Fantasy Sleeper (#2): Tracy McGrady

Although this isn’t as significant as yesterdays article about Joe Johnson, I would still consider Tracy McGrady overlooked by some experts in the wonderful world of fantasy basketball.  According to some of the boys over at Yahoo.com Fantasy Basketball, they collectively have McGrady ranked as the number 11 small forward.  Again, with so much talent in the league, this doesn’t seem too far off, considering McGrady’s injury woes.  Why I consider him a sleeper is because of a few guys that they have in front of T-Mac in their rankings.  The three guys in front of T-Mac are Caron Butler, Gerald Wallace and Paul Pierce.  Don’t get me wrong, these guys are quite deserving of a high rankings, but in my mind, not ahead of my man T-Mac.  Firstly, Caron Butler had his best season last year, only to lose it to an injury.  With averages of around 19 pts, 7.5 boards and 4 assists, these are quite impressive numbers that will put you near the top of any rankings.  When comparing to T-Mac’s 24.5 pts, 5 boards and 6.5 assists per game, how can you overlook the statistics.  Fantasy ball is very much about stats, but also about taking into consideration injuries.  Both these guys are susceptible to injury this year, which obviously lowers both their rankings.  If you cancel that fact out, statistically, you’d want T-Mac ahead of Butler.  Moving onto Gerald Wallace.  I haven’t seen someone move up the ranks so quickly from such a large contract signing.  There is a lot of hype and hope for this guy to have the season of his career, but I just don’t see it happening.  He isn’t a huge risk for an injury, so that obviously adds some value.  The one reason why I don’t see him putting up his 18, 7 and 2.5 this year is because his team just signed another scorer in Jason Richardson.  Gerald Wallace isn’t the go-to-guy anymore (or not necessarily).  His assists will probably increase, but his points will likely decrease slightly.  Again, I’d give the upper hand to T-Mac.  Finally, Paul Pierce.  This one is a little more borderline, and if your faced with this dilemma of either T-Mac or Paul Pierce, it will really come down to your personal preference.  The reason why I choose T-Mac is because he will remain the go-to-guy in Houston (sharing this privilege with Yao, of course).  As for Pierce, he will enter the season with two brand new all-star scorers in his lineup. Will his assists increase this year?  Absolutely!  Will his scoring average decrease?  More than likely!  The offense will obviously be ran through KG, therefore, Pierce isn’t your go-to guy anymore in Boston, but rather he’s now a great option.  Overall, I see T-Mac having a monster season, along with the Houston Rockets as a team.  I would say he’s capable of putting up 25, 6 and 6 this year.  As Yao usually gets injured, McGrady’s numbers could even grow larger. I don’t think T-Mac will get injured.  I think he’s hit a point in his career where he’s probably taken every precaution possible to prevent it from happening.  So, if your going to take anything from my ramble, make sure you don’t overlook McGrady in your fantasy draft, because this guy is coming to play!