Fantasy Basketball Power Rankings - Mid-February - All Players

With the trade deadline fast approaching, NBA basketball teams are actively seeking to improve their squads. You should be doing the same with your fantasy basketball team. It's at this point in the year that you could get a player on the rise that may be underrated by a few fantasy basketball managers in your league. Especially since you're going by my ranking system. Many fantasy GMs out there are lured in by points, rebounds and assists, and ignore the other stats that are so essential to a fantasy basketball team like true shooting percentage, 3 pointers, turnovers, and steals. Rest assure, I've got your basis covered in this edition of the Fantasy Basketball Player Power Rankings for the entire NBA.

LeBron James - (30.2 ppg, 7.9 reb, 7.9 ast, 2.1 stl) - Lebron James is up in every major statistical category except rebounds since the last edition of the fantasy basketball rankings. He is clearly taking over for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and with no apparent help on the way, it seems as if he will have to shoulder the load for the rest of the season. It is quite possible that LeBron could average 30, 8, and 8 at season's end. If that is indeed the case, that will officially make this one of the single most statistically prolific seasons by a player in quite sometime. And stats are all that matter in fantasy basketball.

Chris Paul - (20.8 pts, 4.0 reb, 10.8 ast, 2.6 stl, 4.0 a/t) - Just look at him and tell me he is not the best point guard in the NBA. You can point to Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Tony Parker and Chauncey Billups all you want, but when you are talking about pure, raw, talent that has displayed itself in a winning fashion on the court, the buck stops with Chris Paul. Just look at those stats above. And look at the line he had against Steve Nash the other night; 42 points, 8 assists and 9 steals! Paul can do it all! He can probably even get an assist on that pathetic slogan I just came up with.

KevinGarnett - (19.2 pts, 9.9 reb, 3.8 ast, 1.4 blk) - I know he is injured, but he still leads all power forwards in PER. Until somebody passes him on that front or he is injured for the season, KG is playing the best low post game in the NBA right now. If you have watched any Celtics game since KG has been out of the lineup, you can tell how much a lack of a low post presence is hurting the team; especially the way he can direct the offense from the post. But I'm sure those 20 points and 10 rebounds are slightly missed as well.

Amare Stoudemire - (22.7 pts, 9.3 reb, 2.5 ast, 2.3 blk) - Yes, ladies, and gentlemen! Your eyes are not fooling you. Amare is now listed as a power forward in the power rankings due to the emergence of Shaquille O'Neal with the Phoenix Suns. And you can bet the farm that Amare will become a much more efficient when Shaq is on the floor, because he will be guarded by smaller, and often less talented players, because more of the defenses focus will be on the Diesel. But even outside of Shaq's arrival and Amare's prospects, Stoudemire has had a great season thus far without Shaq, and his numbers are proof of that.

Dwight Howard - (21.8 pts, 14.6 reb, 1.4 ast, 2.5 blk) - What else can you say about this man? He is a true stud at the center position. And not only is he looking like the best center in the game right now, but he doesn't even have slightest bit of competition in the East. That should make for an interesting post-season for the Orlando Magic, as well as a career year for Dwight Howard. His 21 points/game and 14 boards are impressive casual fan stats. But when you throw in the 2.5 blocks and the 60% FG%, you can begin to understand why this man is a starter for the all-star team.

Kobe Bryant - (27.6 pts, 6.2 reb, 5.3 ast, 2.1 stl) - Well, when Andre Bynum first went out, we saw a sharp increase in Kobe's production. Now with Pau Gasol on the team, the production has decreased sharply. And we can probably assume that when Bynum does return, his numbers will undergo another slight drop. Nevertheless, you can expect his efficiency to be better with better players around him, which is why he remains at the top of the shooting guard power rankings.

TimDuncan - (19.7 pts, 11.3 reb, 3.2 ast, 0.7 blk) - Duncan got off to the slow start this season, but has picked it up since returning from injury, especially with Tony Parker out for an extended period of time. Thus, you can see the bump in scoring since his last appearance in the power rankings, and he has increased his rebounding over a board a game during the last 2 months. Anyone who thinks Tim Duncan is slowly down is certainly fooling themselves. He can still play at a high level, which is why he ranks 3^rd among all power forwards in PER.

Manu Ginobili - (19.1 pts, 4.8 reb, 4.4 ast, 5.4 FTM) -Ginobili was injured for stretch of games there, but he has bounced back well and regained his scoring average of 19 points per game. His rebounds are up as well. His assists to turnover ratio has fallen off a little, as he has been turnover the ball at a much higher rate for the past several weeks. But his shooting has been quite impressive, with 44% from the field and 40% from three-point land. Ginobili continues to be somewhat underrated as his lack of an all-star appearance is proof of. And as many of you know, I said Manu deserves to be in the All-Star game a long time ago!

Chauncey Billups - (17.6 pts, 3.0 reb, 7.1 ast, 1.3 stl, 3.4 a/t) - This man deserved his all-star bid, unlike some point guards out there. His assists to turnover ratio is amazing, especially for someone who holds the ball as much as he does and who is so much control of the offense. You can look at his field goal percentage of 45% to get a good idea of just how good efficient he has been shooting the ball. He is even shooting 41% from 3-pt land.

Al Jefferson - (21.5 pts, 12.3 reb, 1.3 ast, 1.4 blk) - Unless you have the NBA package, you will never get to see this man play live. But I'm sure you have seen this man in quite a few highlight packages. Of course, his team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, is usually losing in those highlights, but they are great high lights nonetheless. And his stats are astounding. Sometimes we take these 20 and 10 guys for granted, saying that they are just stat accumulators. However, if you watch Jefferson play, you can see the effect he has on the game; scoring down low, opening up the shooters, and clogging the paint. So sleep on him if you want to, but I assure you your other fantasy owners are not.