The Nuggets sent Reggie Evans and the draft rights to Ricky Sanchez to the 76ers in exchange for Steven Hunter and Bobby Jones.  Before the trade, Hunter was a prime candidate to start at power forward for the Sixers needing only to compete with Shavlik Randolph who missed most of last season with an injury.  With the Nuggets, Hunter will be locked in as a reserve to Nene, Marcus Camby, and Kenyon Martin.  Now his fantasy potential resides in the chance that the starters get hurt and his position eligibility of center.  This translates into Hunter not being acquired on draft day however the Denver front court in the past has been very reliable in terms of getting hurt so Hunter could deserve some in-season attention if your team is in need of a temporary center who can give a few rebounds and blocks. 

This trade opens up some intriguing possibilities for Evans who now enjoys the lack of established competition that Hunter lost via the trade.  The majority of Evan’s fantasy value is derived from the 6’-8” forward’s uncanny ability to get rebounds.  He led the league last season in rebounds on a per minute basis.  And while he will not block shots, his contributions in the steal category are not negligible. Over his 5-year career he has averaged just under 20 mpg and could perhaps settle into the same role with the Sixers as he shares time with others.  However the fantasy manager should be aware of his potential should he get more playing time.  Consider that in the 8 games from last season where he played 27 minutes or more he averaged 14.2 rpg and 1.1 spg.  Those numbers could make him a good fit your fantasy team.

Since Evans’ fantasy value is derived primarily from rebounds and steals, he becomes more valuable in rotisserie leagues that have only the five basic categories of points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks.  In this type of league I think Evans definitely deserves late round attention.  Also realize in many leagues, the power forward position is harder to come by than others giving him a little extra value.  In other leagues with more categories, even if he does end up with the upper bound projection of around 27 mpg, he may not be worth adding to your roster as he shoots poorly from the free throw line and gets there often on a per minute basis.