So who wins the bronze medal in fantasy point guards heading into this season? Chris Paul gets consideration for first pick overall, so calling him the first point guard to be taken comes across as a big understatement. Deron Williams sits solidly in the #2 position. As you prepare for week 1 of the NFL season, keep in mind that NBA teams will open their training camps in just a few weeks. At least four to five point guard-eligible players will come off the board in between the early second round and the beginning of the third round. I always like a point guard who can score as well as shoot the three, plus of course dish the rock in elite fashion. “Mr. Big Shot” took his trade to his home state team in stride and led them to the conference finals last season.

Round 2, Pick 5: Chauncey Billups, PG, Denver Nuggets

Here are the numbers and league ranks for Billups last season.

Field Goal Percentage: 0.418 (107th)
Free Throw Percentage: 0.913 (4th)
Three-pointers Made: 162 (2.1 per game) (11th)
Points: 17.7 (34th)
Rebounds: 3.0 (133rd)
Assists: 6.4 (15th)
Steals: 1.18 (29th)
Blocks: 0.2 (did not significantly rank)
Turnovers: 2.24 (31st)

First, the good…Chauncey absolutely rained moneyballs into the net last season. He has been a prolific long-range bomber for years, and dropped a career-best 184 three-pointers into the bucket in 2005-06. The high altitude in Denver did not cause his outside shot to waver in any way. One of the best bets for 17-18 points and 6-7 assists a game, Billups is also dead-eye from the line.

The bad? Well, Billups is a career 41.6% shooter from the field. Thankfully, this “team” already employs Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk can negate some of the damage inflicted by Billups and his low percentage. In a head-to-head league, it remains important to draft good shooters, but week to week, the team FG% fluctuates and you can still win this category sometimes with high-volume-low-percentage guys like Billups on the roster. Like most point guards worth anything, Billups will tally his share of miscues, but considering he landed outside the top 30 last year in turnovers, consider him fairly protective and efficient of the ball.

Why pick Billups over the other point guards available? Well, if you like him, you like the added scoring he provides over the likes of Steve Nash, Jose Calderon and Jason Kidd. Billups hit more treys than Nash last year. If you want a top five guy in assists, then any of the aforementioned guys will outperform Billups there. Nash and Kidd will turn the ball over more. Calderon’s calling card is his high end assist-to-turnover ratio, but the knock on him is he does not take chances enough. Joe Johnson remains an intriguing fantasy option, but unlike Denver, Atlanta has some uncertainty with the addition of Jamal Crawford to the back-court. A second round pick should not bring too many unanswered questions to the table. Billups and his role in Denver are firmly established. Expect another banner season. 

The Master List can be used to find players previously picked in this mock draft.