The Fig Cap: LeBron might have gone first in this draft, won the Rookie of the Year award, named to numerous All-Star teams, All-NBA teams, and achieved a commercial appeal I can only hope to reach, but DOES HE HAVE ONE OF THESE?!?!  Yeah… didn’t think so.

Okay, I’m not saying that Melo is this great fantasy basketball stud that should be considered for the first round, afterall it’s not like he’s LeBron or anything (the comparisons will NEVER end), but Melo might be better than you think.  And I start off with this preface because considering that Melo has this stigma of only being a scorer in the fantasy scheme of things (no, not that type of “scoring” you pervs), he actually brings a little more than just huge point production to a fantasy basketball team.  I suspect that Melo could fall into the third round in most drafts as the savvy fantasy basketball manager doesn’t really put a lot of credence in the points category, but the other “secondary” cats such as steals, free-throw percentage, etc.  So, how does Melo measure up?  Let’s take a jab at this and get down with the analysis… yes, the pun was fully intended.

Cheap shots aside, Melo really does pack a punch fantasy-wise.  We all know about his scoring and it doesn’t seem like Melo was affected much with the trade that brought fellow basket-drainer Allen Iverson to the Nuggs, but looking at the trends and the other categories, Anthony might be better than you think.  He just has to stop trying to think he’s a hybrid of Mike Tyson and Michael Jackson - punch then moonwalk, punch then moonwalk, HEE!  HEE!  Sha-mon… sha-mon!  HOO!  Mamasay, mamasah, mamacoosa… mamasay, mamasah, mamacoosa.  (Shakes head furiously).  Sorry about that.  Let’s look at the numbers:

2004-05: 75 G; 34:47 Min; 43.1 FG%; 0.6 3PTM; 79.6 FT%; 5.7 RPG; 2.6 APG; 3.0 TO; 0.9 SPG; 0.4 BPG; 20.8 PPG
2005-06: 80 G; 36:47 Min; 48.1 FG%; 0.5 3PTM; 80.8 FT%; 4.9 RPG; 2.7 APG; 2.7 TO; 1.1 SPG; 0.5 BPG; 26.5 PPG
2006-07: 65 G; 38:12 Min; 47.6 FG%; 0.6 3PTM; 80.8 FT%; 6.0 RPG; 3.8 APG; 3.6 TO; 1.2 SPG; 0.3 BPG; 28.9 PPG

First let’s get the category of points out of the way.  You’ll notice in the three-year trend that Melo has improved each season and is easily considered one of the more dangerous scorers on the court.  He has excellent back-to-the-basket skills and can drain mid-range jumpers on the regular, which helps his field goal percentage quite a bit.  Speaking of which, the past two seasons, Melo has been shooting at about a 48% clip from the floor.  Tell me that’s not good and useful for your fantasy basketball team and I’ll tell you that Mindy Cohn from The Facts of Life was the best looking chick on there… yeah, we’d both be lying.  And continuing on the shooting tip, Melo’s accuracy from the charity stripe is quite good as well.

Okay, so how about them other stats that don’t have to do with scoring?  How about an upward trend in finding the open man when he gets double-teamed?  Melo averaged almost four dimes a night last season and has improved from year-to-year in the category.  There’s also an upward trend in steals.  About a rock rip per night is pretty good to me.  Add the six boards per game last season and you’re looking at a pretty good player with the potential to do a 30/6/4 with a steal and very good percentages each game.  That’s actually about what Jordan did his last season the second time around with the Chicago Bulls when he still had his game going on.  On a personal note… Jordan’s playing with the Wizards was as necessary as That 80s Show... what a waste.

In any case, teaming up Melo with the Matrix not only gives this team some great alliterative potential, but Melo’s knack for scoring and Marion’s dopeness in the hustle stats makes this a very comprehensive team… except for that assists thing because that is Marion’s only Achilles Heel.  Still, everything else will be above average and there are still quite a few very good point guards left on the board at this point and time.  But, for now, the M&M Men are majorly magnificent at this moment.

See, I told you.  Alliteration.  Nice.

Previous Picks
NOTE: Fantasy basketball mock draft teammate in bold.

1.1. Lebron James, SF, Cleveland Cavaliers
1.2. Kobe Bryant, SG, Los Angeles Lakers
1.3. Shawn Marion, SF/PF, Phoenix Suns
1.4. Kevin Garnett, PF, Boston Celtics
1.5. Dirk Nowitzki, PF, Dallas Mavericks
1.6. Gilbert Arenas, PG, Washington Wizards
1.7. Steve Nash, PG, Phoenix Suns
1.8. Amare Stoudemire, PF/C, Phoenix Suns
1.9. Dwyane Wade, PG/SG, Miami Heat
1.10. Chris Bosh, PF/C, Toronto Raptors
1.11. Elton Brand, PF, Los Angeles Clippers
1.12. Yao Ming, C, Houston Rockets

Previous Picks this Round

2.1. Pau Gasol, PF/C, Memphis Grizzles
2.2. Chris Paul, PG, New Orleans Hornets
2.3. Jason Kidd, PG, New Jersey Nets
2.4. Andre Iguodala, SG/SF, Philadelphia 76ers
2.5. Rashard Lewis, SF, Orlando Magic
2.6. Dwight Howard, PF/C, Orlando Magic
2.7. Josh Smith, SG/SF, Atlanta Hawks
2.8. Tim Duncan, PF/C, San Antonio Spurs
2.9. Allen Iverson, PG, Denver Nuggets