Give Me The Rock
this is fantasy basketball
Nels are I are participating in a weekly fantasy hoops roundtable organized by Lester’s Legends. This week, we pull a seat up to the table to discuss the year’s biggest surprises so far and the one or two players we feel will continue to put up big fantasy numbers this year.
You can check out the full discussion at Lester’s Legends, but here is our response to that question:
Marc Gasol: He may lack the shock and awe of someone like Andrew Bynum, the natural fanboy appeal of someone like David Lee, and the national attention of someone playing in a city other than Memphis, but you can’t argue with the stats Gasol has been putting up so far this year: 15.2 points on 61% shooting, 11.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. We had Gasol ranked at #107 going into the year and through 13 games he’s ranked at #14 on the GMTR player rater. While Gasol is not going to keep up that insane pace overall, the scoring and block numbers he’s been putting up are legit. Over the last two months of the 2008-09 season, Gasol averaged 14.3 points and 1.3 blocks while shooting 55% from the field. So, it’s not a stretch to think that his stats this year are following a natural sophomore progression, with the possible exception of his rebounding numbers, which are likely to see a small regression from the 11 a game he’s averaging so far this year. Bonus points for the fact that Gasol is one of the only people to have ever benefited from Zach Randolph’s presence down in the paint. The Grizzlies may have drafted Hasheem Thabeet to be their center of the future, but they overlooked the fact that they already had one in Gasol.
Joakim Noah: If Hustle were a fantasy category, Noah would be a first round pick because he’d win you that category by himself. Of course, it’s not, but the end result of Noah’s hustle is that he gets Points, Rebounds, and Blocks like he drinks water. And since most of his buckets come from Derrick Rose passes or offensive rebounds, he’s always getting high percentage shots around the basket (except when he uses his Ugly Stick form shot from the free throw line extended). He’s sitting pretty at #29 on the GMTR player rater, and should end up Top 50 because he is not going to stop. Ever.
***
The Other Panelists:
Alex of BleacherCreatureRotoTalk.com
Ryan of LestersLegends.com
Brian of EmptyTheBench.com
Erik of PointsInThePaint.com
Tommy of HoopsWorld.com
* For the record, I actually think there are about 5-6 surprise players who will continue to play at a high level this year, but since the question only asked for two, we had to make a tough choice and cut a bunch of guys out. Before you yell at me, I also like Brandon Jennings, Danilo Gallinari and Jason Thompson to continue to play above expectations, but each have a little more uncertainly around them than Gasol and Noah, who are almost guaranteed to be good. – Patrick
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