LestersLegends.com

A bunch of top fantasy basketball minds have agreed to participate in a Roundtable Debate. I’ll kick things off.

This Week’s 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?

Alex of BleacherCreatureRotoTalk.com
While the season is still young, two of the biggest surprises thus far have to be Marc Gasol and Lou Williams.  Both are putting up big numbers and seem to be playing well above their preseason projections.  Every year there are a number of players that get off to quick starts only to be derailed later in the season – the question is can these two keep it up?

Marc Gasol is currently averaging 15 points, 11 rebounds and nearly two blocks per game all while shooting 61% percent from the field and 75% from the free throw line.  Gasol has never rebounded at this pace and has never shot the ball this well from the field.  We feel he is off to a quick start and will soon regress to more realistic output.  With limited athletic upside and not a real increase in minutes from last year there really is no explanation for Gasol’s recent breakout.

Lou Williams is shooting 48% from the field and 83% from the line while averaging 17 ppg, 5 assists and nearly two steals.  Even though we picked Sweet Lou as one of our preseason busts we feel he has proved us wrong and his breakout is real.  This season Sweet Lou has entered the starting lineup and is seeing a ton of minutes. While his field goal percentage will likely come down a bit, due to the increased playing time we so no reason for him not to continue his current level of assist and scoring output.

Ryan of LestersLegends.com
A player that I believe will continue to put up unexpected fantasy numbers is Phoenix’s Channing Frye. Frye has been a force behind the arc, but also is contributing in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks. He shoots a decent clip from both the floor and the stripe. Even if his production dips a bit, he will still have value because of his position eligibility (PF & C) and his ability drain three-pointers.

Another surprising big man that should continue to put up big numbers is Joakim Noah. Noah has been an absolute force on the glass, and has been a very effective shot blocker. He’s not afraid to do the little things, which will endear him to his coaches, fans, and teammates alike. Even when Tyrus Thomas does return, Noah will be fully entrenched in the middle for the Bulls.

Brian of EmptyTheBench.com
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 13 games, the 7-1 Gasol has posted impressive per-game averages of 15.2 points (on 61% FG, good for third-best in the NBA), 11.1 boards, 1.7 blocks, 1.2 steals, 1.9 assists, and a respectable 75% from the free-throw line. That’s made him the third most-valuable center in fantasy hoops, behind just Chris Bosh and Al Horford, and helped his
Grizzlies to a… well, the Grizzlies are still pretty terrible at 4–9 heading into Monday’s night matchup with the Sacramento Kings, 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 13th overall.