At this point in the season, initial rankings and name values start to go out the window. Let’s break down the rankings for each position for expected impact over the remainder of the season, assuming nine categories and using Yahoo!’s position eligibility as the benchmark.
Point Guard
1. Chris Paul
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Chauncey Billups
4. Joe Johnson
5. Jose Calderon
6. Devin Harris
7. Deron Williams
8. Brandon Roy
9. Jason Kidd
10. Mike Bibby
11. Jason Terry
12. Rajon Rondo
13. Steve Nash
14. Mo Williams
15. Jameer Nelson
16. Rodney Stuckey
17. Randy Foye
18. Delonte West
19. Allen Iverson
20. Tony Parker
21. Chris Duhon
22. Andre Miller
23. Baron Davis
24. O.J. Mayo
25. T.J. Ford
26. Nate Robinson
27. Jamal Crawford
28. Russell Westbrook
29. Derrick Rose
30. Mario Chalmers
31. Luke Ridnour
32. Steve Blake
33. Derek Fisher
34. D.J. Augustin
35. Rudy Fernandez
36. Gilbert Arenas
37. Raymond Felton
38. Monta Ellis
39. Leandro Barbosa
40. Kirk Hinrich
41. Jarrett Jack
42. Rafer Alston
43. Beno Udrih
44. C.J. Watson
45. Kyle Lowry
46. Aaron Brooks
47. Daniel Gibson
48. Marco Belinelli
49. Ramon Sessions
50. Roger Mason
51. Louis Williams
52. Jose Juan Barea
Notes: Roy would be higher if I weren’t anticipating sporadic games off all season .. Kidd’s ridiculous current ranking largely due to steals output .. It’s good to see Bibby back to his old ways .. Nash’s AST:TO is at 2.3:1, after 3.2:1 over the past four seasons .. Jameer, Foye, and Stuckey are big movers .. With AI, it’s nearly impossible to be optimistic .. Solid group of rookies – can they all avoid the wall? .. Tough to guage Arenas or Ellis, but I’m not expecting much when they do play.
Shooting Guard
1. Kobe Bryant
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Danny Granger
4. Joe Johnson
5. Kevin Durant
6. Kevin Martin
7. Brandon Roy
8. Paul Pierce
9. Andre Iguodala
10. Vince Carter
11. Jason Terry
12. Michael Redd
13. Manu Ginobili
14. Ben Gordon
15. Ray Allen
16. Rodney Stuckey
17. Randy Foye
18. Delonte West
19. Richard Hamilton
20. Jason Richardson
21. Hedo Turkoglu
22. Allen Iverson
23. O.J. Mayo
24. Eric Gordon
25. Nate Robinson
26. Jamal Crawford
27. Corey Maggette
28. Josh Howard
29. Luol Deng
30. Stephen Jackson
31. Wilson Chandler
32. J.R. Smith
33. Mike Miller
34. Mike Dunleavy
35. Tracy McGrady
36. John Salmons
37. Francisco Garcia
38. Grant Hill
39. Peja Stojakovic
40. James Posey
41. Ronnie Brewer
42. Rudy Fernandez
43. Raymond Felton
44. Monta Ellis
45. Matt Barnes
46. Marquis Daniels
47. Anthony Parker
48. Kelenna Azubuike
49. Leandro Barbosa
50. Kirk Hinrich
51. Jarrett Jack
Notes: It’s safe to include Granger in Kobe and Wade’s company at the tip-top of the heap .. The move to SF has been a absolute boon for Durant .. AI2 has picked it up lately, but he’ll need to re-adjust to Brand when he’s back .. J-Rich and Hedo’s spots are tenuous .. Gordon is killing it, but he can’t average 40 mpg all season .. A true mixed bag from Crawford to Miller (26-33) .. Dunleavy has a shot to move up, but T-Mac doesn’t.
Small Forward
1. LeBron James
2. Danny Granger
3. Rashard Lewis
4. Caron Butler
5. Kevin Durant
6. Paul Pierce
7. Gerald Wallace
8. Josh Smith
9. Shawn Marion
10. Andre Iguodala
11. Vince Carter
12. Rudy Gay
13. Antawn Jamison
14. Paul Millsap
15. David Lee
16. Andrei Kirilenko
17. Michael Redd
18. Carmelo Anthony
19. Richard Hamilton
20. Jason Richardson
21. Hedo Turkoglu
22. Jeff Green
23. Corey Maggette
24. Josh Howard
25. Luol Deng
26. Stephen Jackson
27. Ron Artest
28. Wilson Chandler
29. J.R. Smith
30. Mike Miller
31. Mike Dunleavy
32. Richard Jefferson
33. Marvin Williams
34. Tracy McGrady
35. John Salmons
36. Francisco Garcia
37. Tyrus Thomas
38. Tayshaun Prince
39. Grant Hill
40. Andrea Bargnani
41. Lamar Odom
42. Peja Stojakovic
43. James Posey
44. Jamario Moon
45. Trevor Ariza
46. Al Thornton
47. Ronnie Brewer
48. Charlie Villanueva
49. Thaddeus Young
50. Ryan Gomes
51. Linas Kleiza
52. Matt Barnes
53. Michael Beasley
54. Hakim Warrick
55. Marquis Daniels
56. Anthony Parker
57. Kelenna Azubuike
58. Andres Nocioni
59. Shane Battier
Notes: As usual, Butler’s health will determine whether or not he starts to slip .. Speaking of health concerns, G-Wall is sure on a roll .. What the Heat do or don’t do at the trade deadline will likely determine Marion’s season (and Beasley’s) .. Lee and Millsap are quickly becoming fantasy hoops legends .. Melo’s ranking is likely generous, considering his injury is to his shooting hand .. Green’s threes have buoyed his impact .. My estimate on the percentage of Artest’s fantasy owners who currently have him on the block: 94% .. Feel free to move Thomas up the list if you are feeling lucky .. Bargnani could be in for a bump if O’Neal stays gimpy .. So much for those grand expectations for Thornton and Thaddeus.
Power Forward
1. Dirk Nowitzki
2. Amar’e Stoudemire
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Rashard Lewis
5. Al Jefferson
6. Marcus Camby
7. Pau Gasol
8. Chris Bosh
9. Gerald Wallace
10. David West
11. Tim Duncan
12. Josh Smith
13. Shawn Marion
14. Rudy Gay
15. Antawn Jamison
16. Rasheed Wallace
17. Paul Millsap
18. David Lee
19. Mehmet Okur
20. Andrei Kirilenko
21. LaMarcus Aldridge
22. Nene Hilario
23. Al Horford
24. Troy Murphy
25. Al Harrington
26. Emeka Okafor
27. Boris Diaw
28. Elton Brand
29. Jeff Green
30. Zach Randolph
31. Kenyon Martin
32. Corey Maggette
33. Brook Lopez
34. Ron Artest
35. Wilson Chandler
36. Jermaine O’Neal
37. Marvin Williams
38. Tyrus Thomas
39. Tayshaun Prince
40. Carlos Boozer
41. Andrea Bargnani
42. Lamar Odom
43. Drew Gooden
44. Spencer Hawes
45. Anderson Varejao
46. Andray Blatche
47. Al Thornton
48. Charlie Villanueva
49. Nenad Krstic
50. Luis Scola
51. Thaddeous Young
52. Kevin Love
53. Ryan Gomes
54. Yi Jianlian
55. Matt Bonner
56. Michael Beasley
57. Hakim Warrick
58. Udonis Haslem
59. Antonio McDyess
60. Nick Collison
Notes: It will be interesting to see if Bosh starts to suffer from morale issues .. Nene’s been the man on a per-game basis, but health and stamina remain concerns .. Brand falls in part because of the volume of solid performers this season, in part because of everything else .. Boozer’s window is getting smaller and smaller.
Center
1. Amar’e Stoudemire
2. Al Jefferson
3. Marcus Camby
4. Pau Gasol
5. Chris Bosh
6. Tim Duncan
7. Rasheed Wallace
8. Andris Biedrins
9. Paul Millsap
10. David Lee
11. Yao Ming
12. Dwight Howard
13. Mehmet Okur
14. LaMarcus Aldridge
15. Nene Hilario
16. Al Horford
17. Andrew Bynum
18. Troy Murphy
19. Al Harrington
20. Emeka Okafor
21. Boris Diaw
22. Elton Brand
23. Chris Kaman
24. Zach Randolph
25. Brook Lopez
26. Andrew Bogut
27. Brad Miller
28. Jermaine O’Neal
29. Carlos Boozer
30. Shaquille O’Neal
31. Kendrick Perkins
32. Marc Gasol
33. Zydrunas Ilgauskas
34. Andrea Bargnani
35. Drew Gooden
36. Spencer Hawes
37. Tyson Chandler
38. Anderson Varejao
39. Samuel Dalembert
40. Andray Blatche
41. Nenad Krstic
42. Luis Scola
43. Greg Oden
44. Kevin Love
45. Matt Bonner
46. Udonis Haslem
47. Antonio McDyess
48. Nick Collison
49. Chris Andersen
50. Joel Przybilla
51. Erick Dampier
52. Ben Wallace
Notes: Yao has played in 66 of a possible 112 games after Feb.1 over the past three seasons .. Per usual, move Howard up for h2h, down for roto .. Bynum’s ups-and-downs have his stock falling .. Shaq sure has benefitted from the new-look Suns .. A Miller trade would be a boon for Hawes .. Chandler and Dalembert are among the busts of the year .. Looks like Oden needed at least a year to get settled in.
Thanks to my buddy Scott Pianowski for letting me poach the idea for this post.
must…have…faith….in B-Diddy. Fight the negativity, buser. 23rd?! Really? Sigh….
feel free to let me know who you wouldn’t trade him for among the 22 above him. i don’t see him improving much on his per-game impact (currently 21st among PG-elig on yahoo) or staying healthy for the season’s second half
R. Stuckey’s numbers have been sick. I am very pleased to say I picked him up as soon as the Billups trade went through. I’ve been sitting back smiling ever since. Very nice spot ahead of his co-worker Iverson.
i don’t see myself taking Calderon over Harris, Deron and probably Roy. He is a much less dynamic pick, and only has Free throws and threes over those guys (and assissts over Roy and Devin). Considering that Roy, Deron and Harris all have a positive impact on threes and Free throws and assissts, I wouldn’t take Jose to help me in catergories that I will already be strong at with R D and H. R D H all have a lot better upside and the points category is elite at that position./
Also wouldnt do Delonte over anyone Mayo and under. yes Wests rank is higher now but if someone offered you Delonte West for Baron Davis, Allen Iverson or Chris Duhon etc. would you really do it? I would not.
Diddy did finish the season #2 last year…
I would trade Terry, Mo Will, Nelson, Foye, or D. West for him in a heartbeat.
Diddy finished #2 last year w/ a different team, coach and run & gun system…
While Davis will be better later this year, I gotta agree with his ranking here. The injury factor and a 36% on 17 FGA sinks him. I guess I would sell Del. West high for him though.
I’d guess Stuckey and Foye will rise up as the season goes on.
Also I think Mike Miller may not return to any sort of form this season unless he’s traded.
this was an interesting exercise .. i tried for some balance of roto/h2h and per-game/cumulative and to end up objectively with who i thought was going to have a bigger impact, period. i’m not necessarily sure i’d be making 1-for-1 swaps to the letter from these lists, either, and they will constantly change. maybe the thing they are best for is just conversation, but this is the time of year where over/underachievers start to hit the market in full force
hey buser, i need to improve my scoring a bit. i am thinking about moving s. marion. who would u ask for? thx!
Hey Buse, I love that you have this because having the O-ranks appear to hold any sort of value midseason is silly. Also, where a player is at right now is of course important but the guessing or estimating of future value is what we want to know, and of course we need a ranked list . . . that being said, expected impact, why are people like Dunleavy and Ellis so low? We have heard that Arenas may be hanging out his shoes for this year (or his career) and that Monta is perhaps back Friday, so how is Arenas above? If we are talking about this point forward, I would think these players with first half of the season injuries would be ranked higher, and the heavily discussed B-Diddy lower, as he is. Whats the deal?
check the date of the post
in the days since, dunleavy has run off a string of solid games, ellis has had his first practices, and arenas has intimated that he’s not coming back. the list should be considered fluid, even if i’m not updating it as such. (i do plan an update down the line, though)
If the Conley for Sessions and Alexander deal goes through where would you put Sessions?
I think he’s got the potential to go off once he’s out from the clutches of Scotty Skiles. And Kyle Lowry is not the future in Memphis, so he’d probably get solid minutes there.
I just traded for Tyrus Thomas and after one good game he seems like hes back to his old ways. You think I should try to trade him before my league catches on to his poor play, or hold on to him and hope for the best.
Also, Give B-Diddy some love, he will come back strong. Right?
Hey Buser, big fan of your stuff on Y!, congrats on the new site.
I’m not sure about these top 25 guard rankings – I agree with B-Davis being so low (the hoop, after all, is not an ocean), but Roy just has to be higher up. He was absolutely on fire before his pulled hamstring, capped by that beautiful 52 point game. I would have him 4th, just ahead of Joe, even with an anticipated 3 DNPs or so.
Great info. though, especially when the last big board update was December 5th.
b_rad – i’d move sessions up a bit for sure, probably (and ironically) right behind ridnour. i’m still not convinced that he’d start right away or relegate lowry to garbage time though
hockplayer – don’t look at thomas from a game-to-game perspective because he’ll drive you nuts. if you are okay with the ups-and-downs averaging out to 10/5 with nice def stats, then i’d hold. and i’ve not no reason to believe that davis – from a per-game perspective – will improve much at all this season
dan d – as i said in the blurbs, injury is why i have roy a bit low. maybe i was a bit biased because he had missed the past four games when i made the lists, but i just see him getting nicked up here and there
Ouch no love for big Z matt? He was still ranked 20th on bbm before going down…
Why Tony Parker so low?
20 PPG with over 50%FG, what’s there not to like?
Why Stuckey and Foye higher than him?
you sure about that number turmoil? his per-game rank on BBM is 62. anyway, at the time i made the list, he was just hitting the shelf for 3+ plus weeks, and a foot injury is exactly the last thing we want to see from him. i think he’s going to get the kid glove treatment when he does return, so i docked him for that
parker is as low as he is because he’s a 3-cat horse (fg%, pts, ast). what’s not to like is things like no threes and low steals. simply put, players like stuckey and foye offer a bigger impact because of diversity. parker does get a bit of a bump with a specific h2h strategy, though
Hi Buser, nice site you’ve got here.I wanted to go win at the playoffs. Schedules for orl,&phi are great. and seeing your article here,im just thinking on the rest of season rankings compared to schedules,can i give butler,redd,&ford for rashard,a.miller,&diaw and have better h2h result?
ninja – i like that trade in general, and as a bonus you do pick up some games down the stretch
Hi, I love the new site and congratulations, but I am wondering why nene is ranked so low. He seems to be one of the most flawless pf/c in the league and puts up numbers on a consistent basis.
Every when will this get updated?
yeah i know it’s due .. i was thinking right around the ASB, but i’ll try for sometime this week. feel free to start chiming in with major movers…
I have Iverson on my roster and i was looking to pick up someone else, and after comparing his stats with Felton’s, the only categories Iverson has Felton covered in are fg% and turnovers, otherwise he has pretty solid numbers.