2022 Draft Guide: Out-of-Position Stats for Guards/Wings
Head-to-head leagues give managers plenty of options when it comes to building teams. You can react to the draft and make up for deficiencies in ways that you simply can’t in roto formats, and with even a little bit of planning you’re never out of it. The other beauty of that is that the stats are stats — unlike other sports, you can get production from anywhere. While certain stats generally cluster with certain types of players, the modern NBA has led to a break from that convention.
It used to be that you couldn’t compete in rebounds or blocks without a couple strong centers on your roster, but now there’s ways to stay in the hunt by selecting the right kind of complementary players. We’re going to highlight some PGs, SGs and SFs who are quality producers of rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage today, showing that while it helps to have the Rudy Goberts of the world, you can forge ahead and avoid completely punting if you’d rather not. We’re going to try and avoid some of the guys that are PF-eligible, too, but some platforms play it very fast and loose so you could sneak in a wing who played just enough small-ball to slot in elsewhere.
Blocks
- Matisse Thybulle (1.1)
- Patrick Beverley (0.9)
- Derrick White (0.8)
- Bruce Brown (0.7)
- Cade Cunningham (0.7)
- Luka Doncic (0.6)
- Anthony Edwards (0.6)
- Tyrese Haliburton (0.6)
- James Harden (0.6)
- Devin Vassell (0.6)
- Deni Avdija (0.5)
- Javonte Green (0.5)
- Killian Hayes (0.5)
- Talen Horton-Tucker (0.5)
- De’Anthony Melton (0.5)
- Fred VanVleet (0.5)
This is the one realm that’s still completely dominated by a single position. Don’t get it twisted; anyone who makes a conscious decision to win blocks every week should be able to do so. If you’re not going to grab one of the elite centers, you’re going to have to admit defeat when you face the teams that do, but you’ll still have a chance against the rest of the league.
One thing you’ll notice here is that nearly half of the list is made up of early-round guards. On one hand, that makes it hard to make up for down the line — you’ll be better off grabbing some late-round centers — but it does mean that you have a little more flexibility than you might think if you end up taking Haliburton, Harden or Doncic in the first round.
Cade Cunningham is rocketing up draft boards with good reason; beyond his offensive exploits, his defense plays at the NBA level too and the fact that it actually shows up in the box score is gravy. Even at his ADP there might still be room for profit.
There’s some very appealing late-round choices here between Beverley, who will just run around like a madman while the stars do the heavy lifting, and Melton, who could finally be plugged in as a sixth man. Both guys have hinted at middle-round numbers before — Bev’s gotten there at times in his days as a starter — but that duo could make for an impactful one-two punch in the final rounds of 12-team drafts even if they just keep doing what they’ve been doing.
The king of out-of-position defensive stats has to be Matisse Thybulle, which isn’t a real surprise. His complete lack of production in the other categories, however, may make him more of a cherry-on-top type of guy for a team that’s built on blocks than someone to put a low-block squad over the hump.
Some of the names we omitted for logging a little too much time at PF include Dorian Finney-Smith, Jayson Tatum, Torrey Craig and the Martin brothers, as well as the injured Danny Green.
Late Round Options
To be blunt, once you get below 0.5 blocks per game you’re really splitting hairs between numbers that won’t make a real impact. The likelihood of finding a late-round source of out-of-position blocks is slim, and things thin out pretty quickly in this field. The aforementioned Thybulle, Beverley, Melton and Bruce Brown are your best bets. Anyone not on the list above is basically a roll of the dice.
Deep-leaguers will find some value here between White, Avdija, Green, Hayes and THT, with Horton-Tucker in particular looking at a larger role in Utah that could speak to some extra output.
Rebounds
- Luka Doncic (9.1)
- Dejounte Murray (8.3)
- James Harden (7.7)
- Russell Westbrook (7.4)
- LaMelo Ball (6.7)
- Jaylen Brown (6.1)
- RJ Barrett (5.8)
- Cade Cunningham (5.5)
- Cole Anthony (5.4)
- Deni Avdija (5.2)
- Steph Curry (5.2)
- DeMar DeRozan (5.2)
- Terance Mann (5.2)
- Devin Booker (5.0)
- Tyler Herro (5.0)
Doncic, Harden and Cunningham are once again accounted for, illustrating the edge you’ll get with an early/mid-first rounder — any pick inside the top-7 gives you a chance to snag two of the three. Managers who aren’t quite as lucky will still be able to consider Curry, Ball and Murray, providing a similar pathway to success on the back of multi-cat skills. Curry’s a name that will probably sneak up on people here, but there’s a reason he’s an elite fantasy option even when his shot isn’t quite falling.
Russell Westbrook is going to be on this list for as long as he continues to play, though he probably shouldn’t be on everyone’s draft boards considering his many deficiencies. A well-built team can definitely benefit from Westbrook’s presence, but it’s a needle that needs to be threaded.
Avdija is another name that’s popped up twice now. That should catch your attention in deep-league drafts for sure.
RJ Barrett remains far better for points leagues, but like Westbrook, there’s a way to make things work. We wouldn’t consider him more than a late-round pick but he’s getting drafted with all kinds of improvement baked in.
Late Round Options
Beyond Barrett, you’ll find guys like Alec Burks, Will Barton, Bruce Brown, De’Anthony Melton, Patrick Beverley and Kelly Oubre who fell a little below our arbitrary 5.0 cutoff available to you in the late rounds of standard drafts. Melton is the best player in that list considering his upside elsewhere, so feel free to reach for him by a round or two. The rest of those guys will all appeal to you depending on the rest of your squad; Beverley’s good for steals and assists, while Oubre and Barton offer scoring upside beyond their triples.
Managers in deep leagues should remember John Konchar and Pat Connaughton, who have always been plus rebounders for their position. Terance Mann deserves special mention but he might be a bit tougher to trust with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Norman Powell all healthy again, plus a full season of Robert Covington.
Field Goal Percentage
- Mikal Bridges (.534)
- DeMar DeRozan (.504)
- Jalen Brunson (.502)
- Jrue Holiday (.501)
- Chris Paul (.493)
- Ja Morant (.493)
- Seth Curry (.487)
- Tyrese Maxey (.485)
- Terance Mann (.484)
- Monte Morris (.484)
- Zach LaVine (.476)
- Jaylen Brown (.473)
- Tyrese Haliburton (.473)
- De’Aaron Fox (.473)
- Malik Monk (.473)
Once again, this list is largely populated by early-round guards that most managers will build around rather than sprinkle in over the course of the draft. Some exceptions to that rule are Mikal Bridges, who thrives as the catch-and-shoot finisher next to Devin Booker and the Point God, and Tyrese Maxey, who seemed totally unbothered by the arrival of James Harden last year. It helped that The Beard went straight into facilitator mode and we’ll have to see if that continues now that his hamstring is fully healthy.
Jalen Brunson is a hot target in the middle rounds this year, with good reason now that he’s going to be leading the Knicks into battle every night. It’s questionable whether he can stay this efficient moving forward given the defensive attention and extra volume he’s about to receive, but it’s nice that there’s a track record to fall back on. Even if he takes a step back there’s a soft landing spot that’ll keep him from being a negative in the category.
Special shoutout to De’Aaron Fox here, who is a spotty 3-point shooter but one of the league’s best at-rim finishers. Hopefully some more spacing will create even more layups for him this season. Just goes to show that you don’t need to be a true marksman to end up on this list, with Ja Morant another example of him being a positive shooter while going a little against the grain. If he can continue to do so, or improve as a jump-shooter, then he’ll have top-20 seasons in his future.
Late Round Options
This is another one that’s going to be very tough to overcome. You could’ve guessed, since any guard with strong percentages ends up being one of the game’s best fantasy options and is drafted accordingly, but it still hurts to look at.
Monte Morris is a fun target for managers with unorthodox builds, as his low-TO, highly efficient game makes him a very unique fantasy guard. With a starting spot locked up in Washington, we’d expect him to take a step forward on last season’s late-round numbers. He had a similar role last year but still played second fiddle to Nikola Jokic, and this year we’ll actually see how he operates as the primary facilitator.
Seth Curry stands out as a strong option given his historical accuracy from the field, and he also gives you some nice appeal on those nights when the Nets are going through their drama.
It sure would be nice to trust Malik Monk, but considering his previous career-high was .434, you’re taking a leap of faith. There are not a ton of deep-league options here as field goal percentage drops off a cliff — even a ton of big men end up being drags on FG%. If you want to make up ground outside the top-175 or so, you’re going to have to stack frontcourt guys.
Hello again to Mann, who gets to wear a lot of hats for LA. We’ll see if he can play enough to be a factor for deep-league GMs, but his stat set is helpful.
We’d also be remiss not to call out TJ McConnell, who was able to deliver great marks from the field before last season’s wrist injury took him off the board. He’s not on the list but is a great deep-league target.
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