Empty the Bench

When it comes to fantasy basketball analysis, sometimes seven heads are better than one.

Throughout this NBA season we’ll be sitting down with an esteemed group of NBA writers and bloggers to pontificate over various fantasy hoops topics, such as which Golden State Warriors are most likely to continue suffering under Don Nelson’s tyrannical rule, how much fantasy impact over-the-hill vets like Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady can still have, etc.

Each of the participating writers, below, will take turns hosting, but a big thanks is in order to Ryan Lester of Lester’s Legends for getting this thing off the ground. Without further ado…

Sitting at the Fantasy Hoops Roundtable:

- Your Dear Friends at Empty the Bench
- Ryan Lester, Lester’s Legends
- Alex Woods, BleacherCreatureRotoTalk
- Nels, Give Me the Rock
- Jon, Bleacher Report
- Tommy Beer, HoopsWorld
- Erik Ong, Points in the Paint

This Week’s Fantasy Hoops Topic:

Looking at the season’s early surprise players, which one or two do you feel will continue to put up big fantasy numbers this year?

Brian Spencer, Empty the Bench: Drafted on average 120th overall in Yahoo! fantasy basketball leagues (behind guys like Tyson Chandler, Shaquille O’Neal, and, yes, Yao Ming), Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol has been nothing short of spectacular through the first month of the season. All of his statistical measurables are up—way up—compared to his rookie season of a year ago, and there’s no reason to think there’s any end in sight to his upper-tier production.

Through his first 16 games, the 7-1 Gasol has posted impressive per-game averages of 15.4 points (on 63% FG, best in the NBA), 10.8 boards, 1.6 blocks, 1.1 steals, 2.1 assists, and a respectable 75% from the free-throw line. That’s made him the second most-valuable center in fantasy hoops, behind just Chris Bosh, and he’s helped his Grizzlies to a… well, the Grizzlies are still pretty terrible at 6 – 10 heading into their Sunday night matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers, but Gasol is clearly doing what he can to make this team competitive again.

There’s little of consequence behind Gasol on the Grizzlies’ big-man depth chart (sorry, Hasheem Thabeet doesn’t count), so expect the seven-footer to maintain his 35+ minutes per-game average as the season wears on. That should give him ample opportunity to finish it out with double-double averages in points and rebounds; I’d love to see him keep those steals up over 1 per, and to take the next step towards fantasy dominance by upping his blocks to 2 per. Either way, we’re looking at one of the biggest bargains of the year.

For the record, I drafted Gasol 157th overall (middle of the 16th round) in the ETB fantasy hoops league, one pick after Jamario Moon. Gasol is currently ranked 7th overall. (Updated since publication to reflect recent performances.)

For more insight into some of the season’s early fantasy hoops surprises, read the roundtable discussion in its entirety over at Lester’s Legends.