Using GMTR’s Player Rater, here are the Top 20 small forwards for fantasy basketball from December 25, 2011 to January 25, 2012. These rankings are based on competition using nine categories (PTS, REB, AST, STL, BLK. FG%, FT%, TO), for Head-to-Head leagues.
- LeBron James (1.35) – Everyone predicted Durant to be the best player, but somebody forgot to tell LeBron that. He’s doing everything. Everything! LBJ’s on track to run away with the regular season MVP award.
- Kevin Durant (1.14) – He’s surprisingly far behind James, but then again his TOs are at an all-time high (3.7), while his PTS, 3s, and FT% impact are all down from last season’s averages.
- Danilo Gallinari (1.02) – Ironically, New York probably would have done better by keeping him with this current production. Gallo’s been an efficient beast in fantasy so far. No fools’ gold here folks!
- Carmelo Anthony (0.74) – He’s a multi-cat threat, but needs to learn to share the ball more. TOs and poor shot selection have been dragging down his overall value so far.
- Luol Deng (0.66) – He’s arguably the most underrated player in fantasy basketball today. He’s efficient and does a little bit of everything. His wrist injury sounds serious, but we hear he’s going to man-up and play through the pain.
- Paul Pierce (0.64) – Age is slowing him down little by little and is rumored to be a potential trade chip for the Celtics.
- Hedo Turkoglu (0.61) – He’s increased his treys made by one a game compared to last season. Having Ryan Anderson assist in spreading the floor this year has benefited Hedo.
- Danny Granger (0.59) – The arrival of David West and the improvement of Roy Hibbert has allowed Granger to need to do less, and less he’s done. His numbers are down across the board. Thankfully, so are his turnovers.
- Gerald Wallace (0.52) – He’s taking a backseat to Aldridge in Portland, and his numbers are down. He should recover and improve as the season progresses.
- Rudy Gay (0.47) – He’s a far cry from his blitzkrieg start last season. He’s still within striking distance of being a 1-steal, 1-block, 1-trey nightly threat though.
- Trevor Ariza (0.46) – He’s stepping up while Eric Gordon is still dealing with knee issues. His FG% still needs to improve before his value can rise.
- Paul George (0.45) – Call him Rudy Gay or Granger-lite, but George is a potential 1-1-1 contributor from the late rounds of the draft.
- Shawn Marion (0.41) – He’s probably the only Maverick playing inspired basketball so far, well at least as reflected in fantasy. Marion looks good to deliver a subtle, yet solid season.
- Caron Butler (0.36) – Butler can deliver the goods. As always, his ability to stay healthy is a looming cause for concern.
- Carlos Delfino (0.35) – Among small forwards Delfino has probably the best chance of mimicking Manu Ginobili (2-STL, 2-Treys per game). The problem is that he seems to be out of it so far.
- Richard Jefferson (0.34) – He started as a transformed and repackaged pure shooter, then game by game, RJ has begun to revert back to last year’s RJ. Shame.
- Dorell Wright (0.33) – He’s topping the list of fantasy’s biggest disappointment so far. Can he find a way to produce under Marc Jackson’s defensive system? Time will tell.
- Nicolas Batum (0.32) – If Batum had a starting job and the minutes to match he’d likely surpass Paul George at being a 1-1-1 threat.
- Thaddeus Young (0.31) – Underrated, and best appreciated in deep leagues, Young just needs consistent playing time in order to prove his worth.
- Mike Miller (0.21) – He came back from injury guns blazing. Literally. No, figuratively. Then he goes and gets himself banged up right away. If he can stabilize sixth-man level minutes, Miller should be a reliable source of treys throughout the season.
Missed the Cut: Matt Barnes (0.20), Chandler Parsons (0.20), Jared Dudley (0.15)
Top 20 in other positions: PG, SG, PF, C
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