There’s not much going on in the NBA – at least for fantasy purposes – over the next few days, so to follow up on BV’s awards yesterday, I thought I’d hand out some awards myself. These will be for the most pleasant surprises in each of the eight standard roto categories; I’ll have disappointments on Monday.
Rasheed Wallace’s 2.1 3pg
Toward the end of his time in Portland we found out that ‘Sheed could hit the three-ball with regularity in the NBA, as he peaked with 1.5 3pg in the 02-03 season. But in his first season and a quarter with Detroit, he held back on the long ball, averaging just around one triple per contest. With trigger-happy Flip Saunders replacing triple-skeptic Larry Brown, ‘Sheed has had the green light to fire away and is averaging 2.1 3pg, which is just flat out ridiculous for a guy that qualifies at center in most leagues. He started off the season incredible hot from long range, shooting around 44% over the season’s first two months. He’s cooled down considerably since then, but he’s actually taking more shots, so his 3PM has stayed rather constant.
Tony Parker’s 54% FG
Parker’s 48% from the field last year was very nice, but there was reason to suspect that was as good as it was going to get, especially since he didn’t top 46% in any of his first three seasons. Since he primarily shoots while going to the basket he’s going to have a higher FG% than most point guards, but I don’t think anyone saw this 54% coming. Give Parker – and the San Antonio coaching staff – credit for knowing his strength and playing to it. Parker attempted at least 2.0 3pg in each of his first four seasons and never made more than 34%, which is quite poor for a point guard. So this year he’s basically eliminated that shot from his repertoire, attempting a paltry 0.5 per game, and has excelled at taking the ball to the hoop. Now if he could just work on that FT%..
Dwight Howard’s 12.6 rpg
After averaging 10 rebounds per game in his rookie campaign last season we knew Howard was going to be a monster on the boards for years to come. We didn’t know that he’d surpass Ben Wallace and Kevin Garnett as the league’s top rebounder in just his second season. He’s been held to single digit boards in just 11 of his 51 games, and in one of those he left after two minutes. He’s gone for 15 or more in 18 games we’ll be seeing his name near the very top of the rebounding stats for at least a decade or so.
Chauncey Billups’s 8.5 apg
I was as high on Billups as anyone coming into the season, mostly due to his game-to-game consistency, health and solid all-around numbers. One of his “weaknesses” was that he never put up big assist numbers for a point guard – last year’s 5.8 per game was a career high – but it was something we were able to look past. So what does he do this year? He starts handing out dimes like that dealer on the corner. Or something like that. His 8.5 per game is good for third in the league this year, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Chris Bosh’s 81.7% FT
I’ve already written about Bosh’s value in percentages, and this was a pretty easy choice. Center is the one position where you are willing to concede that you probably won’t get someone who’s going to help you in FT%; in fact, you’re probably going to get someone that hurts you. But after shooting 70% and 76% in his first two seasons, Bosh is up to 82% on just over 8 attempts per game. This is just huge value and is a big reason why Bosh is an official Fantasy Stud now.
Elton Brand’s 25.4 ppg
Points is the one category where you generally won’t see too many surprises. Look at the league leaders – it wouldn’t have been too touch to predict Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and LeBron James as the top three. Brand between 18.2 and 20.1 ppg in each of his first six seasons; he averaged exactly 20 ppg in his last two. He seemed to be locked in at a pretty established level, so that’s why his 25.4 ppg this season is such a pleasant surprise.
Gerald Wallace’s 2.2. bpg
It would be even better if he could stay on the floor, but for all the preseason talk about Josh Smith being a swingman who can help you dominate in blocks, it was Wallace that proved to be that man. We knew he had it in him, as he averaged 1.3 per game last year, but in just 4 minutes more per game, he topped the magical 2 number to get up to 2.2 per game. That includes seven games of four or more, and his average actually increases to 2.4 per game if you factor in that he went block-less in the season’s first three contests.
Chris Paul’s 2.2. spg
Rookies are the great unknown. We like to think we’re going to know what they’re going to do, but the simple fact remains that until they step out on to the NBA court, it’s a guessing game. We – and most folks, admittedly – had Paul pegged as the top rookie in this year’s class and he obviously hasn’t disappointed, recent injury issues aside. His numbers have been stellar all around, but to come into the league and rank second in assists – just ahead of established top thiefs such as Shawn Marion, AI and Jason Kidd – is something special.