Rookie bigs (Valanciunas/T-Robinson), who has best value?

[KarlHeinzRiedle]

Anothny Davis is the no-brainer there but after him, who has the best value??

Valanciunas, Thomas Robinson, Motiejunas, Drummond, Meyers Leonard, Nicholson(Magic), John Henson....

I kinda write Drummond off simply becoz he isn t NBA ready. he needs one or two years in NBA to learn from Big Ben and Monroe. I m optimistic about his development in the long term becoz i think Detroit is the best place for his development. They need a post presence and they have 4 times DPOY Ben Wallace as a mentor;

john Henson is 216lb and i think he'll be pushed around very often in NBA and he also have a bad injury record which scares fantasy owners off;

Toronto have several quality bigs. Bargnani, Ed Davis, Amir Johnson and Valanciunas. I doubt, in Valanciunas' first season, he'll have a lot of playing time.

Motiejunas should be playing behind Omer Asik at the 5th spot. And from what i've seen of him so far, he isnt consistent and doesnt know how to play D in NBA, it takes time;



Andrew Nicholson is a "dark horse", ryan Anderson left and Nicholson can really spread the floor and rebound from what i've seen;

Thomas robinson should have the starting minutes. He has high motor and sportsmanship, dont expect too many blocks from him but he can rebound (imagine him and Cousins) n really score from low post to mid-range. He is a clear upgrade over Jason Thompson, and i think he'll make impact in the league right away since he is mature n NBA ready

[Fenris-77]

I like Valanciunas (because the Raps want to play him and he's more ready then your average NCAA prospect) then Robinson, Nicholson and Henson, in that order. I'm really warming up to Nicholson as a sleeper this year.

[niQ]

I like Andrew Nicholson as your dark horse pick.

If Valanciunas can get at least 25 minutes, I like his chances of averaging around 8ppg, 8rpg and at least a block per game. I don't think the Raptors will throw him into the starting line up right away. (I think Aaron Gray will continue to start for the time being...) Another thing to note is that I think early in the season Valanciunas will get into more foul trouble.. Just a guess...

T-Rob will be good in the point and rebounds department, but like the guy above me said.. don't think he's much of a blocker... he can prove me wrong though...A lot of people did consider T-Rob to be one of the more NBA ready prospects in the draft... so we'll see...

But my rule of thumb is to be cautious when drafting rookies in fantasy bball. I usually don't even draft them unless it's near the end of the draft... or I'm in a huge league with like 18-20 teams. Although I did draft John Wall pretty early in his rookie year.lol I think in the 5th round or something in a 12 (or was it 14) team league.

[witnessraps]

i traded for the number 1 pick in my draft (with Monroe as the centre piece) for the rights to Anthony Davis. The other rookie bigs I really got my eye on are John Henson, Meyers Leonard (looks like the starting C), and Andrew Nicholson.

[Bank Shot]

I like Val because of the percentages and likely low TOs. He's going to be 50+ from the field, 80+ from the line and won't touch it enough to hurt you in TOs. Add a block to that and 8 rebs and you're looking at a good player.

T-Rob looks like one of those guys who people will overrate in fantasy due to his Pts/Rebs. The rest of his line could be ugly.

[StefanKuntz]

Looking at Valanciunas' performance in Olympics, doesnt look like he's that ready to contribute yet.

[Hypnotoad]

I don't think I'd draft any of these guys unless I were in a super-deep league. Most big men take at least one season to adjust, and these guys aren't exactly locks for huge playing time.

If I had to take one, I'd probably go Valanciunas just because the Raptors need him to contribute the most.