Players That I Have on Multiple Teams

Devin Harris, Kelenna Azubuike, Yao Ming, and Caron Butler are among the 12 players that I selected on more than one occasion. If these guys have career years, my teams will be hard to beat.

I participated in 5 fantasy hoops drafts over the past week and made a total of 69 player selections (five is about the maximum number of leagues that I’d like to be in, because when you have 100+ players on your various teams, you’re managing over 20% of the NBA, which takes some of the fun away).

And in fact, I only have 57 different players on my 5 rosters, because I drafted the following 12 players twice. If you have the same guy on more than one of your teams, then you probably value that player more than the average person.

So it’s important to examine these players closely, because they could make or break your season. And on that note, here are my (hopefully) dominant dozen for the ‘08-09 season…

Devin Harris, Nets

Harris probably fell past pick #50 in most leagues, but I wasn’t willing to let that happen, so I took him at #45 and #48 in two of my leagues. In those same leagues, John Hollinger of ESPN and Roland Beech of 82games picked Chauncey Billups at #30 and #37, respectively. I think Devin is going to be the better value pick, because he should put up stats very similar to Chauncey’s. 17 points, 7 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.3 threes per game is very possible, and New Jersey will need numbers like that if they want to be competitive.

Andre Miller, 76ers

Here are the facts: Miller has missed just 5 games in his 9 year career, he’s ranked in the top 10 in assists 8 years in a row, and he’s a terrible 3-point shooter. If you can live with the latter, then he’s an excellent point guard to have on your team. In one of my drafts, TJ Ford and Mo Williams were selected at #54 and #55, respectively, while I swooped up ‘Dre at #56. While Andre is an ironman and a lock for 6.5+ dimes, TJ is a major injury risk and Mo is going to see his assists plummet now that he has to share the ball with LeBron & company. In that league I already had Rashard Lewis, and in my other league I had Jason Richardson, so I can live with Miller’s lack of threes.

OJ Mayo, Grizzlies

I usually avoid drafting rookies, but I couldn’t resist a tall glass of OJ Mayo. I didn’t have to overreach to get him either, as I picked him #85 in one league, and got him for just $4 in my auction draft. He’s going to be inconsistent, but he’s also going to get as many minutes and shot attempts as he can handle, which is something that few rookies are allowed to do. After Rudy Gay, Memphis doesn’t have many proven scorers, so you can expect plenty of 20+ point games. However, I didn’t really warm up to him until I realized how many steals he was racking up in the preseason. He’s ready to play in the NBA, so get him while you still can.

Delonte West, Cavaliers

West flies under the radar because he doesn’t score 20+ points very often. And when you factor in the addition of Mo Williams, that made a lot of people just flat out ignore Delonte in drafts this year. I think that’s a mistake, because he’s still going to get big minutes, and he’s still going to put up solid all-around stats. His career averages are 3.8 assists, 1.0 steals, .9 threes, and .5 blocks in just 27.8 minutes per game. Those are solid numbers for a guy who may have gone undrafted in your league.

Mickael Pietrus, Magic

Back in early August, I chose Pietrus as my Magic player not to sleep on, and said that “if you want to use one of your last round picks on a guy with significant upside, I highly recommend nabbing Air France.” Well, I followed my words by picking Pietrus in the 13th round in two leagues where I needed help in threes and blocks. MP is going to get plenty of open looks in Orlando thanks to Dwight Howard’s presence, and his excellent length and athleticism allows to rack up steals and blocks. At 26 years old, Mickael is about to enter the prime of his career, and as you can see in this video, he’s a lot of fun to watch.

Rudy Fernandez, Trail Blazers

Am I missing something? Did Martell Webster not get hurt, opening up more minutes for other players in Portland? Did Rudy Fernandez not compile 20 assists, 13 steals, and 9 threes in just 5 preseason games? Were his Euroleague stats not extremely impressive? Did the play below not happen during the Olympics? Maybe I’m seeing something else, because I seem to be much higher on Rudy than other people are. If he’s still available in your league, I suggest picking him up before everyone else sees what I’m seeing.

Kelenna Azubuike, Warriors

A lot of people are high on Matt Barnes, because he’s now starting for Phoenix. Some people are keen on Pietrus, because he’s now starting for Orlando. But where’s the love for Azubuike?!? Corey Maggette is going to replace the scoring punch that Baron & Monta provided, but who’s going to replace everything that Barnes & Pietrus did? That would be one of my favorite Warriors and the man with the bulging biceps: Mr. Azubuike. In 17 starts last season, he averaged 12.9 points, 5.4 boards, and 1.5 threes per game. With a bigger offensive role this season, he could improve on those stats, making him a solid fantasy option to have on your bench. There’s a good chance he went undrafted in your league, so I suggest keeping a close eye on him so you can swoop him up before someone else does.

Caron Butler, Wizards

Butler had a superb ‘07-08 season, but it was cut short once again. He missed 24 regular season games due to a tear in his hip, and he’s now missed a total of 50 games the past 3 seasons. Surely, injury concerns scared off a lot of people this year. But if you want to win, you have to take risks and go with your gut, and my gut tells me that Butler is going to stay healthy this season. For starters, it just seems like he’s a good guy with some positive karma coming his way. He also did a lot of yoga and band work over the summer to strengthen his core, which should do wonders for his hip. When healthy, he was a top 10 fantasy player last season, so getting him in the 2nd round could be a steal.

Zach Randolph, Knicks

I usually avoid Zach Randolph, because he’s a big man who doesn’t get blocks or make a high % of his shots. But I’m predicting big things for him in ‘08-09, so I was willing to gamble on him in a couple of leagues. For starters, he’s 27 years old, so he’s matured on and off the court and is in the prime of his career. More importantly, he has a new coach who is willing to open up the offense and let him take a lot of shots. He made several threes in the preseason, and since opposing centers will usually be guarding him, this could be a common occurence in ‘08-09. Since New York will be attempting a lot more shots this season, I’m also expecting Randolph to set career-highs in both rebounds and assists. While I’m still worried about his lack of blocks, I feel good about the rest of his numbers.

Kenyon Martin, Nuggets

Denver’s fast pace allowed them to finish 2nd in scoring and 5th in rebounding last season, but for some reason, many of their players (K-Mart, Nene, JR Smith, Kleiza) fell further than expected in my drafts. As a result, I drafted Nene in one league and Martin in two. K-Mart’s stats from last season are deceiving, because he averaged just 22.6 minutes per game in November, his first NBA action since his microfracture surgery. But after that month, his numbers were rock solid. With Marcus Camby now in L.A., Martin will have to pick up the slack defensively, so don’t be surprised if his boards and blocks improve. Now that he’s two full years removed from his knee surgery, I’m predicting big things for him in ‘08-09. You know what I’m sayin’?

Tyson Chandler, Hornets

I wasn’t really targeting Chandler, but I was able to get him at pick #76 in one league, and then for just $6 in my auction draft. The guy finished 2nd in FG% and 3rd in rebounding last season, but I’m sure that a lot of people avoided him because he also blocked just 1.06 shots per game. That number was extremely disappointing, but his previous statistics suggest that he’s going to bounce back. Prior to ‘07-08, he averaged 1.8 blocked shots per 36 minutes in every single season, so 1.4+ blocks in ‘08-09 seems likely. I actually passed on Emeka Okafor and Brad Miller in the league where I took him at #76, because I already have David West in one league, and the thought of getting another Hornets player was too good to pass up. New Orleans is one of the most exciting teams to watch, and when you see alley-oops like this, it’s no wonder that TC has made over 62% of his shots the past two seasons.

Yao Ming, Rockets

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not nearly as confident in Yao playing 75+ games as I am in Butler playing 75+ games. He’s missed 86 games over the past 3 seasons, and he was probably busier than any other player over the summer. However, I’ll be happy if I can just get 66+ games out of him, because that’s all he needs to play for me to have gotten fair value. In one league, I picked him #26 overall, while in my auction draft, I got him for just $36. Compare that price to $71 for Dwight Howard (it’s a total points league) and $31 for Greg Oden, and I think I got a good deal. Taking Yao in two leagues was a very risky move, but I have my fingers crossed, and it could pay off big time.

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