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Get to the Points: Fantasy Basketball All-Star Draft

Yahoo Fantasy analyst Dan Titus and contributor Justin Henry each select five-player squads of unsung fantasy performers at the 2024 NBA All-Star Break.

Video Transcript

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DAN TITUS: What's going on, y'all? I'm Dan Titus, that's Justin Henry. Let's "Get to the Points." You know, it's All-Star weekend coming up right around the corner, so I figured it'd be a good point to talk about some players that deserve the All-Star nod, but from a fantasy perspective.

And we're not going to talk about the main guys. Know what I mean? Like SGA, Jokic, Embiid, we already know what they do. Donovan Mitchell, he would even be lumped into that. So let's talk about the unheralded guys that probably deserve to be a fantasy All-Star that may not get the recognition that they deserve.

So, I'll get-- let's do a like a little draft, all right? So--

JUSTIN HENRY: Let's do it.

DAN TITUS: --pick-- we'll pick five players on each team. I'll let you draft first, I'll give you the honors, since you got-- since you're just reeling off of this loss here for the Niners, I feel like I should give you a little something here.

JUSTIN HENRY: Well, first is a category that I like to stay in, since I am first in our league that we're in together. So it's only right that I'll do the honors. And the first pick I'm going to make is James Harden. Now, I know this is a player who in the past, we've seen him finish at top 10 levels, even top five levels when he was in his prime.

But a lot of people soured on James Harden this year, just because of the fact that the 76ers didn't know what they were going to do with him. He was sitting out of training camp. He was asking for a trade. And so his value early on, ADP-wise, plummeted.

I mean, you were able to get Harden in the fifth, sixth, seventh round, depending on your league size. And we're talking about a guy that's comfortably in the top 20 in category leagues, and in the top 40 in points league. So for me, James Harden is my point guard. I'm putting him at point guard, not shooting guard, obviously.

DAN TITUS: I feel that. I mean, you can't, you can't go wrong with James Harden. I think he's one of the best values, as you said, this season. So while he doesn't have really the stats to make it to the All-Star campaign, this is his first season in a long time without averaging 10 assists. But clearly, he's making a strong impact for those Clippers in the win column.

I'm going to go with, I'm surprised, man, like, how are you going to pass on Wemby as your first pick? Like, it's got to be Wemby, right? Like, I mean, the generational freak, the alien, however you want to term him, has been an absolute All-Star for fantasy purposes.

I mean, this is a guy that some people had to pay up second round value for him, and it's well worth it, man. In points formats and head-to-head formats, this guy is the real deal. And I can only imagine, man, next year, he's probably going to be a top three pick, because when you look at the scoring, when you look at the rebounding, and especially the blocks, man, what can't he do on the floor? So just fantasy gold right now.

JUSTIN HENRY: I mean, to get a three steal and three blocks out of a center, it's insane value. And who knows what's going to happen next year or when he's in his prime. But to get that kind of value out of a rookie this year, I ain't made at you for taking him first.

But the reason then, this is my, it's my pick, right? The reason, the reason why I didn't take Wemby, is because, you know, sometimes you just got to get the second best option. And Chet Holmgren is pretty much what Wemby is doing, right? Like, this is a player who's been in the top 20 in cap formats, even higher in points formats.

So Chet, second in the league in blocks. You're getting a lot of similar type production, but a little bit better efficiency. So I don't mind taking Chet a little bit after Wemby, but both of those players, man, both Rookie of the Year candidates, giving us a run for their money this year, man.

DAN TITUS: Yeah, I think it's toe to toe. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice there, man. Definitely two outstanding rookies that we've been blessed, as fantasy managers, to take on our teams this year. And you're talking about the reasons.

But the reasons that I'm here, is because of De'Aaron Fox. That is the guy. And I know it may not seem from like his ranking standpoint that he's been this super valuable player in fantasy. He's a top 40 guy in category leagues, but he's actually top 20 in points league.

So I think he needs some respect on his name in terms of defense. He's second in the league in steals per game right now. No one ever talks about what De'Aaron Fox does on the defensive end. So I think he needs to get some credit here.

And he's just been a phenomenal player, especially if you got him in points league. So I can't say enough about De'Aaron Fox. And let's be honest. This dude was a real life snub from the All-Star game.

JUSTIN HENRY: Man, snubbed, and they-- they didn't do anything. I live up here in Sacramento, and they didn't talk anything. All they were saying is how two players on that team got snubbed, and De'Aaron Fox definitely deserved a spot.

But I'm going to draft a guy from the Sacramento Kings who also deserves a spot, Domantas Sabonis. And when you look at it, the league leader in rebounds, he has 46 double doubles on the year, 16 triple doubles on the year.

So no matter what kind of league you're playing in, this is a guy who has definitely outplayed his ADP and served as the ox for our fantasy teams, man, so Sabonis for me is a guy that maybe he's not as respected when it comes to real, but for fantasy purposes, I mean, getting a guy of that value is crazy to me.

DAN TITUS: Yeah, I feel like early second round has got to be the standard going forward for Sabonis, man. Like, he just, how many of those forward slash centers can you get a triple double out of, right? There's not that many of them. I feel like Sabonis consistently can give you that mark.

One of the guys that I was like, hey, man, I'm going to go back to the guard play and stay in the Western Conference, CJ McCollum. They don't have an award for that Damar Hamlin Comeback Player of the Year Award, but like, can we talk about the fact that CJ McCollum literally had a collapsed lung?

He comes back and he's still a baller. Like, this dude has been such a great performer in fantasy. Like, I undervalued him. He came into the season with an eighth round ADP. And this dude's been a top 50 player all season.

And now that word is-- word just dropped that Dyson Daniels could be out for a while with a torn meniscus, we might have to see a little bit more CJ McCollum here, because they don't have that backup point guard. And yeah, Brandon Ingram and Zion will probably do some ball handling, too, but I think this is really going to be a good look for CJ McCollum rest of the season, man.

This Pelicans team is actually healthy and playing very well. And I think CJ McCollum's going to be a great add, or continue to be a great player for anyone that has him in fantasy.

JUSTIN HENRY: No, you called him, man. He's been a great value. And even though he did miss a chunk of time, it's like, you look at this Pelicans team, and everybody went to Brandon Ingram and to Zion Williamson. It's like, CJ has been a tremendous value on this team, even though the roster is stacked. So good pick there.

But not as good as my next pick is going to be when we're talking about stacked teams. The Atlanta Hawks have a stacked team. And yes, Trae Young, he did get into All-Star-- into the All-Star game, he is an All-Star. But his teammate has been playing very well for our fantasy teams, and have been in all kind of trade talks.

Dejounte-- Dejounte Murray is a player that has been a top 30 player in both points and category formats. And it's like, when you get a guy that can steal the ball, he gets 3's, he's hitting clutch bucket after clutch bucket, he's efficient, dropping dimes all over the place.

Dejounte Murray's a player that has been a very good player to have on your fantasy teams this year, and yeah, some leagues maybe you had to reach on him, but in a lot of leagues, he didn't have the name power. He was dropping in drafts. So I think Dejounte Murray's been a really good value. I'll take him at my shooting guard position.

DAN TITUS: Yeah, it's probably best that he stayed in Atlanta, too, for his fantasy value. So I think that fantasy managers definitely lucked out there. I don't think you wanted to see him go to too many other places, man, where Atlanta is just fantasy gold under Quin Snyder.

One of the dudes that I like a lot this year that hasn't really been talked about enough, is Franz Wagner. And I feel like this guy has just really come on this year. He's having a career year, averaging over 21 points, five boards, 4 assists.

And he's actually giving you some steals, too. And I think as the season wears on, we're going to see him continue to get more aggressive offensively. And over the last month, he's been a top 30 guy. So I feel like this is something that Franz can keep up.

He's the only player, I mean, minus a couple of good games from Jalen Suggs, that's consistently in the top 100. He's going to be the catalyst of this team going forward. Like, yeah, Paolo Banchero is the real All-Star, but if you're looking at fantasy and efficiency in the numbers, Franz Wagner definitely needs to take a seat at the table as well.

JUSTIN HENRY: You know, and one of the low key things I like about Wagner, is that he has that eligibility, where you have multi-positional eligibility. And I think that that's a very big factor when you start looking at players in general, especially in your daily lineups, where you can put those guys all throughout your lineup.

And the player that I'm taking also has shooting guard, small forward, power forward eligibility. Bogdan Bogdanovic for Atlanta. Now this, I did not think we were going to get this kind of season out of Bogdanovic.

But he's seventh right now in the NBA in 3-pointers coming off the bench. And right now, he's been a top 40 player in category leagues, a little bit less in points leagues. But the play that we're getting out of him, we talked about Quin Snyder and this fantasy friendly attack with Atlanta, you're getting really good value out of Bogdan Bogdanovic.

For where you got him, you may have been able to get him early in the season off of waivers. So this is a player that has been a tremendous buy for me throughout the course of the year and my success in fantasy, and hopefully, he's been helping your fantasy teams out, too.

DAN TITUS: He's not helping mine, but I know he's helping yours. You've been talking about Bogdanovic since the beginning of the season, so props to you for scooping him up, because he's definitely been a surprise this season.

But not a bigger surprise than my man. We're going to stick with the Hawks. Jalen Johnson, he was out for a time, but this man is still top six in terms of teams in public leagues for Yahoo. He is on the number one squad in 18% of those leagues. That's top six, so that's a very good high mark, showing you how much he can do for fantasy.

He's been a top 50 player in per game value. But even he can do the stocks, he can do, I mean, what doesn't he do, actually? He's like such an efficient fantasy player. And to get him, he was getting drafted in the 13th round this season. I think he's going to end up being probably one of the steals of fantasy basketball this year, even though he was hurt for that time. He's definitely paying dividends for managers now.

JUSTIN HENRY: Yeah, incredible value there. I mean, all-- we can talk about the Hawks at length, and it's crazy, you might be like, why are there three Hawks in this draft of 10 players? And it's like, that is a testament to this offense. They're the team that has the most players in the top 100, which is crazy, Dan. I know we talked about that earlier in the season.

DAN TITUS: Yeah, it's crazy how that happened, man. Quin Snyder is the fantasy basketball coach that you want. Like, to be able to service all these players that are relevant for fantasy is really hard to do.

I think that I counted six players that they have in the top 100 now in fantasy. Saddiq Bey still doing his thing. Okongwu still doing his thing. And Capela when he comes back. I mean, just a lot of fantasy opportunities in Atlanta.

All right, so make sure you tap in with us next week. We'll be making some projections on how the second half of the NBA season will go for fantasy basketball. We'll see you on next time on "Get to the Points."