NBA Mock Draft: Head-to-Head, 9-Category

This article is part of our NBA Mock Draft series.

RotoWire recently hosted a 12-team [9-category (FG%, FT%, Pts, 3PM, Reb, Ast, Stl, Blk, TO), head-to-head] NBA fantasy basketball mock draft with 12 experts. Below are the results of that draft and commentary on each round from some of the experts that participated in the draft.

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A. Rikleen: Harden is the clear No. 3.

S. McKeown: The surprise pick of the first round was Davis. But based on his across-the-board production and expected growth during his sophomore season, I don't consider Davis a reach. He has legit top-5 upside this season.

ROUND TWO

Schoenke: I probably reached for Wall, but love his upside if he can have a full healthy season. Probably should have gone with Lillard instead as I wanted to start the draft with a center and point guard.

F. Katz: I took Brook Lopez in the second round. Now, I have to hate myself for the next 24 to 48 hours.

A. Rikleen: I punt points almost as a rule, since my own research has indicated that fantasy managers typically overvalue that category. For a team ignoring points and looking to stay strong in FT% (easily Harden's best), very few players approach Noah's quality.

M. Chua: I panicked on this pick, because I was fully expecting Wall to still be available. In hindsight, I should not have taken another big man for my second pick -- this really handicapped me at the guard spots early on.

C. Morgan: If Derrick Rose is Derrick Rose, then I think I shall be quite happy with this pick, and Rose did as much as he could to make sure that, when he does return this season, he shall be the Rose we all remember fondly.

S. McKeown: Given his injury, the selection of Russell Westbrook here seems about one round too early. I was hoping to land one of the many point guards selected (Rose, Wall, Deron or Lillard) prior to my pick. Walker is risky here, but he has the most upside after the group of point guards I missed out on.

ROUND THREE

F. Katz: I promise it's not a coincidence that the one Clippers writer took both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Isn't Griffin poised for a 20-10-4 season? He was 20 and 10 his first two seasons in the league. Once his minutes go back up this year, he'll be there again.

A. Rikleen: Parker is only 31 and spent most of last season inside the top 10 for fantasy production.

M. Chua: I may have gotten hammered for taking the Mamba this early, and it is understandable given his age and the severity of his injury. However, if anyone is going to come back strong from an Achilles rupture, it's Kobe. Mambas don't need legs to devour their prey.

C. Morgan: I was hoping that Dirk Nowitzki would fall to me, so clearly I feel it was a good pick one spot before I had to settle for Millsap.

S. McKeown: The plan heading into the draft was to target point guards early - there's a lot of good frontcourt value to be had in the middle rounds. Jennings might not have been as safe as some of the remaining point guards on the market, but he has more upside. Just 24, Jennings still hasn't reached his peak, and I expect improved efficiency and playmaking in his first season with the Pistons. Love the Batum, Leonard and Vucevic picks, but they didn't mesh with my draft strategy. Mr. Katz reached a bit for Griffin here. While Griffin can be a monster source of double-double production, his lack of blocks and struggles from the charity stripe has kept him from ever cracking the top-50 in fantasy.

ROUND FOUR

F. Katz: Dwight Howard just texted me and said he wants to be traded to Shannon's team.

J. Anderson: With Favors and Vucevic, I may have secured two of the top-5 rebounders in the league. I think it's easier to lock up elite big men and point guards early and go for wing players in the later rounds.

A. Rikleen: ESPN has Rubio in the top 20 this year. While that is obviously too high, getting him at 46 still feels like a bargain, especially for a team that will punt points and will target free-throw percentage.

M. Chua: As much as I needed a point guard at this point, I regret not taking Josh Smith. I didn't realize he slipped this far down, and I believe he was well worth it for Shannon in the late fourth.

C. Morgan: I hope Josh Smith is a value at this point, but I'm just saying that as a Pistons fan. If you are going to punt free-throw percentage, getting Howard at 45 would leave me feeling enthused.

S. McKeown: J-Smoove's fantasy value dipped last season due to his horrible percentages. I expect his percentages to be a drain once again, but this is a H2H league and I needed the defensive production. That said, I was sniped by Fred Katz, as I had Howard targeted for this spot. Howard will kill your free-throw percentage, but I already had Durant on my roster to offset some of that damage.

ROUND FIVE

A. Rikleen: Maybe I've been reading too many Orlando Sentinel articles, but I see Tobias Harris as possibly being the next Paul George. The strengths/skill set and the general athleticism make sense for that comparison.

M. Chua: It may have seemed like I reached for Drummond a bit here, but I have no regrets. His double-double potential, high field-goal percentage and good defensive stats are well worth the reach, even for a guy who struggles at the free-throw line.

C. Morgan: I love Andre Drummond. Everybody loves Andre Drummond. But even if you are punting free-throw percentage, this seems like a big swing to take at this point.

S. McKeown: The Bledsoe hype has been a bit overblown at RotoWire HQ, but I was still convinced enough to grab him at this spot. His lack of a quality jumper could lead to struggles, but Bledsoe could be a defensive monster at the guard position. I think KCP was a panic pick. He'll likely start the season as a reserve, which will limit his production early on. Expect him to breakout later in the year. With that being the case, there were a handful of rookies who should have went before Caldwell-Pope.

ROUND SIX

M. Chua: James took my pick (Holiday). I feel at a loss taking up the consolation prize (Lawson).

S. McKeown: This is where I wanted to start my run of big men. Unfortunately, all of my targets (Kanter, Valanciunas, Monroe) were scooped up before my turn. Burke is a nice consolation prize, though. He's a legit ROY candidate and could be this year's Damian Lillard. Holiday and Lawson are steals in the sixth round.

ROUND SEVEN

J. Anderson: I got sniped on Beal and Gasol here, great picks by Fred and Shannon.

A Rikleen: Shannon stole Pau from me, so I went with a roughly similar (though I think much worse) big (West). I like the out of position assists from Pau, especially.

C. Morgan: I like the risk of taking Bynum at this point. If he's healthy, this is a major coup.

M. Chua: Beal and Turner, both who were on my fantasy team last year, were on my radar here. Both will improve from last season, and because I got sniped, I'm stuck with DeRozan at the two. While I don't expect DeRozan to be an utter disappointment, his touches may go down with Rudy Gay chucking away and Valanciunas expected to have a bigger role.

S. McKeown: Gasol is criminally underrated this season. With Kobe Bryant out for an extended period to open the season, Gasol will have to carry the load for the Lakers. He should have went 2-3 rounds earlier. Look for breakouts from Beal and Turner.

ROUND EIGHT

C. Morgan: This was a weird round. A lot of interesting, odd picks. A lot of high variance choices.

S. McKeown: Here's where things got ugly. The eighth round was full of players with injury concerns (Granger, Rondo, Gallinari, Bogut) or diminishing roles/skills (Pierce, Gortat, Evans, Afflalo, Boozer). Malewig stole the breakout performer of the round with his selection of Jimmy Butler.

ROUND NINE

M. Chua: Kyle got an absolute steal here taking Vasquez this late. Despite being on the Kings with a possible timeshare with Isaiah Thomas, Vasquez averaged 9.0 assists last season, and at the very least should be helping teams in that category heavily compared to other options in round nine.

S. McKeown: Per MockDraftCentral's setup, I needed two centers, hence the back-to-back picks of Bogut and Chandler. Not in love with either player, but I viewed them as the best available options at the position, and my other center targets were pulled out from under my feet earlier in the draft.

ROUND TEN

A Rikleen: The pool of desirables was shrinking, so I went with someone likely to get a lot of minutes at point guard. Entering the round, I had Nash, Lin, Robin Lopez, and Cody Zeller ahead of the the Philly rookie, but apparently I was not the only one valuing those guys.

C. Morgan: Steve Nash can still shoot. Maybe I should have taken him instead of Lopez. Still like Lopez though.

S. McKeown: If Varejao can stay healthy (a HUGE if), he's a steal here. McLemore should be one of the top targeted rookies of the 2013 draft class. He's a steal in this spot.

ROUND ELEVEN

J. Anderson: Did people forget about Jackson? I know I did, otherwise I would've grabbed him a couple rounds sooner.

A Rikleen: I believe in the contract year phenomenon when applied to Kris Humphries. The chance of nightly double-doubles this late is worth picking, and I feel confident in Hump's ability to rack up meaningless stats this year.

S. McKeown: Offseason antics and surgery have dropped Smith's stock. If he only misses 10-15 games, he's a great value here. Jackson will be a beast for the first 4-6 weeks of the season, but his value takes a huge hit when Westbrook returns.

ROUND TWELVE

S. McKeown: Lots of darts thrown here. I expect mine to be a near bullseye, as MKG takes a leap in his second season. Everyone involved in this draft needs to be slapped for allowing Harkless to drop this far.

ROUND THIRTEEN

C. Morgan: I was hoping to get Isaiah Thomas here, but it was not to be. So I went with Karasev, hoping his shooting ability will get him into the Cavs' lineup.

S. McKeown: Thomas has a chance to start at PG for the Kings. If he doesn't land the gig, he would be my first drop. Burks, Porter, Motiejunas and Antetokounmpo are great last-round fliers. The veterans selected in this round will all have too limited of roles to make much of an impact in a league this size.

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