Herbert Jones is amazing.
As a rookie, he forced his way into the starting lineup, despite being drafted nearly 20 picks behind teammate and fellow wing guard Trey Murphy just three months earlier. A former second-round pick, Jones finished as a top-100 fantasy producer in each of his first three seasons. The highly-touted 2021 draft class was just as impressive as announced, yet only two other members can boast such a feat (Evan Mobley and Scottie Barnes).
How does Jones maintain his high fantasy status? Partly by ranking among the best steals in the league. No All-Star idea, Jones’ skills as a defensive specialist have elevated him up the fantasy ranks.
Although Jones’ steal rate dipped slightly last season, it was accompanied by improvement in most other categories, and he still averaged a combined 2.2 carries per game. With an ADP down near 100, Jones is a perfect choice to headline today’s list of non-star, nine-category specialists to target: he’s a near-lock to provide value this late in drafts.
Aids
Chris Paul
spurs
Helpers have a key strategic role in fantasy. They are not the first category that effectively disappears from the drawing board (that is points), and they are not the scarcest (blocks). However, assists are the second hardest category to find after the first few rounds, and they are the hardest to complete on the waiver wire. That makes Paul an unusual draft-day gem — someone who could finish in the top five in assists and yet still be available at pick 100. Paul is long past his prime. It’s been three years since the 39-year-old made an All-Star game, but even during a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, he remained one of the best passers in the NBA. He was sixth in assists per minute and finished 15th in assists per game despite playing just 26.4 minutes. His minutes should increase when starting alongside Victor Wembanyama, and Paul will likely provide a big boost in steals as well.
Keyonte George
Jazz
The national media (and the Jazz’s extended rebuild) have made it easy to ignore the Jazz, but fantasy managers need to pay attention to George. The 2023 first-round pick will likely start at PG all season after playing his way into the role midway through 2023-24. Through 44 starts, he averaged 5.2 assists — a solid carry for the 12th round of a fantasy draft, but nothing exceptional. At his best, however, he flashed the ability to haunt far more than that. Through one five-game stretch, he got up to 8.8 per game (that would have been the fifth most assists per game in the league if he kept it up).
Blocks
Dereck Lively
Mavericks
Lively’s current ADP, 109 on Yahoo, is perhaps the most ridiculous in all of fantasy basketball (and it’s even worse on some other platforms). Simply put, even though he’s only 20 years old and may not be a starter, Lively is the best big man on the Mavericks. Coach Jason Kidd showed us he knew that when he played Lively more minutes than starter Daniel Gafford in the last five games of the Thunder series, the three games both centers were healthy during the Timberwolves series and throughout the Celtics series. Kidd trusted the rookie big man more than his starting veteran. Despite averaging just 23.5 minutes as a rookie, Lively managed 1.4 blocks and finished as a top-120 player. In 2024-25, Lively’s minutes are likely to increase, and he continues to improve as a player, a combination that should accelerate his rise up the fantasy ranks.
steals
Jalen Suggs
magic
The Magic lost Markelle Fultz this offseason, and the (unusually believable) buzz is that Suggs is in line for a significantly increased role. Suggs’ shooting improved steadily last season, leading to an increase in minutes, up to 33.3 per game during the playoffs. He probably won’t play that much, but he should provide a solid return over his late 90s ADP. In addition to being one of the better steals in the game, he takes on more PG responsibilities and could provide a nice boost in assists.
Bounces
Andrew Drummond
76ers
Personally, I draft Joel Embiid fifth overall without a moment’s hesitation. But Embiid’s ADP is all the way down at eight right now, which means most of the drafting universe disagrees with me. Well, if you’re not drafting last season’s best per-game fantasy producer in the top five, then either you’re a bad thinker or you’re afraid Embiid will miss too many games. Taking that a step further, it means that most of you think he’s going to miss too many games, and most of you should therefore strongly consider drafting his backup. Drummond was the best rebounder per minute from 2023-24. He will likely have minimal value when Embiid is healthy, but he will rank among the league leaders in rebounds when he starts.
Josh Hart
Knicks
An effective way to boost your production in a category is with an out-of-position specialist. Guard Derrick White’s 1.2 blocks helped a team win that category more than a center hitting the same amount because his value above a potential replacement was so much higher. Since rebounds come primarily from centers and forwards, Hart’s ability to record nearly 10 per game as a small forward is extra valuable (even better if you play on one of the platforms where he has SG eligibility). The Karl-Anthony Towns trade eliminated some of the Knicks’ depth, which should help keep Harts minutes elevated (along with coach Tom Thibodeau’s allergy to substitutions). Hart also provides some out-of-position help, especially for someone with a late ADP. Hart’s current ADP is 118. He averaged 4.1 assists last season. That late in a draft, you’re looking at point guards who average similar dimes.
Points
There is no such specialist for non-star points. If they earn a lot, they have at least some level of stardom.
threes
In 2023-24, a player had to average 2.8 threes per game to rank in the top 25 in the category. For a player’s three-point contributions to be the primary motivator for consideration, I set that as the bar. Only two players with ADPs outside the top 80 that strike me as likely to exceed that threshold: Anfernee Simons and Klay Thompson. While both players need to boost threes a lot, I still view both as poor weekday values, so I don’t want to recommend them in this article.
If you’re not drafting a top-25 three-point shooter, the best way to supplement your roster’s three-point production is via the waiver wire. In the modern NBA, there is always one that is widely available and on hot streak. Sometimes we even get a situation like we saw last year where Grayson Allen remained widely available all season despite putting up over-70 numbers. While his 2.7 threes were eye-catching, his other strengths (elite efficiency) were boring while his weakness (low scoring) was obvious. In any case, you’ll add more triples via the waiver wire than by drafting Gary Trent or Max Strus and hoping they keep a big enough roster that you eventually trust them.
