Staff Fantasy Basketball Draft Recap: Analysis of Our 12-Team Head-to-Head League
Round 1
| Pick | Overall | Player | Position | Writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Anthony Davis | PF/C | Sam Hauss |
| 2 | 2 | Stephen Curry | PG/SG | Derek Lynch |
| 3 | 3 | DeMarcus Cousins | PF/C | Jacob Kent |
| 4 | 4 | James Harden | SG/SF | Jay Kim |
| 5 | 5 | Kevin Durant | SF/PF | Mike Comerford |
| 6 | 6 | Russell Westbrook | PG | Shae Cronin |
| 7 | 7 | Kawhi Leonard | SG/SF | Brett Weisband |
| 8 | 8 | Chris Paul | PG | Brandon Gdula |
| 9 | 9 | LeBron James | SF/PF | Russell Peddle |
| 10 | 10 | John Wall | PG | Dale Redman |
| 11 | 11 | Blake Griffin | PF/C | Brett Oswalt |
| 12 | 12 | Damian Lillard | PG | Bryan Mears |
The first round in fantasy hoops drafts this year seems to come down to in what order you place a two-tiered group of nine elite players. In most drafts and mock drafts you'll see, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Kevin Durant will usually be the first four players off the board in some order, followed by a combination of LeBron James, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kawhi Leonard.
We followed suit with that general order, for the most part. Anthony Davis went first overall to Sam Hauss, which you'll see in the vast majority of drafts. Jacob Kent managed to shock the group, however, by taking DeMarcus Cousins with the third overall pick, leaving Durant and Harden sitting on the board. It's definitely a contrarian play, but one that's hard to fault, depending on how you want to build your team. DeMarcus has so much category juice in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and both percentages that he's a delight to construct a team around.
We rounded out the first with John Wall, Blake Griffin, and Damian Lillard, all fine first rounders after the "Elite Nine" are off the board. Lillard, in particular, is a high-upside play that should serve Bryan Mears well with the final pick of the first round.
My pick: LeBron James, SF/PF - With the ninth pick in the draft, I was hoping to have Kawhi Leonard fall to me, but Brett Weisband must've read our piece on how you don't let Kawhi slip past you in the first round. That's usually an area where I like to get DeMarcus Cousins or Chris Paul too, but I was perfectly fine with the best player in the world falling to me that late. LeBron is obviously not the sure-fire early pick he once was, since he gets in many more rest games at age 30, and is hard to trust late in the season in head-to-head leagues for that reason. Even so, I will take a guy that finished the seven seasons before last year's 14th-ranked effort as a top-6 asset in nine-category leagues on a per-game basis and enjoy the high floor.
