There is no need to talk much about Harden. With Chris Paul in town he might see a slight dip in production, but even then he will hopefully be the best fantasy baller in the league.

The only knock I have is I have trouble pronouncing his name

Before he got a little "banged up last season, Durant was the top player on ESPN, in the midst of historic seasons by Harden and Westbrook. He's squarely in his prime, entering his second season with the Warriors. Coming off an amazing year with 53.7% FG, 87.5% FT, 25.1 PPG, 8.3 REB, 4.8 AST, 1.9 3PM, 1.1 STL, 1.6 BLK. He helps in every category.
Other players I considered : Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook

This pick came down to deciding between Curry and Russell Westbrook. RW probably goes higher in most drafts, but I opted for Curry mainly because I felt he was a bit more projectable/predictable (since we saw what he could do last year with a similar team to this year, unlike RW), and he offers elite FT and 3s with great FG and good to great stats everywhere else. In hindsight though, I may have chosen RW over Curry if I could do it all over again, as I find myself, at this much later date, lacking in more categories that RW-over-Curry could have helped me in than excelling in categories that Curry-over-RW does help me in, if that makes sense.

I gave very serious consideration to John Wall here. If I had, I probably would have ended up with Wall / Whiteside / Beal instead of AD/George/Conley. Hard to say which trio might turn out better......

Demarcus Cousins was my other thought, but I decided to go with the guy who was less of a knucklehead.

I prefer the centers with assist skills, and threes who are not kill my FT%. Cousins was an ideal start to build up a good team for this year.

I looked at Whiteside (but too similar to AD), Draymond (who I really wanted) and Lowry (with the usual league focus on PG) but decided on George's reliability and studliness.

So welcome Kyle...
He will supply points, treys, assists, and steals, plus solid %'s. A solid addition to Giannis

points, blocks, threes, rebounds, excellent ft% for a big man. can you ask for more? I like those european players. Would love to see a game of team USA vs. team Europe.

So, it's Draymond. His shooting regressed a bit last year, but I'm treating that as a blip. Otherwise, I'm expecting the reigning DPOY to delivery his customary awesome contributions in steals, blocks and assists. Getting those out of position assists is huge and allows me the balance to take probably the biggest risk of my draft next.

The Process will return 1st round value if he can stay on the floor for 65+ games. Can he? Probably this pick will define my season one way or the other. Fingers crossed!

C's seem to be making more 3's than in the past, I guess Gasol wanted to join the party

Memphis will be relying heavily on him to deliver and I expect he will. He doesn't even need to match last year (with many career highs), just come close and not get hurt :)

If I didn't take Nurkic, I would have chosen Jeff Teague, who went next. I would have taken a serious look at Millsap if he had fallen to me as well.

After taking Jordan and a G in round 5, I did wonder if I would have been better off going G/F in 4/5 instead. In that scenario, I probably would have ended up with Dennis Schroder and Jonas Valanciunas.

Russell automatically becomes the Nets best player, and Nets play an uptempo, fantasy friendly offense. Increased usage, leading to an uptick in stats is what I'm expecting.

my queue was Aldridge (most blocks) - Vucevic (eligible at C, swish already has 2 C's) - Randle (most rebounds) - Porter (most steals, 3s). ideally a 2nd one of that group lands on my team at 5.02.

Rubio was always my top target at this slot. After the ASB last season, he pumped out top 30 value, and showed signs of fixing his broken shooting stroke. That led to an upturn in FG% and an unexpected rise in 3PT% also. If he can hit the 3 more regularly, he moves very close to the Lowry/Kemba/Conley tier, given his league lead challenging contribution in steals and assists. I also believe that Hayward's defection will leave a wide open hole in the Utah offense for Rubio to exploit. The pick and roll with Gobert will be a staple, and could become legendary.

Assists are another cat that becomes harder to tally as the draft continues, so to re-up by a collective 13-15 assists is thoroughly welcomed at this point.

I guess I talked too much about German speaking players.

With Russell and Giannis, I figured I wasn't particularly strong in FT %, so what the heck.

True he is injury prone, and the arrival of some competition in the backcourt could slightly alter his role. However I think he is a shoo-in for 30+ minutes and be a very good value at this point in the draft.

Lonzo Ball is obviously an unproven talent at the pro level, with mega-hype surrounding the draft followed up by a strong summer league performance. Assists and steals should push elite levels , but shooting accuracy could be a significant determinant as to whether a pick at #59 is warranted. I like the upside potential, though. RotoWire has him ranked #24 overall, which seems pretty aggressive. Another ranking that I use has him at #40. He’s my third PG already. Maybe I won’t have to forage so hard for assists later on.

That said, I do like my pick of Randle, exactly the time of young potential breakout that helps win these leagues. He is slimmed down and worked on his ballhandling and shooting this offseason. With Lonzo Ball in tow making things happen, I expect a nice increase in Randle's big stats. I wish he blocked shots, but those boards will be sweet.

He's a nice fit for my team

What's not to love about Harris? He literally just inked a 4 year $84 million extension, embedding him as a cornerstone of the franchise. I'm staying true to my %s game and Harris is on point here with a 61 TS% - phenomenal. I'm expecting a big leap; maybe 17-18ppg, 2-3 3s, all with pristine shooting numbers. I think that's real value at #72.

I'm really attracted by the fact that the 1/1/1 club is a certainty if he stays out of foul trouble. But more than that, it's the blocks upside. I think he could push 2 blocks/game, which gives me a formidable base in one of the toughest counting cats to accumulate.

Upside, Murray has a solid 2nd half of the season to build on, posting over 12 ppg, nearly 3 assists and boards and a block per. Improvement in those numbers makes this a solid pick

If I had dug deeper, I would have realized the need for a stud 3 point shooter and looked at either Eric Gordon or Lou Williams instead. But I didn't, and both went after me. Bad move.

Not a prodigious shot blocker, but shoots very well from the field (57%), rebounds about 8/gm, and should get a steal and a block+ per game. Not much upside vs a pick at #83, although he did come in at #69 on the player rater last year. Surprisingly only 24.

After this I decided to get a center and I chose Adams but one pick before me Guru caught him. I looked around and I found Hernangomez, who is a very effective center but risky a bit because of Kanter arriving.

After the sexier picks pf Ball and Simmons in round 5-6, I think I’ve provided good stability with my Adams & Gordon picks in rounds 7-8.

I had to settle on him after Eric Gordon was snapped up by Guru.

Average projections I've seen reflect about 16 ppg, 4+ boards, a cople assists and 2.5 triples . Another player I drafted who won't do much in steals or blocks, but I think I'm Ok there

living in the EU I need to employ my fellow europeans. I am now at 3 out of 8 and I am expecting that trend to continue.

Reggie is a gamble. He's coming off knee issues and a sullen attitude last season, but i've read a few articles that say he's bucked things up. His preseason debut was encouraging, and if he can be 15/16 instead of 16/17 Reggie, this will represent good value with 15 PPG, 6 assists and some nice FT volume at a high clip.

13 points per, and 13 boards as well, over a block a game over excellent value in the 9th round

I chose him over Kanter and Lopez. Maybe should have jumped on Kanter but the NYK situation is a cluster. I had hoped one of those two may fall to the next round, but alas they didn't.

Other oddity – I now have four guys eligible at center, three of whom are only eligible there – at least to start.

Hield should get plenty of run in Sactown, and may be the most prolific 3-point shooter from among those still available in this draft. His 48% FG% after last year’s ASB (when traded to Sacramento) is probably too high to hope for, but if he could knock them down at 45%, that would be great for a 3-point shooter. It’s also possible that he eventually gets SF eligibility.

30+ minutes a game seems a lock, which should hopefully get him back to the 15ppg, 9 boards and 1.5 steals he posted for the Nets

available options according to most projections: Dedmon, T Chandler, , , Olynyk, and . only 2 of them seem to be starting. Dedmon is one of them. he gets more than a block per game, lots of rebounds, great FG%. his bad FT% should not matter as long as he does not go to the line very often. hell, he is even projected to hit a 3-pointer this year. that will make the difference.

I would have waited for a 3rd C rather than have to make this pick, but look at the list of Cs and tell me there'd be anything left after another 2 rounds. Didn't think so!

It's reaching the point of the draft where some chances need to be taken, as many of the players selected after round 10 end up on waivers anyway. Punts away!

Wilson Chandler is not special in any category, but somehow he always ends up in the top 100 on the player rater. so h"e must have something, right? I will figure it out this season.

There's not much talent left in Chicago so Zach could be the main man. Hopefully the Bulls won't throw in the towel and go easy with him

Now it is up to me to find some capable replacements while awaiting my injured performers to return. I have to show patience when my team starts slow and hope I can make a huge 2nd half run.

I would gladly take the same 13 PPG, 5.9 REB, 1.7 AST and 1.7 threes from last year, but there could be more if he pushes 30 minutes....

Oh, and his crappy FT % fits right in with most of my team

after I missed PG, again, I looked into SG as a consolation price because it should get you the most assists. the top choice available is Wesley Matthews. he fits my team: gets me the 3-pointers and steals I need to reach my targets. improves FT%. if only his FG% would be better. but you can't have everything.

This is a good time to take risks though, and I'm more inclined to go for young players on bad teams at this stage. At least that means there's usually a void to fill and a longer leash. Along with Kuzma, Mitchell could definitely be a dark horse for ROY.

In the context of the 13th round, that's definitely worth a shot.

my statistical holes are: BLK, ASS and FG%. ideally BLK gets addressed with a specialist at 14.11/15.02. and I finally hope to get a backup PG that is worth his draft slot.

After the ASB Joe average over 8 ppg, over 4 boards and assists,1.2 steals and 1.9 3's. With some additional usage this year I'm expecting an increase in scoring

He is the perfect bridge to Nicolas Batum's return in a couple of months.

Hope my targets continue to be available!!

This is a shot in the dark for some production as the Grizzlies' possible 3rd option.....or waiver wire fodder.

Plus he gives me an additional option a Center

With Seth Curry injured, Ferrell should start at SG at the beginning of the season. Smith looks like the real deal, but I guess he will also have games where he struggles. in these situations Ferrell should run the point and get me the assists I need.

Trust the Process...and his backup!

Oh, and it appears i'm only drafting rookies or EuroBasket stars now. This could go brilliantly or terribly, terribly wrong...

Ross could be the first player to exit team SANFORDORS

Boston lost its top two defenders – Bradley and Crowder – so as Brad Stevens says, “Jaylen’s gotta become a lockdown defender for us.” This should keep him on the court, after averaging only 17 minutes last year. Not an offensive threat, but at age 20, this is his chance to show what he can do when given the opportunity. An upside pick, but likely to stay on my bench as the season opens, where I can “observe a lot just by watching. (-Yogi Berra)”

On a side note this was a very smooth draft in my opinion-- looking forward to a great season!!

In reality he is my first cut.

Not sure, just hoping he can throw some decent counting stats my way. He did have a decent run for the last 10 games of the year with the Pacers after signing a new contract with them, the team he started his career with.

I guess he won't last on my team long. he will be replaced by the hot free agent 1 to 3 days into the" season. The only exception of that happening would be a season-ending injury to Jonas Valanciunas.

We're done. Let's go!