Mock points-based fantasy basketball draft
The NBA season is right around the corner, which means that it’s fantasy draft season. I’ve been participating in experts mock drafts, and will continue to do so ahead of drafting my own leagues. The following is my team from a CBS points-based mock, that was written up on Rotowire. Here is my team, and some of my thoughts as I was making my picks...
The scoring system for this league, was: 1 point per point scored, rebound, block, steal. Two points per assist. As such, there was a bit of a premium on point guards and/or assist generators at other positions. It was also a H2H league.
I had the sixth pick in a 12-team, snake draft. My picks:
1) Anthony Davis: This was a tough decision. Russell Westbrook, GIannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, LeBron James and Kevin Durant went 1 - 5. If this were a roto league, Stephen Curry would have been the obvious pick, but in H2H with no bonuses for scoring efficiency or 3-pointers, he dropped a notch in my book. John Wall would have been another player of interest, as he was the biggest volume points/assists guy left on the board. Ultimately, I chose Davis because, when healthy, he’s the big man that puts up video game numbers. His health will always make me nervous, but I’m banking on him being a scarcer commodity in this league, whereas I may be able to get point guards to fill out my roster later on.
2) Kyle Lowry: I really wanted Kyrie Irving to fall to me in the second round. I thought he was a first round talent, but he slid all the way to the fourth pick in the 2nd round. Unfortunately, I was picking seventh. Even so, Lowry is good value. He has nightly 20/10 potential, and really was the last player on the board that could say that. With assists being so valuable, he was an easy pick for me over Paul George, DeMar DeRozan, Kemba Walker, Rudy Gobert or Gordon Hayward (the five picks that immediately followed).
3) Andre Drummond: By round 3, it was clear to me how quickly the talent falls off in points-based leagues. In roto leagues, the value of 3-pointers, defensive specialists and percentage monsters helps broaden the pool of good options. In points based, by round 3 it was drying up. This was epitomized, to me, by Khris Middleton going at the top of the third round. He’d have been a good pick in roto, but in points based I think him going at 25 was a reach. I took Drummond because he’s a center capable of big volumes of rebounds/points, that appears to be prepared for a bounce-back year, and without the free throw percentage penalty he’s good value. If I had more nerve, I might also have taken Joel Embiid here (he went five picks later), as he’s hands down better...if he’s on the court.
4) Ben Simmons: Speaking of The Process, I popped for his teammate in round four. Simmons is risky because he’s a rookie that had to sit out all of last season injured. That said, he’s a forward that is playing point guard, which means lots of assists at a position that’s not expecting it, and he’s looked great in the preseason so far. This is a bit of a make-or-break pick for my team.
5) Isaiah Thomas: This is the last pick I’ll go in depth about, but it’s another make-or-break pick. Thomas, last season, put up numbers that would have been worthy of a borderline second round pick in this draft. But, he’s now playing in Cleveland on a much more offensively talented roster, and he’s got this mystery hip injury that will limit him to an unknown extent. If he struggles through injury and an inability to define a space of his own, then this was a stretch pick. If he’s healthy enough to play most of the season at a high level, though, and he settles in as the clear number two option for the Cavs the way that Kyrie Irving was last season, then this would end up being my steal of the draft pick.
The rest of my picks, below, round out my team.
6) Markelle Fultz
7) Zach Lavine
8) Zach Randolph
9) Wilson Chandler
10) Jordan Clarkson
11) Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
12) Mason Plumlee
13) Evan Turner
14) Joe Johnson
Generally speaking, I continued my risk taking in hopes of getting difference makers as opposed to playing it safe. I feel that while roto leagues reward safer, strategic picks based on category value, points-based leagues reward risk taking as there’s such a thin-line between bottom player on bench and the free agency wire. Fultz is a combo guard rookie that was the top pick in the draft, the two Zachs are coming off injury or arrest that make them boom or bust, Chandler is a professional scorer that could be underrated here, and Clarkson is another combo guard that will have to fight to earn his spot with new teammates, but that has good volume upside.









