7.10 Raja Bell, SG, Phoenix Suns

With a team that is obviously slanted towards the small-ball categories, it’s tough to still be lacking one main small-ball trait: three-point shooters.  The point guards that anchor this squad are Chris Paul and Steve Nash – neither of which would be considered gunners by any means.  Nash will surely chip in his fair share of long-balls, but Gilbert Arenas, he is not.

So, I chose the route of adding a few guys that will chip in from the three point line, but a little below the radar.  Mehmet Okur is good for a little less than one bomb a game.  Troy Murphy is no stranger to launching from behind the arc, to the tune of about one make every other game.  Add in Manu Ginobili and his three a game, and you have yourself quite a sneaky group of shooters.  A sneaky group of shooters that is about one piece away from yet another category on lock-down.

Enter, Raja Bell.

He may not create a lot of his own shots, and he may come off as a specialist.  But I’ll tell you one thing: This specialist has a spot on this roster any time of the year.  While he had a career high in minutes, primarily aided by all of the bonus periods that Phoenix endured last season, any time a guy can take about six three-point attempts a game, and cash in on 45% of them, that’s pretty good.

The fact that Bell is a spot-shooter, as opposed to someone who creates his own shots, means that the ball is not in his hands as much as your average shooting guard – resulting in an amount of turnovers significantly less than the average fantasy player (1.1 per game last season).  Couple this with Bell being one of the better defenders in the league, and totaling one steal a contest, and you have yourself a late seventh round selection that helps you in scoring, threes, and steals. 

Actually, those are just his best categories, as Raja won’t hurt you anywhere in the box score.  He quietly grabs rebounds (3.2 a game) as well as finding the open man on average of 2.6 times a game.  A modest field goal percentage for a shooting guard (46%) and not to shabby free throw percentage (79%) just add icing on the cake that is Raja Bell.

Actually, no…I take that back.  The icing was the clothesline of Kobe Bryant in last year’s playoffs.  That was nice.

Other Team Members:

1.10. Chris Paul, PG, New Orleans Hornets
2.3. Steve Nash, PG, Phoenix Suns
3.10. Brad Miller, C, Sacramento Kings
4.3. Mehmet Okur, PF/C, Utah Jazz
5.10 Manu Ginobili, SG, San Antonio Spurs
6.3 Troy Murphy, PF/C, Golden State Warriors