There comes a point in every fantasy draft where one must come to terms with the fact that he or she just may have to select a player that is despised for one reason or another.  Perhaps the player was on a former team and he failed to live up to expectations (cough, Larry Hughes).  Perhaps he plays for a team that has been the reason for personal disappointments, like say Boston topping Cleveland in nearly every sport for the past three years.  Or perhaps a player used to be on a team that you root for, but he no longer is after things did not end well.  Compounding this, consider the fact that the player may have conned his team in to allowing him to opt out of his contract early, only to bolt for a different team shortly thereafter.  And for the example, pretend that the then owner of the team was an elderly blind man. 

Oh, how I love fantasy sports….

Round 2, Pick 3 - Carlos Boozer, PF/C, Utah Jazz

When Allen Iverson was selected with the 10th overall selection in the draft, I quickly went down the list to find the next best big man still on the board.  The down side to this selection is that Boozer now becomes the third straight center to be selected, and you never really want to be towards the tail end of a run.  The good side is that you’re drafting a player who is not even 27-years of age and continues to be an absolute beast when it comes to points (21), boards (10) and field goal percentage (54.1).

Most drafts will find Al Jefferson and Tim Duncan selected ahead of Boozer, despite Carlos hitting nearly 75 percent of his free throws.  The reason?  His lack of blocked shots.  Though amazing on the glass, the former Blue Devil is a tad undersized for a power forward at 6’9”.  Consider that he is almost identical in height and weight to LeBron James, and you can understand how a lack of rejections could come about. 

The good news is, Boozer is typically among the league leaders in rebounds per game, field goals per game, and double doubles.  You get a steal per game, and a guy who finally appears to have his injury history behind him after playing 74 and 81 games respectively over the past two seasons.  Yes, he did just have a summer of Olympic ball so you always have to be a bit concerned about fatigue.  However, at this point in the draft, you cannot go wrong by pairing Boozer with any point guard that you may have selected in the first round.