…And we’re here! Finally wrapping up a recap of the top 100 and how much I hated Andre Drummond coming into the year. It’s not my fault! He still can’t hit free throws! Aherm, cough, I think I’m going to miss today’s class with the flu.
So far, and I’m not just saying this for my ego, I think I did the Nation better than I expected. Sure there were swing-and-misses – I’m not Biff from Back to the Future Part II! But it’s been a great learning experience recapping my ranks, and our loyal, bearded Slim comes in with his grades. Rankings are based on my final updated top 200, comparing them to the FantasyPros aggregate Draft Day Rankings along with Basketball Monster’s Total Value for 9-cat leagues on the season. Slim then recaps JB’s best ranks in the 101-200 range and worst. Giannis Antetokounmpo for MVP! To keep it unbiased, Slim picked the best 4 and worst 4, so we’ll have to see who he goes with… Here’s a look back at the Top 100 for the 2013-14 Fantasy Basketball Season:
76. J.R. Smith
FantasyPros Draft Rank #78
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #92
Oops! Well, actually it wasn’t so bad since he played virtually every game besides suspensions. Cue the Nelson voice – “Ha Ha!” Smith ended up with a favorable Basketball Monster rank due to his ThrAGNOFfness, so I think this ended up being a whiff. As was the Knicks season.
Slim’s Grade – B – Just like J.R. maybe this ranking is just too high. But if you drafted him here you were probably happy with what you got.
77. Kyle Lowry
FantasyPros Draft Rank #69
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #12
Well then. I think I should’ve just stopped the rankings reviews at 75… I knew this was one of my worst ranks of the year, as I’m a fan of his game but thought he would get hurt. Like always. Except this year. FML sadface.
Slim’s Grade – C – Wow we were off, but since this was only the 3rd year Lowry has played more than 70 games in a season I can’t fail JB for staying away.
78. Gordon Hayward
FantasyPros Draft Rank #79
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #50
Damn, I thought I was a little bit higher on the Gordon’s fisherman! A solid year end-to-end with some really maddening inconsistency here and there. Even the term “labradoodles” was coined for him! His overall rank on Basketball Monster also gets a boost with his 36.4 minutes a game. Give the guy a water break! Water makes you weak! I’ll have him in the high 60s I’m guessing next year.
Slim’s Grade – B – An industry standard ranking. Spoiler Alert: More on Hayward will be coming very soon.
79. Ersan Ilyasova
FantasyPros Draft Rank #51
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #207
Saved by the injury-fueled re-rank! Which, to give myself a little pat on the back, was an ankle sprain that wasn’t supposed to keep him out any time if memory serves. My ranking blurb for the re-rank was: “Don’t want anything to do with a big on a very bum ankle. Avoiding as best I can.” I hope you did too!
Slim’s Grade – A – Yahoo ranked Ilyasova 45. JB kept us away and we may owe him our season for it. All I can give him is an ‘A’ and an ice cold one for saying thank you.
80. Marcin Gortat
FantasyPros Draft Rank #90
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #31
Traded a day before the season tipped, I can’t take too much credit for liking the Ten Foot Pole. Gortat put together a really under-the-radar season, fueled by 81 games played and virtually identical numbers to the breakout 2011-12 season but in 15 more games. Will be a value again next year.
Slim’s Grade – B – We were too low but this was only the 2nd year Gortat has played more than 70 games. I won’t trust him next year either.
81. Danny Green
FantasyPros Draft Rank #93
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #97
Never again, Pop! Well, some injuries got sprinkled in there too, which all got stirred into a delicious sauce of drop-a-tude. The unsung multi-cat sharp-shooter from 12-13 saw his minutes cut and %s go down across the board. Still though, 9.1/3.0/1.5/1.0/0.9 is a solid multi-cat contributor. Not that I’ll draft him next year…
Slim’s Grade – C – His final numbers look OK but if you drafted him I bet you dropped him at some point out of pure frustration. And you were right to do so.
82. Enes Kanter
FantasyPros Draft Rank #76
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #156
Wow, I thought I was high on Kanter! Whew! After a rough start to the year, Ty Corbin benched him, then he thrived on the second unit in some games, just an all over the map season. What he turned out to be in an expanded role was a guy who could only board and score and couldn’t play D to save his life. No way I’m going near Kanter any time soon.
Slim’s Grade – A – This ranking was actually really low and hopefully it kept you away. I’m on the fence with Kanter for next year. Low shot blocking centers aren’t for me but he will be useful. Maybe paired with The Brow or Iblocka would be ideal.
83. Wilson Chandler
FantasyPros Draft Rank #104
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #144
Now to Chandler, who I know I was high on. A late-preseason bum hammy set him back, then he never delivered the multi-cat goodness I thought we’d see. I feel like I should get a weird face tattoo birthing out of my neck as a public shaming for liking Wilson so much…
Slim’s Grade – B – This almost worked out. The only reason it didn’t was due to nearly career lows in both percents, but you did get some extra 3s. With the way his steals and blocks have been declining though it means next year I’ll be avoiding Kuato like he’s a martian.
84. Brandon Knight
FantasyPros Draft Rank #94
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #105
Hmmmm, I was all ready to throw myself a party for this call, as Knight was friggin’ awesome last year! But turns out his assists fell to under 5 somehow (4.9 – I remember them being in the 6s halfway through) and the overall package didn’t get him a high Basketball Monster rank. The hurt hammy in the opener really slowed him down, as did mad inconsistency early on. Damn you, Drew!
Slim’s Grade – A – The final numbers might not show how good of a ranking this was but if you took the gamble then you know Knight was invaluable, although his best position going forward looks to be SG and I think Larry Drew knows it.
85. Kenneth Faried
FantasyPros Draft Rank #72
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #57
I thought Faried was heading into the year a little overrated because he so mother effin’ fun to watch. And for half of the year I was right, with 49 pre-ASB 10.4/7.6/1.0/0.7/1.0 which was fine, but the 31 post-ASB he turned it up to 11 with 18.8/10.1/1.6/1.1/0.7. I remember fielding “should I drop Faried for…” questions!
Slim’s Grade – B – About the industry standard but next year how about 18/10/1/1/1? Sure, as long as he gets his minutes. Which at the end of the year he did. [editor’s note – we did these separate and hilarious this was the only guy we both quoted numbers for!]
86. Jeremy Lin
FantasyPros Draft Rank #88
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #131
I was with the pack on this one, and no one won. I thought he’d be another good source of Stls averaging 1.6 the previous two years, and it fell to only 1.0. Damn you PBev island!
Slim’s Grade – F – I tried to keep everyone away. Maybe I was wrong about Beverley, ok so I was definitely wrong, but I was spot on with Lin.
87. Wesley Matthews
FantasyPros Draft Rank #80
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #32
I thought he was a little ThrAGNOFfy and overrated. And his minutes would go down, which they did. Then he goes out and has a career year virtually everywhere. My question to you is, who should I call overrated next year so they can get a career year?!
Slim’s Grade – D – No bueno! So he lost 1 min per game compared to last year and was a nearly identical player, with 82 games played and a great fantasy playoff schedule. This one kind of hurts.
88. JaVale McGee
FantasyPros Draft Rank #83
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #412
I loved the upside, but knew the downside too. Well, I didn’t know the injury-downside to only 5 games, but who knows what would’ve happened if he could’ve stayed healthy?
Slim’s Grade – I – I almost gave a ‘D’ for this but maybe if McGee stayed healthy he would have been alright, who knows, not me.
89. Victor Oladipo
FantasyPros Draft Rank #87
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #101
My highest-ranked rookie, RainbOladipo was damn near-nasty for like 10 games last year. Ho hum in another 40 or so, then brutal and/or barely getting minutes in the other 30. I think I’m going to be all over V.O. next year. He could be my 14-15 Valanciunas. No sophomore slumps for you, good sir!
Slim’s Grade – B – So this was over a round later than Yahoo and it turned out to be right, however this easily could have been far too low with the uncertainty surrounding Orlando. After the storm of free agency subsides and Orlando reshapes it’s roster the Rainboladipos will come out.
90. Carlos Boozer
FantasyPros Draft Rank #86
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #148
Meh, didn’t like him that much – hate him in real life – but thought there would be a little more value there. Welcome to falling off the cliff, Carlos!
Slim’s Grade – F – No way should Boozer have been in the top 100. Even if he didn’t lose all of his 4th quarter minutes he’s been declining for several years and we should have stayed farther away.
91. Andre Drummond
FantasyPros Draft Rank #62
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #19
Whoops!
Slim’s Grade – D – What a great fantasy player. Is Drummond good enough to overdraft and punt FTs? I say absolutely! Where we rank him next year is going to be a major point of contention for JB and myself.
92. Raymond Felton
FantasyPros Draft Rank #99
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #162
Injuries, gun charges, and Twinkies – oh my! Horrible year, was hurt early, is going to struggle finding a job next year. Brutal.
Slim’s Grade – C – For the 5th year in a row Felton can’t manage 70 games, why we (JB) ranked him in the top 100 is a little perplexing. But since Yahoo had him ranked 10 spots higher hopefully you stayed away long enough for someone else to draft him (JB).
93. Andrew Bogut
FantasyPros Draft Rank #101
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #58
Ya know, for a guy to only play 67 games at 26.4 minutes per – he gets the high rankings! Shoot elite %s despite little scoring, got boards, got a ton of blocks, and strayed healthy long enough to be useful. That said, I think he’s down a number of rounds next year in my ranks.
Slim’s Grade – ? – I don’t know how to grade this one. Bogut was almost a top 50 player when he played. But we knew he wouldn’t play a full year. If you drafted him and traded him away then you get an ‘A’. If you traded for him, then you need to stay after class and finish your homework.
94. Steve Nash
FantasyPros Draft Rank #89
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #362
Yikes. At least I wasn’t high on him! How deep does your league have to be to draft Nash next year? A Lakers-only 10-teamer?!
Slim’s Grade – F – Are you kidding me? You ranked Nash in the top 100? For possibly the 1st time in my life I am at an utter loss for words. [editor’s note – camon now! He was ranked top 100 most places and I was below consensus.]
95. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
FantasyPros Draft Rank #142
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #239
Ewwww. Let’s just call this last stretch “my round of death”. At least I would’ve only drafted one or two of these guys! Terrible season, terrible draft pick, terrible rank by me, the shredding of Bobcats merchandise can’t happen fast enough.
Slim’s Grade – D – It’s official… and at 2:58 pm on the 6th of May I’m going to have to go ahead and call it. MKG is a bust.
FantasyPros Draft Rank #167
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #195
I still love KCP. Even if this was a downright awful rank. He got minutes early on and was starting to emerge, then Mo Cheeks got the boot and KCP got scrub minutes. A lot will depend on what the Pistons do in the off-season, but I could see being bold on him again if the chips fall right. In case you missed it, they gave KCP the keys to the O in the finale, and he went 30/6/0/1/2 shooting 11-19 (5-7 3PTM) against an OKC team that actually needed to win to secure their seed. Was nasty.
Slim’s Grade – C – This was a decent gamble but alas it twas not to be. I love the high end steal potential and next year I’m going to be right back on board.
97. Jamal Crawford
FantasyPros Draft Rank #117
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #78
Even though he only got to 69 games, the elder J-Crawf was ballin’ yet again. Will probably be a value again next year.
Slim’s Grade – B
98. Spencer Hawes
FantasyPros Draft Rank #102
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #36
What a season for the big fellah. After the first month, this was looking like a title-worthy pick. He slowed down in his final 76ers days, but remained solid with the Cavs. I think I’ll like him again for 14-15.
Slim’s Grade – A – Good call and 25 ranks higher than Yahoo. I know we lost a little after the trade but I’m sure you were loving Hawes’ career year.
99. Tyson Chandler
FantasyPros Draft Rank #106
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #145
Definitely thought I was below the masses on this one – I know I was way under Yahoo. I was not liking Chandler at all last year. My blurb was “Not a huge fan, injury prone and a wild card, but value has him crack 100.” I guess I should’nt have used crack!
Slim’s Grade – A – You kept us away and we thank you. A couple of tough calls at the end of the top 100 but you finished strong with back to back rankings you absolutely nailed.
100. John Henson
FantasyPros Draft Rank #152
Basketball Monster Total Value Rank #114
This was a godsend of a ranking in the early goings. Then Larry Drew decided to be the worst thing to happen to basketball since Donald Sterling bought the Clippers. Hopefully the Bucks figure out they need to play this guy next year!
Slim’s Grade – A – You were right, I was right, but Larry Drew went and messed everything up. This was a great call and I refuse to take points away from your GPA because of what Larry Drew did.
JB’s Best Ranks 101-200 As Seen By Slim:
103. Isaiah Thomas
Yahoo ranked IT2 50 spots later. If we followed your advice we would have gotten a top 30 player sometime after the 8th round in a 12er. This was a league winning type of ranking.
111. Andrew Bynum
If you followed these rankings Bynum was no where near your team. Remember Yahoo ranked him in the preseason at 54. That’s a league losing kind of ranking right there.
126. DeAndre Jordan
I know still not high enough, but JB had him moving up the rankings right before draft day and this is still 14 spots higher than Yahoo. But what about the FTs? Simple answer in the form of a question, do you have to win every category?
129. Corey Brewer
I know he was probably available at several points in the year in most 12ers but JB nailed it. Nearly 2 steals a game this late in the draft can’t be understated. I think this was a great call. Maybe I’m a little biased due to Brewer winning me the REL, he netted me a ton of steals and at a very reasonable trade price.
JB’s Worst Ranks 101-200 As Seen By Slim:
119. Michael Carter-Williams
As expected the percents were tough to stomach. The rest made the percents well worth the hit and then there was this, “MCW is going to get shut down at the end of the year.” That quote didn’t come from me.
121. Tristan Thompson
*static* “… and Slim lands an overhand right that sends JB reeling. This may be it folks, the final blow in the Blatche vs Tristan debate. That’s right, this match was rigged from the beginning since Tristan was ranked in the top 200 and Blatche wasn’t. JB’s stumbling, does he have anything left, can he…” *static* [editor’s note – I didn’t make that bet pre-season! I stuck by my guns when you were slammin’ TT in December-ish and I think I won it! Well, neither of us won because both sucked…]
154. Robin Lopez
Would you believe me if I told you RoLo finished in the top 50? Sure 2 good percents and low TOs help but 8.5 boards and 1.7 blocks this late in the draft would have been big for any team.
162. Lance Stephenson
Not many people saw this coming but JB had him 20 some picks after Yahoo so if you followed these rankings you probably didn’t draft him. Who am I kidding, this is higher than I ranked him.
And there you have it for the recap… Enough looking backwards, it’s time to look forward! Slim’s got an awesome piece for the end of the week, then next week – Way Too Early Rankings! Happy Round 2 of the Playoffs!
