Not too Early, Early Top 12 Players for the 2014-15 Fantasy Basketball Season (part 1).

As the NBA season winds down, it is time to look ahead towards next season while this season is still fresh on our minds. Below are my top 12 players I would draft in order based on eight category Rotisserie leagues (points, FG%, FT%, 3PM, rebounds, assists ,steals, and blocks). While you may think 12 players is an odd number, I wanted to cover the entire first round for 12 team leagues. The best way to win fantasy leagues is to prepare early and I am already thinking about my fantasy drafts now that the fantasy season has pretty much ended.

Kevin Durant SF, OKC- There was some debate on who the number one overall pick was this season between Durantula or Lebron James, well K.D. made a clear statement this season that he is the best player in the NBA and in fantasy. He led the league in scoring with 32 points per game and it wasn’t even close as the next closest player (Melo) averaged 27.5 points per game. I am all about getting players that are elite in specific categories and he is elite in points, FG% (50.5)/FT% (87.5), three pointers made (2.4) and still gets assists (5.5) and steals (1.3). He will be the consensus number one pick next season and there will be no debates about it.

Kevin Love PF, Min- This is where things get interesting. While most people think LBJ should be here, I do not. Why? Because K-Love proved he could stay healthy season and went beast mode on the entire NBA. He averaged a ridiculous 12.5 rebounds per game (3rd highest in the NBA), while scoring plenty of points (25.8 per game, fourth highest), hitting more than two three pointers per game (2.4) and does just about everything great. He averages almost 6 more rebounds per game than LBJ, dishes out 4.4 assist per game (LBJ averaged 6.4) and hits more three pointers than LBJ. The only knock on his game is his average FG%, which won’t hurt fantasy teams, but doesn’t help much either. 

Stephen Curry PG, GSW- Probably the most fun/fascinating player to watch in the NBA as he does things on the court that can’t even be done in video games. The baby face, long range assassin averaged an amazing  8.5 assist per game (seventh overall) while draining 3.3 three pointers per game. The only other player to averages three plus three pointers made per game was Ryan Anderson who didn’t play enough games to really qualify. There were seven players in the NBA to average 8.5 assists or more per game and Curry is the only one in that group to average 20 points or more (23.5).  Add in his elite FT% and Curry could basically win you multiple categories. That is why he is third on my list.

LeBron James SF, Mia- I didn’t forget about King James, just don’t think he is a top three player anymore. While the points are great, he is only elite in two categories: points and FG%. That’s it. Not saying averaging six rebounds/assists per game is bad, but that is actually low rebounding numbers and while the assist are great, they are nowhere near elite. This is not a knock on King James, just goes to show you how many other great players are in the NBA.

Anthony Davis PF/C, NOP- Was a risky first round pick this season, but he rewarded every one of his fantasy owners when he was on the court. He showed drastic improvements in his second year in the league by averaging a remarkable 2.8 blocks per game (averaged 1.8 last season), his scoring increased more than 7 points to 20.8 per game, grabbed 10 rebounds per game, and can now hit the long range jumper as well. The sky is ceiling for this kid, but he has to stay on the court as he played 67 games this season after playing in only 64 last season. If he played 80 games in a season then he would have a chance of finishing as one of the best players in fantasy and could be the #2 overall pick in drafts sooner rather than later.

DeMarcus Cousins PF/C, Sac- Had fantasy owners doing the boogie woogie shake every time he stepped on the court. Very few players dominated the way he did this season and he made so many great improvements in his game. While some people will talk about his immaturity issues, I am here to talk about his great basketball skills. He dominated on all areas of the court by averaging 22.4 points (49.5 FG%), 11.7 rebounds, 2.8 assist, 1.5 steals, and 1.2 blocks, the points, rebounds, and assists were all career highs. It is clear that he is just starting to reach his monster potential. There is no reason to think he can’t improve his numbers next year because he is still a young player that is just now realizing how dominating of a player he can be. The best part about DMC (besides his nickname of course: “Boogie”) is that he will likely fall in most drafts to the end of the first round or early second round. Well, any draft I am not in, because I am all aboard the Boogie bandwagon and you should be too.

Stay tuned for part two of my Not Too Early, Early Top 12 players for the 2014-15 season as I will reveal the remaining players on the list.