Most fantasy basketball leagues are either squarely in the middle of their playoffs or just about to kick them off, so it seems like a perfect time to take a look back at the top fantasy players this season.  The year has been full of surprises, including jolting trades, injuries, better-than-expected players, and of course, worse-than-expected players; all of which have affected our teams.  It’s always a challenge to weather through all the many NBA events in efforts to win our league.

 

The most logical place to start in determining the top fantasy players is to compile a list of the five leaders in each major statistical category during the 2010-11 season.  HOOPSWORLD looked at the most popular twelve categories commonly used in fantasy play, including points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, turnovers, field goals made, field goal percentage, free throws, free throw percentage, three-pointers made and three-point percentage.

 

We employed common sense here as far as determining which players to consider even if their numbers appeared impressive; for example, the Wizards’ Hamady N’diaye has the highest field-goal percentage (.800) of any player in the league, yet he played in just 13 games at an average 5:09 minutes per game.  Obviously he’s not considered a top player in fantasy games.

 

Here’s the list of players with the best per-game numbers:

*Note -All stats represent games played through March 31, 2011

 

Points:                                                                     Assists:

Kevin Durant  -                     27.8                            Steve Nash -                         11.4

LeBron James -                   26.6                            Rajon Rondo –                      11.3

Dwyane Wade –                   25.8                            Deron Williams -                  10.1

Carmelo Anthony -              25.5                            Chris Paul -                              9.8

Amar’e Stoudemire -          25.5                            Jose Calderon -                      8.9

                                                                                   

Durant is on track to repeat the scoring title for the second season in a row.

 

Rondo, playing through injuries much of the season, has been a dishing maniac.  Two considerations: 1) he’s played in roughly 84% of Boston’s games, and 2) his assist numbers started dropping dramatically in March.  Williams, who experience a mid-season trade, also missed many games with injury.

 

Rebounds:                                                              Blocks:

Kevin Love -                         15.3                            Andrew Bogut -                    2.6

Dwight Howard -                  14.2                            Dwight Howard -                  2.4

Zach Randolph –                  12.4                            JaVale McGee -                   2.4

Blake Griffin –                       12.1                            Serge Ibaka -                        2.3

Andrew Bogut -                    11.3                            Darko Milicic -                      2.1

 

Love, leading the league in double-doubles (64), also leads in total offensive and defensive rebounding.

 

Owners had to deal with Bogut missing 13 games.  Other rebounding players have to be mentioned: surprisingly relevant Kris Humphries grabbed (10.4), reliable Pau Gasol (10.2) and Al Jefferson (9.7).  Others excelled as well – Reggie Evans (11.6), Joakim Noah (11.0) and Marcus Camby (10.5) – but they missed a significant number of games.

 

Steals:                                                                      Turnovers:

Chris Paul -                           2.4                               Russell Westbrook -            3.9

Rajon Rondo -                      2.3                               John Wall –                            3.8

Monta Ellis -                          2.1                               Deron Williams -                  3.6

Russell Westbrook -            1.8                               Dwight Howard -                  3.6

Mike Conley -                       1.8                               Steve Nash -                         3.6

                                                                                       

Again, Rondo playing in 61-of-73 games isn’t ideal…three triple-doubles are though.  Westbrook had three as well.

 

James, Rondo and Rose averaged 3.5 turnovers per game.  Turnovers hurt fantasy teams to be sure, but that’s the price we pay owning players who handle the ball so much.

 

Field Goals Made:                                       Field Goal Percentage:

Amar’e Stoudemire -          9.7                        DeAndre Jordan -             .688

LeBron James -                  9.5                        Tyson Chandler -              .642

Dwyane Wade –                 9.2                         Nene Hilario -                  .621

Kevin Durant -                   9.1                         Dwight Howard -             .596

Monta Ellis -                      9.1                         Emeka Okafor -               .582

 

There are many others with impressive numbers in this category – Shaquille O’Neal (.662), Erick Dampier (.597), Jeremy Evans (.673), Aaron Gray (.630) and Chris Andersen (.588) – all missed well over one-third of games; few fantasy owners would find that useful.  Ronny Turiaf (.617) missed over 20%.

 

Free Throws Made:                                    Free Throw Percentage:

Kevin Durant -                  7.6                        Stephen Curry -                 .932

Kevin Martin -                   7.4                        Chauncey Billups -             .915

Dwight Howard -              7.0                        Steve Nash -                      .910

Carmelo Anthony -           6.8                        D.J. Augustine –                 .910

Dwyane Wade –                6.5                        Shannon Brown -               .908

  (tied with Russell Westbrook)

 

In addition, there are all sorts of high-percentage free throw shooters who appeal to owners:  Jodie Meeks (.897), Dirk Nowitzki (.893), Kevin Martin (.893), Luke Ridnour (.894), Raja Bell (.892), Chris Paul (.887), Ray Allen (.888), Kevin Durant (.878) and on and on.

 

Fun fact: In Yao Ming’s five games this season, he averaged 3 free throws per game at .937.

 

Three-pointers Made                                 Three-pointer Percentage:

Jason Richardson -            2.4                        Matt Bonner –                   .475

Dorell Wright -                  2.4                        Ray Allen –                       .452

Ray Allen -                       2.2                        Mike Bibby –                     .448

Channing Frye -                2.2                        Stephen Curry –                .442

Kevin Martin -                   2.2                        Luke Ridnour -                 .438

 

Other 2+ three-pointers include Chauncey Billups, Mike Bibby, Ryan Anderson, Jodie Meeks, Stephen Curry, Danny Granger and Manu Ginobili.

 

Three-pointers made and related percentages are particularly nice categories to have covered since it’s so specialized, i.e. fewer players are available to your competitors.

 

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{AUTHOR_BOX}The most valuable players to fantasy basketball owners are those who contribute well in multiple categories.  As you can see from the above lists, there’s no real dominant player appearing in all categories.  A few show up twice; Dwight Howard appears on three.

 

Methods of ascertaining absolutely fantasy values of players can prove to be a complicated undertaking.  There are formulas, ratings, rankings, efficiency data, etc. available at our fingertips, but rarely are the results the same.  For purposes of our study, we reviewed current "top ten" fantasy player lists from two respected websites, 1) NBA.com (using Fantasy Sports Performance Index- "FSPI") and, 2) ESPN.com (using Fantasy Player Rater) based on points, blocks, steals, assists, rebounds, 3-pointers, FT% and FG%.  Both lists agreed on the placement of these top three fantasy players:

 

1. LeBron James:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	MIA	74	74	38.7	0.508	0.331	0.761	1.0	6.5	7.5	7.0	1.5	0.6	3.5	2.1	26.6

 

James’ scoring took a hit with his move to Miami (and a small hit in rebounding), but other key stats from the 2009-10 season improved: 29.7 ppg, 8.6 apg, 7.3 rpg, 1.6 spg, .767 FT%.  The back-to-back reigning MVP player has four triple-doubles so far this year.

2. Kevin Durant:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	OKC	71	71	39.2	0.462	0.359	0.879	0.8	6.1	6.8	2.8	1.2	1.0	2.7	2.1	27.8

 

Durant contributes in every category with few weaknesses.

 

3. Chris Paul:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	NOH	74	74	36.3	0.467	0.391	0.885	0.5	3.6	4.1	9.9	2.4	0.1	2.2	2.5	16.1

 

Healthy this season after missing 37 games last year, Paul’s scoring and assists are down, but turnovers and free throw percentage have improved, plus he’s leading in steals.

 

The following players appear on both lists, but not in the same order:

 

Dwyane Wade:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	MIA	71	71	37.4	0.497	0.315	0.749	1.7	4.9	6.5	4.5	1.5	1.1	3.1	2.6	25.8

 

Monta Ellis:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	GSW	76	76	40.4	0.450	0.355	0.783	0.6	3.0	3.6	5.7	2.1	0.3	3.2	2.6	24.1

 

Amar’e Stoudemire:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	NYK	74	74	37.0	0.505	0.455	0.792	2.6	5.7	8.3	2.6	0.9	1.9	3.3	3.6	25.5

 

Derrick Rose:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	CHI	73	73	37.4	0.439	0.332	0.855	1.0	3.2	4.2	7.9	1.0	0.6	3.5	1.6	25.0

 

Kevin Love:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	MIN	72	72	35.8	0.470	0.419	0.851	4.5	10.8	15.3	2.5	0.6	0.4	2.2	2.0	20.3

 

To round off a top ten, we believe the following two players should be included:

 

Pau Gasol:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	LAL	74	74	37.3	0.526	0.333	0.827	3.4	6.8	10.2	3.4	0.6	1.7	1.7	2.4	19.0

 

Gasol seems to continually fly under the radar as far as fantasy discussions.

 

Dwight Howard:

Season	Team	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3p%	FT%	OFF	DEF	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PF	PPG
10-11	ORL	73	73	37.6	0.598	0.000	0.591	4.1	10.2	14.2	1.3	1.3	2.4	3.6	3.3	23.1

 

Yes, Howard’s free-throw percentages make owners cringe, but with those impressive average blocks, points, rebounds and field goal percentage, owners easily overlook that issue.  His 63 double-doubles this season are a close second to Love’s.

  

Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge, Russell Westbrook and Blake Griffin have to be considered among the top fantasy studs as well.