2021-22 Fantasy Basketball Comeback Candidates - Centers

Antonio Losada looks at fantasy basketball players with eligibility at the center position that could have bounce-back years in the 2021-22 NBA season that have either missed time to injury or played below their true-talent level of late.

There is a thing the NFL does that the NBA does not: hand a Comeback Player of the Year award after every season. As the very own NFL defines it, this award is given "to the player who shows perseverance in overcoming adversity, in the form of not being in the NFL the previous year, overcoming a severe injury, or simply a poor performance."

With that in mind, I'm bringing this accolade to the realm of (fantasy) basketball and giving you some names of who should be candidates to have a "Comeback Season" in 2021-22 after missing time of late or straight playing way below their true-talent level in the past few months and/or years. With more than 450 players regularly playing in the NBA, it's understandable that you have forgotten about some of those guys missing time recently and for long periods of time.

Here are a few picks of players with center eligibility expected to have bounceback campaigns when the upcoming season tips off that you might draft without other fantasy GMs really noticing those players' presence on the board after they forgot about them!

Fantasy Basketball Comeback Candidates - Centers

Thomas Bryant, C - Washington Wizards

Although Thomas Bryant played just 10 games last season, the truth is that he's been around since 2017 when the Lakers drafted him with the 42nd-overall pick in advance of the 2018 season. Obviously, his 15 games and 72 minutes played total that year made him an afterthought and it wasn't after he got waived and then signed Washington that he started to find his place in the L.

Bryant's sophomore season was enough to convince the Wiz to fill his bag, and he's just not looked back since the end of that 2019 year. Bryant, though, has been kind of injury-prone with only 46 games in 2020 and 10 last season. When he's available and on the court, though, he's quite a dominating, still super-young force. For those in fantasy leagues, the defensive woes of Bryant's games shouldn't impact his drafting/rostering that much: this kid boasts a 129 ORtg translated from a silly 24-13-3-1-2 line per-100 possessions since he became a Wizard.

Just for context, only 14 centers put up a 20-10 baseline (still per 100P) over the full 2021 campaign. Even though Bryant doesn't log overly high usage rates (around 18%) that could change a bit with Russ out of Washington. He's also great at stretching the floor for a big man (2+ 3PA per game in the past two seasons hitting 41.1% of them) and at just 24 years of age, he's got a 13-7-2 per-game floor to go with 1 BPG that more often than not should see him finish dub-dubbing come the 2022 campaign.

Mitchell Robinson, C - New York Knicks

The basketball gods gave New York a break when it comes to the 2018 NBA draft. The Knicks drafted Kevin Knox with the 9th-overall pick and later found out they've picked a bust. On the contrary, they stroke gold with their second-round draftee Mitch Rob, the second-best player from the class in terms of WS/48 sandwiched between Robert Williams and Michael Porter Jr. Not bad, if you ask me.

You might think that WS is skewed (for the good) due to a small sample of games played, but not so much. Robinson has played 158 games for the Knicks (66, 61, and 31 last season) and he only got busted in 2021 when he was forced out of the season with a fractured food after fracturing his hand earlier in the season. Mitchell Robinson, though, has been growing slowly but surely since he entered the NBA.

Rob has gone from averaging a 7-6 line to a 9-7 and an 8-8-0-1-1 last season. Not gaudy numbers, but nicer if we pro-rate them to a per-36 minutes basis: 10-10-0-1-2. That's an important consideration, as Robinson started 29 of his 31 games last season and if he does that once more in 2022 odds are he stays on the court for a lot of minutes (HC Thibs operates that way, remember). Robinson is a classic big man (forget about three-pointers) but he's an offensive machine with a 16% rebound rate and a stupid 5% block rate (he's at 10% and 8% in the prior to years). The usage (in the low 10-to-15%) kind of kills his upside a bit, but he's a virtual lock to finish with a 10-10 every game next season.

Jaren Jackson Jr., C - Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies got their first (recent) great shot at a true game-changing prospect in the 2018 draft and they didn't miss. They could have gone with Trae Young, I know, but given both Luka and Ayton were off the board already, and that they later picked Ja Morant in 2019, they came out winners all things considered. JJJ has yet to play more than 58 regular-season games in a single season, which is definitely a concern given he's entering his fourth season, but the efficiency is there and he's performing to great levels of play for a 21-year-old.

In the past 10 years, only 11 guys have played 120+ games in their first three NBA seasons while posting up averages of 27+ points per 100P and 8+ rebounds per 100P. JJJ is one of them, and his company is made out of some interesting names: Embiid, Porzingis, Anthony Davis, Cousins, Jokic, and Towns just to name a few. Those three-year averages were even better last season when Jackson seemed to be on a real breakout season averaging a 14-5-1-1-1 do-it-all per-game line that looks even better on a per-36 minutes basis: nearly a 22-8-2-2-2.

Jackson is capable of contributing to all facets of the game, is honing his defense on a yearly basis, and he's shot 5+ 3PA per game in the past two seasons with a career 37.4 3P%--one of the very few big men with such court-stretching prowess. If JJJ can stay healthy for 60+ games next season (big if, though), he should be able to finish as a top-100 fantasy player. If he is able to play nearly the full year and Memphis bump up his minutes a bit (he's never topped 29 MPG), then a top-50 finish is definitely a real possibility.

Al Horford, C - Boston Celtics

Quite a change of pace, this one. From three up-and-coming youngsters to über-veteran Al Horford, who is now back to Beantown. Even though Horford didn't sustain any sort of worrying injury last season he only played 28 games for the Thunder after OKC 1) landed him last December and 2) mutually decided to stash him at home not to hurt their rebuilding process. That situation, obviously, will change in Boston next season.

Horford never made much sense in Oklahoma given the franchise goals. But Horford, in the short sample of games we have from him in 2021 was the same Al he's ever been: 14 pops a game, almost 7 boards, 3+ dimes, and virtually a steal and a block per game on top of that. Those are pretty much his career averages (14-8-3-1-1), and even though he's entering his age-35 season Horford's game and production shouldn't change that much.

A resounding bounce-back campaign from Hordfor depends on one thing: Robert Williams not playing as many minutes as he should. Williams has been fantastic, but he's still not fully trusted by Boston's staffers for some reason. That's why Horford and Enes Kanter got acquired this offseason. Kanter will be getting off-the-pine minutes most days, and I'd bet Horford will at least start the year in the starting lineup. Not the biggest of upsides that of Horford, surely, but he's a lock to play his customary 70+ games in 2022 with a contending team while still far from being too washed-up.

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