RADIO
BALLER MOVE: Add in 14-Team Leagues
ROSTERED IN: 1% of leagues
ANALYSIS: Daniel Gafford was criminally overlooked during his time as a Chicago Bull, where you'd think he would have played a lot in his 74 games there over two seasons due to the weakness of their roster and injury issues. In a three-team deadline deal between the Bulls, Celtics, and Wizards, Gafford was sent to the Capitol along with teammate Chandler Hutchison, while Washington big Moritz Wagner became a Celtic. Just one game in for the new-look-Wiz; the record is still miserable, Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal still run 95% of the show, but it's immediately clear that this is a setting where Gafford could finally break through.
The former Arkansas star has been as efficient as a 1913 Henry Ford assembly line from both sides of the court since he arrived in the NBA. In two seasons with Chicago, Gafford netted an 11.6% rebound rate, 1.2% steal rate, 8.3% block rate, a 69.1% true shooting rate, and 69.7% effective field goal rate. This translates to 13.3 points, 7.6 boards, and 3.3 blocks over 36 minutes per game in his time with Chicago.
Now that he's a Wizard, he has only the likes of Alex Len and Robin Lopez to compete with for PT at center, and he's well on his way to locking that down. In his first game with his new club, Gafford posted 13 points (6 of 7 from the field), five rebounds, one steal, and three blocks, and it took him just 14 minutes to do it. This gives Gafford first-game rates of 18.9% (rebounding) and 18.2% (blocks), with an 87.4% true shooting percentage. While these numbers are surely inflated (though by how much, we do not know), even if you take Gafford's figures for the entire season (including his time with Chicago) of 15% (REB), 8% (BLK), and 71.1% (TS%), he would still rank third in rebound rate behind Russell Westbrook and current non-factor Jordan Bell, first in block rate, and first in true shooting percentage.
Chicago was just a bad spot for Gafford who had to contend with Lauri Markkanen, Thaddeus Young, Wendell Carter, and Patrick Williams for frontcourt PT; but now with the ultra-weak cast of bigs in D.C., his window of opportunity has exploded open. He has already proven his efficiency on both sides for the Wiz, so if the rotation follows suit and Daniel Gafford starts to receive at least 14-16+ minutes per night, he will be an extremely tactical selection in deeper leagues, capable of stuffing his line with efficiently-scored points, rebounds, and blocks.
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