Time for the undraftables!
It’s an absolute barren wasteland trying to sift through the 151-200 ranks, akin to that 60-year-old retiree scanning a remote beach with his metal detector. Bleep! Bleep! Eureka I found a dime! But none of these guys are good enough to get dimebags!
We’re finally wrapping up the top 200 (Rank 1-10 | Rank 11-20 | Rank 21-50 | Rank 51-75 | Rank 76-100 | Rank 101-150), with most of these guys untouchable in 12ers. However, there is some upside to be had with your last-pick fliers and hopefully help out with the deeper leagues. The deep ballers. “I’m balls deep in sleepers!” If only that were the case – a lot of these guys are likely duds or rooks that won’t see enough PT. “I’m balls deep in DNPs!” So remember upside is a big factor when you get this late, as no one wants to be balls deep in O.J. Mayo‘s 20 minutes off the bench…
If you disagree with these ranks, be sure to put your fantasy acumen to the test in the Razzball Commenter Leagues! We need more commissioners and leagues, so sign up a league today, it takes literally a minute – I stop-watched myself – and face off against the best fantasy basketball community around! Prizes and me shaming myself on YouTube abound!
Back to it, here’s the Top 200 for the 2015-16 Fantasy Basketball Season:
151. Courtney Lee, Memphis Grizzlies – Let’s start this as yawnstipating as possible! Lee was initially in my top-150, but then I remembered a lot of his value last year was from a fluky high start in FG%/3PT%. Through his first 23 games, 52.3% from the field and – wait for it – 54.5% from deep. Say whaaaaa?! Then regression hit hard and he was sub-40% from the field post-ASB. Boring, but 1 3PTM/2 AST/1 STL should be replicable. But Matt Barnes might push for some minutes by playing some 2 or pushing Tony Allen to SG.
152. J.R. Smith, Cleveland Cavaliers – Long-time readers know I’ve never been a Smiff fan, but he was solid in Cleveland after the trade and hit a redonkulous career-best 2.8 treys with the Cavs if expanded to a full season. The 1.4 steals seem a little high as does his 31:45 MPG we saw post-trade, but with Kyrie Irving hurt, Mo Williams will move to the pure 1 for virtually all his minutes so we should see a strong start. Then sell high!
153. Ben McLemore, Sacramento Kings – After an abysmal rookie campaign, McLemore really proved me wrong that he was a good basketball player in his encore, raising the %s and playing good enough D to keep Sauce Castillo off the floor. That said, still sub-1 STL in 32:33 MPG and I really worry about a minutes crunch this season. Darren Collison is gonna play a lot of SG on top of backup PG, and even though the Kings will go small at times with Gay the 4 and possibly McLemore to the 3, I don’t see it happening often enough. I’m going to guess McLemore drops under 30 MPG this year.
154. Langston Galloway, New York Knicks – The Harlem Renaissance! Pretty fantastic contribution Galloway gave last year as a D-League promotee (real word?), but A-R-Ron is a pretty big minute SG, Calderon is gonna play, and rookie Jerian Grant is likely well ahead of Galloway for minutes. While he barely missed on getting his FG% to 40% (39.9), Galloway did hit 3s, get dimes and get steals with very minimal TO. One more Calderon quad injury and he’s looking at a big role.
155. Zach LaVine, Minnesota Timberwolves – I didn’t even mean to have this mini-run on SG types, but it’s how the cookie crumbled! And speaking of crumbling, the Wolves NEED to deal K-Mart ASAP to get LaVine in the starting 5! I think Rubio is set, but K-Mart has a very friendly contract with a cheap final year next season as caps expand and I see him moved towards the deadline. Unfortunately for 12ers, it’s going to be really hard to stash LaVine until then. I don’t think he gets a ton of run until K-Mart is traded or gets hurt.
156. Kosta Koufos, Sacramento Kings – The Big Yogurt (pass/fail for new nickname?) is going to get madly overlooked this year for entering a bad team culture (see what I did there?!). I think Kouf starts and plays more minutes than Willie Cauley-Stein, even though both won’t be seeing a ton of run as the league shifts to small ball. However, Koufos stays healthy, is a monster on the glass, and in 25-27 MPG can easily get to 1.5 blocks.
157. Jae Crowder, Boston Celtics – Boston Clam Crowder (this one was already made last year!) time! Signed for a surprising 5-years at $35 mil, the C’s locked up some depth and I bet it’s pretty close to a time-share at SF minutes with Evan Turner. It’s been rumored he’s the favorite to start, and his out-of-position steal and half a block a game will have value, especially for the deepers. If B-Rad decides Turner is as bad at basketball like most people have decided, maybe Crowder has some upside for 28-29 MPG.
158. Jared Sullinger, Boston Celtics – I know, I know…. He’s flashed a really good fantasy game at stretches, and everyone loves a good “look at how much weight he’s lost this offseason!” story. I just hate the rotation, and I see him dropping below the 27 MPG we’ve seen the past two years and he needs the run to produce. He’s awful from the field because his awful 3PT% sinks the FG%, so all you get is a smattering of REB with the occasional AST/STL/BLK. In 32-34 MPG he’d be top-100 easily, I just don’t see that role.
159. Dwight Powell, Dallas Mavericks – Here’s a solid deep sleeper! Powell’s in a murkier role than Sully, but flashed some crazy upside in Summer ball and for Team Canada this off-season. The problem is he’s not quite beefy enough to even play a small-ball center, and with Dirk still camping for threes out there, Powell looks like pure backup-PF. Maybe Dirk could swing to come C and they play a little together, but projecting over 20 MPG at this point seems high. In Summer League he took a boatload of threes, maybe they’re trying to groom him into the next Dirk.
160. James Johnson, Toronto Raptors – Everyone’s favorite rainbow line threat, Johnson just hasn’t found consistency in his play or in his role. He got a few starts last year that went OK, but it will take injuries to get him into a consistent 25-30 MPG role. The per-36s are always sexy, but his 3-point stroke certainly isn’t! He’ll be a great STL/BLK streamer late in weeks.
161. Julius Randle, Los Angeles Lakers – There’s murmurs he’ll start at the 4 right out of the gate, and well, virtually any starter is worth a consideration at this point. His fantasy game is a little limited – not enough blocks for a big, his FT% isn’t great and a few too many TO, but he’s a poor-man’s Zach Randolph for some late boards and a little upside. More than anything, I’m just glad the kid is ready to play.
162. Aaron Brooks, Chicago Bulls – Any backup to Derrick Rose has some upside! Anything deeper than a 12er, Rose owners have to try and handcuff, making Brooks fringy in 12ers or shallower at best. Even if (when) Rose goes down, there’s still – gulp – the off-chance they – gulp – play Kirk Hinrich at starting PG. GULP! We can only hope it doesn’t go that way, as Brooks was 14.1/2.5/4.4 with 1.5 treys as a starter last year. Nothing immense, but he was very usable.
163. Gerald Green, Miami Heat – Slim seems to really disagree with me – which is funny since I’ve typically been a pretty anti-Green guy – but I think Green gets more PT even on a healthy Heat team than most. We all know he is mad streaky and can light it up when he’s on (of course, that can be said of any NBA player), but not only do I think he gets 20ish MPG out of the gate, I think he’s the starting SG on Dwyane Wade DNP nights… Which we all know, could be a boatload. Certainly a Wade handcuff for me.
164. Clint Capela, Houston Rockets – Yet another backup to an oft-injured vet (this wasn’t even on purpose, just thought of it now!), Capela looks to be the pure-C backup to Dwight, who can’t even play 30 MPG anymore. Capela’s even got a very similar fantasy outlook as Dwight, minus the awful TO. As a starter, I could see Capela averaging 10/10 2 blocks. It’ll take a Dwight injury, but that’s almost an assurance at this point…
165. T.J. Warren, Phoenix Suns – The buzz was a-soundin’ with all of Markieff Morris‘s whining that Warren could become the starter if Kieff got shipped away, but no trade has happened yet which doesn’t bode well for Morris wanting to go elsewhere… Still, Morris could hold out or get benched or something – who knows – which gives Warren a glimmer of upside. His fantasy game is mad-limited, but it was good to see him getting a lot of steals last last year when given the run. For some late PTS/STL and maybe a starting role if something drastic ends up happening, you could do worse.
166. Shabazz Muhammad, Minnesota Timberwolves – If I knew Shabazz had a role, he’d certainly be higher than Warren! But as it stands now, he’s really on the outside looking in until they trade K-Mart. Given it’s a small sample, but 15.6/4.9/2.0/0.5/0.4 as a starter, with 1.1 treys and a nice 2.8-3.4 FT volume before a few injuries took a chunk of games. PS – I had already placed him at this rank before seeing additional news he’s lost 30 pounds. It has no bearing, not going to contradict my Sullinger point, but it’s interesting.
167. Mike Dunleavy, Chicago Bulls – I mean, I guess he’s OK… The poster child for yawnstipation, Dunleavy should start, hit some treys and grab a couple of boards. Awesome.
168. Willie Cauley-Stein, Sacramento Kings – A really fun rookie given his physical ability on the defensive end, his shortcomings in fantasy starts with the minutes. I see The Big Yogurt playing more minutes, and even though WCS is getting all sorts of praise for being able to D up virtually any position, I don’t think it’s enough to get him to 25+ minutes this year. Then there’s the awful FT shooting, although it should stay pretty low volume. He’s a great source of blocks with your last pick if you want to risk it, but I have a hard time seeing him ownable all season in 12ers.
169. Patty Mills, San Antonio Spurs – Another interesting backup to an old vet! Well, either way Patty is gonna play… And I’d probably have him creeping towards – if not in – the top 150 if not for Ray McCallum. I don’t have Ray-Mac in my ranks, but reports have indicated if (when) Tony Parker gets hurt, Ray Mac will play a good bit of PG. Mills shot atrocious last year, but was off a major shoulder surgery and gutted through it. 20+ minutes to bury some threes could be a good bottom end guy to be sure and start on Parker DNPs.
170. Amir Johnson, Boston Celtics – Likely to be ranked much higher, that Boston front court is a bigger mess than the Kings front office. B-Rad loves running his rotations thin (or would it be thick…) and Amir has had several kankles the past few seasons. The steals and blocks have steadily declined the past three seasons, most noticeably in the swats down to 0.8. 25 minutes per even seems a little on the higher end to project for him, and he was only 123rd last year in per-game as a starter. I’m not going to draft him in 12ers.
171. Bojan Bogdanovic, Brooklyn Nets – More ThrAGNOF = less problems! I could see a lot of drafters needing treys nabbing him with the final pick, but even looking at a starting role, he ceded that spot to duds like Sergey Karasev and Markel Brown last year. I’m not sold he keeps a starting job all year. It is interesting he shot over 45% last year, pretty impressive for a rookie perimeter player.
172. Lou Williams, Los Angeles Lakers – I could see the name value getting him picked a tad higher, but Sweet Lou is looking to go Sour Lou in a crowded Lakers backcourt. Even though he didn’t start for the Raps last year, he put up really solid numbers mainly with the high FT volume (4.3-4.9 for a sizzling 86.1%) and got 1.1 steals per in only 25:11 MPG. Unfortunately, there’s no way I see anything close to any of those three stats. He’ll be worth a big FAAB pickup if Kobe + another guard gets hurt though…
173. Evan Turner, Boston Celtics – Miss Turner! Ello Poppet! Turner is the poster child for bubblegum stats without anything else to fill it up. His 3 tripdubs tied for 3rd in the NBA, but he does it with an awful FG%, virtually no 3PTM, too many TO, and (usually) not enough swipes. His per-36 steals were a career best last year (1.3), but it’s going to be a tough task to get back to 27:33 MPG.
174. Archie Goodwin, Phoenix Suns – Ah, one of my favorite early rookie nookies! And then he… didn’t do anything his rookie year. He did show some promise late in 14-15 in his sophomore campaign, and looks entrenched into the first guard off the bench-role this year at both the 1 and 2. But with Knight and E Bled set to play a boatload at those positions, and I kinda like Devin Booker to contribute right away as well (see below), it’s no lock for a huge role. As with a lot of these bottom guys, it’ll take an injury to secure for-sure ownership in 12ers or shallower.
175. Tristan Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers – Meh. 14-15 seems easily replicable, which means a pretty empty 8/8 line on 50+% shooting and a terrible FT%. A nice rebounding streamer if you’re strapped in the cat late in weeks, but even with an injury to Healthcare.Mozgov, I don’t know if he enters the “must-own”-o-sphere. He gets a decent rank since he could be usable in a lot of his late-week starts.
176. Cory Joseph, Toronto Raptors – The mojo for Cojo is notlow! Even though he’s set to play a pretty nice combo guard backup role and he’s the direct backup to a pretty injury-prone Kyle Lowry, I don’t know how high the upside could take him. His per-36s are pretty blah, but he wasn’t asked to do too much on the Spurs. Even with a little more rock running through him, he’s not a 3PT shooter and doesn’t get a ton of steals.
177. Donatas Motiejunas, Houston Rockets – Things I like for sleepers – a possible role and good health. Things I don’t like for D-Mo – well, you get it. Off back surgery, I think we see a lot more of Capela at the backup C than D-Mo, especially if Dwight gets hurt. Of course for small ball line-ups D-Mo is a good fit, but TJones could step out to a stretch 5 as well. Then there’s the NBA ready Montrezl Harrell likely to play a minute or two as well. Love D-Mo as a sleeper for dynasty; I don’t know how much he puts together in 15-16 for redraft.
178. Rodney Hood, Utah Jazz – Insert some sort of rap lyric joke! Where’s Grey when I need him… Grey is so Hood! Anyway, Hood was solid as a fill in last year, going 12.7/2.8/2.4/0.9/0.2 with 1.6 treys in 21 starts. Then a shoulder injury cut his season short, which ironically is the same injury that gave him that PT with the injury to Burks. I like Burks a ton this year and think he can stay healthy (shoulder injury last year was a long-term nagging thing), so Hood’s upside is a little limited. He could play backup SG/SF though, as he’s their best reserve wing.
179. Harrison Barnes, Golden State Warriors – Boring, and here’s a guy with legit no upside. Even if Andre Iguodala is out for a long stretch, Barnes hasn’t seemed to get bigger run when that has happened in the past, and even though he was 109th in per-game last year, the career-highs at 48.2% from the field and 40.5% from deep seem a little fluky high. If those go down even a tad, he’s even more vanilla.
180. Paul Pierce, Los Angeles Clippers – Wanna know The Truth? You old! Slotted to play starting SF, asking him to play 73 games at 26:12 again seems a little much to ask. His usual steal per game dried up to 0.6 last year, and I just don’t see it going well. Last year is the best-case scenario, and he was 114th in per-game.
181. Meyers Leonard, Portland Trailblazers – He’s going to be a popular sleeper on a lot of draft boards, because well, the Blazers have a lot of youth with no defined roles. It seems the speculation of him starting over Ed Davis is mounting, but give me Big Ed over The Big Weiner… Oscar Meyers? OK, let’s not use The Big Weiner… The addition of the deep ball is nice, but he doesn’t block any shots and is kinda a ThrAGNOF wing stuck in a big man’s body. A few boards will help, but Meyers has some foul trouble issues and I don’t think I’m going to use a draft pick on him in 12ers. Certainly worth tracking in the preseason, and if he’s assured a starting role, he’ll have to move up.
182. Andrew Bogut, Golden State Warriors – Death. Taxes. Bogut injury. Only things in life you can count on. But before getting hurt last year, Bogut was shockingly valuable, putting up 6.3/8.1/2.8/0.6/1.7 in 24 minutes a game. The metrics didn’t love it because of the low scoring, but he was must-own for the blocks and out-of-position dimes when healthy. However, he’s already played some summer ball with the Australian national team with complaints of back pain. Then there was that whole small ball Finals line-up with Dray playing C. That won’t be their attack this season, but when he’s out there for 22-23 MPG, he will be worth streaming at the least.
183. Corey Brewer, Houston Rockets – StealsNOF! Doesn’t really work… While his ridiculous steals pace with the Wolves was sure to come down (24 games 2.1 SPG), I think he can do better than the 1.1 we saw in 25:07 MPG with the Rox. He’s not great from the field, but should be able to score another 10.0 a game with a steal or two a game. Streamable for sure.
184. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brooklyn Nets – Are these the same two players?! I honestly can’t think of two guys I’d project for exactly the same stats, although RHJ should score a tad less in probably a few less minutes. Although with how inconsistent their SG play has been, maybe they let him play some time at the 2…
185. Mario Hezonja, Orlando Magic – He can have all the swagger in the world, it’s just going to have to be on the bench… Early Summer League’s darling, Hezonja had a big dunk and a game-winner and everyone lost their minds. Too bad he’s a ThrAGNOF for fantasy, without any sort of certain role. I love the guys at Rotoworld, but they’re really on their knees for this kid. I just don’t see it happening this year. The only reason he even gets a rank from me is Tobias Harris has had kankle issues in the past, and Hezonja could hopscotch Evan Fournier for starting SF minutes, since The-Fournier-Year-Old Virgin can play backup SG as well and maybe they’d like to keep him in a reserve wing role.
186. Raul Neto, Utah Jazz – Aight, this is where I go off the reservation… Let’s run through a quick three facts: 1 – Dante Exum is out for the year, 2 – Neto is the backup PG, 3 – Trey Burke is awful. Hah, actually none of those are facts as Exum could possibly get back for the playoffs, there’s Bryce Cotton to compete for backup PG minutes, and maybe Burke finds something this year. I know it’s a lazy comp since they’re Latino/Hispanic respectively, but Neto could be a Rubio-type if given the starting minutes, racking up tons of dimes while shooting a lot of bricks. They love his defense and seeing Burke get passed on the depth chart by a raw rookie isn’t hard to envision… We saw it last year!
187. Steven Adams, Oklahoma City Thunder – If only Adams had a role! If Grizzly Adams had a beard! The Thundah bringing back Kantah was a death blow to Adams fantasy value, and even as a starter he hasn’t been a fantasy juggernaut. He’ll need an injury just to become a fringy top-100 guy. Awesome athlete and mustache though!
188. Bismack Biyombo, Toronto Raptors – Brought in to be a rim protector, Biyombo is now the Raptors’ only rim protector… Hah! So a nice 20 minutes per should be there, and an easy 1.5-2 blocks per game in hand. Hard to believe in under 20 minutes per last year with the Hornets, he was at 6.4 boards and 1.5 blocks. It’s low end, but if anything happens to The Luminescent Lithuanian, Biyombo in 26-28 minutes as a starter will be pretty close to must own.
189. Kelly Oubre, Washington Wizards – Ugh, I guess I have to keep talking up Oubre and ruin my chances of getting him at a value in the REL draft… My favorite deep-dynasty sleeper, Oubre has a steep climb to contribute this year, but Bradley Beal is a huge injury risk and Otto Porter is both unproven as a starter and as a stretch-4, both roles he’s being thrust into at times. I’d assume vets like Jared Dudley and Gary Neal would come in as backups, but while Oubre is raw, I think he can play a little now. It might only translate into PTS/3s/STL in the right minutes, but I’m liking him as a very late stash in the deepers.
190. Jameer Nelson, Denver Nuggets – Re-signed to provide some vet leadership for Mudiay, Jameer should get some decent minutes as both his backup and fill-in for when he’s mad cold and TO-prone. I could see him playing 20-25 minutes and banging a couple of threes with a few dimes to be somewhat useful. And on that rebuilding, awful Denver team, Nelson could be really interesting as the starter should Mudiay get hurt or shut down late.
191. Josh Smith, Los Angeles Clippers – J-Smoove is J-Bumpy! Or, ya know, some sort of funny joke based off his name… He’s actually a great fit for the Clips, as he can play backup PF behind Blake and the stretch-5 behind DJ, but even in a lowered-25 MPG stint with the Rockets, his %s were abysmal and his TO just as bad (2.4). What will be interesting to see is if teams hack-a-DJ then immediately hack-a-Smoove if he goes in to play the 5. Clippers might have the longest games in NBA history…
192. Justise Winslow, Miami Heat – I don’t know which is least prepared: Winslow for the NBA, or me trying to remember “Justise” spelled that way for his career. Pretty sure I’ve typo-ed it a couple times during the draft! I know not to expect much from him this year if the Heat stay healthy, but Deng and Wade are both old with the latter obviously very injury prone – there could be an opportunity. He’s coming into the league sorta MKG-ish, with an unrefined jumper and great physical abilities/defensive prowess. One plus is he can draw a ton of fouls, although his 64% FT% at Duke is a little scary. Upside for 1.5 STL/0.7 BLK if given a lot of minutes has him just barely on my board.
193. Kent Bazemore, Atlanta Hawks – I think I’ve told this story before, but when attending UNCW, I went to a basketball game against Old Dominion and I had a buddy with the last name “Bazemore” sitting with us, and then this kid shows up… Weird thing is, Bazemore wasn’t even that great when we saw him – even in CAA competish! But he’s flashed some upside at times when given run, and with Carroll gone and Korver off multiple surgeries/Sefolosha off a broken leg from a nightstick, I could see Bazemore playing a lot of wing off the bench. He’s not a great FT shooter, but when he got that long look on the Lakers, he was more than usable. Worth tracking.
194. Noah Vonleh, Portland Trailblazers – A 2nd half stash, Vonleh has a pretty upward climb towards fantasy relevance in redraft leagues, but on a punting Blazers squad, anything could happen. Punt City! Although there was a much better joke for Rip City, I think it was R.I.P. City, which is awesome… Anyway, Vonleh has a chance to hit some stretch 4/5 treys, sneak in a block, and be fantasy-interesting when given the run.
195. Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns – Sexy stroke aside, Booker fell into a great situation with the Suns who have very little in upside backups at G. Knight is about average in injury risk but is off a bad kankle, yet E Bled has had several ailments. Then put that sexy stroke back into the mix, and other than Knight, he’s really the only good deep shooter on this team. He’s a little bit on the outside looking in, but if one of the PG/SG starters is out, Booker could make a great ThrAGNOF stream.
196. Justin Holiday, Atlanta Hawks – So to give you a little peak behind our curtain (ew, not like that!), Slim thinks Holiday is an MVP candidate and Bazemore belongs forgotten overseas somewhere… Hah, I keed, but I like Bazemore to play a little bit more for the defense should lingering injuries arise with the aging vets, a little bit over the more offensive-inclined Holiday. He flashed some upside with the Warriors last year when given the run, but it’s still hard to see him playing a huge role on the Hawks. That said, just like Bazemore, a glimmer of opportunity is flashing her DD breasts…
197. Trey Lyles, Utah Jazz – Sticking with “Glimmer”, which I think is a pretty solid stripper name, Lyles enters the Jazz rotation as a pure stretch-4 on a team without a starting stretch big. Of course, Trevor Booker adopted a 3PT game out of nowhere, but I think Lyles can push him right away for backup PF/C minutes. He doesn’t do much with the steals and blocks, but he’s a great athlete for a spark up front off the bench. Mildly intriguing.
198. Cody Zeller, Charlotte Hornets – I bet no one was more upset with the Kamisky draft selection than Zeller… “Wait, they drafted a [slightly] younger and sexier me! And I can’t stay healthy!” If only I had a Yak Bak to play back that gut-reaction… C-Zell still could edge out Frank the Stank for the starting role, but either way, the minutes are going to be dicey. He still gets a top-200 rank for the decent multi-cat game with a decent FT%.
199. Patrick Beverley, Houston Rockets – Booooo! BOOOOOO! Stupid Rockets… Bringing in an alcoholic to play PG and booting an underrated PG… Sure PBev is pretty low end even when the pure-starter, but there’s a chance he plays a little combo guard with Ty Lawson, and with enough bench minutes, could still hit enough treys and swipe enough steals to be moderately useful. In the streaming/deep league sense, of course.
200. Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles Clippers? – It feels like he’s underrated every season, so I’m going to keep prolonging the fallacy! Well, he is 35, and off a low-MPG season while shooting sub-40% from the field. And to add into the pot, is drawing trade interest across the league. Since they brought in Lance Stephenson (Unranked – and hey! Look at who ranked him lowest last season!) it makes sense, so we’ll see. Enough upside for a couple of treys and points a game to be ranked Mr. Irrelevant.
And there’s the final full-form rankings post! Whew! Of course we’ll be updating the Master Rankings table frequently, with these final 100 ranks going in on Monday. Then through the remainder of the off-season, probably 10-15 of these guys will be dropped out for some new blood that emerges in pre-season. Thanks for stopping by, Razzball Nation!
