Keeper or Dynasty leagues are honestly my favorite format for fantasy.  They obviously run much better when done with a close group of friends, but I find them much closer to simulating what real fantasy sports is about, building and running your own sports franchise.  I pride myself on the ability to build a team, and there is nothing worse than at the end of the year realizing your entire season’s work must be started over the following year. 

With a keeper league comes new strategy though.  Many newbies to the keeper game, just jump on rookies assuming that by getting the right one it will carry their team forever, but a lot more thought needs to go into your draft strategy.  How many keepers does each team have, Can I balance young with old, and continue to replace my older players each season versus go with all young players in year 1.   Sacrifice year one and build with rookies or go with talent and build two years down the road.  I prefer balance when building my team, but again it depends on how many keepers you have to play with. 

If I was entering a first year keeper league, these are the top 20 players I would look at:

1 - LeBron James - King James ranks in the top 3 of all fantasy lists and he is only 23 years old.  You do not get a better keeper player than Bron.

2 - Gilbert Arenas - Agent Zero is making a push to be the number one fantasy player this season, that’s how far his game has come and he is still only 25 years old.  He fills the stat sheet, and dominates threes and points. 

3 - Dwayne Wade - Wade is officially starting to scare me with his injuries, but his game is so refined that at age 25 you have to look at him this high in a keeper league.  Let’s hope the recent shoulder and knee surgery have him put him in the right place to have a long career.

4 - Amare Stoudamire - The knee is definitely a concern, as Amare had to have minor surgery this offseason to clean it up again, but look at how he bounced back last season.  Still only his 6th season in the league.  Amare could lead the league in scoring at anytime, and get you rebounds, blocks and center status. 

5 - Kobe Bryant - Kobe has been around forever but he is still in his 20’s (29).  He is a little older, but Kobe could lead the league in scoring for another 4-5 years with his game.  That is loads of time to re-tool if Kobe begins to finally show his age in three years.  Let him carry your scoring until that time.  Would be higher, but age and his main strength just being scoring keeps him in this range.  If you take Kobe, you set yourself up to take another younger keeper later and still have a very competitive team in year 1.

 6 - Andre Iguodala - Iggy is the man in Philly and has a sweet all around game to that has still not reached its potential.  He will continue to improve his scoring, while also getting more threes.  A great player to build your team around.

 7 - Chris Paul - Only Paul’s third season and he is dominating at the PG position already.  He would be my top pure PG off the board in any keeper league (Agent Zero is scorer playing PG in my mind).  Paul brings scoring, assists, steals to the table every night and you can expect his range to improve over the next three years.

8 - Pau Gasol - Hard to believe this is only Gasol’s 7th season in the league.  He came out with a bang and never slowed down.  The 7 footer keeps getting better and is always good for 20-10 with 3+ assists, 2 blocks, excellent FG%s and should still have center status (though maybe not after this season with Milicic in town).  Gasol is an elite big man in the league and still very young.

9 - Deron Williams - Deron took such a leap in stats in his second year, it is hard to imagine how he could improve much more this season.  He is a floor leader for Utah, and he should start to approach the 20 point level in scoring with assists, good FG% (excellent FT%) and threes.  If he could increase his steals, he would hit all guard categories. 

10 - Andrea Bargnani - Here is where it starts to get interesting and you can surprise a few owners.  While I don’t think you should pass up any of the players above, once you draft in the 10+ range, you can reach for a few players for potential, not immediate impact.  While I expect Bargnani to have an excellent season, he won’t put up stats like the above players, but his potential for a 7 footer is amazing.  He drops threes with ease, passes like a PG, shoots a pull up jumper off the dribble like a SG and with his height blocks will continue to improve.  The Raptors knew what they were doing when drafting him and so should you.

11 - Kevin Durant - Possibly a stretch since we haven’t seen Durant play a regular season NBA game yet, but we haven’t seen a can’t miss prospect like Durant since King James.  I expect Durant to have his ups and downs as rookie, and see him progressing as a pro in the same mold that T-Mac did.  Decent first couple years and then start to explode.  He will learn on the job, as the Sonics have built their team around him, but he needs to add weight and muscle before he make a true impact every night.  With his shooting stroke, it is only a matter of time.  He is worth the investment.

12 - Kevin Garnett - If you don’t like the next few keeper options, and feel they are not guarnatee investments for your first or second pick, you can’t go wrong taking KG.  Yes KG is older, but the stats he could put up for the next 3-4 years will win your fantasy title for you, and you can continue to build over those 4 years.  Honestly KG should still be higher on this list, but if you have an aggressive group taking younger players, KG makes the ideal second pick for your team, when in most regular drafts he still goes top three.

13 - Dirk Nowitzki - Dirk has definitely reached his peak, but like KG will hold those stats for a few more years.  Don’t get tunnel vision for youth only, when there are elite players who will provide 3-5 more years of league leading play.  5 years of winning in your league is a long time and a lot of trash talk. 

14 - Dwight Howard - Simply a force in the middle.  If I had more confidence that he would develop a complete offensive game (beyond just bowling smaller defenders over) he would be much higher.  He will be a league leader in rebounds for years.

15 - Chris Bosh - Bosh drops below Bargnani, even though he is currently the much more dominant player.  Bosh is an excellent fantasy player, but we may be seeing the peak of his stats right now.  While Bargnani will continue to improve, it could reduce the opportunity for Bosh to do more.  Bosh is basically a 20-10 guy with great FG%, but not a lot more, and not the full rounded game that his teammate has.

16 - Luol Deng - Deng is just a pure athlete who is going to continue to improve for the Bulls.  The Bulls are loaded with young talent which may impact his stats, but I see Deng quickly progressing to average 22-7-3 with steals.  He is no longer shooting many threes, but this has also helped his FG% which soared to over 50% last season.  Deng has progressed exactly as planned over his first three years, and now expects to start hitting his potential.  This is a good time to draft him.

17 - Brandon Roy - You probably can’t go wrong choosing the 2006/07 rookie of the year as an ideal keeper choice, but even so you should limit your fantasy expectations of Brandon.  I see him more in the mold of a lower scoring Vince Carter, or Paul Pierce, than a dominating fantasy force.  He is an excellent choice for any keeper based team, but I see him maxing out at 20-22 ppg, 5 rebounds and 5 assists .  

18 - Al Jefferson - Big Al had the best season of his career and his bonus was getting shipped to the T-Wolves.  Well for fantasy owners expect more of the same from Big Al but with starter minutes, as he becomes the leader of this young Wolves team.  He is a natural rebounder and if healthy should be in the top 5 rebounding any year, and has a nice offensive arsenal which will keep him scoring 20+.  He has a knack for getting small injuries, but at his age and current team setting is an excellent keeper choice. 

19 - Yao Ming - A center as dominant as Yao who is only 28 should be much higher ranked, but I am not sure if Yao has the ability to stay healthy. Whether it is his size, or way he moves on the floor, Ming misses games each season and that helps no fantasy team despite his stats.

20 - Josh Smith - Another candidate who could probably be listed higher (so much talent, not enough spots).  This guard size player already has the blocks of a center.  He currently scores 16 a game on pure athleticism.  If Smith can develop a true offensive game, he would explode to 25 a game with all the other stat categories remaining the same, and be a top 5 fantasy player overall.  We need to see more growth in how he scores though, more than just dunking over top of defenders (though that is fun to watch).