Baller Mind Frame is gearing up to satisfy your fantasy basketball needs with some helpful analysis and insight. As a part of that service, we’re prepping the Baller Mind Frame Fantasy Basketball 2012-13 Fantasy Basketball Guide. We’ll be dropping player rankings, sleepers, busts, rookies, and all of that stuff that will help you make the best picks before your draft.
One feature will be a mock draft with commentary from all participants, who write for places such as CBS Sports, NBC Sports, SI.com, ESPN, Rotoworld, DIME, The Basketball Jones, Give Me The Rock, and HoopsKlyce.
I thought I’d chime in with my own opinion on how the mock draft is going by writing about each round as they are completed. This won’t take away from the final mock draft results post since you’ll hear from a dozen fantasy basketball maniacs and not just one.
Here are the particulars: ROTO, 12-team league, standard nine categories (points, assists, rebounds, FG%, FT%, three-pointers, steals, blocks, turnovers), roster (PG, SG, G, SF, PF, F, C, C, Util, BN, BN, BN, BN), e-mail draft that began on 9.6.12.
First Round Results:
1. Jason Hahn (@FBasketballBlog) – LeBron James, Miami Heat
62 G; 27.1 PPG; 6.2 APG; 7.9 RPG; 53.1 FG%; 77.1 FT%; 0.9 3PTMPG; 1.9 SPG; 0.8 BPG; 3.4 TOPG
LeBron James going first overall is kind of a no-brainer. Unless you play in some weird fantasy basketball league that rewards negative-production statistics, LeBron is usually first to go off the draft board because James does everything well! One thing to note though is that he significantly jacked less triples per game (2.4 attempts) last season versus the previous season (3.5) and his career average (4.0). It’s no coincidence that he shot a career-best 53.1% from the floor, which could actually get better as LeBron’s post game is getting nice.
2. Chris Towers (@CTowersCBS) – Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
66 G; 28.0 PPG; 3.5 APG; 8.0 RPG; 49.6 FG%; 86.0 FT%; 2.0 3PTMPG; 1.3 SPG; 1.2 BPG; 3.8 TOPG
The majority of fantasy basketball drafts will have Kevin Durant sliding into this spot. Some drafts may actually see Durantula going first overall as he’s a solid contributor all-around and has comparable statistics to LeBron with a significantly better percentage from the charity stripe and hitting treys. You really can’t go wrong either way.
3. Eric Andrews (@aka_MR-FANTASY) – Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves
55 G; 26.0 PPG; 2.0 APG; 13.3 RPG; 44.8 FG%; 82.4 FT%; 1.9 3PTMPG; 0.9 SPG; 0.5 BPG; 2.3 TOPG
I think the third overall pick is where you have to scratch your head in contemplation for a bit. Do you want to dominate the combination of assists and steals while having very good percentages and about 20 points per game (Chris Paul) or do you want to own the rebounding category, score a ton, and get treys from the center position with Kevin Love? It all depends on your strategy and it’ll be interesting to see who gets teamed up with Love on this team.
4. Eric Mack (@EricMackFantasy) – Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers
60 G; 19.8 PPG; 9.1 APG; 3.6 RPG; 47.8 FG%; 86.1 FT%; 1.3 3PTMPG; 2.5 SPG; 0.1 BPG; 2.1 TOPG
Paul seems like the de facto pick here at fourth overall. If you’re worried about his health, as I’ve heard from many people, the past two seasons he’s been relatively healthy, playing 140 of 148 games. In fact, in his seven NBA seasons, CP3 could only be considered an injury liabilty in two seasons – his second season (played 64 of 82 games) and three seasons ago (45 of 82). Draft him without a worry.
5. Nels Wadycki (@GiveMeTheRock) – Al Jefferson, Utah Jazz
61 G; 19.2 PPG; 9.6 RPG; 2.2 APG; 49.2 FG%; 77.4 FT%; 0.0 3pTMPG; 0.8 SPG; 1.7 BPG; 1.0 TOPG
This is where it gets interesting to me in regards to this particular mock draft. I thought for sure that Dwyane Wade was going to be taken here, but he wasn’t even (SPOILER ALERT) selected in the whole round. Yeah, that was a weak spoiler alert. Apologies. In any case, Jefferson went here and initially I had no idea why, but after thinking about it, this league will start two centers and considering the injury questions that still loom over Dwight Howard and even Andrew Bynum, Jefferson is as steady a center as any and an excellent C1 in a two-center league.
6. Patrick Madden (@PatrickAMadden) – Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
66 G; 23.6 PPG; 5.5 APG; 4.6 RPG; 45.7 FG%; 82.3 FT%; 0.9 3PTMPG; 1.7 SPG; 0.3 BPG; 3.6 TOPG
Westbrook is as good as any other scoring point guard out there. Of course, his dimes are a lot less than someone like CP3 or Deron Williams, but the steals are nice and Westbrook shoots pretty good percentages. It’s incredible that the Thunder have both Westbrook and Durant as a great core of players for the long-term. Just those two alone should have the Thunder contending for years to come, as well as being viable fantasy basketball options for us fantasy basketball managers.
7. Aaron Bruski (@AaronBruski) – Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder
66 G; 9.1 PPG; 0.4 APG; 7.5 RPG; 53.5 FG%; 66.1 FT%; 0.0 3PTMPG; 0.5 SPG; 3.7 BPG; 1.2 TOPG
I’m a huge Serge Ibaka fan, but I don’t think I’d draft him this high. That said, much like the Jefferson pick, I’ll assume that the two-center start requirement is why Ibaka was picked here. Oh, and of course for his uncanny knack to reject shots. There’s no doubting his ability to make players look stupid and to think he averaged almost four blocks a game while only playing 27 minutes per game is crazy. Now that the Thunder showed him the money, he’ll likely get consistent starter minutes in the 30s, which definitely brings up his fantasy basketball value.
8. Tracy Fay (smartly, a Twitter Luddite) – Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
54 G; 20.6 PPG; 1.9 APG; 14.5 RPG; 57.3 FG%; 49.1 FT%; 0.0 3PTMPG; 1.5 SPG; 2.1 BPG; 3.2 TOPG
No one is quite sure when Howard will be at full strength and ready to actually play NBA games, so this is a more speculative pick. However, it may be a fair gamble if D12 accelerates his healing and takes the hardwood when the season begins. The only significant, okay, grossly significant downside to Howard is his free-throw percentage. When you consider the number of times he’s capable of getting to the line, the more you’ll want to cry because it affects your team’s percentage every time he refuses charity and throws bricks at it. Still, the main question is when he’ll be able to hit the front of basketball rims, not how many times at this point.
9. Brian Flood (@BrianSFlood) – Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks
55 G; 22.6 PPG; 3.6 APG; 6.3 RPG; 43.0 FG%; 80.4 FT%; 1.2 3PTMPG; 1.1 SPG; 0.4 BPG; 2.6 TOPG
In his second season with the Knickerbockers, Anthony didn’t do so well as he saw fairly significant drops in scoring average (from 26.3 to 22.6), field goal percentage (46.1 to 43.0), free throw percentage (87.2 to 80.4) and three-pointers made (2.0 to 1.2). Now, I know I’m not exactly endorsing Melo here, but he’s too good a player to not raise his game again, especially after he said he would during this summer’s Olympics. Add in the big-time spotlight on him to lead the Knicks deep into the playoffs and he almost has no choice. Anthony is a solid pick here because he contributes in every category other than blocks.
10. David Klyce (@HoopsKlyce) – Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
55 G; 18.5 PPG; 5.4 APG; 3.7 RPG; 46.9 FG%; 87.2 FT%; 1.4 3PTM; 1.1 SPG; 0.4 BPG; 3.1 TOPG
I’m a huge Kyrie Irving fan as I really love his game. Coming into the 2011 NBA Draft, I wasn’t convinced that Irving would be the best point guard from the class as I liked the Detroit Pistons’ Brandon Knight a lot more. However, I’m taking it all back. Irving showed his mettle hitting clutch shots in his rookie season, as well as put up some very nice numbers to boot! That said, I thought for sure that either Dwyane Wade or Deron Williams would have gone here, if only because I wanted one or the other with the very next pick of this draft. I do think both of the aforementioned players will perform better in the end of the season versus Irving, but I’m not really hating on this pick at all. It’s ballsy and I can dig that.
11. Dennis Velasco (@BallerMindFrame) – Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets
55 G; 21.0 PPG; 8.7 APG; 3.3 RPG; 40.7 FG%; 84.3 FT%; 2.1 3PTMPG; 1.2 SPG; 0.4 BPG; 4.0 TOPG
Full disclosure, I’m a Brooklyn Nets fan. Further full disclosure, I was ecstatic that D-Will was here for me to draft. I did consider Wade and if I didn’t have fandom for the Nets, Wade would have been the pick without question. But, I had to get my man at this spot. He had a horrible shooting and turnover campaign, but we can blame the personnel around him for those. I expect him to get back to around his career average of 45.5% from the field and 3.2 turnovers per game this coming season because now Williams will have some legit talent around him. He’ll likely score a little less, but the assists should get back to double-digits. I will obviously predict great things for D-Will.
12. Erik Ong (@FantasyHoopla) – Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks
66 G; 18.8 PPG; 3.9 APG; 9.6 RPG; 45.8 FG%; 63.0 FT%; 0.4 3pTMPG; 1.4 SPG; 1.7 BPG; 2.5 TOPG
Can you believe that Smith doesn’t turn 27-years-old until December of this year? It seems like he’s been attacking rims and embarrassing opponents for years and years and is in his mid-30s! J-Smoove is an excellent fantasy player to own because he contributes significantly in several fantasy basketball categories other than triples. He’s eligible in both forward spots, which gives owners tremendous versatility. Will his scoring go up with Joe Johnson gone from the ATL? It’s possible, but that’s not what makes Smith attractive, it’s the defensive stats and dimes that can come from the PF spot.
Next up, the second round!
Don’t forget to read all of the Baller Mind Frame Mock Draft End-Of-Round Reviews!
You can contact and find me on Twitter @BallerMindFrame or e-mail me at [email protected].
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