NBA Fantasy Draft Prep: Names And Stats That Matter
By Jay Rosales
Apr 23, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) reacts against the Golden State Warriors during the third quarter in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Roster Composition – Forwards/Centers
Sticking with the multi-cat approach, our frontcourt will consist of forwards and centers who fill out our remaining categories. Running with the 3-cat minimum, we end up with 22 players:
- 6-cat (1!) – Anthony Davis
- 5-cat – None
- 4-cat (6) – Lebron James, DeMarcus Cousins, Pau Gasol, Kevin Love, Derrick Favors, Brook Lopez
- 3-cat (15) – Blake Griffin, Gordon Hayward, Tim Duncan, Andrew Bogut, Kawhi Leonard, Trevor Ariza, Nikola Vucevic, Gorgui Dieng, LaMarcus Aldridge, Nerlens Noel, Rudy Gobert, DeAndre Jordan, Andre Drummond, Enes Kanter, Hassan Whiteside
Davis is just not fair. He averages 1.4 turnovers per game, essentially making him a 7-cat super-human! Using these same benchmarks, Lebron has never had a 6-cat season, and “only” hit 5 categories in three seasons.
Love, Favors, and Lopez each have sub-2.0 turnover averages, adding more value to their respective draft stocks.
If you raise the FG benchmark to 55 percent with this group, you’re left with Bogut, Gobert, Jordan, and Whiteside. Just keep in mind that none of these four average a FT% above 62 percent (ouch!).
Only four players have the added value of hitting our 3-PT benchmark: James, Love, Hayward, and Ariza. Only two players hit our assists benchmark: James and Griffin. Lebron’s value is that you’re drafting a frontcourt player with backcourt credentials.
As mentioned earlier, I’ll be re-doing this analysis with season projections. If you’d like to see different benchmarks, please indicate in the comments. In the meantime, use this info merely as a guideline as you begin mock drafting. Fantasy sports is a numbers game, and you’re now one article smarter than your competition!
Next: Predicting every NBA team's best and worst case scenario for the 2015-16 season