Blocks are hard to come by. Blocks without sacrificing FT% are even tougher. Very rarely can one find over two blocks a game with a 76% FT percentage. I present Chris Boucher, a top 40 must-own player who inexplicably isn’t rostered in 17% of Yahoo leagues this season.
Who?
Before this season Boucher played 13 minutes a game last season with the Raptors. He was behind Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol in the pecking order but now with those two gone, he has seen his minutes go up to 23 a game. He is the first man off the bench usually for this Raptors team and has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season thus far. Over the last ten games, the Raptors have transitioned from bad to mediocre basketball as a whole and that has come with more minutes for Boucher. If you take his minutes per game in just the Raptors wins this season, Boucher goes up to 27 minutes per game from 23.
Defensively
When he is out on the court, the Raptors use Boucher as the sole rim protector. In a lot of sets, the Raptors look similar to the Jazz in many ways as they funnel defenders into Boucher to protect the rim. Boucher also has shown improved awareness on defense often times getting into the right spot during rotations and breakdowns to block shots and deter drivers away from the rim. The issues for Boucher defensively is that he doesn’t switch onto the perimeter well and has a tendency to go for too many blocks rather than stay on the floor, this makes him super for fantasy but on the court, he is a slightly above-average defender. Boucher is earning most of his minutes this season on offense.
Offensively
With Boucher on the court, the Raptors post a 116 offensive rating vs 101 with Boucher on the bench. Boucher has been a great pick and roll partner for Lowry and VanVleet. Boucher can rim run off a roll as well as step back and pop for a three in the pick and roll. Boucher also runs well in transition and is able to keep up with faster guards and outrun opposing bigs for easy dunks and layups. Boucher has work to do on his post-game. Often time he kicks out of these few opportunities or puts up a contested shot, he doesn’t have much footwork and at 28 years old I don’t see him developing it over time.
Conclusion
Boucher is one of very few players in fantasy that can provide elite level blocks and not cost you in any other statistic. He is worth rostering on any team and I would look to trade more popular/underperforming players to get in on the action early while the hype is still low.
