The modern day NBA is a game of elite guards and wing players. The biggest stars across the league include LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. Where is all the love for the big men?
Although you won't see too many national commercials starring Marc Gasol, Tyson Chandler or DeAndre Jordan, having a solid man in the middle for your fantasy squad can help lead you to the promise land. Let's give the centers around the league some attention and examine where their fantasy values currently stand.
Joakim Noah: Noah is coming off the best year of his career for the Bulls. He made the All-Star team, was named the NBA Defensive Player of The Year and set career-highs in points (12.6), rebounds (11.3) and assists (5.4) per game. He took over the locker room when Derrick Rose went down again and helped lead the Bulls back into the playoffs.
Noah had knee surgery over the summer and just hasn't looked like the same player this year. He doesn't have as much lift and seems to labor at times running up and down the court. Throw in the fact that the Bulls added some major depth this summer and Noah has really taken a step back this season. He is currently averaging 8.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting only 44 percent from the field and 61 percent from the charity stripe.
Should fantasy owners be concerned? Yes. Noah's knee might not be 100 percent healthy at any point this season. Even if it is, he's not going to play as many minutes or have as big of a role on the team as he did last year. He is still a valuable fantasy option, but expect his numbers to be down pretty much across the board this year compared to last.
Rudy Gobert: Gobert has stepped in as the starting center for the Jazz with Enes Kanter (ankle) sidelined and has had a major fantasy impact. Although he only scored four points in Friday's game against the Thunder, he still managed to record seven rebounds, seven blocks and three steals.
He's not going to be an elite scorer by any means, but he is a solid rebounder and can put a fantasy team on his back when it comes to blocks, which is evident by his staggering 5.0 blocks per game average over his last five contests. Kanter is a major defensive liability and may be better suited to coming off of the bench and providing an offensive spark to Utah's second unit. Even if Gobert does return to a bench role when Kanter is back, he's earned more playing time overall. He can easily make up for his lack of scoring on the defensive side to leave himself with plenty of fantasy value.
Cole Aldrich: The Knicks are a dumpster fire and are trading off anyone they can if they can get some cap relief or draft picks. Cue Cole Aldrich, an NBA journeyman who now finds himself as the starting center for one of the more talked about franchises in league history.
He's not going to bring back any memories of Patrick Ewing, but the Knicks roster is so depleted and injury prone that Aldrich actually has decent fantasy value. He is averaging 10.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks over his last 10 games entering Saturday and is in the midst of by far the best season of his career. It's unclear what other moves the Knicks are going to make and if a team in contention would come calling for Aldrich, but at this time, he remains a valuable fantasy option who could approach a double-double on a nightly basis.
Timofey Mozgov: I'm proposing that Mozgov forever be referred to as Timofey "Two Firsts" Mozgov based on the draft pick compensation the Nuggets received from the Cavaliers for the big man. Mozgov has tremendous trade value I guess considering he was also a part of the Carmelo Anthony trade that sent him to the Nuggets in the first place.
Anyways, now that Mozgov is considered the Cavaliers' cure to their defensive woes in the middle, how much fantasy value does he actually have? He scored nine points to go along with eight rebounds and one block in 27 minutes Friday against the Warriors, which was his first game with his new squad. He came off the bench, but still played about as many minutes as he was averaging in Denver.
Mozgov is expected to move into the starting lineup and replace Tristan Thompson, but he's still likely to play around 30 minutes or less either way. Although I wouldn't be completely comfortable relying on Mozgov on a nightly basis going forward, he does carry decent value based on the fact that the Cavaliers don't have much up front.
Jusuf Nurkic: Did anyone else watch Nurkic jawing with DeMarcus Cousins on Friday when the Nuggets played the Kings? Talk about no fear from the 20-year-old Bosnian! This guy shows tremendous confidence and has been handed the starting center job in Denver.
He posted 16 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and one steal Friday and showed fantasy owners a glimpse of what he could be going forward. Did I mention he did all of that in only 22 minutes? Now that's a pretty good performance.
Nurkic is a hot waiver wire pick-up right now, so grab him if he's still available in your league. He carries even more value in dynasty/keeper leagues as it's scary to think how good this guy could be in a couple of years when he not only gets comfortable to playing in the NBA, but also just by being so far away from home.