil Partington. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Phil Partington - Phil Partington is a writing enthusiast of many years and has been published in national magazines, web publications and other media ...
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