Positional Risers: Centers
I’m not sure we’ll ever see another meteoric fantasy rise like the one from Hassan Whiteside this season, and he is the most intriguing candidate on this list as he looks to go from undrafted to guaranteed top-25 pick in under 365 days.
Like Whiteside, we have another player on our list who wasn’t even in consideration when teams were being built and rosters were being fleshed out, but now everyone who watches the NBA knows how to pronounce the name Rudy Gobert.
Big men can be among the most volatile of any group when projecting future production, and these four guys are going to command an early investment for any owner interested in securing their services.
Here are links to all of the positional risers:
Derrick Favors, PF/C Utah Jazz
2014 ADP: 56.8 Overall, Round 5.6
Key Stats: 16.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 1.7 blocks, 52.5% shooting, 66.9% FT shooting
We’re getting technical here because I need to find a method to highlight how good Derrick Favors was last season. Although he’s a power forward on his own team, Favors is more than capable as a center and enjoys eligibility at both the PF and C positions. Despite being regularly selected behind names like Brook Lopez and Kenneth Faried (?!), Favors had breakout season written all over him before his 2014-15 began. And whether it was the contract extension the Jazz gave Favors (4 years, $49 million) or the decision to finally move on from the Enes Kanter project before the trade deadline came and went, it became crystal clear that Favors was going to be at the center of what Utah accomplished on both ends of the floor.
And he was.
With the exception of his final six April games, Favors shot above 50 percent from the floor in each month of the season. And while some select numbers (rebounding, blocks) took a slight dip once Rudy Gobert became a full-time starter at the 5, Favors did more than enough to thoroughly outplay his ADP and establish himself as a top-48 pick (12-team formats) heading toward the 2015-16 campaign. One concern I have is the improved health of Gordon Hayward (shoulder, heel) and Alec Burks (shoulder) along with the emergence of some young studs like Gobert, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood, could lead to some lessened responsibilities for Favors on the offensive end, and he’s going to have to improve his numbers from last season if he’s going to justify where he’s selected before next year begins.
Gorgui Dieng, PF/C Minnesota Timberwolves
2014 ADP: 124.8 Overall, Round 11.7
Key Stats: 9.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals, 1.7 blocks, 50.6% shooting, 78.3% FT shooting
While there’s no questioning that the Minnesota Timberwolves will select either Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor with the top selection in the 2015 NBA draft, there is also no questioning that Gorgui Dieng will continue to play an integral role in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ ongoing rebuilding process. With chronically-injured Nikola Pekovic coming off an offseason Achilles procedure and the Wolves having nothing that resembles rim protection along their frontline after player-coach Kevin Garnett, Dieng should be staring at an enormous role unless Anthony Bennett or Adreian Payne can somehow emerge and play a role that we haven’t seen from them previously in the NBA. We’ve seen it before with Dieng - when he gets his chance, he produces - and that’s going to go a long way with how GM/Coach Flip Saunders makes his decisions.
Dieng’s overall numbers didn’t do him any favors in terms of showcasing his real value, and that’s saying something considering his season line had him flirting with a double-double while serving as a force on the defensive end. In five games as the team’s starting power forward last season, Dieng was able to rack up averages of 10.4 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks on 48.6 percent shooting over 32 minutes per contest. Considering how we value per-36 numbers when projecting true value of players, that’s a very encouraging baseline for a player who is now just entering his third NBA season.
Last season, Dieng was getting regularly plucked off the board after names like Amir Johnson, Anderson Varejao, Channing Frye, Kelly Olynyk and Spencer Hawes. Something tells me he’ll be comfortably ahead of all of those guys heading into the 2015-16 campaign.
Rudy Gobert, C Utah Jazz
2014 ADP: 139.3 Overall, Round 12.8
Key Stats: 8.4 points, 9.5 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 2.3 blocks, 60.4% shooting, 62.3% FT shooting
Rudy “The Stifle Tower” Gobert was drafted behind Boris Diaw, Luis Scola, Henry Sims, Amar’e Stoudemire and even Joel Embiid - who was declared out for the season before some fantasy drafts even began - last season, and that’s sure to be a scenario that does not repeat itself as we approach drafts in the fall of 2015.
A player whose season stats do him absolutely no justice in terms of his overall impact on a rapidly improving Utah Jazz team, Gobert absolutely exploded once he was handed the full-time starting role following Enes Kanter’s departure. In 37 games in his first go-around as Utah’s starting center, Gobert put up an eye-popping stat line: 10.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 2.8 blocks on 59.2 percent shooting. That’s the stuff top-50 picks are made from, and after knocking down everyone’s door in the second half of the season, there is no chance Gobert is going to go under-the-radar as we prepare for next season. This guy is the real deal, has a tangible desire to improve and has displayed a sky-high ceiling at the tender age of 22 years old.
It’s now pretty easy to see why the Jazz made sure they landed Gobert in a draft-day deal with the Denver Nuggets - a trade the directionless Denver franchise would probably like back - and there’s no second-guessing that Gobert’s name will be a staple in the upper echelon of fantasy basketball drafts for several seasons to come. Don’t be afraid to reach for Gobert with all of his room for improvement. He is a legitimate difference-maker and will win you weeks on his own.
Hassan Whiteside, C Miami Heat
2014 ADP: Undrafted
Key Stats: 11.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 0.6 steals, 2.6 blocks, 62.8% shooting, 50.0% FT shooting
Hassan Whiteside ruined Robert Covington’s season. Not because he made Covington show up on a “Not-Top-10” SportsCenter highlight reel, but because Covington was a lock to win waiver wire pickup of the season ... until Whiteside came along.
After stints abroad, including professional hoops in Lebanon, a trip to the D-League and begging teams for workouts, the Heat signed him off the slagheap and he turned out to be a Godsend for their team and for those wise enough to realize the opportunity he had in Miami. As soon as the calendar turned to 2015, I wrote a column discussing Whiteside’s chance to make a lasting impact in his new home, and Whiteside made me look a lot better than I otherwise would have with his downright dominant play.
I can’t knock the fact that he was undrafted (no one can) considering he had no job and no future in the NBA as soon as the season began - something that makes his rise to prominence all that much more impressive - and his performance as a starter this season made almost everyone ask the same question, “What did everyone else miss in this kid the last time around?” Part of it is that Whiteside matured, but the other part is that reputations are quite real in the NBA, and a bad one could knock you out of the league forever.
Whiteside was dominant after being inserted into the Heat starting five to the tune of 13.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks on 61.2 percent shooting, and given the Heat will have a starting five that should include Goran Dragic, Dwyane Wade, Luol Deng (player option) and a healthy Chris Bosh around Whiteside, he will no longer be able to be the sole focus of the opposition on a routine basis.
Could Hassan Whiteside be a first round pick next season?
