Give Me The Rock

I’m sure by now everyone is familiar with the GMTR Mock Draft Round Up Spreadsheet. It’s an inspired idea by Nels and I’ve used it so much I might as well make it my browsers’ homepage. I’m quibbling here, but the one minor thing it lacks is information related to positions, for example, who the best center is. Ok, you might already know that it’s Amare Stoudemire. But who’s the 10th best center? And how much worse is he than Stoudemire? So, to answer those types of questions, I bring you the younger and more flamboyant brother to the mock draft round up, the player tiers by position spreadsheet. If you’re looking for a basic rundown of rankings by position, this spreadsheet is for you. I’ve also color coded six separate tiers for each position for your easy reading enjoyment. In my drafting experience, the simpler I can make my cheat sheets and rankings the better. I don’t want to be fumbling around with 18 sheets of paper or trying to figure out what some illegible note means while I’m on the clock.

In addition to the spreadsheet itself, I thought it might be useful to give a quick rundown of the tiers for each position on GMTR. Note that I’ve included the mock-draft average draft position for each player in parenthesis (that’s in the spreadsheet too).

Up first: Centers.

Tier 1
Amare Stoudemire (10)
Yao Ming (11)
Chris Bosh (13)
Pau Gasol (14)

You can build a team around tier one centers (and feel good about it). The top tier are all players who have gone in the mid to end of the first round of drafts. If you have the opportunity to draft any of these guys in the second round, pull the trigger and give yourself some positive verbal feedback (if you’re looking for something, you can use what I use; “Patrick [or fill in appropriate name], you are a magnificent specimen of human perfection, you have been carved from the hand of god himself and have been gifted from him the superhuman ability to redefine fantasy basketball greatness as it has never been known from the beginning of time itself”).

Stoudemire should be the first one taken out of this group, followed by Ming/Gasol and then Bosh. Note that both Bosh and Ming have some injury concerns, with Bosh’s knee being the most serious.

Tier 2
Dwight Howard (20)
Marcus Camby (23)
Carlos Boozer (27)
Jermaine O’Neal (33)
Al Jefferson (33)
Tyson Chandler (46)

By the end of the year, Jefferson might actually be the class of this group of centers. Howard’s fatal flaw is his free throw percentage, but he’s perfectly suitable for H2H leagues. No one seems to think that Camby can recreate his solid 2006-07 season health-wise, but he’s the best of the tier when healthy. Boozer increased most of his stats across the board last year and played in 74 games. Like Camby, his health is the only thing that can hold him back. Chandler had an amazing second half of the year after adjusting to his new team and should pick up where he left off.

Tier 3
Emeka Okafor (42)
Mehmet Okur (44)
Samuel Dalembert (62)
Andrew Bogut (68)
Andris Biedrins (77)
LaMarcus Aldridge (72)

While tier two centers are all guys you wouldn’t mind having anchor your team, tier three leans more towards role players than studs. If you can get your second center out of this group, you’re in great shape. Okafor, Okur, and Bogut are the non-sexy picks in tier three, but they are solid additions to any team. Aldridge has the most potential here, but despite all the hype, he’s still going to be very inconsistent this season. Andris Biedrins is another young guy who went from waver wire material to starting center last season. Samuel Dalembert, no stranger to inconsistency himself, currently has a stress fracture in his foot that may cause him to miss the start of the season.

Tier 4
Ben Wallace (68)
Zydrunas Ilgauskas (80)
Al Harrington (81)
Nene Hilario (86)
Eddy Curry (87)
Darko Milicic (89)
Chris Kaman (94)
Brad Miller (106)

Tier four is where we start speculating. You probably don’t want to wait to pull your first center out of this group as there are a lot of “ifs” here. Wallace is on the down slope of his career, but he can still grab 10 rebounds and block over 2 shots a game. Ilgauskas and Miller had disappointing years in 2006-07, but they could bounce back (I have better expectations for Miller than Big-Z). Kaman also took a step back in 2006-07, but he’ll get a big opportunity with Brand out. It looks like Al Harrington may be coming off the bench in Golden State. And Darko. Burn me once, shame on you, burn me six times, well, I just may have a problem.

Tier 5
Shaquille O’Neal (88)
Nenad Krstic (102)
Andrew Bynum (104)
Al Horford (106)
Boris Diaw (109)
Chris Wilcox (120)
Troy Murphy (122)
Jorge Garbajosa (136)
Zaza Pachulia (150)
Elton Brand (NA)

While Yahoo doesn’t think much of Shaq, he still has use in some fantasy leagues as a backup center. Krstic, Murphy, Garbajosa, and Pachulia are solid backups as well. Diaw had a disappointing last year, but is a good low buy. Andrew Bynum and Al Horford probably have the most upside in this tier if you’re looking to grab a center late in the draft. If you’ve got the bench spot and the patience, Brand could be a nice second half catalyst.

Tier 6
Sean Williams (142)
Erick Dampier (150)
Robert Swift (160)
Mark Blount (161)
Alonzo Mourning (165)
Anderson Varejao (ND)
Kendrick Perkins (ND)
Jamaal Magloire (ND)
Spencer Hawes (ND)
Mikki Moore (ND)

Avoid having to take a center out of tier six if possible. With the exception of Robert Swift and possibly Anderson Varejao and Sean Williams, tier six contains centers with little upside. You should only have to reach into this tier in the deepest leagues.