Basketball

Fantasy Basketball?

Now that the Fantasy and the Real-life NBA season is close to starting, tell me the top 5 players (according to you) to draft. Then give me the reason as to why you chose them as the top 5. Please don't just pick a guy because he's your favorite player or don't rip on somebody just because you hate him (For all you Bryant, Wade, etc. Haters) Just give me your opinion and try to keep it as unbiased as you can. Here are my 5 (they aren't in any particular order): 1) Kobe Bryant 2) LeBron James 3) Gerald Wallace 4) Kevin Garnett 5) Steve Nash or Deron Williams (it's a tie, I can't choose between them)

Public Comments

1. 1)Dwight Howard- The best center in the league, averages 14 rebounds and 15pts a game. 2)Mike Miller- the guy is a shooting beast. he scores at will. 3)Gerald Wallace- my favorite player, the guy can bang on offense, and dominate on defense with locking down the paint, and swatting everything that come within 10 feet. 4)Kobe Bryant- the dude is the closest to MJ 5)Carmelo Anthony- averages 31ppg, and 7-8 rebounds. offensive slasher.
2. 1. Shawn Marion: He always finish among the top 5 players in fantasy. He plays almost the 82 games of the season. High shooting percentajes, scores 3's, points, rebounds, blocks. There's nothing that this guys won't give you. 2. Kevin Garnett: Same case. Very constant. He always give great numbers and this season won't be the exception. He is very enthusiastic and have been training hard this offseason. 3. Gilbert Arenas: This is his final year of his contract. Expect huge numbers from him and he is totally recover from his injury. Almost 30 ppg, 5, 5 and 2 are his numbers. 4. Lebron James: He does it all. There's nothing on the stat sheet that he doesn't fill. Expect a great year for him too. 5. Kobe Bryant: I personally believe that this will be his best year. He lost 20 pounds and have been training hard all summer. high percentajes, points, boards, assists and 3's are big on him.
3. d wade
4. Alright dude, the most important thing in having a successful fantasy team is having a good draft-all the way through. Who ever you get in the first round depends on your pick put you also want to compliment your players in the second and third rounds as well with players who have different skill sets. This will give you balance and power. Furthermore, you want to play more than one fantasy. This is called diversification. Diversification allows you to have all of your favorite players on different teams. It gives you several different ways to balance your teams and if one of your key guys get hurt for the season you only have him on one team and only need to suppliment his talent on one team instead of many. Saying that lets get started. 1) D. Wade is my number on pick. Now I realize that he will miss the first month of the season but he will be their in the end which is the most important. What is important is he shoots 49%fg, 81ft, 27.4 pts/g, 4.7 rbs/g, 7.5 ast/g, 2.1stl/g,1.2 blk/g ,and .4 3s/g. What is huge here and goes without notice is 1.2 blocks a game. This leads ALL GUARDS in blocks. Blocks can be a difficult category in fantasy. To get a player that is as versatile as Wade that can also block would be great. Kobe and Lebron ave .5 and .7 respectively. Furthermore in the second rd you compliment this player with a Dwight Howard or Tim Duncan. Someone with this sort of skill set will also give you some scoring-strengthen your rebounds and blocks. In the third round go for G Wallace or Josh Smith. These guys can do a bit of everything including score , rebound and block. Your 4th pick should be a pt guard or a 3 point threat. 2) Kobe Bryant is my second pick. He could arguably be no 1. He shoots 46%fg, 87%ft,31.6pts/g,5.7rbs/g,5.4ast/g, 1.4stl/g, .5 blks/g and 1.8 3s/g. Kobe probably got the best fire power in the game and I really think he is going to improve the other parts of his game this season. The reason being, in the fiba games he asked to guard the toughest offensive player on the opposite team. I believe he was focusing in on his defense. Sort of like a pre training camp. Also last season he came into the season heavy and had to lose weight where this year he had lost 18 pounds coming into the fiba games. With all the trade hype about Kobe -KOBE IS READY!!!! 3)Lebron James is my third choice. 48%fg, 70%ft, 27.3 pts/g,6.7rbs/g,6.0ast/g, 1.6 stl/g , .7 blks/g and 1.3 3s/g. All across the board he is huge, he needs a little work on fts but you cant pass him up if you can get him. He is only going to get better. 4)Gilbert Arenas is fourth. 4fg, 84ft, 28.4pts/g, 4.6rbs/g, 6.0ast/g, 1.9 stl/g, .2 blks/g and 2.8 3s/g. Honestly. if the guy shot a better fg% he would be my 3rd pick but you cant pass him up if you can get him. Also he makes it to the free throw line more than any other player which means free points.And he is usually among steal leaders 5) Kevin Garnett-48%fg,84%ft, 22.4pts/g, 12.8 rbs/g, 4.1 ast/g, 1.2stl/g, 1.7blk/g, and .2 3s/g. How can you go wrong. He averages a double double and plays defense-awesome. If you did go this route, your second and third round picks would differ slightly. In the second round I would go after Jason Kidd or Deron Williams. This will help offset Garnetts talent and skills. In the third you could still go for an alround player like G Wallace, Josh Smith, or Artest. But in the fourt round get the best 3 point shooter left-maybe Mike Miller-Im not really sure where he is going to go so look for K. Martin as well. Now let me just say everyone on your list I would try to pick up through the diversification system. However , G Wallace is a early to a mid 3rd round pick by my estimates and Nash is between 6-8 in the first rd. That doesnot mean that these guys could not go at anytime. If you or someone else really wants a player they just might pick them first no matter what. After your first league you will want to look at the average player picked. This will tell you what rd all the players are averaging being drafted in all of yahoo. This can really help you out in other drafts. Knowing what rd a player is going in can make your team one player deeper GOOD LUCK
5. The thing about Fantasy Basketball that many people overlook are the intangibles. I see some great choices on this page but also some questionable ones. My point of answering this question is not to put down other people's choices but to point out flaws and reasons why the players they nominate are not worthy of a top 5 selection. You have to keep in mind that if you are lucky enough to get one of the top 5 picks in a deep league of 10 - 12 teams then your pick in the first round will be your cornerstone player and the one you will live and die with so you have to be cautious with who you choose. Here are the reasons why these guys should not be in your top 5 choices. Gerald Wallace, Charlotte Bobcats Crash is one of my favorite fantasy players because of his ability to contribute in many roto-categories. He has the potential to give you the rare categories like 2 steals and 2 blocks a game. Gerald offers strong field goal percentages and great rebounding numbers for a small forward. However, the greatness stops there. Wallace doesn't score like a Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, or a LeBron James. He doesn't shoot a lot of 3's like a Gilbert Arenas or a Steve Nash. His block numbers have dropped from 2 a game to only 1 block a game last season after the return of Emeka Okafor. Crash's all-around game isn't as efficient as Shawn Marion or a Dirk Notwitzki because his turnovers aren't as low (Wallace 2.2 vs Marion 1.4) his rebounds aren't as high (Wallace 7.2 vs Marion 9.8), and his free throw percentages aren't as high (Wallace 69.1% vs Marion 81.1%). In order to be considered a top 5 fantasy pick, you either have to have a very efficient all-around game with limited weaknesses like Marion or Dirk Notwitzki or be a strong producers in some categories to offset a downside in other areas (think Gilbert Arenas - low field goal percentage and high turnovers is compensated by stronger scoring, 3-point and steals output, and a decent all-around stats). G-Wall is very injury prone too and he has a tendency to miss out on games for long stretches, leaving owners to find a substitute for the time being. I don't think I would risk picking a player this fragile with my top 5 pick. Deron Williams, Utah Jazz The Utah point guard has definitely came into his own as player last season but his fantasy value is marginal at best. The only category that stands out for Deron is the assists columns but that isn't the only category in fantasy. He doesn't shoot enough threes, doesn't generate enough steals, or score a lot of points. Deron's field goal (45.6%) and free throw percentage (76.7%) have improved but they are about average for a productive guard. His all-around production is minimal and not enough to compensate for his amount of turnovers (3.0). Right now, I believe that Deron is a better player in reality than from a fantasy perspective and certainly not top 5 material. Dwight Howard, Orlando Magics Last year, I drafted Howard in the 3rd round of my draft and I thought I had a steal but as it turned out, I took a player many owners were avoiding. I'm pretty sure the 60% field goal, the 12+ rebounds, and the almost 2 blocks a game were pretty tempting but Howard does not produce enough in a lot of categories to compensate for the areas where he does hurt you. D-How shot a terrible 58.6% free throw percentages last season and he averaged a pretty high number of turnover with 3.9. Drafting Howard on your fantasy team means forfeiting 2 categories (FT and TO) since he does shoot a high amount of free throws and turned the ball over a lot. A player who kills you more than he helps does not deserve top 5 pick considerations. Mike Miller, Memphis Miller is one of those players who are fantasy gold mines because of his ability to carry the threes category, especially with his great percentages from 3-point range. He also supplies you with a decent amount of rebounds and assists. His field goal and free throw percentages aren't so bad either. However, I believe that Mike had a hot year last season and I find it very difficult for him to duplicate last year's numbers especially with more quality teammates this year like Mike Conley and an improving Rudy Gay. Miller is not the main star on this team so I expect his numbers to drop this year. The only reason he did so well last year was because the Grizzlies lost Pau Gasol for the beginning of the season and they had no one else to produce. Since Mike is not the go-to guy on this team, I don't see why anyone would even choose him in the top 5 picks. Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets If you're looking for points then Melo does supply a lot of it. His field goal and free throw percentages are pretty high and he can carry a team in those categories. However, Carmelo doesn't play defense so he won't get enough steals. He prefers playing inside the 3-point line so his threes output won't be as great. His turnover averages (3.6) can singlehandedly kill a fantasy team. Melo has improved his passing ability but it is considered average compared to the elite forwards. The only consistency he brings to the table is points and great percentages. Why would I want to draft Carmelo Anthony when I could have more productive players in the top 5 picks? Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat Wade is one of those can't miss fantasy player and indeed, for most of last season, he was that player. He contributed in almost every category and offers very strong field goal (49.1%) and free throw (80.8%) percentages. The only downside to his game is the lack of 3-point production and the team killing amount of turnovers (4.2). However, he dislocated his shoulder towards the end of last season and needed an off-season surgery to pop it back into place. Wade has always been a tough and reckless player on the court like a Manu Ginobili and a Gerald Wallace. The only difference was he wasn't prone to missing games. His ability to play hurt was one of the reasons why he got drafted in the early first rounds of many fantasy drafts. This year could be a little different as he will need time to recover from surgery. I don't see Miami rushing him back into games unless Miami was on the verge of missing the playoffs. Even if Wade comes back early, his aggressive style of play could end up sending him back to the injured list. Wade is too much of an injury risk to be selected with the top 5 pick. Now that I've illustrated why certain players should not be drafted so high, here are 5 players who should be on the radars of owners with the top 5 pick, in no particular order and drafted based on needs and strategies. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics The most consistent and productive player as they come these days. He rarely gets injured and has played 8 consecutive seasons of at least 76 out of 82 games. KG offers superior rebounding as well as great assists (4 per game) production from the forward spot. He offers great all-around production with decent field goal and free throw percentages. Joining a Boston with 2 legitimate All-Stars will only make his life easier and should boost his assist production. Garnett may not be the best choice but he is certainly the safest choice for the top 5 pick. Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards There was no question that Arenas was the best fantasy player throughout the first half of last season. He was tearing up the league by contributing in every category besides blocks. Then he finally hit a wall and his field goal percentages came tumbling down to 41.8%. Arenas doesn't give you a lot of assists (6.0) for a point guard and and his turnovers (3.2) could affect a teams in that category but his ability to contribute strongly in 6 out of the 9 categories makes him a solid candidate to be a top 5 pick. Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers Hate him or love him, this Laker guard deserves to be here. Kobe is similar to Arenas in the fact that they both score a lot, shoot a lot of threes (less than Arenas though), and they get a fair amount of rebounds and assists. The difference is Kobe has better field goal percentages but Arenas gets more steals. Both players are capable of carrying a team's free throw percentages thanks to their high volume and high percentage shots. If you missed out on an Gilbert Arenas, getting a Kobe Bryant isn't a bad consolation prizes. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers King James showed us in last season's playoffs that he still got that swagger. He is one of the few players who could contribute across the boards in every category. The only downside to his game is his free throw percentages as it got to a point last year where he was shooting almost Shaq like FT percentages. LeBron quickly addressed this problem towards the end of the season and managed to bump it up to almost 70%. King Jame's ability to produce in every category, including 6+ assists from the forward spot, should lessen the load on your point guards / shooting guards, especially with the assists production. We don't know if LeBron's terrible free throw percentages will show it's ugly head this season but there is definitely no question that he is the fantasy draft's high risk / high reward option in the top 5 pick. Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns The 2-Time MVP has had his best statistical season up to date. Nash is the only player in the NBA to average double digits in assists while bumping up his 3-point production. It is rare to get such a high field goal (53.2%) and a high 3-point percentage (45.5%) from a point guard. The downside to his fantasy game is his high turnovers (3.8) and the lack of steals (0.8) but his great FG, FT,& 3-PT percentages, decent scoring numbers, and his high assist averages more than makes up for it. A point guard with this kind of efficiency should not last beyond the top 5 picks. The reason why I chose not to include Shawn Marion in my top 5 pick has a lot to do with the resurgence of Amare Stoudemire's career. Even though, the Matrix is still a pretty effective choice but his numbers have fallen across the boards now that he is no longer the main option in the paint. I also didn't include Dirk Notwitzki because his numbers across the board have fallen off in reason years, particularly in the rebounds, steals, blocks, and threes category. Dirk is still a good fantasy player but he is no longer great enough to warrant a top 5 pick.
6. 1)Howard 2)lebron 3)kobe 4)garnett 5)wade
7. kobe bryant lebron james dyane wade Steve nash Carmelo Anthony