There are several guys out there that I'm excited to use that I think will change the landscape in draft leagues and open leagues a little bit. First, though, here's a look at some new seasons of some old favorites.
Ryan Anderson
100% @ SF. almost 55% efg%. 207 3pm. Over 26% creb, more than 12% oreb. 4th tier (2 points) usage. And his tov% is unreal: 6.4%!! 2400 minutes of this guy at your 3 does two things for your squad: Gives you a tremendous three point advantage over most teams that draft heavy boarders at the 3 position and gives you a tremendous rebounding advantage over teams that draft bombers there. I predict this version of Anderson will be better than the infamous '04 Donyell Marshall season. The only weak point here is defense, but often you have to make a sacrifice somewhere. Oh... and this package comes to you for less than $6M! If you're able to combine him with '93 Rodman in an open league, you will have tremendous board advantage and take care of that one weakness in defense, being able to swap one to the other.
Dwight Howard
100% @ PF. The usual dwight goodness is here (57% efg%, 41%+ creb%, high fta, high paint%) and since they haven't announced the defensive awards yet, he's a value pick at $7.3M. He's a tier 3 usage (4 points) player, though, so you have to spend money elsewhere to make sure you hit no penalties, which can be a problem when you obviously want him to be the highest usage guy on the team. You're also getting a deal because of minutes. His price will go up once all-defense teams are announced, but right now, this is a really, really good bargain.
Lebron James
100% @ both guard positions. You're getting a bit of the same deal with the King here, as his defense rating will go up once awards are announced. Until then, enjoy 2800+ minutes of a tier 2 (6 points) usage, 55%+ efg% 23%+ creb, 21%+ ast, 2.0 fouls per 48min guard. His threes are less than ideal (even though that's why he shot better this season) for a back court guy in the sim, but he's still amazing. LBJ might have just passed Wilt in terms of progressive viability.
Andrew Bynum
100% @ C, 97% @ PF. Hey, a Bynum you can finally use for "full" minutes! The 59 defense makes me scratch my head a bit, but I think that will go up after they announce the awards. What do we have in Bynum? You have a tier 3 (4 points) usage big man that shoots almost 56%, gives you paint scoring, rebounds almost 35% creb, and ***fouls very, very little*** Bynum will be the perfect compliment guy for a team who has a tier 2 or higher usage guard that has little usage from their forward spots. A good example might be a draft league team that took Rodman in round 1, Ginobili/Durant/TMAC type in round 3 and then Bynum in round 4 and then a tier 4 PG in round 5. I don't expect his $7.1M salary to increase that much when the awards come out, but I do expect his defense to go up around 70.
Kevin Durant
99% @ SG, 100% @ SF. I'd play him at SG and take advantage of his 19% dreb! This guy just gets better and better. Tier 2 usage (6 points) @ 54.7% efg%. With 166 3pm, 623 fta, he's going to give opposing sim defenses hell. He also has almost a 12% ast% now, which is helpful for a 2-guard. Incredibly low fouls with a 72 defense... yeah. This guy just went from a round 2 staple in the funk 52 to what should be the second "shooting guard" drafted (after Jordan. Both LBJ & Wade typically play point in draft leagues). 3164 minutes at $9.2M is a steal for all he brings a team. I am VERY excited to give this guy a go... soon! He might be a day 1 draft pick now. Time will tell.
Now, here's some guys you might want to consider adding to your core players list:
Kenneth Faried. Almost 1300 minutes of a tier 4 (2 points) usage, 58% efg% SF that has a creb of 37%!! We're talking very Barkley-esque stats. Neither defense nor fouls are crippling, and the price ($3.1M) is right. This should be a worthy addition to many squads, both in open leagues (partial season madness) and in draft leagues (eligible for teams as an undrafted player due to the under $4M salary). Though he might actually be worthy of drafting... Very nice combination of stats often not seen from a 100% SF at that usage tier. Here's something to think about... he'd be the perfect back-up to Ryan Anderson (same usage tier, high efg%, and is extreme paint opposed to Anderson's extreme perimeter - something that will give the sim defense a lot of issues).
Steve Novak (98% SG, 100% SF). You might already use a version of him, but if you haven't been, then you'll be delighted in this one: 67% efg with 166 3pm in just under 1300 minutes. What? He's a tier 5 (1 point) usage player, so he's a perfect compliment player to an already potent offensive line-up. At $2.5M salary, he's very reasonable on a variety of teams. Also, he'd be a great back-up to Ryan Anderson if you wanted to stick with a lot of threes at he position and had plenty of usage elsewhere.
Brandon Rush (100% SG). 2135 minutes. 60.7% efg% - 123 3pm. Tier 5 (1 point) usage. 15.7% creb (almost 14 dreb). 76 defense & very low fouls. This is an impressive compliment package that I really haven't seen out there anywhere. He has the efg% & usage of Barry boy, better rebounding (for any season that is close minutes wise) and then the defense... this should become a favorite pick for $52M league drafts who have a lot of usage in the front court and/or point guard and need a role player that can do a little bit of everything.
Danny Green (100% SG). He's 1897 minutes of almost everything I just said about Rush, only he's a Tier 4 (2 points) usage player with just under 55% efg% (127 3pm). He's got 16% creb, but it's divided nicely as 4/12.
James Harden (100% at both guard positions). This is without a doubt my favorite new player. He's a tier 4 (2 points) usage guard, which means he fits in well with many combinations of other players. His 11% dreb is quite nice for a PG and his 15% ast% works really well if you were to put him on a team with other position players who have high ast% ('67 Wilt, any Bird, any Pippen, etc). Or, if you have a good rebounding PG, you can play him at the 2. 58% efg with 140+ 3pm... yeah. I'm a fan of this. His 45 defense is somewhat offset by his 100% at both positions, so if you can, grab a back court mate with good defense. Oh yeah, 2400 minutes at $5.8M. That's value.
Serge Ibaka (100% @ SF!!!). This is just wrong. 5th tier usage, 53.5% efg%, 29% creb (12.4 oreb), 100 defense (without awards... thank you to the 7.6% blk%). This will be a nice role player somewhere. 2200 mintues at $5.4M... will be nice for draft leagues, but there's virtually no reason to take him above '93 Worm in an OL (unless you just want to try for the block record).
I can already see it now...
'67 Wilt
'11 Howard
'12 Anderson
'12 Harden
'10 Kidd
with '09 & '12 Novaks coming off the bench. Ha! That probably costs waaaay too much for a $42M team but a man can dream, right?
5/1/2012 11:35 PM (edited)