NBA Top 50 Fantasy Players (Current)

By: Andrew Katz

On the bubble:
Mike Miller – Steady performer on an improving team
Devin Harris – has cooled off a little but still stellar
LaMarcus Aldridge – He’ll be a 20/10 guy soon, just not yet
Francisco Garcia – quietly emerging as a valuable asset from the train wreck that is the Kings’ season
Kevin Durant – Playing like Melo fantasy-wise. Let’s pray that’s only due to the lack of talent surrounding him

Dropped out:
Kevin Durant, Devin Harris, Grant Hill, Andrew Bynum, Jermaine O’Neal

Note: Previous rank in parentheses

50) (40) Joe Johnson – Not a good sign that he had his best fantasy game of the year only because Josh Smith got in foul trouble. He’s still solid in Pts, Rbs, and Asts regardless
49) (-) Andrei Kirilenko – He’s fought through injuries and has continued to deliver the kind of fantasy numbers his owners expect
48) (-) Leandro Barbosa – Very efficient (17 pts, 1 TO/ game last month,) just hope he doesn’t go Boris Diaw on fantasy owners
47) (45) Samuel Dalembert – Last week’s avg. stats: 14/15/3 (pts, rbs, blks)
46) (32) Brandon Roy – He’s come back down to Earth with the Blazers, but still count on him quality numbers
45) (27) Jason Kidd – I’m thankful I don’t have to endure the hit that the ‘most harmful nightly triple-double ever’ takes on a fantasy team’s statistics
44) (42) Carmelo Anthony – Showing no signs of improving his fantasy game whatsoever. Basically, the price you’d have to pay to pry him away from another team probably isn’t worth it
43) (24) Paul Pierce – Celtics, as a team, are starting to show the effects of riding three guys night in and night out. Pierce isn’t going to lose you a title, but I’d be weary if I were an owner and might try to deal him now before injuries and fatigue become too much of an issue
42) (47) Tim Duncan – Showing signs of returning to his old self (10 double-doubles since return,) don’t bank on it though
41) (38) Tyson Chandler – Last month averaging 13/13/1/1/2 (Pts, Rbs, Stls, Blks, TOs) and he can still be gotten cheap
40) (29) Josh Howard – Really fallen off of late, and unless he picks it up soon a drop off the board could be in his future
39) (19) Al Jefferson – If he could shoot free throws he’d be top 20 for sure. Unfortunately he’s stuck with a bad case of DHS (Dwight Howard Syndrome)
38) (49) Mike Dunleavy – If you are an owner who happens to be in the unfortunate position of owning Melo, McGrady, or someone of that sort, see if you can yank Mr. Dunleavy away for your high-profile, terrible roto-wise, scorer
37) (48) Ron Artest – As soon as he comes back this week, he will immediately re-enter the elite group of players who help in every category
36) (-) Manu Ginobili - Healthy again and ready to pick up right where he left off before injury (as a top 25 player)
35) (30) Deron Williams – After an off month, Deron has shown signs of returning to form this past week
34) (25) Rudy Gay – With Gasol’s re-emergence and Conley taking over at the point, teams aren’t going to be able to focus solely on him any longer
33) (33) Mo Williams – In Redd’s absence he molded perfectly into more of a scoring guard, but expect more assists from Mo from here on in
32) (37) David West - #15 in Y! over the last month averaging 22/10/3/2 (Pts, Rbs, Asts, Blks) and he can still be pried away for a relatively cheap price
31) (11) Dwyane Wade – I’ve developed serious concerns about Wade over the past week. He’s over-worked, given even less of a team than LeBron, and could get injured at any time. Sure, he’s a top 15 player when everything’s clicking but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be a frequent occurrence this season
30) (43) Michael Redd – Healthy again and playing like he never sat out a game
29) (39) Rashard Lewis – I’m probably undervaluing him, but at the present moment I can’t find it in me to move him ahead of the 28 guys to follow
28) (44) Antawn Jamison – Areans was recently quoted saying that if he doesn’t feel 100% in February / March he may just shut it down for the year. For the sake of Jamison and Butler owners, I hope that’s the case
27) Hedo Turkoglu – What can I say, I’m a huge fan of all-around performers
26) (12) Carlos Boozer – Boozer’s #70 over the last month and may have began the fall into the Zach Randolph Zone (satisfied with contributing 20 pts, 10 rbs, nothing more, nothing less)
25) (36) Rasheed Wallace – the most undervalued player in the Y! game this year
24) (26) Dwight Howard – FT % and TOs both showing improvement in January
23) (-) Pau Gasol – It’s nice to see him finally playing with some motivation again, and his numbers are reflecting it (#16 in Y! last month)
22) (31) Jose Calderon – easily has the best assist /to ratio of anyone in the business (5.14/1)
21) (20) Andre Iguodala – He’s been a rock on an awful team all season that does have a good, young core of Dalembert, Williams, and Iguodala. It is not out of the question that Andre takes the next step and becomes a top 15 fantasy stud by year’s end
20) (21) Chris Kaman – In case you thought this season’s incredible improvement may have been a fluke: http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/33574
19) (-) Kevin Martin – He’s back. Last year he was one of the most found players on championship fantasy teams and if not for that untimely injury, would probably be a top 15 player right now
18) (28) Gerad Wallace – I’ll admit it, I didn’t think he was going to be able to follow up last year’s performance, but this last month he and JRich have really gelled together leading to Wallace putting up Kobe like numbers over that time period: 25/7/5/2/1 (Pts, Rbs, Asts, Stls, Blks)
17) (17) Chris Bosh – Seriously, just listen to him and Bubba, and vote for Boshy already
16) (34) Jason Richardson – his 3.2 treys/game stat over the last month has been one of the most valuable in all of fantasy, and this to go with all ready stellar all-category game
15) (23) Yao – Okay so maybe I was only hating on Yao in last week’s rankings because no one will take him from me in my Y! league. He clearly reads The Column and showed his displeasure at my ignorance by averaging 26/10/ this last week
14) (18) Josh Smith – Leads the league in Blks + Stls per game to go w/ 18/8/3 averages
13) (22) Steve Nash – As his team heals, his numbers will only improve
12) (14) Chauncey Billups – Might not be the flashiest, but the most consistent PG in the game every week
11) (8) Kevin Garnett – As is the trend of most Celtics’ these days, his stats have been slipping the past month
10) (13) Dirk Nowitzki – Finally starting to put the Mavs on his back again; should be a good sign for owners
9) (7) Allen Iverson – Good news AI owners, Chucky Atkins is out for the year!! That can only mean more points, more assists, and more thug
8) (10) Amare Stoudemire – As good as it gets at the center position if he can continue to stay healthy
7) (9) LeBron James – Bouncing back nicely since injury and it was refreshing to see him absolutely take over the game against the Grizz on Tuesday
6) (5) Marcus Camby – his 14.2 rbs/game are just scary; basically he’s Ben Wallace in his prime except better
5) (3) Baron Davis – January’s been his worst month to date, but all that’s really saying is that he’s not quite a top 3 player right now
4) (6) Kobe Bryant – Uh oh, Bynum’s out and you know what that means…Kobe’s going to start dropping 50 a night with regularity
3) (4) Caron Butler – Almost single-handedly took two in a row from the Celtics last week and judging from the balance in his stat line the past month you’d think he really was playing all five positions
2) (1) Shawn Marion – His team’s lack of depth and recent injuries is the sole reason for his dethroning this week
1) (2) Chris Paul – I consider myself pretty conservative when assessing fantasy talent (especially in basketball where players’ values seem fluctuate much more so than baseball) but after watching my boy CP3 consistently putting up eye popping stats while managing to maintain efficient turnover and shooting % totals, I really can’t leave him at #2 any longer. I love you Shawn, but for now CP reigns