http://foxsports.lycos.com/ BY FRANK BURLISON FOXSports.com Jun. 21, 2002 2:09 p.m. OK, so are you ready to play a little Fantasy League, NBA style? You've bagged about $500 million lottery dollars, have been granted an expansion franchise and have your choice of any five players in the June 26 NBA Draft from which to create your team's starting lineup for next season. As I said, we're talking Major Fantasy League here. Well, make me your GM (a salary of about $3.5 million per season, or maybe a bit less, might tempt me). Check's in the mail? Cool ... here's who we're tabbing, position by position. The No. 1 caveat? I'm only recommending players that I've actually seen in person. This eliminates Nikoloz Tskitishvilli and Nene Hilario, a couple of players that several NBA folks I trust implicitly insist will eventually be all-stars. But trust me on this one: There will ultimately be an all-star or two or three from among the five guys we're building our team around. We're going with the player at each position that seems best equipped to be a successful (granted, a very relative term) NBA player the soonest. So here they are. Now, just toss us into the Eastern Conference and we might be playing well until June next season. YAO MING: Enough with these Chicken Little "He's going to be another Shawn Bradley" rants. His basketball skills would be considered exceptional even for a player a foot shorter (he's about 7-foot-5). He'll immediately present the biggest matchup problem in the league other than the one posed by the guy from the Lakers who is this generation's Best Big Man Ever. He's never going to just flat-out brutalize opponents like Shaq does and he needs to become a much sturdier force (yes, even despite his 290-plus pounds) down low, especially offensively. But if he truly has a passion for being a great basketball player, as many who know him believe, how can he not very quickly average, say, 15-18 points, 10-12 rebounds, 4-5 blocks and 4-5 assists per game? Should he, in fact, turn in that kind of production, he's the second-best center (unless you'd like to call Tim Duncan a center) in the NBA before the end of his rookie season. This is from a man who has seen him, is not trying to hide info to protect his position in the draft, and has been intrusted by his readers to give them the best choices regardless of his personal likes and dislikes. If Yao can produce those #'s we will definitely be in the payoffs and who knows, maybe still playing in june.
Funny. I like to look at fantasy stuff right before the draft for the same reason. These guys have to be unbiased because fantasy players, some who play for more than pride, depend on the numbers that come from them. I'm not sure his numbers for Yao are realistic, but the more I read about Yao, his attitude, his game and his work ethic, the more I like him.
