Staff Fantasy Basketball Draft Recap: Analysis of Our 12-Team Head-to-Head League
Round 7
| Pick | Overall | Player | Position | Writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 73 | Pau Gasol | PF/C | Mike Hurley |
| 2 | 74 | Nikola Pekovic | C | Shae Cronin |
| 3 | 75 | Jabari Parker | SF | Brett Weisband |
| 4 | 76 | Larry Sanders | PF/C | Bryan Mears |
| 5 | 77 | Tobias Harris | SF/PF | Kyle Stanzel |
| 6 | 78 | Terrence Jones | SF/PF | Russell Peddle |
| 7 | 79 | Roy Hibbert | C | Mike Comerford |
| 8 | 80 | Tyreke Evans | SG/SF | Daniel Lindsey |
| 9 | 81 | Bradley Beal | SG | Brett Oswalt |
| 10 | 82 | Jonas Valanciunas | C | Galin Dragiev |
| 11 | 83 | Luol Deng | SF/PF | Brandon Gdula |
| 12 | 84 | Patrick Beverley | PG/SG | Sam Hauss |
The third rookie goes off the board, with Brett Weisband snatching up Jabari Parker with the 75th pick. You can see Round 5 for my thoughts on rookies in fantasy hoops, but this range is at least a little more reasonable (even if we have Parker projected at 105). Jabari will be a starter from day one in Milwaukee and should be given every opportunity to live up to his billing as "the most NBA-ready body in the draft." Time will tell on this one, but we're officially in the range where these kinds of risks make sense.
I love Bryan Mears' pick of Larry Sanders at 76 and Galin Dragiev's Jonas Valanciunas at 82. Sanders had the season from hell last year, but was the 29th-ranked nine-category player just two years ago as an elite shot-blocker and could easily get back there again.
Jonas, on the other hand, looks poised for a big breakout this year. He was the 45th-ranked player over the last two months of the 2013-14 season for averaging 13.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks per contest and shooting 59.3% from the field and 80.6% from the line. Combine that with a great summer at the FIBA World Cup and all the pieces are there for the 22-year-old to crush his ADP this season.
Mike Hurley's Pau Gasol pick at 73 looks good here as well, coming off a 51st-ranked season and going into one with the Bulls where we have him projected at 63. Bradley Beal could end up being a steal here for Brett Oswalt as well, if he only ends up missing a month as expected.
My pick: Terrence Jones, SF/PF - I had yet to pick a small forward at this point in the draft and I was incredibly high on Jones as a sleeper going in with an O-Rank of 147 at the time and decided to pull the trigger. Yahoo has since gotten wise and moved him up to 81, making him harder to grab in this range, but I was still happy to get him here. Jones has struggled in the preseason and there's talk of a position battle with Donatas Motiejunas, but I'm not buying it. I'm happy to have grabbed Jones' solid rebounds, blocks, field goal percentage, and low turnovers at that point in the draft, although I had my eyes more set on Valanciunas. The positional eligibility made my decision for me in the end, I just hope I don't regret it.
