Round 1, Pick 1: LeBron James

The crew from Dropping Dimes is back this summer like the Transformers with another Fantasy Draft Blog! We promise not to change the draft blog too much from the original format, unlike Spielberg changing Soundwave for the Transformers movie. What is up with that?  This year we agreed on a writing rotation about our picks. The rotation will be Ron, Dennis, Alvin, and Sarge. And with the first overall pick and after watching the NBA playoffs this year my choice was easy - LeBron James.

Did you see Game 5 of this year’s Eastern Conference Finals?  All LeBron did was score 29 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ last 30 points for the double-overtime victory.  LeBron’s final line was 48 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 2 threes and 10-14 from the line. It was a maturation of a superstar right before my eyes. It gave a glimpse of what this superstar can accomplish for future fantasy owners. This performance can be best articulated in the words of Trent Walker (Vince Vaughn) from the movie Swingers, “You are so money and you don’t even know it.” (If you have not seen Swingers, you need to put it on your to-do-list this summer!)

Fantasy owners should not hesitate to take LeBron James as the first overall pick. Please do not suggest to me that Kobe Bryant should be the number one overall pick. Looks like Kobe is doing his best “Free Vince Carter from the Raptors” routine in Los Angeles. Lakers management is saying all the right things to keep Kobe, however, Bryant may do everything he can to force management to trade him. It may even mean tanking it on the court. I can’t have my fantasy team built around such a volatile situation with Kobe.

How about Kevin Garnett? Looks like KG may be traded this offseason. It would be nice to see KG playing in Phoenix with Steve Nash lobbing alley-oops to him. I think that Kevin Garnett has reached his ceiling in regards to fantasy value and I don’t expect KG to improve on last year’s numbers wherever he ends up.

Speaking of ceilings, LeBron has only started to scratch the surface of his talent. The sky is the limit for him. It will be exciting for fantasy owner to watch LeBron growing and producing on their roster. Last season, Lebron owners may have been disappointed with his numbers dropping from the ‘05-‘06 season, but tell me you still wouldn’t take the numbers he did produce.

’05-‘06 – 31.4 ppg, 6.6 apg, 7.0 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.8 bpg, 3.3 topg, 48.0 FG%, 73.8 FT%
’06-‘07 – 27.3 ppg, 6.0 apg, 6.0 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.7 bpg, 3.2 topg, 47.6 FG%, 69.8 FT%
 
LeBron James has tasted victory in the playoffs and it will fuel him with enough motivation to get better during the offseason. King James is the motor that runs the Cavs and will continue to get his numbers regardless of who the Cavs may add to their roster in the offseason (Mike Bibby?). Mark my words, LeBron will be a better player fantasy player next year. You can expect LeBron averaging 30 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists with close to 2 steals and a block per game.

Oh, here’s what we said last year about King James.

Next up, who you want, Big D?