Fantasy Basketball: The numberFire Hoops Writers' Draft
Round 4
| Pick | Overall | Player | Team | Position | Writer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37 | Paul Millsap | DEN | PF/C | Brandon Gdula |
| 2 | 38 | Ben Simmons | PHI | PG/SF/PF | Brett Oswalt |
| 3 | 39 | Khris Middleton | MIL | SG/SF | Shae Cronin |
| 4 | 40 | Eric Bledsoe | PHO | PG/SG | Alex McDonald |
| 5 | 41 | Goran Dragic | MIA | PG/SG | Jordan Sharp |
| 6 | 42 | Gary Harris | DEN | SG/SF | Sam Hauss |
| 7 | 43 | Al Horford | BOS | PF/C | Russell Peddle |
| 8 | 44 | Devin Booker | PHO | SG | Austan Kas |
| 9 | 45 | Carmelo Anthony | OKC | SF/PF | Jay Kim |
| 10 | 46 | Lonzo Ball | LAL | PG | Abe Schwadron |
| 11 | 47 | Ricky Rubio | UTA | PG | Alan Goldsher |
| 12 | 48 | DeAndre Jordan | LAC | C | Dale Redman |
Whoa! Ben Simmons at 38! I can safely say that that is the earliest I've seen him go in any draft this season. I'm generally against drafting rookies in the top-100 (their general lack of efficiency in year one keeps them on the outside of the century mark more often than not), but I commend Brett for shooting his shot. Simmons profiles like a fantasy stud and when you're drafting with 11 other plugged-in basketball analysts, sometimes you need to zig when everyone else is zagging. Time will tell if this was a good pick or not, but it's worth noting that we have Simmons all the way down at 187th in our projections, accounting for the general rookie learning curve.
Speaking of rookies, Abe Schwadron went with Lonzo Ball at 46. The same rookie caveats apply here, but Lonzo's court vision and assists might end up making him an exception to the rule. We've got him ranked more generously than his first-year counterparts, coming in 55th in our projections. I'm skeptical, but ready to be proven wrong by this special talent.
The big head-turner in Round 4 was Sam going with Gary Harris at 42. Harris currently has a preseason ranking of 107th on Yahoo and 100th on ESPN, and his average draft position (ADP) across the industry currently sits at 93.7, according to FantasyPros.com. While those numbers might make Harris seem like a reach to the casual fan, there are definitely other people in this draft who would've grabbed Harris shortly after if Sam hadn't snagged him. He's one of our leading breakout candidates for this season, coming in at 41st in our projections. With Danilo Gallinari out of town, Harris has a good chance to lead the Denver Nuggets in scoring this year, while giving you fantasy goodies across the board. Don't sleep on him.
My pick: I was already pretty loaded at center with Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, but Al Horford at 43 was impossible to pass up. He's been a top-35 player in each of the last eight seasons, and six of those he ranked within the top-20. He's older now and there are more mouths to feed in Boston, but Horford doesn't need the ball a lot to be effective in fantasy anyway. He is a rare nine-category threat, giving owners help in basically every area of this fake game we love so much.
