Draft Analysis: Sleeper Point Guards

When searching for sleepers at the point guard position you are usually after two things: steals and assists. Sure, a healthy free-throw percentage helps and some three-pointers would be nice, but as Jason Kidd has shown it's not all about scoring.

In the first two rounds there are 10 eligible point guards who should fall off the board: Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Deron Williams, Brandon Roy, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, Jose Calderon, Devin Harris and Joe Johnson. If you are able to grab one of those top-tier point guards, congratulations. Now you just need to find a second point to bolster and fill out your categories and a third for, well, good measure. If not, I would suggest loading up on fourth- or fifth-tier point guards -- Rajon Rondo, Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, etc. -- where you can find plenty of star power.

Using the average draft positions (ADPs) as reported by Mock Draft Central (MDC) and Yahoo! Sports (Y!), the following five point guards are all sleeper candidates as third, and in some cases second point guards.

5. Rodney Stuckey (MDC: 121.94, Y!: 125) -- One thing you shouldn't do is confuse Rodney Stuckey with Chris Paul or any number of playmaking point guards. He's a scoring point who needs to work on distributing the ball, but even at 5-6 assists per game, you're getting great value this late in the draft. He can top out at 15-17 points, shoot a notch over 80 percent from the free-throw line and pick up a steal per game. He's not much of a three-point shooter, but as a third point guard you're getting good late-round value in Stuckey.

4. Randy Foye (MDC: 111.33, Y!: 124.2) -- So what if the Dwyane Wade comparisons have died down. Foye has a new task at hand -- backing up Gilbert Arenas. Sure he doesn't want to be a backup point guard, but if there ever was an opportunity to step in and play it's in Washington. There's little reason to believe that Arenas has an 82-game season in him. Foye is another scoring point guard who is a major contributor in threes and free-throw shooting. Remember that there once was a time when Flip Saunders took a young scoring point guard named Chauncey Billpus and turned him into a leader on the court. There are no guarantees with Foye coming off the bench, but he'll get enough opportunities to warrant a roster spot. If you're a Gilbert Arenas owner you might want to "handcuff" him by drafting Foye as an option on your bench.

3. Louis Williams (MDC: 147.52, Y!: 137.4) -- The running theme with the sleepers on this list is that none of them is much of a playmaker. Add Williams to the list. He's another scoring point with limited burn actually running an offense. His 2.4 career assists-per-game average is underwhelming. Same can be said about his efficiency from the field and beyond the arc. Don't think, however, that any of this bothers new head coach Eddie Jordan. In his Princeton offense the ball moves so frequently that it doesn't require a "true" point to set the offense. The scheme runs through the high-post, then gets kicked to outside and distributed around the perimeter until one of three things happens -- an opening forms backdoor, the defense breaks down, or one of the perimeter players shoots the J. This is a kind of offensive set that Williams should be able to handle. He also should benefit from it. He has a quick enough first step that he can work the backdoor and finish the layup or get to the line. Williams got to the stripe 4.8 times per game last season, which along with his average of 10.4 field goal attempts in 23 minutes shows just how aggressive he can be on offense. His current value has him going undrafted in most standard 10-team leagues. His game is much better than that, believe me.

2. Aaron Brooks (MDC: 97.72, Y!: 129.9) -- If you're going strictly off of his preseason performances, Brooks is a steal in the 10th round -- four games, 24.5 minutes, 13.5 points, 3.3 assists, and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line. In fact, those numbers don't stray too far from his '08-09 statistics as a starter. Brooks averaged 34.2 minutes during the playoffs last season, and he'll remain close to that once again during the regular season. The Rockets are in need of some serious help on offense and Brooks might be able to provide them with some of that firepower. Yahoo! owners are getting a steal, while those practicing over at MDC are getting nice value in the Top 100.

1. Mario Chalmers (MDC: 104.52, Y!: 114.1) -- He is not getting any love from fantasy owners this season. Chalmers finished the '08-09 campaign ranked 54th overall in standard leagues and yet his current draft stock has him coming off the board in the 10th or 11th round. As a rookie, he finished tied for third in the league with 2.0 steals per game and with his 1.4 three-pointers per game he joined Jason Kidd, LeBron James and Baron Davis as the only players to average five assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 threes. He started in all 82 games and was fourth among all rookies averaging 32 minutes per, for what it's worth. Again, it's easy to get caught up in complaining about his 10 points and five assists per game, but he was just a rookie and should continue to improve on each aspect of his game with a full season under his belt. Even with Carlos Arroyo now signed in Miami and Dwyane Wade capable of playing the point, Chalmers is going to contend once again for a spot in the Top 60. If you have a high-assist, high-steal point guard like Chris Paul you can add depth with Chalmers, picking up some threes and making this a tough combination to beat in steals. Given his ADP, I say you're getting great value with Chalmers in the 10th round.