RADIO
If you are a long-time fantasy player, you know how does it feel to getting sniped in a fantasy draft. You know how it goes: you enter the lobby with a few players to draft in mind, have everything planned for you to build the perfect roster, and just a couple of picks before the one where you expect to target your next great asset, some other GM snatches it from you.
Those "undervalued" players you are targeting late, then, might be worth drafting earlier instead of waiting a little too much for them and ending losing them. At the end of the day, not every GM is undervaluing great plays, so you have to be aware and stay a step ahead!
Today, let's talk about some undervalued players at the center position. For whatever reason most fantasy GMs are making them sit at lower-than-they-should ADPs, offering you a great chance to draft some gems late. Don't sleep on your laurels, though, if you don't want to miss on them to another savvy GM!
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Hassan Whiteside, Sacramento Kings
As I'm writing this just a few days after Whiteside has signed his one-year deal with the Kings and I'm suspicious his ADP will rise a bit in the near future. It would make all of the sense, considering the Kings are going nowhere, Hassan will have little opposition among teammates in the paint outside of Richaun Holmes, and our favorite "empty stats" generator will have chances to rack up fantasy points for the second year in a row. Yes, the second year in a row I said.
Last season Hassan posted a monster 1.37 FP/min, the sixth-highest mark among players labeled as centers in Yahoo leagues. He wasn't as good on a per-game basis (41.1 FPPG, 11th), but he closed the season with a more than tasty 15-13-1 line and 2.9 blocks per game, leading the league by 0.5 over no. 2 Brook Lopez. Whiteside's ADP is at 65 these days, even though he was the 14th-best player all-positions considered and the third-best pure center in total FP. Bonkers.
Julius Randle, New York Knicks
While Randle was a little bit frustrating through the year playing in New York, the truth is that more often than not he provided his fantasy GMs with plenty of fantasy goodies. Randle ranked 13th among F/C in total fantasy points over the year averaging 38.3 FPPG and a good-not-great 1.18 FP/min. That latter mark was good to make Randle the 17th-bets center-eligible player in Yahoo leagues, above the likes of Rudy Gobert and Kevin Love.
While Randle wasn't great shooting from the field, that makes sense considering he attempted 15.7 fga that included 3.6 3pa among them. Only six bigs shot better than Randle from the floor while attempting 3.5+ triples, but just four were better on an FP per-minute basis. Randle is more of a forward than a classic center, can stretch the floor, and will give you the dub-dub average on the season (19-10-3 last year) while hitting a few treys here and there. He should be getting drafted three times above his current ADP of 93.
Andre Drummond, Cleveland Cavaliers
Back to the 1960s big-man profile with Dre. Drummond was great last season, whether you want to accept it or not. Even in a diminished role on a plenty-populated Cavs interior after he got traded there from Detroit, Dre averaged 33 mpg and finished the year posting 17-15-3-2-1 lines. That's insane production. Drummond reached 47 double-doubles on the year on just 57 games.
Dr. Dre kept up a monster 1.43 FP/min average, the fifth-most productive mark among players eligible for the center position. Yes, that includes beasts such as Anthony Davis and Kristaps Porzingis, more power fowards than centers themselves. Forget about getting anything other than points, boards, and blocks from Drummond, but expect those three cats to store fantasy points in bunches daily. Drummond's ADP isn't that bad at 39, but he was the 18th-best player overall last year, keeping him still a tad undervalued these days.
Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic
Another modern, floor-stretching big, Vucevic might not be the best Nikola in the NBA but he's definitely the second-greatest one around. Vuc was the 19th-best overall player in the league last season (Jokic finished fifth, just in case), and he is eligible at the center position while having much more of a power-forward profile. That's because he shot 4.7 3pa per game in 2020 hitting 33.9 percent of them. Six center-eligible players shot at least 4.7 3pa with better percentages, but only KAT (1.53) ended the season averaging more FP/min than Vuc's 1.33.
Vucevic was one of the most steady players at scoring fantasy points, keeping up his game and avoiding peaks and valleys for most of the season. That's what happens when you play for the Magic, which don't have many more good players other than Vuc. Adding wood to the fire, Jonathan Isaac will be out for the year and who knows if Aaron Gordon won't end getting traded down the road. The 30 ADP doesn't seem too wrong, but I don't think it's crazy to have Vuc inside the top-20 fantasy players of the league instead of as a third/fourth-rounder.
Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat
Can someone with an ADP of 23 truly be undervalued? In Bam's case, allow me to say yes. Adebayo finished 2020 with the 10th-most fantasy points over the year. He played all 72 regular season games, bubble included. He averaged a great 16-10-5 line for the Heat, earned a max extension, and was one of only four players averaging five-plus dimes per game at the center position (only Bam finished with a dub-dub average in points and board among those, though).
Adebayo has still to reach his peak and keeps growing his game, which is just insane. Even on a low shooting volume (11 fga), Bam racked up fantasy points thanks to his do-it-all prowess. In fact, Adebayo finished the year as one of only four players averaging at least a 10-10-1-1-1 line through the year; the others: Giannis, AD, and Drummond. If we could ask Santa to bring something to Bam, that'd be some three-point attempts and field goals made from long range. Other than that, Bam is a must-draft player inside the first two rounds.
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