Hey basketball nerds. My name is Ringer, one of the new writers for Razzball basketball. I’m very excited to start writing about fantasy basketball. Not like, lose your virginity excited, but definitely more excited than D’Angelo Russell was after getting shipped off to Brooklyn.
http://gph.is/2pOQ8Kd
Probably about as excited as any team not named Golden State is going into the NBA season, since I think that anybody taking six games from them in the playoffs would be considered an achievement.
I’ve been a huge basketball fan for as long as I can remember and got introduced to fantasy basketball four or five seasons ago. All you need to know about my first year in fantasy basketball was that I drafted Carmelo Anthony with my first pick. Because he got buckets. I lost that league. Needless to say I’ve learned a lot since then.
One of my favourite things about fantasy basketball are the countless draft strategies that provide so many different paths to building a league-winning team. You got the punt FT teams, the punt turnover teams, the guy that doesn’t seem to draft anybody but point guards or big men, and of course, the auto draft team. That team is as likely to win your league as the New York Knicks are to winning the NBA championship because, as you guys know, Yahoo fantasy basketball always has a bunch of guys ranked way above or below where they should be. If they didn’t, why else would you be here? Hopefully, this article will help make sure that your team is at least better than the guy that drafts Joe Ingles before the end of the fifth round.
*Note that these are only guidelines. Grab that player you love if he falls to you. Don’t reach if you don’t have to. Also, these guidelines are for 12 team head-to-head standard leagues, as a lot of things change in bigger leagues or leagues with different settings.
Round 1: Draft best player available. Duh.
Rounds 2-3: Draft best players to match first round pick. Aim to have at least one point guard and one big (or at least players that get the stats typically acquired by those positions) by the end of round three.
In my opinion, there are a lot of guys between the end of the first round and the end of the second that have similar value and should be drafted based more on fit than anything else. For example, I have Hassan Whiteside, Kristaps Porzingis, Draymond Green, and Paul George ranked 19-22, but I could see myself drafting any one of them depending on who I took with my first pick. If I were to draft the Greek Freak, I would draft George (although he’s probably gone by this point) before any of the guys before him because he would make up for Giannis’ lack of 3PM. If I were to get Kevin Durant or Steph Curry (who I have ranked 2-3), I would target Whiteside, since I think his FT percentage can be somewhat mitigated by them, and they both offer assists. If I drafted Karl-Anthony Towns or Kawhi Leonard (who I have ranked 4 and 5) I would target Draymond, so I have assists in case I miss out on the second tier of point guards in the third round. Porzingis is there in case I miss out on my desired player and is my backup in every scenario. You might be thinking,“Holy shit, he’s thought way too much about this!” That’s probably true, but it just serves as a reminder that your player rankings should not be valued higher than player fit, especially when you’re choosing between players you’ve ranked similarly.
Also, I am willing to draft guys like Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal and Gordon Hayward, who I have ranked 28, 29 and 34. I would value them differently, though, if I had a wing who isn’t gonna get at least five assists (Leonard). Paul Millsap, Marc Gasol, and Kevin Love (ranked 30-32) would jump over Thompson and Beal if I didn’t have a big man yet. There are scenarios in which I could end up with two wing players by the end of round three. I wouldn’t stress over it, though. For example, if I took Leonard 5th, Whiteside 20th, and I was choosing between
- 28. Klay Thompson
- 29. Bradley Beal
- 30. Paul Millsap
- 31. Kevin Love
- 32. Marc Gasol
- 33. Joel Embiid
- 34. Gordon Hayward
- 35. Al Horford
- 36. Eric Bledsoe
at 29, I would definitely take Beal over Eric Bledsoe, even though it goes against my guideline. Beal would be valued over Thompson simply because he gets more assists and I still don’t have an assist machine. The point is to mentally group players in your rankings together and pick the best one, taking into account who you already drafted. Even though I have some guys ranked higher than others, I am not confident enough in my abilities (and neither should you) to value my rankings over team needs.
Rounds 4-6: Draft players for team fit. Try to have at least two PGs and two bigs by the end of round five. Definitely by the end of round six.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people weigh the player rankings from Basketball Monster too heavily when deciding how to value different players. Not to knock Basketball Monster, as I refer to their player rankings constantly, but it is not as simple as one guy being worth more than another simply because he has a higher ranking. Two great examples of this are Otto Porter (ranked 22 on Basketball Monster for the 2016-2017 season) and Trevor Ariza (ranked 26, 36, 38, and 39 for the last four seasons). You may be thinking, “These guys are guaranteed to finish in the top 50 again this year.” I don’t think anybody would argue with you. That’s a lie, somebody will. It’s 2017 and people argue about everything. That is not how I want to spend my time, though. I just want to say that drafting either one of them near their Yahoo rankings would make your team weak in either point guard or big man categories, unless you hit the jackpot later on in the draft. I don’t like relying on luck, even though it’s the only way I’ve ever scored in real basketball.
http://gph.is/2dpr0K9
Here are the players I have ranked around Porter and Ariza:
- 42. Ricky Rubio
- 43. Goran Dragic
- 44. Jeff Teague
- 45. Serge Ibaka
- 46. Jrue Holiday
- 47. Otto Porter
- 48. Nikola Vucevic
- 49. Nicolas Batum
- 50. Jusuf Nurkic
- 51. Victor Oladipo
- 52. Gary Harris
- 53. Robert Covington
- 54. Trevor Ariza
- 55. Aaron Gordon
- 56. Lonzo Ball
- 57. Andre Drummond
- 58. D’Angelo Russell
- 59. Elfrid Payton
- 60. Dennis Schroder
Off the bat, you probably noticed that I have a lot of big men and point guards ranked above them. That’s on purpose. You may also be thinking that I’m pretty low on Lonzo Ball. I won’t deny that, as I don’t really like rookies for fantasy, but again, rankings aren’t everything. There’s still a chance that I would take him over Harris, Covington, and Ariza, assuming they’re all available. If I do not have my second point guard and everybody before Porter is taken and everybody after is still available, I’m choosing between Batum (who gets point guard stats for a wing), Oladipo, and Ball. If my first point guard is somebody like McCollum, who gets low assists for a PG, I’m going Ball. In fact, Ball is probably valued as high as Dragic if that happens. Maybe I’m not so low on him after all. If my team is low in scoring, I’m going Oladipo. Otherwise, I’m taking Batum. If I don’t have a point guard stat filler yet, then it’s time to fire up FIFA.
http://gph.is/2e6tbBg
The only scenario I can see myself drafting Porter, Harris, Covington, Ariza, or Gordon before the end of the fifth round is if I got two point guards and two big men with my first four picks. Not impossible, which is why the rankings are how they are, but I’m not gonna miss out on the elite wings early for these guys later. I am very willing to take any of those guys in the sixth round, however, and would take the highest one available. For example I drafted Gordon 69th in a recent Razzball draft, after taking Durant (4), Whiteside (21), Thomas (28, yes I’m worried), Teague (45), and Ibaka (52). It won’t always work out that way, but my rankings are meant to give myself enough options that I should be able to maintain the point guard/big man balance throughout the draft.
Rounds 7-10: Continue drafting players for team fit. Have at least four PGs and four bigs by the end of round 10.
If you’re still reading my verbal (or written, I guess) vomit, you’re probably wondering, “Why should I target point guards and bigs over wings? Isn’t value, value?” The answer is yes. Value is value, but that doesn’t take away from this guideline. The way I understand it, your team would have to be perfectly, and I mean perfectly, balanced to be able to extract the value of Porter at 22 and Ariza in the late 30’s, given that they are low volume players. That’s just not gonna happen, especially considering that many point guards or bigs you would draft in the later rounds come with asterisks. Guys like Jeremy Lin, Jamal Murray, and Dennis Smith Jr. are high-upside guys that come with major risks and guys like Patrick Beverley, George Hill, and Malcolm Brogdon will not provide the volume to help balance the ship if you’re weak in point guard stats. They can be great options as your 3rd or 4th point guards, depending on your team, but I wouldn’t want any of these guys as my second point guard. Same can be said with bigs like Nerlens Noel, Willie Cauley-Stein, and Clint Capela as the high-upside guys or Jonas Valanciunas, Gorgui Dieng, and Marcin Gortat as the low-volume giants. In a perfect world, you can grab one of the high-upside guys and one of the more steady, low-volume guys.
In my recent Razzball draft, I drafted Lin (76), Dieng (93), Caldwell-Pope (100), and Marcus Smart (117). Having Smart as my fourth point guard isn’t great, but sacrifices were made in order to get Dieng and Caldwell-Pope, who I have ranked 76 and 87. If Rondo was available at 100 I probably would’ve taken him, even though I have him ranked 17 spots later than Caldwell-Pope, but somebody grabbed him in the eighth round. I was pretty happy with my bigs at this point with Whiteside, Ibaka, Gordon, and Dieng. I think I should be good in the big man categories (FG%, REB, BLK) and was able to make up for Whiteside’s drain on FT% with the guys I got around him (Durant, Thomas, Teague, and Lin).
Rounds 11-13: Fill out roster, and DRAFT WINGS.
These rounds serve as the best example of why you should target point guards and bigs above guys like Porter and Ariza in the early-to-mid rounds. You can get comparable stats at a way lower price! This is the fantasy basketball equivalent of getting two McDoubles dressed like a Mac instead of a Big Mac. Buying those “meal” burgers doesn’t make you cooler or make you enjoy Mcdonald’s more It just makes you less efficient. As an example of just how many wings there are, let’s look at a few guys who I have ranked in those later rounds.
- 113. Wesley Matthews
- 114. Tim Hardaway Jr.
- 115. Rudy Gay
- 116. Kent Bazemore
- 117. Darren Collison
- 118. Terrence Ross
- 119. Maurice Harkless
- 120. Justise Winslow
- 121. Buddy Hield
- 122. Zach LaVine
- 123. Eric Gordon
- 124. Dario Saric
That’s yummy and there’s a very good chance that at least one of them will be available in rounds 12/13. For example, I was able to draft Matthews in the 12th round (pick 141) after taking Seth Curry at 127. I think that the addition of Dennis Smith Jr. could boost Mathews FG% up to the .410-.420 range, while he should be able to hit 2.5 threes and get you a steal. Ariza averaged 2.4 threes on .410 shooting last year, and while he will provide more steals and rebounds, everything else is basically a wash. So yeah, I’d rather have one of the point guards that I ranked in the top 50 (or Batum, Oladipo, Ball, Payton, or Russell if it comes down to it) and Matthews, than Ariza and a late-round point guard. Don’t be the guy that’s forced to take a flyer on Kris Dunn, or has to reach for Collison before the end of the 10th round. These are how I ranked my wings, but there are so many options that there’s bound to be some “3 and D” value in the late rounds for you. Make sure your team is built so that you can exploit it without having to worry about point guard or big man stats.
Conclusion:
To wrap up my thoughts, remember that these are just guidelines that I try to follow to keep my team balanced throughout the draft. If I were to decide on building a punt FT or punt FG team, it would certainly change things.
Another thing to notice was that the draft I used as an example was in a Razzball league, where people tend to draft better than the average league you join. I wasn’t able to draft any of my sleeper picks or get incredible value at any point, since most people’s rankings probably looked similar to mine or SON’s. If you go into a Razzball draft taking the best player available at every pick, it’s likely that you’ll be forced to reach for undesirable point guards like Reggie Jackson or bigs like Enes Kanter late. Don’t do it.
In an alternative reality where I’m drafting against a bunch of me’s, I don’t know what would happen. There would probably be a me or two freaking out that they don’t have enough point guards or bigs. One me would probably go punt FT, etc, etc. WUBBA LUBBA DUB-DUB. That’s some Rick and Morty shit.
http://gph.is/1np0tpL
Most people won’t be drafting as smart as you, you’re a Razzball fantasy basketball reader!
Good luck in your drafts!
one of the best posts ive seen on this site in two years. good work, ringer
Thanks a lot! Much appreciated.
Great stuff, i totally agree, even though i play 9 cat roto on yahoo: 4 PG, 4 bigs, then, squeeze best value from later rounds, plenty sleepers to choose from (example: A. Williams (PHX) as 13th pick, can have huge value if injuries occur)
What do you guys think abt these guidelines for good team foundation in first 2 rounds:
Best 1-2 punch (competitive draft ROTO 9 CAT) :
(1)1.Durant-2 K.Walker
(2)1Alphabet-2 Lowry
(3)1Curry-2D.Green
(4)1Towns-2Lowry
(5)1Leonard-2M.Turner
(6)1Westbrook-2Whiteside
(7)1A.Davis-2Lillard
(8)1-C.Paul-2Lillard ??? then go big big in 3rd and 4th rounds
(9)1-Harden-2Whiteside
(10)1Wall-2Porzingis
(11)1Jokic-2Cousins
(12)1Gobert-2L.James, FT punt ?
Any comments, suggestions ?
All the best for the 2017-2018 season !
Not as familiar with ROTO leagues, sorry, but these are my initial thoughts:
5) I’d want to match Kawhi with more of an assist getter, since he’s the only guard/wing in the first two rounds that won’t get them for you. Irving/Lillard would work, but if they’re both taken I wouldn’t reach for Walker or Lowry. Kawhi/Turner would work in that case, but definitely try to get a PG in round 3.
8) In a head-to-head league, Chris Paul is probably the only first round pick I’d go punt ft with. Paul-> Lebron -> Jordan -> Drummond is what I would try to do. In ROTO you probably don’t want to punt FT, so I’d try to go Paul-> Cousins or Paul-> Turner.
12) Again, not a huge ROTO guy, but from what I understand you don’t want to punt a category. I would probably go Gobert-> Butler at the turn, and aim for Bledsoe/bigman at the end of round 3. I would hate to have the 12th pick this year as there’s a chance that Bledsoe won’t be available and it’s still a bit early to reach for the 4th round point guards.
Hope that helps, thanks for reading!
@Ringer:
Thank you for the detailed reply !
Yeah, 12th pick can be tough but, it all comes down to the sleepers in competitive leagues, i love the post draft snatches from the waiverwire, the hidden gems 🙂 Won a very competitive league last year with Holmes and J Johnson filling the stat sheet towards end of season 🙂
What do you guys think about any hidden breakout candidates in the 11 – 13th rounds ?
My bet is on quite a few of Atlanta’s starters 🙂
All the best !
Pretty high on Terrence Ross and Mo Harkless this year. There are a ton of 3 and D type guys that have potential to be top 80 players this year.
Wow, amazing stuff, nice work!
Thanks a lot!
Hi Ringer… It seems I didn’t follow your rule of thumb… next time i will follow this concept….
can you give me advise…
what can you say of my line-up of our office league… H2H 9CAT 12 team
1 Steph Curry
2 Chris Paul
3 Draymond Green
4 Paul Millsap
5. DRusell
6. Dwight Howard
7. R. Covington
8. D. Smith jr
9. W. Hernangomez
10. J. Randle
11. M. Chriss
12. J. Murray
13. R. Lopez
My friend from other office told me that my team is not good.. It is good because of great names but I only excel in Assist and Steals.. that’s it… 🙁 It saddened me….
can you give me some ideas? which is to focus on my team so that I can try trading my players…
thanks in advance…. ^_^
@JPaul: This team looks dope dude. Don’t listen to that coworker
That team is incredible! Your “friend” either isn’t a friend or doesn’t know fantasy basketball. The only pick that stands out to me is Dwight Howard. I would try to trade him for a big that won’t kill your FT, maybe Nurkic or Ibaka? You got incredible value throughout the draft though. Paul in round 2? Millsap in 4? Chris in 11? Murray in 12!?!?!?! Goddam, I need to work where you do.
@Ringer: lol… I am trying to buy out jokic… but failed…. howard millsap and drussell for jokic… lol.. yeah i will shop howard to other teams… thx…..
Now I know who kept punking my dudes in that draft. I blame you Ringer, although I suspect my blame falls on deaf and happy ears. Great article btw. I’m also one of the newb writers here, but I haven’t finished my debut piece yet. Hopefully this weekend. I will also be talking about this same draft – mostly about my mistakes in the middle of it vis a vis not sticking to the damn plan. Anythewho…
No one in their right minds would trade Ibaka or Nurkic for Howard IMO, but that shouldn’t stop anyone throwing out the offer to see what’s what. I do agree that moving Dwight for someone who fits that team better would be a marvelous idea. My first stop shop would be the resident league FT% punt guy to see what he’s got lying around. Those dudes eat Dwight up on a spoon and you probably won’t get better value for him. Most other guys are all “ew, look at his FT% – I read on CBS Sports that’s really bad…” and then they offer you Chandler Parsons and a used wetnap for him. That’s just not cool. So yeah, which ever guy drafted Drummond, talk to that guy and see how moth eaten his grey matter is. YMMV but that’s where I’d start.
Agreed, any punt FT team is probably your best bet. In an office league, however, there’s a chance that there’s some dude that still thinks of Dwight Howard as elite, and a chance that a guy like Nurkic could be undervalued. Considering he got Chriss, Murray and Lopez as his last three picks, there’s probably a few dudes in that office that have been sleeping on NBA fantasy basketball.
@Ringer: Preying on the ignorance of others is always the best strategy for office leagues. 🙂 I haven’t played a league like that in years. Maybe I should grab a rando Y! public league slot this year and get back that ol’ OMG-smartest-guy-in-the-room feeling. It’s all so much easier when the other guys playing game don’t actually get how it works, or don’t care to, which amounts to the same thing – unicorn blood in both cases.
Haha yeah.. worst thing is when you join one of those leagues and don’t do well…
@Ringer: I’ve done that. You go in thinking you’re the black belt in a white black class and you get waaay too fancy and try to go with some complicated triple-reverse-half-fat-semi-punt draft plan and eff it up beyond all recognition. I think I ended up punting six cats in an 8 Cat league once that way. Alcohol may or may not have been involved. Only my therapist knows for sure.
Wait.. you guys don’t always get drunk before a draft?
[email protected]Ringer: Sometimes people schedule drafts for before the bars and liquor stores open. Whatcha gonna do?
First draft pick Carmelo? My first draft went T-Mac, Peja, Brent Barry, Jason Williams and Billups. Rafer Alston and Mike James were my big pick ups, all that mattered were 3s and points. Tayshaun Prince was the last one to retire off that roster.
@Dusty: That’s a ways back to remember that well! Haha. The only other guy I remember on my team that year was big baby Davis. Those were the days..
@Ringer: I wouldn’t have remembered, they are just still on my yahoo profile. If anybody had strategy like they do now back then they would have steamrolled everyone
@Dusty: Hah. I look at some of my first teams and wonder what I was thinking. My first draft went Marion-Iverson-Ming at the top, and my first transaction was to drop Sebastian Telfair for Smush Parker – a money move! I then one-upped myself by dropping Danny Granger for Basketball god Chris Duhon. Yikes. We were all young once I suppose. 🙂
Hi Ringer. I should have read your post before our draft day. But here’s my team and I play on a 9-cat, 12-team H2H league. Any thoughts about it will be appreciated. Thanks.
1. PG – Chris Paul
2. PF/C – Kristaps Porzingis
3. SG/SF – Gordon Hayward
4. PF – Blake Griffin
5. C – Nikola Vucevic
6. PG/SG – D’Angelo Russell
7. C – Willy Hernangomez
8. PG – Dennis Smith Jr.
9. SG – Rodney Hood
10. SF/PF – Marvin Williams
11. C – Robin Lopez
12. SG – Seth Curry
13. SF – Mo Harkless
@Jacob: Thanks for reading! Team looks solid, but might be a bit weak in assists depending on how Dennis Smith Jr. does. The Willy Hernangomez pick kinda hurts after the Knicks got Kanter, screw you early drafts! Might be a bit heavy on wing-type players, if you could grab a 4th or 5th round point guard that would probably help!
@Ringer: Thanks for the reply man. I was thinking that Blake and Hayward might help in the assists department. Who should I trade to possibly get a Dragic, Conley or Teague? Also, I had an offer of Marc Gasol and Jae Crowder for D’Angelo Russell and Nikola Vucevic.
Hello nice content! I’ve allways been a fan of the the punt ft% strat and technically it is a big + small draft then supply wings last like what you are telling.
However, this year in my 3 player keeper league. Due to the news (or i shall say no news on isaiah), i am planning to drop him as my keeper. Will keep cousins, lopez and oladipo instead. Not the best guys but that is only what i have. Then my planned strat is to do punt assists from there. Because even if i get Pgs on my next 3 draft, i think i wont be competetive still and i know everyone is high on PG for this year. Anyway, in punt assist strategy, Will you still employ 4 big + 4small in the first 8 rounds?
@JM: Thanks for reading! I agree on the punt assist strategy for your team, sucks about Thomas. Guys like Hill, Brogdon and Beverley can probably be had in the 80-90 range, and will at least help you reach the team roster eligibilities. Definitely try to boost your fg% when you can as well, since Cousins and Oladipo could both be drains on that and you don’t want to punt more than one category.
Damn, just read this now, my draft was yesterday. got his roster 16 teams H2H, any suggestion?
2 Giannis Antetokounmpo
31 Gordon Hayward
34 Mike Conley
63 Otto Porter
66 Joel Embiid
95 Eric Gordon
98 Jonas Valanciunas
127 Dewayne Dedmon
130 Milos Teodosic
159 De’Aaron Fox
162 Ish Smith
191 CJ Miles
194 Bismack Biyombo
@JJJ: Like those picks a lot, you got incredible value on the first five picks. 16 team leagues are always tough because you have huge gaps between picks, but I would still try to grab another pg-stat-getter for Gordon. Maybe Rondo?
@Ringer: I see. I’m hoping Teodosic and De’Aron are legit and Ish Smith produces haha. Thanks!
@JJJ: forgot to ask. who is your top 10 picks?
@ReMurloc: I like that team. Obviously getting solid bigs/pgs is harder in a 16 team league, so you did well to land Lowry and Love where you did. You seem to be a little low on point guard stats though, if you can get equal value on guys like Harris/Johnson for a pg (probably gonna be hard considering where you got them), I would do that. Or maybe try to ship one of the guys you took at the end of the draft for a point guard, maybe Ish Smith?
@Ringer: Not sure why that comment showed up there..
top 10:
Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Kevin Durant
3. Stephen Curry
4. Karl-Anthony Towns
5. Kawhi Leonard
6. Anthony Davis
7. Russell Westbrook
8. James Harden
9. Chris Paul
10. Nikola Jokic
I’m still debating Wall over Jokic, Harden over Westbrook, and Towns over Durant and Curry. I could also make the case for Westbrook/Harden over Leonard and Davis.
Love your work Ringer!
Got my draft coming up this Friday.
Im in a 16 team, 11 – cat, H2H league.
I have pick 14 & 19 first up.
Looking at taking Irving/Lillard at 14 and then going with Whiteside at 19.
What are your thoughts? Or what is the best pairing I should be looking at with these 2 picks.
Looking at going another PG and C at my 3rd (46) and 4th (51) and filling with wings later.
Also do you think Gary Harris at pick 62 is a bit of a reach?
@David: I would probably grab Jokic, Wall, Gobert, or Butler with the 14th pick, if they’re available. If you grab Wall or Butler, definitely grab one of the 3 bigs I mentioned in the article at 19 (Porzingis probably is my favourite now after the Melo trade). If you get one of the bigs with the first pick, I would pray for Irving or Lillard to fall to you at 19. If not, George, Lowry and Walker are also good options. And yeah, at 46 and 51 definitely try to grab some of the guys I mentioned in the article. Harris at 62 is good!
Hi Ringer!
Thanks to your valuable advice, I created this team.
11-cat, 16-team H2H league.
4 – Karl-Anthony Towns – C
29 – Kyle Lowry – PG
36 – Kevin Love – PF
61 – Elfrid Payton – PG
68 – Marquese Chriss – PF
93 – Gary Harris – SG
100 – James Johnson – SF
125 – Marcus Smart – PG
132 – Terrence Ross – SG
157 – John Collins – PF
164 – Skal Labissiere – PF
189 – Mike Muscala – C
196 – Tony Snell – SF
Any thoughts about it will be appreciated.
Thanks.
@ReMurloc: I like that team. Obviously getting solid bigs/pgs is harder in a 16 team league, so you did well to land Lowry and Love where you did. You seem to be a little low on point guard stats though, if you can get equal value on guys like Harris/Johnson for a pg (probably gonna be hard considering where you got them), I would do that. Or maybe try to ship one of the guys you took at the end of the draft for a point guard, maybe Ish Smith?
Whattup Ringer.
I super dug your article. This year i am mock drafting WAY more than in years past and trying to really get some pattern recognition shit going. Hearing your draft strategy of loading up on bigs and PGs early makes sense to me and ive been steady mocking that way. In doing so, i have observed something and i was curious for your reaction.
First off, definitely agree that the quality big men come off the board early and are hard to make up for later. Im big on KAT, Whiteside, Turner, etc early and to try and grab two of them or at least one of them and a PF who can stack big man stats. Trying to compensate later with Steven Adams’ and Clint Capelas of the world doesnt seem like it will fly.
On the guards though, im having a bit of a difference experience than your strategy would suggest. I definitely am trying to nail a top flight PG first couple rounds…Steph, Wall, Paul, etc. When i continue to stack PGs early though and try and have 2 or 3 of the better tier guards before getting too far into the draft, i keep running into the issue that later on there are plenty of PGs i want to draft and who, though they may not stack up with the very top tier, seem like quality picks. For example, Ball, Beverly, Lin, Russell, Brogdon, even Crabbe. While none of these guys–obviously–is John Wall or Steph, it seems like if you have one of the top guards you can wait til later to fill in with these guys, allowing a bit more focus early on bigs or top quality wings. For example, in the mock i just finished i got Curry 1st round, Whiteside 2nd, and ended up looking like this:
PG: Curry
PG: Russell
G: Brogdon
C: Whiteside
C: M Gasol
C: Nurkic
Do you think the drop off on all those guards is steep enough to avoid this strategy or am i perhaps on to something?
Also, where do guys like the Greek Freak fit into your scheme? He is the overall top pick for me, but ive been playing with how to fit a guy like him into your early round strategy.
Thanks dood!