Average Draft Positions (ADP)

Average Draft Position (ADP) can be very helpful information to prepare for fantasy drafts. Knowing where players are being taken 'on average' on a given site can enable savvy owners to reach only for the guys they must have, while allowing commonly undervalued players to fall to them opportunistically. This column focuses specifically on the ADPs for ESPN and Yahoo.

If you draft with competitive and informed owners, the ADPs below may be unrealistic -- that's what all of our rankings, projections and 'expert' mock drafts are for. Even seasoned owners can be duped by ADPs, as a given player's draft positions change depending upon where they're ranked on a site. Unless you've specifically ranked players beforehand, the guys you see directly in front of you in the draft room get a significant edge, both practically and psychologically.

For instance, ESPN has Al Horford ranked No. 47 overall (8-cat), and his ADP across all live drafts is currently 47.9, which is a whopping 34.9 spots lower than his ADP in Yahoo! leagues (9-cat). Horford is of course ranked much higher in the default Yahoo draft room (No. 19), so the disparity in his rankings is not a surprise.

Note that while ESPN's pre-ranks are 8-cat and Yahoo's are 9-cat, the ADP values listed below encompass all live drafts to date, be they 8-cat, 9-cat or some less common format (auction drafts are excluded, naturally). If you're more interested in auction values, check out my column elsewhere in the Draft Guide.

You can follow me on Twitter @Knaus_RW.

Before launching into a comparison of the ADPs, here's a quick look at the availability of different positions (PG, SG, SF, PF and C) for the top-200 most-drafted players in ESPN. I provided a similar chart for Yahoo in a previous column, click here to compare and contrast the two.

ESPN

The Yahoo chart revealed that PG was the 'scarcest' position among the top-150, yet this ESPN chart unequivocally has PG as the most abundant position. The Yahoo chart was dealing with auction values but I doubt that's the reason for the large difference -- it's more likely that ESPN is simply more lenient with PG eligibility. The top-200 players drafted in ESPN leagues also include a paucity of SFs and Cs, who represent only 16% and 17% of the players selected, respectively.

With that info in the back of your mind, let's take a look at the overall ADPs! Note that there are 223 players listed because 23 players were unique to either ESPN or Yahoo. I have also included a column showing the absolute difference between the two sites' ADPs.

Here's a quick list of players who stand out as overvalued or undervalued.

Overvalued:

Paul George has looked good this preseason, but there are much safer picks than PG at No. 12 in ESPN leagues.

LeBron James was No. 8 in 8-cat in my rankings, and lower in 9-cat, yet he remains a popular No. 5 pick in both ESPN and Yahoo.

LaMarcus Aldridge at No. 20 is overly optimistic.

Chandler Parsons' knee worries me too much to approach him at 39 in ESPN leagues.

I'm clearly not as high on Andrew Wiggins as owners in ESPN (46) and Yahoo (61).

Ty Lawson's new role in Houston has him considerably lower in my ranks than his current 55/76 valuation.

Bradley Beal has never been a top-75 player in 8-cat or 9-cat, yet he's at 59 in ESPN leagues.

Hope springs eternal for Derrick Rose admirers, apparently.

David Lee is favored to start in Boston but the cluster of talented big men, and his lack of defensive stats, will keep me away from him at 84/104.

Emmanuel Mudiay's percentages and turnovers are too formidable for a 101 valuation in Yahoo.

Frank Kaminsky (115) is being consistently drafted ahead of Meyers Leonard (119) in ESPN leagues?

Other overvalued guys: Justise Winslow, Gerald Henderson, Arron Afflalo, Julius Randle...

Undervalued:

Rudy Gobert should be closer to the first round than 18/20, and Draymond Green should easily beat his ADP in the 26/27 range.

Kyle Lowry is a great target late in the second round, yet he's going mid-third-round on both sites.

These ADPs blend roto and H2H leagues, so it's hard to be too upset with DeAndre Jordan in the 30/40 range, but I'd happily punt with him in the second round in H2H.

Nicolas Batum is criminally underrated at 42/62.

Ditto for Greg Monroe at 58/56, who should be a total beast for Milwaukee.

If the stars align, Reggie Jackson could blow away his Yahoo! ADP of 73.

I'll take DeMarre Carroll (72/61) over DeMar DeRozan (63/63) in every draft.

C.J. McCollum at 121 in Yahoo? Clearly some owners haven't been reading Mike Gallagher's work.

P.J. Tucker is a boring but steady value pick at 109/139.

Roy Hibbert is the best of a mediocre lot of centers if available at 108/101.

Darren Collison's potential is too great, even in a reserve role, for him to be falling to 119/133.

Other undervalued guys: Kyle O'Quinn, Nemanja Bjelica, Rodney Hood, Alex Len, Aaron Gordon, Alec Burks, Al-Farouq Aminu...

Peruse the list at your leisure, and I hope it helps you dominate your draft! If you have any questions or insights, find me on Twitter @Knaus_RW.