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Now that free agency has come to an end we can give our initial rankings for fantasy basketball player ratings.\u00a0 While this list will fluctuate a\u00a0little before the season in October this is a good starting point for mock drafts.<\/p>\nNow that free agency has come to an end we can give our initial rankings for fantasy basketball player ratings.\u00a0 While this list will fluctuate a\u00a0little before the season in October this is a good starting point for mock drafts.<\/p>\n
01\u00a0 Kevin Durant<\/p>\n
With Lebron notoriously \u201ctaking [his] talents\u00a0 to South Beach,\u201d Durant no longer has any challengers for the scoring title.\u00a0 Moreover, his rebounding has been steadily improving, and he is as consistent as they come, and only 21 years old.\u00a0 He gets to the line 10 times a night and hits 90% of them.\u00a0\u00a0 He is the new top dog and has been steadily going #1 in these early mocks.<\/p>\n
02\u00a0 Chris Paul<\/p>\n
The former consensus #1 is now the consensus #2.\u00a0 His all around game and high steals make him worth a #2 pick and he has been edging out Lebron James, 2.2 vs 2.8<\/p>\n
03\u00a0 Lebron James<\/p>\n
Lebron takes his fall to 3, but can go no lower.\u00a0 His assists will likely go up, as may his rebounding.\u00a0 I expect his scoring to go down to the 24-26 ppg area, but his overall dominance makes him one of the most valuable player, especially in head to head leagues.<\/p>\n
04 Dirk Nowitzki<\/p>\n
Dirk is steady, reliable, and very effective.\u00a0 He\u2019s easily the best European player to come through the NBA and he has been a top 5 pick for the last 5 years.<\/p>\n
05 \u00a0Dwyane Wade<\/p>\n
Wade falls a spot from last year, but should still be the #1 option in Miami. \u00a0If he stays the #1 option and diverts some attention towards feeding Bosh, he should put up mid first round numbers, so he belongs here in the 6th<\/sup> spot.<\/p>\n 06 \u00a0\u00a0Stephen Curry<\/p>\n Last year I took Stephen Curry in the 5th<\/sup> round of a 5 keeper league, so essentially round 10.\u00a0 That one kinda worked out\u2026 Curry played a load of minutes last year and put up great numbers.\u00a0 Part of it is the Golden State effect, but I think most people agree he would be productive no matter where he played.<\/p>\n 07 \u00a0Kobe Bryant<\/p>\n Kobe is not the same Kobe that averaged 35 ppg.\u00a0 He is better.\u00a0 Now that he has Gasol to share the rock with, he has increased his efficiency.\u00a0 The problem with Kobe\u2019s improvement, however, is that his improvement has been a regression in fantasy.\u00a0 He no longer has to hog the ball for the Lakers to win, and his scoring is down because of it.<\/p>\n 08\u00a0 \u00a0Danny Granger<\/p>\n Granger can easily be taken as high as 5th<\/sup>, but no one really ever does that.\u00a0 He\u2019s a lot like Shaun Marion was in his prime, being a lanky forward that does a little bit of everything and knocks down a fair amount of threes\u00a0 (let it be known that Granger hits a lot of threes).\u00a0 His one steal\/one block production is nice too (actually 1.5 and 0.8, but who is nitpicking?).<\/p>\n 09\u00a0 Deron Williams<\/p>\n It takes this long for the next point guard after Paul to enter the list.\u00a0 Deron Williams is close to being the player Paul is in real life, but in fantasy, it isn\u2019t even close.\u00a0 Paul blows Deron away, and Deron is even a 20-10 player.<\/p>\n 10\u00a0 Pau Gasol<\/p>\n Gasol has been a first round pick almost his entire career, and there is no reason for it to change.\u00a0 He is clearly the most talented big man in the league offensively, and is remarkably consistent within the triangle offense, which he seems like he was practically made for.<\/p>\n 11 \u00a0David Lee<\/p>\n David Lee is probably the most underrated player both in real life and in fantasy.\u00a0 OK, so he doesn\u2019t play much defense.\u00a0 Since when were casual fans so concerned about defense to begin with?\u00a0 Lee is a solid 20-10 for the next 5-7 years.\u00a0 It only makes sense for him to rank here. Carmelo went wild last year in terms of his career stats.\u00a0 Prior to last year, his highest season PPG was 22.\u00a0 After last year, it was 28.\u00a0 He used to be picked in the mid 30s, now he is mid teens.\u00a0 And there is no reason to believe he won\u2019t continue to put those numbers up, even if he wants out of Denver the entire time he plays for them.<\/p>\n 13 \u00a0\u00a0Amare Stoudemire<\/p>\n I think this is the first overrated player of the list.\u00a0 Amare\u2019s stats are going to take a serious hit without Nash, and so will his inflated Field Goal percentage.\u00a0 I don\u2019t expect him to be anywhere near as effective with Felton being his Nash.<\/p>\n 14\u00a0 \u00a0Gerald Wallace<\/p>\n Crash Wallace is a great rebounder and excellent defender (1.5 stl, 1.1 blk).\u00a0 He also scores\u00a0 18.2 ppg.\u00a0 While there are always injury concerns, it\u2019s very hard to pass on Wallace, because he is that good.\\<\/p>\n 15\u00a0 Josh Smith<\/p>\n Josh Smith did all of us a favor when he stopped shooting threes.\u00a0 It is clear to see his strength is defense, and it would be nice if he focused most of his energy on that end of the court.\u00a0 He can score, but what makes him especially valuable are his blocks and steals.\u00a0 He should contend for Defensive Player of the year, but It\u2019s difficult to see Dwight Howard losing his grip on that award, unless the media grows tired of him winning (which happens a lot of course).<\/p>\n 16\u00a0 Brook Lopez<\/p>\n Lopez is this generations Tim Duncan.\u00a0 Efficient, large bodied, and not exciting sums up both of them.\u00a0 Brook Lopez seldom has exciting plays, but he manages to get his numbers and he is the best player on the worst team in the league.<\/p>\n 17\u00a0 Dwight Howard<\/p>\n Dwight has so much untapped offensive potential.\u00a0 Already armed with a decent right handed hook shot, he needs to improve his footwork so that he can more easily spin off defenders when attacking the basket.\u00a0 He also needs to hold the ball above his head when he gets an offensive rebound.\u00a0 His defensive numbers and defensive game are tough to beat, and he is a lot like a much more offensively gifted version of Ben Wallace.\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, and about 3 inches taller too, of course.<\/p>\n 18\u00a0 Rajon Rondo<\/p>\n Rondo has quickly emerged as one of the game\u2019s best point guards.\u00a0 His only Achilles\u2019 Heel is his free throw shooting.\u00a0 He manages to be one of the league\u2019s worst free throw shooters (and I would be inclined to say it is because of his hands being so oversized).\u00a0 He hustles every minute and has a great work ethic, so it is easy to see Rondo maintaining his position on this list, or even improving it if he can work on the free throws.<\/p>\n 19\u00a0 Jason Kidd<\/p>\n Every year is supposed to be the year Kidd falls off, yet it never happens.\u00a0 He\u2019s relying on his skills now as his athleticism and ability to defend are all but gone.\u00a0 Fortunately,\u00a0 in fantasy, one on one defense plays very little a role.\u00a0 Kidd will continue to rack up the assists for as long as he plays and he could very well keep up his production until he is 40.<\/p>\n 20\u00a0 Steve Nash<\/p>\n Like Kidd, Nash has an amazing skill set that you almost can\u2019t teach.\u00a0 His court vision and anticipatory skills are very tough to match and he is essentially a modern Bob Cousy, the first to throw behind the back passes, of course.\u00a0 Nash probably also could have been a pro soccer player.\u00a0 Dragic will take some minutes this year, but it is so hard to demote Nash in our minds, when it seems like he doesn\u2019t age at all.<\/p>\n 21\u00a0 Chris Bosh<\/p>\n By anyone\u2019s account, Bosh\u2019s move to Miami is going to hurt his fantasy prospects.\u00a0 He will become the third option, where as before he was the clear number one option in Toronto.\u00a0 It\u2019s his doing though.\u00a0 He chose to follow Wade\u2019s coattails, and their respective decisions paved the way for Lebron to join them in what is probably the most talented trio, at least offensively, in NBA history.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t expect Bosh\u2019s numbers to increase.<\/p>\n 22\u00a0 Andre Iguodala<\/p>\n Iguodala has been the topic of trade rumors since the Sixers took Evan Turner second overall in last year\u2019s draft.\u00a0 I, for one, think that is foolish.\u00a0 There is no guarantee that Turner will be anywhere near as good as Andre Iguodala. \u00a0Iguodala is proven and still young enough to be a franchise player.\u00a0 I think they will regret it if they deal him, unless the return package is too hard to resist.<\/p>\n 23\u00a0 Brandon Roy<\/p>\n Roy continues to be a point guard playing shooting guard.\u00a0 I think it might benefit him to be the point and possess the ball a lot more, but that isn\u2019t Nate McMillan\u2019s thoughts, so it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s going to happen.\u00a0 Roy continues to be a very clutch player that is capable of exploding from time to time.<\/p>\n 24\u00a0 Chauncey Billups<\/p>\n Billups came out and said this week that he wants to play four more seasons.\u00a0 He turns 34 next month, so that will put him at age 38 when he goes into his last season on that contract.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he will be terribly less valuable then, but he probably won\u2019t be as good as he is now.\u00a0 That really doesn\u2019t have much to do with his ranking though, which seems about right when you consider what his numbers are right now.<\/p>\n 25\u00a0 Carlos Boozer<\/p>\n No one really knew Boozer was going to be this good.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t anything special at Duke and was considered by\u00a0 many to be too short to succeed in the post.\u00a0 He has proven everyone wrong with\u00a0 a solid but odd looking jump shot and an uncanny ability to knock other bodies out of the way when in pursuit of the ball.\u00a0 He\u2019s a lot like a young but better version of his former coach Paul Silas.\u00a0 Both are 6\u20197 but mix it up with much larger players and have little reservation about banging the glass.<\/p>\n 26 \u00a0Al Jefferson<\/p>\n Al Jefferson figures to be steady as he moves to Utah.\u00a0 I think it might benefit him to have Deron Williams finding him for dunks, rather than the more offensively and less-gifted Johnny Flynn.\u00a0 Jefferson has a big body and will find his way in the Western Conference, against the likes of Greg Oden, Andrew Bynum, and Tim Duncan.<\/p>\n 27 \u00a0Joe Johnson<\/p>\n JJ really let everyone down in the playoffs last year, and I was certain we had seen the end of him in Atlanta.\u00a0 But then he ended up receiving a max contract, directly AFTER having choked in the playoffs and putting up four stinkers versus Orlando.\u00a0 Sometimes the NBA doesn\u2019t make sense, and players like Joe Johnson epitomize this.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Atlanta learn anything from the Magic\u2019s signing of Rashard Lewis?<\/p>\n 28 \u00a0Al Horford<\/p>\n Horford made his first all-star team last year and is still getting better.\u00a0 While the Hawks know for a fact he would be better off at power forward, they have not yet been presented with a center that is good enough to start and allow Horford to slide over to the 4 spot.\u00a0 There are a few options the Hawks could pursue in trades, but right now Horford\u2019s center eligibility serves as an attractive feature right now.\u00a0 Without it, he will still be a steady star and double double lock, but none the less\u2026<\/p>\n 29\u00a0 \u00a0Andrea Bargnani<\/p>\n Bargnani is not, and I repeat, not, the type of talent that should be the best on any given team.\u00a0 For that reason, I would venture to say that Toronto puts up the second worst record next season, after perennial crap house Minnesota.<\/p>\n 30\u00a0 Monta Ellis<\/p>\n I remember when he had his moped accident, thinking \u201cWell, he\u2019ll never be the same.\u201d\u00a0 It just didn\u2019t\u00a0 seem that he would in light of how serious the Warriors made the incident, fining and suspending him without pay for 50 games.\u00a0 Somehow, however, he has not only got back to that level, but actually superceded it.\u00a0 Part of his fantasy dominance can be attributed to the Golden State effect, but Ellis is a great slasher and decent shooter, which will go along way if you\u2019re quick enough to do it, and he is.<\/p>\n 31\u00a0 Tim Duncan<\/p>\n Duncan is beginning to show signs of slowing down, and the fact that he takes off the second game of back-to-backs is all the evidence you need to know that.\u00a0 He is still a dominant power forward, probably the second best ever\u00a0 (I still favor Karl Malone, even if he didn\u2019t get any rings), but his numbers are gradually declining and he isn\u2019t getting any faster.<\/p>\n 32\u00a0 Troy Murphy<\/p>\n Murphy is one of the best examples of a player that is no where near as good in real life as he is in fantasy.\u00a0 His rebounding and threes make him\u00a0 valuable chip on fantasy teams, but in real life he fails to bring much defense or intensity.\u00a0 He\u2019s still a very good power forward, but you\u2019ll never see him on an all-star team.<\/p>\n 33\u00a0 Andrew Bogut<\/p>\n Somehow, last year, Bogut figured out that he could block shots.\u00a0 It had to be a revelation for him, as he more than doubled his highest block total from previous seasons.\u00a0 Couple that with the fact he is now playing with a legit point guard in Jennings and it becomes easy to see why he would be drafted here.\u00a0 If anything, I would rank him a few spots higher, assuming his elbow and finger have healed up properly.<\/p>\n 34\u00a0 David West<\/p>\n Two years ago, David West appeared to be on his ascent to being one of the league\u2019s top power forwards, yet, for some reason, he never made it there.\u00a0 He made the all star team and coupled with Chris Paul, the Hornets were in the middle of a near contending season.\u00a0 Since that time, no one really is able to put a finger on why West failed to make the transition into being a superstar, we just know that he has failed to make the jump.<\/p>\n 35 \u00a0Tyreke Evans<\/p>\n Tyreke Evans became the fourth player to average 20\/5\/5 in his rookie season, putting him in exclusive company (Oscar Robertson, Lebron James, Michael Jordan).\u00a0 Unfortunately, he is no where near as good as the company he keeps on that list.\u00a0 No one expects Evans to make the jump to being anywhere near that dominant, but his overall ability does allow him to rank relatively high.\u00a0 I would be surprised if he built much on top of last season, but could forsee small jumps across the board.<\/p>\n 36 Nene<\/p>\n Nene is a model of efficiency.\u00a0 His high field goal percentage and good defensive numbers make him a very valuable fantasy player.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll ever go as high as he should, but maybe there is some kind of reason for that.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n 37\u00a0 \u00a0Derrick Rose<\/p>\n Rose is much more valuable in real life than in fantasy, the opposite of the aforementioned Troy Murphy.\u00a0 His offensive numbers are solid, but he doesn\u2019t get many steals, doesn\u2019t hit many threes, and he turns the ball over a lot.<\/p>\n 38 \u00a0\u00a0Manu Ginobili<\/p>\n Ginobili is effective every year, and it seems he is another who always goes too low in drafts.\u00a0 Maybe there is nothing exciting about drafting Ginobili, who seems very unlikely to improve.\u00a0 They just fail to take into account how good he already is.<\/p>\n 39\u00a0 Paul Pierce<\/p>\n Pierce fell off badly last year in PPG.\u00a0 It was bound to happen eventually.\u00a0 He did save his best for the playoffs, but the playoffs don\u2019t count in fantasy, and it has become clear that all of Boston\u2019s starters are going to be given ample rest in order to be ready for the playoffs.\u00a0 Think of the Spurs approach two and three seasons ago.<\/p>\n 40\u00a0 Rudy Gay<\/p>\n Rudy Gay is turning heads on the FIBA national team, but he never seemed to reach the level that many had been placing him, namely as the next Danny Granger.\u00a0 He may eventually crack the top 20, as he has that kind of potential.\u00a0 He was certainly paid as though he will do it.<\/p>\n 41\u00a0 Marc Gasol<\/p>\n Pau\u2019s little brother has really come into his own and is a very effective and efficient center.\u00a0 A true center, Gasol has the kind of body and strength that will make him very effective down low.<\/p>\n 42\u00a0 Russell Westbrook<\/p>\n Westbrook\u2019s atrocious field goal percentage really hurts him.\u00a0 Like Rondo, he lacks an outside shot\u00a0 and it shows in his percentages.\u00a0 He is eventually going to be a very good player, but he needs to improve his efficiency to get much higher in fantasy.<\/p>\n 43\u00a0 Mo Williams<\/p>\n Mo Williams will get a lot more shots with Lebron James out of town, but he is aging now, too, and may not approach his numbers from his Milwaukee days.\u00a0 He should be a good source of threes and decent for assists (7 a game maybe?), but ultimately, Lebron\u2019s absence may actually end up hurting Mo as he clearly will get less open looks now.<\/p>\n 44\u00a0 Zach Randolph<\/p>\n An absolutely deadly team cancer in real life, Randolph is brilliant for fantasy.\u00a0 He is a complete black hole on offense and barely ever looks to give the ball up.\u00a0 He kills for offensive rebounds, but only because it means he can score more.\u00a0 He\u2019s very conscious of his stats and will do what it takes to get them.<\/p>\n 45\u00a0 Marcus Camby<\/p>\n Camby is starting to seem like an old circus clown on stilts, moving very slow but always managing to get his ridiculously long arms to the ball.\u00a0 He\u2019s now 36 and still putting up great numbers.\u00a0 He\u2019s like an even more effective version of Kevin Willis.\u00a0 Can he, like Willis, play until age 44?<\/p>\n 46\u00a0 Kevin Love<\/p>\n Love offers a rare breed of guard-like offensive skills coupled with a big man\u2019s body.\u00a0 Not afraid to step out for threes, Love will bang down low, then take you outside behind the arc.\u00a0 He\u2019s like a fat and less impressive version of Dirk Nowitzki.<\/p>\n 47 \u00a0\u00a0Stephen Jackson<\/p>\n Captain Jack always puts up great numbers.\u00a0 Even after leaving Golden State, he continued to put up great numbers for the Bobcats.<\/p>\n 48 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Darren Collison<\/p>\n Collison\u2019s move to Indiana is a great boon since now we\u2019ll get to see him start rather than play behind Chris Paul.\u00a0 While Paul was out, Collison did his best impression of him, averaging 19 ppg and 10 apg in a stretch of games during Paul\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n 49\u00a0 Kevin Martin<\/p>\n Kevin Martin has fallen off, and not just because of age.\u00a0 He has been unfortunate enough to go from being a number one option to just another player.<\/p>\n 50\u00a0 Joakim Noah<\/p>\n Noah is going to be a walking double double for the next eight to ten years.\u00a0 It remains to be seen whether he can craft a solid offensive game.\u00a0 He is a bit awkward on offense so it doesn\u2019t look like he has the fluidity to have great moves down low.\u00a0 Maybe, like his skill equivalent Varejao, he can learn to move well without the ball and get a lot of easy looks around the basket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Fantasy Basketball Drafts, this article considers the average draft spot of the top 50 players and offers analysis as to why they do or don’t deserve the slot they are 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\n12 \u00a0Carmelo Anthony<\/p>\n