Ekpe Udoh

Udoh has spent the past two seasons playing overseas in Turkey. Last season, he posted 12.1 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steal across 32.0 minutes per game while shooting 58.4 percent from the field. While he was in the NBA, he largely played a reserve frontcourt role, averaging 4.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks across 16.9 minutes per game on his career. The 30-year-old will likely occupy a similar role heading into this upcoming season with the Jazz, as the team is set with their starting frontcourt of Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert. He’ll also have to compete for a reserve role with the likes of Jonas Jerebko and Tony Bradley. For that reason, he can probably be ignored in seemingly every Fantasy format, though could make a fair play in DFS if the Jazz suffer an injury to their frontcourt.

Udoh is not much of a fantasy contributor, but he’ll serve as a versatile frontcourt backup that will see minutes at both center and power forward. However, the emergence of Henson and addition of Pachulia could cut into his playing time.

Udoh split his sophomore campaign in the NBA between two teams after being shipped from Golden State to Milwaukee at the trade deadline in the Monte Ellis for Andrew Bogut deal. The 2010 lottery pick remained raw on the offensive side of the ball, averaging just 5.6 points while shooting 43.1 percent from the floor. He was surprisingly effective from the charity stripe, though, hitting 71.9 percent of his free throws. For a 6-10 big man, Udoh is only an average rebounder, pulling in 4.2 rebounds per game in 21 minutes of run. His real value comes on the defensive end of the court, as Udoh blocked 1.6 shots per game. There were some flashes of upside whenever Udoh was given extra playing time, but his production is often too sporadic. The Bucks have four or five players who will likely see time at power forward and center this season, so it’ll be difficult for Udoh to carve out a much bigger role than we’ve seen from him his first two seasons. Continue to consider him a defensive specialist at this point of his career.

The Warriors 2010 first-round pick had his debut season delayed after suffering a wrist injury just weeks after the draft. The 24-year-old big man returned to action in mid-December, appearing in 58 games for Golden State. Udoh showed some signs of fantasy relevance as the Warriors’ primary starting center after the All-Star break. In 18 starts, he averaged an impressive 2.3 blocks in 25 minutes per game. While Udoh has high upside on the defensive end of the court, his offensive game still remains very raw. He averaged just 4.1 points on 43.7 percent from the field and 65.6 percent from the line. Udoh worked on developing an offensive repertoire during his senior season at Baylor, but it will likely be a couple of seasons before he makes much an impact at that side of the court in the NBA. Andris Biedrins is still around to complicate Udoh’s role going forward, but the Warriors will likely give Udoh a shot at an expanded role. For now, Udoh can be targeted late in drafts as block specialist who should show modest improvements in other areas of his game during his sophomore campaign.

Udoh will miss the first six months of the season with a wrist injury. Even when healthy, Udoh is a project at best, and is at least two to three years from making much of a fantasy dent.