RADIO
Thunder Dan Palyo examines which players to take in each stage of your draft that can help you win multiple categories in your 2022-2023 fantasy basketball leagues.
The NBA season is rapidly approaching and you're probably getting ready for your drafts by doing a bunch of draft prep, including reading this article!
Whether you play H2H or Roto, you need to draft players who can contribute in multiple categories. Sure, specialists still carry value, especially if they're really good at what they do or if their best category is a scarce one (think blocks, for example). But what you don't want is too many "hollow" players who are going to contribute mediocre stats in only a few categories.
But being a well-rounded fantasy player isn't limited to just contributing in conventional categories (i.e. points, rebounds, assists). In fact, players that can contribute significantly in blocks, assists, and threes while also carrying solid averages in the main counting stats are the guys who we are really after. I did some digging to find out who some of these players were last season and tried to identify which well-known and lesser-known players we want to target for help in the peripheral categories.
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Peripheral Monsters: Threes, Blocks, and Steals
Here's a list of NBA players who averaged at least one steal and one block per game last year.
- Matisse Thybulle
- Robert Covington
- Draymond Green
- Anthony Davis
- LeBron James
- Nerlens Noel
- Joel Embiid
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Nikola Vucevic
Guys like Nerlens Noel and Matisse Thybulle are bench players who aren't likely to play enough minutes to be worth rostering in standard leagues. We have quite a few superstars on this list and then we have...Robert Covington. RoCo is a fantasy basketball stud who gets overlooked often because he's been in and out of starting lineups for multiple teams over the years and his minutes often fluctuate. But he's a defensive stalwart and it's clear that the Clippers value his skills a lot. He should fit in quite well on that team with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, two other excellent defenders.
When we narrow the list down to those who provided at least one three-pointer, too, we get our elite peripheral performers. Listed in parentheses are the total number of combined 3PM, steals, and blocks.
- LeBron (5.3)
- Robert Covington (4.6)
- KAT (4.1)
- Embiid (4.0)
- Giannis (3.6)
- Vucevic (3.4)
For all those LeBron haters, the guy is still an incredible 9-cat player. He's leading the way there with a mark of 5.3 that is buoyed by a career-high 2.9 made threes per game last year. His blocks jumped up over one per game for the first time in 10 years, likely because he played a bunch of PF and C last season. Any way you slice it, the King is going to do more than just score, rebound, and assist - he has value in threes, steals, and blocks, too.
Covington's numbers are elite for a guy that only played 27 minutes per game last season. He's not projected to start, but he should definitely have a solid 20-25 minute role off the bench for this team which is more than enough for him to keep his membership in the 1-1-1 club.
KAT and Embiid are in a class of their own as big men who can do it all. I have been having some spirited debates about which one will finish higher in the player rater for 9-cat this season, but you really can't go wrong with either of them and their defensive contributions paired with their offensive efficiency make them incredible building blocks as first-round selections.
Giannis still isn't a "good" three-point shooter but has shown that he's willing to take them more often to keep defenses honest. Vucevic also has the green light from deep and does just enough (exactly 1.0 steals and blocks) on the defensive end to keep him in this club. I will never fault anyone for taking Vuc in a draft, he's not exciting to own, but is an excellent asset to have on your team.
Peripheral Monsters: The Just Missed List
This is where I discuss some guys who didn't quite make the cut into the exclusive 1-1-1 club but still warrant some discussion as they are solid across-the-board contributors.
Two guys who came up only .1 blocks away from the 1-1-1 club were Nikola Jokic and Patrick Beverley. While no one needs to tell you to draft Jokic #1 overall, you should already be doing that but it goes to show you his value extends across all categories.
Pat Bev is an interesting guy for fantasy. He's well known for his on-the-court antics and plenty of opposing players don't care for him (he has a certain Lance Stephenson quality about him.)
But I actually have always been a fan of his game, and he's more fantasy-friendly than people realize. He rebounds well for a guard and .9 blocks from a point guard is simply something you don't see. He was limited to 25 minutes a game in Minnesota, and I am not sure what his minutes will be with the Lakers, but I think the Lakers need his defensive presence and if you're willing to stomach the lack of points he can certainly be a nice piece to fill out your team late in drafts as he offers, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and threes with relatively low turnovers.
We can't talk about peripheral monsters without mention of Draymond Green (I mean, he was on the cover photo after all, right?) Dray was a longstanding member of the 1-1-1 club but has really shied away from shooting the long ball over the last few seasons.
Dray attempted a career-low 1.2 threes per game last year and made only 29% of them. He's still a stud in blocks and assists and averaged 7+ rebounds and assists last season. Fewer three-point attempts have actually helped his FG%, too, since he's not a good three-point shooter and he shot a career-best 52% from the field last year.
Anthony Davis doesn't make the cut due to a lack of threes, too. In his first season in L.A., he took 3.5 attempts per game from behind the arc and made 1.2 threes. But he took only half as many threes last year, resulting in only .3 made threes per game.
Davis is not a guy I usually target, but if you ever get a full season out of him he's probably an undervalued player in drafts due to his elite scoring, rebounding, steals, blocks, and percentages.
I had to sneak my guy Isaiah Hartenstein in here, too. He popped for me when I was running the per-36 numbers for this final group. Despite his lack of threes (.4 per-36 minutes), he's a stud in defensive stats with 1.5 steals and 2.3 blocks per-36 minutes. He's going to back up Mitchell Robinson on the Knicks this season and if he ever gets a chance to play anything close to starters' minutes (I know we say this every year) then look out!
Peripheral Monsters: Players on the Rise
When we look at which players might be ready to join the illustrious 1-1-1 club, we should consider a few guys who have demonstrated that they have the ability to do it on a per-minute basis. If all they need is more minutes, then I have some confidence that these players can get there.
Alperen Sengun is the starter now in Houston and had per-36 averages of .7 threes, 1.4 steals, and 1.6 blocks last year. The threes are probably the one area where he's probably the least likely to improve unless he really changes the way he plays and takes more attempts from behind the arc. The blocks and steals come rather easily for him and I'd expect him to be a major contributor there in addition to his scoring and rebounding.
P.J. Washington gets a chance at the starting PF job this season now that Miles Bridges is out of the mix with his ongoing legal troubles. PJ's per-36 numbers of 2.2 threes, 1.2 steals, and 1.2 blocks are really appealing, and even if he's not going to get a full 36 minutes, he's certainly a solid pick late in drafts if he plays around 30 minutes a night for Charlotte.
Aleksej Pokusevski is an interesting player for fantasy. It's anyone's guess as to how many minutes he plays this year for OKC as they have a bunch of guys they want to develop and are going to tank intentionally again for a chance at drafting Victor Wenbanyama. He played 24 minutes a game in his rookie campaign and then only 20 minutes per game last year.
But rookie and lottery pick Chet Holmgren is out for the season, leaving the door open for "Poku" to play more minutes at SF/PF. His length allows him to rack up defensive stats relatively easily and if he continues to develop his three-point shot, we could see him become a sneaky asset this season that you can probably pluck off the waiver wire.
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