The moment has arrived. That awkward time of the year where the NBA Draft and Summer League are over, but games have yet to begin and fantasy matchups are still a ways away. It’s the perfect time to gorge yourself in content and knowledge for your upcoming fantasy basketball draft! There isn’t anything more important in a draft than acquiring a player who can cover multiple areas in the category field. A point guard who also gets rebounds; a center who also shoots threes; a shooting guard who can get blocks. Players like that on your roster can truly set you apart from the rest and give you the advantage you need to win your league. The below are players we feel you should target in this year’s draft to optimize your full roster potential in maxing out your category production.
LaMelo Ball (PG) – Charlotte Hornets
Welcome to the league kid, here are the keys to the city! Lamelo ball showed us all last year as a rookie that he has the uncanny ability to stuff a stat sheet. Last year he averaged 15.7 points, 6.1 assists, 5.9 rebounds and a bonus 1.6 steals. Mind you, he did all that without being in the starting lineup in the beginning of the year and also getting injured, forcing him to miss time. He no doubt has the skillset, the opportunity and the ability to improve on all the above stats this year. With him heading the fun and fast CHA offense, he could be adding his name to the MVP discussion for years to come. Passing on this walking triple double threat is ill advised.
Nikola Vucevic (C) – Chicago Bulls
Nikola has been as consistent as they come since coming into the league. Points, rebounds and a few blocks is what comes to mind, but he also lead all centers in the league last year in 3 pointers made. Drafting Nikola will cover you in rebounds, FG percentage & points, but will also give you all those bonus tres. Matchups constantly come down to the wire in a lot of categories and having a center who can chip in 8-10 three pointers a week is huge. The Bulls will give him the minutes to make sure he doesn’t disappoint.
Andrew Wiggins (SG/SF) – Golden State Warriors
The resume of this Kansas Jayhawk has been received so far with mixed reviews. His move to Golden State could have been the change of scenery that he needed to get his game back on track. Last year he scored 18.8 points per game as well as chipping in 5 rebounds and 1 steal. What isn’t talked about enough in his game is that he is also averaging over 1 block a game over his last three years. With his size and him constantly guarding players who are smaller than him, I don’t see those blocks going away. The scoring will go down with Klay’s return to the lineup, but that will also allow him to focus more on the defensive end instead of trying to shoulder the scoring load with Steph. He’s a good target to look at if you need a guard who also will be near the top upon his position in blocks.
Russell Westbrook (PG) – Los Angeles Lakers
This one seems like an obvious one, but it’s obvious for a reason and it would be a disservice if I didn’t at least mention his abilities to cover everything he does on the court. Last season, he was top ten in points scored, first in rebounds, first in assists and eighth in steals among all point guards. He also fires up threes like the NBA is going to ban them the next season. He’s not bulletproof as he also did lead the league in turnovers and will have games where he tanks percentages, but with everything else he does I think it could be overlooked. There are a lot of mouths to feed in LA and Russell will be facilitating with LeBron. The points will go down, but assists, rebounds, steals and blocks should all stay right where they are, if not go up.
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