SOME POST-DRAFT THOUGHTS 7/15/00 Often time with the very high picks in the draft you know which player will be out of a job right away. When Stromile Swift went to Vancouver, it was a fatal blow to Othella Harrington's days as a fantasy player with value on the Grizzlies. Add to this Harrington's vocal dislike of Canada and you have a player who will need to be traded to have his fantasy value restored. Last season Harrington averaged 17 pts and 8 reb over the first 15 games, so he could be a player who does get traded for. In New Jersey, the retirement of Jayson Williams made a clear opening for Kenyon Martin to come in. Fantasy owners will need to realize there is some risk with Martin's injury but it appears as if he will be near 100%. Last season Jamie Feick enjoyed some time with fantasy value as he scarfed down an average of 12 rpg over the Nets first 30 games! These moments may be harder to come by unless the Nets throw Feick to the Wolves at the center position. Who will end up playing center for the Nets? If anyone is successful at that position for them, they would be a fantasy steal since we don't think there are any serviceable players there. Are you going to draft Gheorge Muresan? I have an eye on Evan Eschmeyer though. He missed most of last season with an injury but I think he might have some game and might be a good free agent grab if he gets some time. In the last 3 games of the last season he averaged 22 minutes, 6 reb, 5 pts, and a block. Not bad. I saw a Yahoo! poll in which Marcus Fizer was voted as the second most likely to win rookie of the year. I am very suspicious of Fizer from a fantasy perspective. Even if he was playing his natural forward, he appears to be one of the guys who will not get you many blocks, steals, or even rebounds based on his college stats. Points maybe, but that is not enough. I would recommend you letting someone else take a chance on Darius Miles. Like Jonathon Bender, he should have minimal fantasy value his rookie season. Even KG had marginal value his rookie year. Mike Miller doesn't seem as if he will have a major role with the Magic as long as they have Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and even Bo Outlaw. Don't be surprised if Miller even gets traded. Out of the 1999 draft the only guys who could block shots were Brand and Marion. There is a chance that this draft could give fantasy teams some late round help in this category. Other than Kenyon Martin, the following guys could slip in a draft and end up being productive for shot blocking; Stromile Swift, Chris Mihm, Joel Przybilla, and Etan Thomas.Swift has only two years of college experience and so he may not start right away. I would think by the end of the season he will be getting many shot blocking opportunities. He averaged 2.8 bpg his last season at LSU and is thought to have a huge upside.Chris Mihm was projected to go much higher in the draft than he did. This could make him slip in a fantasy draft. There are questions about his toughness but his stats look pretty tough to me from Texas. 18 pts, 11.5 reb, and 2.5 bpg. In a game against eventual national champion Michigan State, Mihm had 19 pts, 11 reb, and 5 bl. Whether Ilgauskas is healthy will be a major factor in the level of Mihm's fantasy value. Joel Przybilla was averaging 3.7 bpg when he left Minnesota 22 games into the season. Competition with Ervin Johnson may put a drag on his value unless he can play some power forward which is a big hole right now for the Bucks. This guy though has the potential to make major contributions in the shot blocking category.Etan Thomas could find himself with regular minutes in a hurry with the Mavs where some interior toughness is needed. Like Przybilla, he averaged 3.7 bpg in his senior season at Syracuse. His four years of big time college hoops should benefit him as he makes the transition to the NBA. Players drafted after pick number 10 rarely have fantasy value in there rookie season. But that won't stop me from making a wild guess as the post number ten pick with a shot to have fantasy value. Will go with Quentin Richardson. A shooting guard drafted by the Clippers at number 18. He has the ability to score and has three point range. At 6-7 he is big for the two and he has great rebounding skills averaging 10 pg his last season at DePaul. Obviously he has some weakness such as inconsistency which caused his slip in the NBA draft, but I think with the Clippers he should get plenty of playing time particularly since I think their top pick Darius Miles isn't quite ready to log minutes and Derek Anderson should be signing elsewhere. To find out exactly where HoopsKlyce projects the rookies to be drafted according to your league categories, order the HoopsKlyce Preseason Player Rating Report. Previous Article Next Article Copyright © Hoops Klyce 2000 - All Rights Reserved Website Designed by Lelnet Failed to execute script '../cgi-local/ax.cgi': Win32 Error Code = 2