Steals and blocks are the scarcest categories, and these players supply both

Steals and blocks, often called stocks, are the two categories a 9-cat roster runs out of first. Points, rebounds, assists and threes are spread across hundreds of players, but steals and blocks are concentrated in a small group, and most of the players who supply one do not supply the other. A guard might give you two steals and no blocks, and a center two blocks and no steals, which means filling both categories usually costs you two roster spots. The players who give you plenty of both are worth more than their totals suggest, because they free a spot for something else.

We sorted every player we project for at least 50 games by steals and blocks combined. The list below is the top of it, with each player's rank in our 9-cat projections and in the consensus of our analysts.