NBA Fantasy Draft Prep: Names And Stats That Matter
By Jay Rosales
Apr 15, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) dribbles in the first quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Oklahoma City Thunder beats the Minnesota Timberwolves 138-113. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Categories Matter (mostly)
To find sleepers and duds, we need to look at all nine categories:
- FG Percentage
- FT Percentage
- Three-pointers made
- Points
- Rebounds
- Assists
- Steals
- Blocks
- Turnovers
The turnovers category has always been an afterthought when I draft. Russell Westbrook led the league with 4.4 turnovers last season, but that’s not going to prevent him from being a first-round choice.
There were 107 players who averaged less than 1.5 turnovers last season, but a large portion of those were bench players who will have little to no effect on your fantasy team. When conducting this analysis, I omitted turnovers, but will mention any noteworthy turnover stats where applicable.
Next: Benchmarks Matter