Rasho Nesterovic

Nesterovic returns to Toronto after a season in Indiana, but this time there's no question about him being pressed into a starting role. He's back purely to back up Bargnani and bang under the boards when necessary, and his numbers last season with the Pacers (and the two years prior with Toronto) are about what you can expect.

Nesterovic doesn't seem like an ideal fit for coach Jim O'Brien's fast-paced offense. He's not especially mobile, and he doesn't have an outside shot. When the Raptors faced a mobile team like Orlando in the playoffs, Nesterovic's playing time dwindled almost completely. He'll have his moments offensively, much as he did late in the regular season last year, but if/when Hibbert earns O'Brien's confidence, it will likely come at the expense of Nesterovic.

Nesterovic was brought in basically to fill up space in the paint. The Raptors want to limit the amount of time Bosh spends banging with larger bodies under the basket, and Nesterovic was an available and reasonably priced option. He won’t see enough playing time to be of much use from a fantasy perspective, as his 6.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.0 BPG averages attest, but he is the only true center on the Raptors’ roster, and in the event of a long-term injury to Bosh or Bargnani Nesterovic could see enough minutes to be useful in deep leagues.

If Toronto goes to the open court running game a la Phoenix, we don’t see Nesterovic as an ideal fit for this team. He’s a perfectly mediocre producer from the center position in the rebounding and shot-blocking categories, but will not be given the opportunity to shoot too much and is dreadful from the free-throw line. He’ll need 30 minutes a game to become a nightly fantasy starter, but we don’t see that happening for Rasho this year.

Any team willing to take on Nesterovic’s salary could have had him in the offseason. The addition of Nazr Mohammed has made Rasho expendable, but he will remain in San Antonio. The Spurs added Argentinean Francisco Oberto, who will see minutes at both power forward and center, which could further marginalize Nesterovic. After more than a few seasons living off the scraps of Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan, Nesterovic will be reduced to a bench role. That said, Mohammed certainly doesn’t have a stranglehold on the job. If he doesn’t play defense, coach Gregg Popovich will give more time to Rasho.

Because of Nesterovic’s good health, he started all 82 games at center last season. He was right around league average for centers in rebounding (7.7 rpg) and scoring (8.7 ppg), but he blocked 2.01 shots per game (1.35 career). He’s no better than the fourth option on offense at any given time, and you'll have to pray he doesn’t have to go to the line (career 55.3 percent FT).

Brought in to fill the big shoes of David Robinson, Nesterovic will start for the Spurs at center; he started all 77 he played in last year for the Timberwolves. Nesterovic set career marks last year with 30.4 mpg, 11.2 ppg, 1.51 blocks, 1.5 apg, and 6.5 rpg last season. The Spurs are looking for even more improvement now that he has an NBA Champion supporting cast.