Staff Fantasy Basketball Draft Recap: Analysis of Our 12-Team Head-to-Head League
Round 6
| Pick | Overall | Player | Position | Writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61 | Robin Lopez | C | Sam Hauss |
| 2 | 62 | Josh Smith | SF/PF | Brandon Gdula |
| 3 | 63 | Lance Stephenson | SG/SF | Galin Dragiev |
| 4 | 64 | Jrue Holiday | PG | Brett Oswalt |
| 5 | 65 | Marcin Gortat | C | Daniel Lindsey |
| 6 | 66 | David West | PF | Mike Comerford |
| 7 | 67 | David Lee | PF/C | Russell Peddle |
| 8 | 68 | Jeff Teague | PG | Kyle Stanzel |
| 9 | 69 | Greg Monroe | PF/C | Bryan Mears |
| 10 | 70 | Jimmy Butler | SG/SF | Brett Weisband |
| 11 | 71 | Jamal Crawford | PG/SG | Shae Cronin |
| 12 | 72 | Tony Parker | PG | Mike Hurley |
Josh Smith has kind of fallen from grace as a fantasy player in the last couple years, but Brandon Gdula could very well be punting free throws at this point, given that he took DeAndre Jordan in the third. In that case, Smith's stat stuffing ways are a good investment and it's an interesting play this season to bet on his improved shot selection under Stan Van Gundy.
I feel like Galin Dragiev's pick at 63, Lance Stephenson, might be a bit of a bust this year in the range he's being drafted. His ceiling last year was basically halfway decent rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage and not a whole lot else. He could very well up his scoring, defensive counting stats, and lower his turnovers in his new home in Charlotte, but I want someone else betting on that in this range. Our projections have him at 99 and I feel like that's pretty reasonable.
Sam Hauss' Robin Lopez and Shae Cronin's Jamal Crawford picks might not seem overly sexy here on the surface, but they're solid contributors that we have projected at 44th and 62nd respectively this year (right in the range that they both finished last year, for what it's worth). They get buried under the stars on their respective teams come draft season, but they're great fantasy glue guys in the middle rounds.
My pick: David Lee, PF/C - Lee is not the early-round pick he used to be, but he has finished higher than the 67 mark where I took him in each of the last six seasons, so I simply couldn't pass him up in that range. The constant 20-10 threat in points and rebounds to go with great percentages from the field and at the line (for a big) will fit nicely in my frontcourt with Big Al and Marc Gasol. Considering my last two picks (Rose and Wade) were very risky, I considered this a safe bet in this range.
