Fantasy Fridays: Defensive Players

A good fantasy team needs offense. No doubt, but a great fantasy team needs great offensive players that can provide great defense at the same time. That is why we are going to count down the top ten offensive player that play great defense, so you can have a great balance of offense and defense this fantasy season.

10. Stephen Curry: While you are probably like, "this man is a defensive play", take a look at the stats. Stephen Curry lead the league in steals total last year, so if you had him, you were most likely winning the steals column. Stephen Curry won't give you much blocks, but he certainly will give you multiple steals and a lot of offense to back that up.

9. John Wall: This man is a high flying point guard who can block your shot better than any other point guard. Not to mention his intense speed will track down every bad pass. This man averaged 1.7 steals and 0.6 blocks and that will certainly improve going into next season. Expect John Wall to be playing lock down defense and producing a lot on the offensive end.

8. Rudy Gobert: He is a wonderful defensive player. Last season he averaged 2.3 blocks and 0.8 steals. The main problem with Gobert is he doesn't have much offense to back him up. If you pick him up, note that he won't be too productive on the offensive end.

7. Nerlens Noel: 1.9 blocks and 1.8 steals his rookie season. The only problem is, can he still produce those numbers with Jahill Okafor there. I honestly think his offensive numbers will be little and his defensive numbers will be hard for him to top. But I could be wrong.

6. Serge Ibaka: 3rd in the league in steals. This man can put up points and guard multiple positions. Not to mention he only averages 2.1 fouls per game. Serge Ibaka is an underrated defender and has some offense to back him up.

5. DeAndre Jordan: Yeah, grab this man. While he doesn't have a lot of offense, he has a whole lot of other things (free throws not one of them). This man can rebound, but his defense is stupendous. He averaged 2.2 blocks per game and 1 steal per game last season. If this doesn't impress, I honestly don't know what will.

4. Hassan Whiteside: Wait! I know what will impress if DeAndre failed to. Hassan Whiteside. 2 years ago you said, "who the heck is Hakeem Wildseem?" No, Hassan Whiteside. Yeah, nobody knew him really until the Heat played the Bulls and he showed us his Hassan Wildside as he had a triple-double with 12 blocks, on a nationally televised game that night. Geez, talk about a major attention disorder. Okay, yeah, he was 2nd in blocks last year, but when you switch the table from per game to per 36 minutes, who is first? (well actually Sim Bhullar, who averages 13.4 blocks per 36 minutes and 13.4 rebounds and 13.4 points per 36 minutes) But the point is, Whiteside is 4th with 3.9 blocks. And Whiteside will probably get a minutes increase, so expect numbers like that.

3. Draymond Green: This is a Hassan Whiteside like player. Nobody knew him, and then, BAM! He is a superstar playing for a championship team. What is so great about Green? Well, he averaged 1.3 blocks and 1.6 steals per game last season. No big deal.Well, guess what Green, that is one big deal. And now fantasy players are going to be all over you for your offense and defense as well as your 8.2 RPG even though you are a 6'7" PF.

2. Kawhi Leonard: It's time to become an all-star for Kawhi Leonard. His offense is great, but we all know that his best strength is defense. What else can I say. This man lead the league in steals and also did a great job in the blocks department. Kawhi is a defensive guy.

1. Anthony Davis: Of course it's Davis. He lead the league in blocks averaging 2.9 per game and also averaged 1.5 steals. Not to mention the man averaged 24.4 PPG and 10.2 RPG (seems a little low in the rebounds for Anthony Davis though) to back up his defensive numbers. What else do you need!

DeMarcus Cousins or Marc Gasol

Who would make your all NBA first team at the center position? Would it be Marc Gasol or DeMarcus Cousins? I will try to help you decide in this post. Let's compare these two in shooting first.

Shooting: 5-15 Feet: DeMarcus Cousins shoots below the average for a center in the league while Marc Gasol is above. Cousins only shoots 29% from 5 feet out while Gasol shoots about 47%.

Take a look at DeMarcus Cousins' shot chart. Notice how he has poor consistency form the top of the key area.

Now take a look at Marc Gasol's shooting chart. Notice how he takes more shots from that area.

You can also see that Marc Gasol has more red in the in the paint and you can see a lot of blue in the paint for Cousins. In conclusion, Gasol is the better shooter.

Defense: If we take a look at defense, DeMarcus Cousins allows the opposing team to 103.3 Point per 100 possessions when he is on the court. Gasol allows 101.5 Points per 100 possesions when he is on the court. Yes this does factor in the players that Gasol plays with, so they are about the same.

Rebounding: Let's take a look at Rebounding now. DeMarcus Cousins has won this one. He averages 12.7 RPG while Gasol averages 7.9. DeMarcus Cousins also accounts for 20.9% of the rebounds in a game while Gasol takes in about 13.9%.

Assists: Now this is where it gets complicated. If we look at the APG, Cousins averages 3.6 while Gasol averages 3.9. About the same right? If we look at the Assist % for their teams, Cousins is at 20.2%. Gasol on the other hand, is at 19.4. What does this mean? It just means that Gasol's team has more assists per game. Cousins Assist to Turnover Ratio is at 0.83 while Gasol's is at 1.73. This means that Cousins turns the ball over more than he assists, while Gasol assists more. Clearly Gasol is the better at assisting.

Scoring: If we compare the usage%, Cousins is used 33.9% of the time. Gasol is only used 24.7% of the time, which makes it seem that Cousins gets the ball more. That is why he averages 24.1 PPG and Gasol only averages 17.6. Gasol can score in many more ways than Cousins can though. When it comes down to who is the better scorer is though, the answer is obviously Cousins. Cousins scores about 6.5 more PPG.

Who is the better player? I'm not making this decision for you. You can make a case for both sides. If you can't decide, let me ask you this. Who would be the better player to have on a team? Cousins or Gasol? Everyone has their own opinion on what makes a better player.

Portland's Playoff Hopes

Wesley Matthews went down. Not long before that Arron Afflalo was involved in a trade that sent him to Portland. Okay, we have Afflalo to start. The only thing is, what will they do in the Playoffs. Arron Afflalo is no Wesley Matthews. He is simply not as great as Wesley Matthews. Lets take a look at what Matthews brought to this Portland team.

Wesley Matthews

• 15.9 PPG
• 44.8% FG
• 38.8% 3 point range
• 2.9 3 point makes per game
• 1.3 Steals per game
• 1.4 Turnovers Per Game
• 2.3 ASP
• 3.7 RPG
• Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) 99.4
• +4.6 on the court

Arron Afflalo

• 13.6 PPG
• 42.6% FG
• 35.0% 3 Point Range
• 1.5 3 point makes per game
• 0.5 Steals per game
• 1.6 Turnovers Per game
• 1.7 APG
• 3.2 RPG
• Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) 105.7
• +2.3 on the court

Wesley Matthews leads in all of those categorizes. Look at the +/- advantage. Matthews has double than Afflalo does with the Trailblazers. The teams defense is better with Matthews and they give up more points with Afflalo. I'm not saying Afflalo is a bad player. I love Afflalo, but he is just not as good of a player as Wesley Matthews. I think that Portland's playoff hopes have really been lost since Matthews went down. Afflalo is a great player, and Portland has Damian Lillard and LeMarcus Aldridge, but Wesley Matthews is the player that made this team so great. Now he's not here. How will they win in the playoffs without him? 

Is Wiggins Rookie Of The Year?

Everybody has been telling me, Wiggins is ROY. I honestly have to agree. Others have said Mirotic is ROY. Nobody has really told me that Noel is ROY. Coach Nick has told me that Payton is ROY. I honestly think it's a little lopsided though and it's leaning toward Wiggins.

Here is what Coach Nick had to say. I don't agree with him but I thought it was a great point. I don't think Payton should just be ROY just because he broke a record though. He just hasn't been the better player in the obvious stats I will show you.


Let's take a look at some stats (credit NBA.com)

If we take a look at Noel, His offense is okay, but when have you seen a rookie of the year only average 10 PPG. His defense somewhat makes up for it though.

• 10 PPG
• 46.4% FG
• 0% 3pt
• 61.2% FT
• 1.9 Free Throws Made Per Game
• 8.2 RPG
• 1.7 APG
• 2 Turnovers per game
• 1.8 Steals Per Game
• 1.9 Blocks Per Game
• 100 Defensive rating (the lower the better)
• 91.3 Offensive Rating (the higher the better) 

Let's take a Look at Wiggins now. His offense is great, and he shoots quite a bit of FTs. His defense is okay as he is averaging over 1 steal. It's not as good as Noel's though.

• 16.3 PPG
• 43.6% FG
• 32.2% 3pt
• 75.3% FT
• 3.9 Free Throws Made Per Game
• 4.4 RPG
• 1.9 APG
• 2.1 Turnovers Per Game
• 1.1 Steals Per Game
• 0.6 Blocks Per Game
• 109.9 Defensive Rating
• 100.1 Offensive Rating

 Now it's time for Nikola Mirotic. He has the best defensive and offensive ratings, but remember, those ratings factor in the players you play with, so it doesn't help Mirotic's case. He averages less than 10 PPG. Many people say he should be rookie of the year because if he started, he would be better than Wiggins. The fact is, he doesn't.

• 9.9 PPG
• 41.1% FG
• 30.6% 3pt
• 80.3% FT
• 2.7 Free Throw Makes Per Game
• 5 RPG
• 1.2 APG
• 1.1 Turnovers Per Game
• 0.6 Steals Per Game
• 0.7 Blocks Per Game
• 99.4 Defensive Rating
• 105.3 Offensive Rating

 Lets look at Elfrid Payton. He averages barley any points. He can't shoot the three. His Free Throw is worse than Noel. However, He averages 6.3 APG.

• 8.9 PPG
• 42.9% FG
• 22.9% 3pt
• 54.3% FT
• 1.4 Free Throw Makes Per Game
• 4.3 RPG
• 6.3 APG
• 2.5 Turnovers Per game
• 1.6 Steals Per Game
• 0.2 Blocks Per Game
• 105.5 Defensive Rating
• 101.3 Offensive Rating

You will see that I made the best guys at the category green and the worst red. I did however factor in their positions they play (example: Noel isn't red in the 3pt%) Now to my point. I have never seen a rookie of the year average under 10 points. I am going to take Payton and Mirotic off right away for that. I think it comes down to Noel and Wiggins. The fact is though, Wiggins can score anyway; Post up, Spot up, Three Pointers, Free Throws, Dunks and layups. Noel can score inside, that's about it. Does his Defense make up for it? A little. I don't think he has been a better player than Wiggins though. Wiggins is the Dominant Rookie.