Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
Here is the fifth and final part of our week-long rundown of top 10 fantasy players at each position going into the year. I’d make it more than 10, but then I’d need a second set of hands to count with. Check out the Four Fingers Draft Guide if you’d like to see our entire list of top 40 players buy position.
Here are the league’s top centers:
1. Amar’e Stoudemire
There is always the risk that Stoudemire’s eye falls out of his socket during a game, but if you’re willing to take that risk, the reward will likely be the best center in the league. Not many big men can work both ends of the floor and still hit 85% of their free throws. Now that Shaq is gone, Amar’e becomes the Suns only go-to guy down low (Channing Frye seems content to bomb threes, not that there’s anything wrong with that). We predict in the neighborhood of 23 and 9 for Stoudemire this season; a first round pick despite the fact that he spent most of his off season getting his right eye drained for 22 hours a day.
2. Dwight Howard
Howard missed a game for the first time in his career in 2008-09. That’s just for the record. It doesn’t really affect his value at all. What does affect his value is his 11 free throw attempts per game at 59% shooting. In a H2H league, Howard is arguably the best center in the league because you can give up FT% as a category in exchange for Howard’s huge biceps. Oh, and his 14 boards and 3 blocks a game. In a rotisserie league however, the decision to draft Howard is a little more difficult. Although it’s possible to draft Howard in a roto league and not get killed in FT%, his fantasy kryptonite is why he’s ranked number two on our list instead of first.
3. Al Jefferson
Big Al’s season ended abruptly when he tore his ACL just before the All-Star break last year, halting a stretch of 5 straight double-doubles and a push to get him in the All-Star game. Jefferson was supposedly looking healthy in camp until he (cue ominous muzak) had to sit out the Wolves last two preseason games with a sore Achilles’ tendon. Provided he can stay healthy, Jefferson is one of the best offensive big men in the game and is a centerpiece of the Wolves offense. At 23 points, 11 boards, 2 blocks and 50% shooting from the field, Jefferson can anchor any type of fantasy team, but especially one that goes big. With Kevin Love out for the next 6-to-8 weeks, it’s going to be the Jefferson show down low for the Wolves. And he’ll finally get his piece of the pie.
4. Brook Lopez
In his rookie season, the 21-year old Lopez averaged 13 points, 8 boards and 1.8 blocks in a shade over 30 minutes a game. And he wasn’t even a starter to begin the season. Screw Greg Oden, THIS is the young center you want to draft. Our mock draft had the 7-footer going 25th overall, so he’ll go quickly in most drafts. But with Vince Carter out of the picture in New Jersey, the Nets have no one else who can score other than Lopez and Devin Harris. As a result, he’ll be one of the most improved centers over the course of the 2009-10 season.
5. Tim Duncan
Your heart may want to take someone like LaMarcus Aldridge during the third round of a draft, but your brain should tell you to draft Tim Duncan, who even at 33 years old with bad knees and a coach who likes to give him copious amounts of rest, still provides some of the best and most consistent value at the center position. While his stats have been on the decline over the past couple of years, the only thing that is going to stop The Big Fundamental this season is Gregg Popovich. His free throw percentage has always been ugly, but Duncan still provides 20 and 10 potential with blocks and a solid field goal percentage. If he falls to the third round in any draft, he’s a steal.
6. Mehmet Okur
Most people look at Okur and automatically think small-ball (or about his hot wife) because he’ll hit about 1.5 threes a game. But in reality his game is all-around solid and he’s a rotisserie boon since he averages less than two turnovers a game, 7.7 boards, 0.8 steals, 0.7 blocks, 17 PPG, and good percentages. Unfortunately, the enigmatic Carlos Boozer has f’d up the Jazz plans by staying with the team and will potentially steal minutes and touches from both Okur and Paul Millsap. Since Okur and Boozer do very different things on the court, expect Okur to retain most of his value in a tight Jazz rotation and be a worthwhile pick as early the late third round of any fantasy draft.
7. Nene Hilario
Drafting Nene last season was like finding an unopened present hiding in the back of the tree on Christmas day. No one expected him to step up as much as he did to help fill the void of the Clipper-bound Marcus Camby. But although Nene averaged an impressive 7.8 boards, 1.2 steals, 1.3 blocks an outing last season – don’t get too hot and heavy for the man. Prior to last season’s 77 games played performance, Nene was largely considered to be an injury prone bust of a player. Before last year, the last time he played more than 65 games in a season was in 2003-2004. It would be nice to think that he has turned a corner and will be more reliable in terms of his injury resiliency, but his track record isn’t very encouraging. Still, the huge potential Nene brings should make the fifth round a decent time to target him.
8. Al Horford
Horford is your prototypical big-ball center, bringing rebounds, blocks and FG% to the table. At 23 years old and entering his 3rd season, there’s a good chance he averages a double-double on the year. What more do you want? The Hawks say they are going to get him more involved in the offense this year, but that sounds like bullshit to me. Be happy with the double-double potential.
9. Andris Biedrins
One of the greatest things about Biedrins is that he’s already entering his sixth season and he’s only 23 years old. Last season, he averaged a double-double (12 points and 11 boards) in only 30 mpg. While Nellie could literally do anything with that lineup and it would not surprise us, Golden State has a shortage of big men again, so expect to see bump in minutes for Biedrins and an increase in all of his counting categories as a result. The Latvian is also a dominant FG% factor with a career average of 60.4 percent. The Achilles heel is his FT%, but he doesn’t shoot enough to bog you down like Shaq or Howard. Look for another strong year from this potential All-Star.
10. Andrew Bynum
Is the year that Andrew Bynum actually plays a decent number of minutes AND games? The odds are probably not in his favor based on his injury history, but if he can stay healthy and on the court for more than 60 games, he a double-double machine waiting to happen and a legit top 50 player since he blocks shots and brings along good percentages. Add in the fact that Bynum will have just turned 22 years old at the start of the season and you have a player who is either 1) going to explode into a star this year, or 2) play in 40 games.
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For the rest of our top 40 list of centers (as well as the rankings of the other positions, positional tiers, and cheat sheets), you’ll have to check out the Four Fingers Draft Guide. Now with 33% more scantily clad women and 15% more calories.
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