Andres Nocioni

It looked for a time-back in 2005 and 2006-that Nocioni was on his way to becoming pure fantasy gold: his scoring and rebounding numbers were decent, he hit threes, his percentages were good. A combination of injury and suspect defense have limited his court time, though, in the intervening years. Now he's with Philadelphia, who have enough in the way of established players so's to render Nocioni irrelevant barring injury.

After getting traded from Chicago to Sacramento last season, Nocioni saw increased playing time, and as a result, better production, including 2.0 3PT on 44.1 percent shooting from downtown. He's the projected starter at small forward, and even though he'll battle Francisco Garcia for minutes, Garcia can shift over to shooting guard as well, so Nocioni should once again approach 30 mpg for the Kings. At 29, he's easily the oldest player who will be a contributor for the Kings this year, and he should be a solid if unspectacular option.

After an injury-plagued 2006-07, Nocioni played all 82 games last season. His fantasy owners were happy with his career-high 126 three pointers, but had to be mystified by his sudden drop in rebounds to a career-low 4.2 per game. Nocioni didn't appear to get along with departed coach Jim Boylan, even once yelling at him during a game, and grew very frustrated that his minutes were dwindling as the season wore on. Nocioni will have a harder time finding minutes with Gooden on board for a full season and Noah and Thomas continuing to grow. He's a strong candidate to be traded eventually.

With his three-point range and active style of play, Nocioni was being projected as a pretty solid fantasy option going into last season. Then a nagging case of plantar fasciitis limited him to 53 games – and limited his effectiveness when he returned at the end of the season. During his extended absence, Luol Deng emerged as a potential All Star at small forward, and rookie Tyrus Thomas impressed in limited duty. Clearly, Nocioni figures in Chicago’s plans going forward – they signed him to a five-year extension this summer. The hard part is figuring just what his role will be. A reasonable assumption – with the Bulls’ frontcourt generally lacking in offensive ability, Nocioni should see near-starter minutes by playing at both forward positions. Of course, that assumes that he’s completely recovered from the injury – and he wasn’t healthy enough to play for Argentina at the FIBA Americas tournament in August.

Toward the end of last season, Nocioni played like a guy deserving of mid-round fantasy draft consideration. In the month of April, he averaged 17.4 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.1 threes per game and shot 45.3% from the field. He upped the ante in the playoffs, averaging 22.3 points on 56% shooting from the field as the Bulls stretched eventual NBA champ Miami to six games. Nocioni is the kind of player Bulls coach Scott Skiles loves; he’s tough, defends and doesn’t back down from anyone. Nocioni and Luol Deng split time last season, but Nocioni should be entrenched as the starting small forward this year. With his ability to score efficiently and rebound, Nocioni could be a sleeper this year.

Nocioni joined the Bulls in 2004-05 from a stint in the Euroleague and he brought with him an aggressive nature and physical style of play that drew the ire of many of the Bulls’ opponents, leading to many on-court confrontations and plenty of bulletin-board material. His pell-mell style of play and willingness to dive all over resulted in assorted bumps and bruises that limited his minutes. Nocioni struggled with his shot early in the season as he adjusted to the speed of the league but seemed to get better at recognizing a good shot, helping his FG% rise as the year wore on. After starting early in the season, he settled into a role of seventh man, but excelled when pushed into starting late in the year due to Luol Deng’s pair of injuries in March. Nocioni will see time off the bench at small forward and big guard and should see a slight rise in his numbers across the board, making him a borderline starter but one that will help you in rebounds.

Nocioni comes to the Bulls from a stint in the Euroleague. In 10 regular season Euroleague appearances with Tau Ceramica, he averaged 13.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.4 apg and 1.0 bpg in 26.4 mpg, while shooting .506 from the floor, including .400 from 3-point range, and .707 from the free throw line. As seen by his numbers, he has excellent range on his jumper and shows a willingness to go the boards but needs work on involving his teammates and on the defensive end. He will start the year as the sixth-man but should move into the starting lineup at some point during the season and will provide solid numbers in most of the offensive categories.