2011-2012 Fantasy Basketball Draft Day Sleepers and Bargains

I participated in several drafts this weekend and noticed a few players who seemed to be slipping, undervalued or even completely ignored in each draft.   If you haven’t drafted yet, the players below could be great bargains on draft day.  Sometimes winning a fantasy title requires gambling a little on unknown circumstances.

Also, don’t forget that Fanduel has their $5000 Christmas Day Fantasy Basketball Tournament posted.  It’s limited space, so get signed up early.

Rodney Stuckey, Detroit – I’m guilty of missing out on Stuckey in a keeper league that drafted Saturday morning.  I should have checked the news just before drafting, where I would have noticed that Stuckey has been signed for the next three seasons by the Pistons.  His contract status surely kept his price down.

Shannon Brown, Phoenix – Brown was only a last round flier or went undrafted in many leagues this weekend.  He’s better than that and should be a late round pick.  He’s slipping because the Suns keep mentioning Jared Dudley as a challenger for the starting SG spot, but I think Brown is clearly the better player.

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2011-2012 NBA Fantasy Basketball Power Forward Draft Rankings

Below are the initial 2011-2012 NBA Fantasy Basketball Power Forward draft rankings for all 30 teams.  I have placed a copy of the rankings under the 2011-2012 Draft Rankings Tab at the top of the homepage for easy access as drafts approach.  Check back Friday for complete Center rankings.

Other 2011-2012 Rankings:  PG   SG   SF   PF   C

 

CLICK HERE FOR 2012 – 2013 POWER FORWARD DRAFT RANKINGS!!

 

Tier 1 – The 2011-2012Fantasy Basketball All-Stars

1 Amare Stoudemire (NYK) – Tough choice for the number one spot on the PF board, but I’m going to be a little controversial and go with Stoudemire.  He had the highest Power Forward per/36 scoring last season with 24.7 points/36.  I also like to get blocks from my big men and Stoudemire at 1.9 blocks per game was the only guy in the all-star tier to help in that category.  Amare’s 2010 stats:  25.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 1.9 BLKG, 2.6 APG.   He’s also got the highest career FG% of the all-star tier at 53.7% and his FT% is still a respectable 76.2%.

2 Kevin Love (MIN) – The ranking of the all-star tier really depends on how you want to build your fantasy team.  If you like to build around rebounds, then Love has to be your guy with 15.2 rebounds per game.  It’s almost like having an extra rebounder on your fantasy team, which is pretty nice in weekly head to head leagues.  He’s also got a unique talent of putting up nearly 3 three pointers per game.  He’s supposedly dropped some weight which could make him quicker.  Love’s 2010 stats:  20.2 PPG, 15.2 RPG, 2.5 APG. 

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2011-2012 NBA Fantasy Basketball Small Forward Draft Rankings

Below are the initial 2011-2012 NBA Fantasy Basketball Small Forward draft rankings for all 30 teams.  I have placed a copy of the rankings under the 2011-2012 Draft Rankings Tab at the top of the homepage for easy access as drafts approach.  Check back Thursday for complete Power Foward rankings.

Other 2011-2012 Rankings:  PG   SG   SF   PF   C

 

CLICK HERE FOR 2012-2013 SMALL FORWARD FANTASY DRAFT RANKINGS!!!

 

Tier 1 – The 2011-2012 Fantasy Basketball Small Forward All-Stars

1 LeBron James (MIA) – The number one SF and probably the number one player in all of fantasy basketball.  James had a great season in 2010 posting 26.7 PPG, 7.0 APG, 7.5 RPG, 1.6 SPG.  He moved away from the three point shot a bit only putting up 3.5 per game, down from 5.1 per game the prior season.  He only lost about one shot attempt moving from Cleveland to Miami.  James turns 27 this season and he’s had a year to build chemistry, so this could be a monster year for him.

2 Kevin Durant (OKC) – Durant is slipping, he dropped from 30.1 PPG all the way down to 27.7 PPG.  Seriously though, the guy is a monster, and he’s still only 23 years old.   The real difference in ranking between Durant and James is the assist stat.  Durant only managed 2.7 APG while James dished 7.0 APG.   Durant is a better free throw shooter, which accounts for most of the difference in their scoring averages.

3 Carmelo Anthony (NYK) – When it comes to scoring, last season Melo actually put up a better per/36 number (26.2 PTS per/36) than Durant (25.6 PTS per/36).  Melo also got the best of Durant in per/36 assists (3.0 to 2.5) and per/36 rebounds (6.7 to 6.3).  If these two get similar minutes in 2011, the draft position should be a lot close than many people think. 

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GiveMeTheRock.com Keeper League Draft: Moneyball Big Man Strategy (10/24/10)

Saturday morning was the GiveMeTheRock.com Keeper League draft and I actually had a pretty good draft in this league of experts.  I finally got to use a strategy that I’ve been pondering for awhile and this was a perfect opportunity to see if it could really work.  It was also fun because it’s a totally different strategy and team than my Blogger’s League team.

The Moneyball Big Man Strategy is based on going with a big man system trying to capture the points, FG%, rebounds, steals, blocks and turnover categories.  The reason behind the ‘moneyball’ reference is that all three guard positions use the type of guards that nobody else really wants, so there are always plenty of plug and play options on the wire.    I’m looking for defensive type guards, those that get rebounds, steals, blocks and don’t handle the ball much, therefore keeping their turnovers really low.  Optimally, I’d like them to also be close range shooters with a high percentage.    Contrast this to the guys who build around threes and assists and employ premium draft picks at the three Guard spots, if one of their Guards gets hurt, there are no replacements on the wire.  It’s all about trying to capitalize on the resources that everyone else undervalues or has no use for.

We are allowed three keepers every year in this league, I’ve posted my keepers first.  One helpful fact was that the PG postition was very thin because most keepers were at PG.  Roster positions are PG, SG, G, SF, PF, C, C, U, U, 3 Bench spots.   Nine category H2H, rosters set weekly on Monday.  I had the 7th draft spot in the 12 team league.  So here’s the roster that I ended up with and a little commentary on each pick:

1.   (Keeper) Rudy Gay SF/PF
2.   (Keeper) Jeff Green SF/PF
3.   (Keeper) Zach Randolph PF/C
4.   Amare Stoudemire PF/C
5.   Gerald Wallace SF/PF
6.   Chris Kaman C
7.   Roy Hibbert C
8.   Andre Miller PG
9.   Rodney Stuckey PG/SG
10.  D.J. Augustin PG
11.   Rodrigue Beaubois PG/SG
12.   Arron Afflalo SG
13.   Tayshaun Prince SF/PF

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Fantasy Basketball Mock Draft Recap

I participated in my first mock draft of the season last Thursday night and I figured I’d post the roster and explain some of the picks.  I showed up at the last minute to the draft, so someone had the comedic idea to assign me the draft name ‘Fantasy god’ before I got there.  Not funny guys.  Thanks again to Jason at fBasketballBlog.com for setting it up.  You can check out Jason’s review of the entire draft at fBasketballBlog.com.   Henry at WeaksideHelp.com also posted a review of the draft and his roster selections.

The roster settings were 3 starting guards, 3 starting forwards, 2 starting centers, 2 utility players and 4 bench spots.  I was assigned the number 7 draft slot.  It’s also important to note that this is a H2H league setup.   Here are the entire draft results.

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