NBA

Fantasy Basketball: The Punting Game, Version 2

The guide on how to more effectively value your players.

Last week I introduced a weekly column that focused on the idea of punting categories in a head-to-head fantasy league.

Here are the updated tables through November 13th. We're again dominated by Anthony Davis and Chris Paul, and Kevin Love is having a career year, topping the list in a couple of these categories as well.

To get optimal use of this column, I would focus on players that you wouldn't expect to find in the top 10, but are there when categories are punted. Everyone knows that Davis and CP3 are studs; you aren't going to get them in a trade without giving up a ton of a value. However, most people in your fantasy league probably don't know that Andre Drummond is a top-four player when punting points or FT%, or perhaps how underrated Brook Lopez is; a top-10 one when punting three of these categories.

One thing I focus on in head-to-head leagues is scarcity of certain categories. For example, I don't think you should focus on turnovers at all. Though it's anecdotal, in all of the leagues I've been in, the owner who has done the best in the turnover category has never won the championship. I think the reason is simple: many of the guys that commit the most turnovers in the NBA are guys who dominate the ball. While not great for the one turnover category, this is great in every other category as they have the most opportunities to accumulate statistics and fantasy points. Our entire top 10 in the "Punting Turnovers" table all have dramatically positive increases in value.

The other category I would look closely at is FT%. A lot of these tables have the same names in their respective top 10s, but FT% is the one category where it dramatically changes a certain type of player's value. We see a lot of new names in this table and if you decide to punt FT%, you can definitely find some willing trade partners. Yes, you may be giving up some "overall value" as they see it on their ESPN or Yahoo! rankings, but little do they know that you are really getting the better of the deal and getting the higher rated player for your team.

Enjoy the ranks, see you all next week!

Punting Points

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Anthony Davis1.030.97-0.06
2Chris Paul0.850.79-0.06
3Kevin Love0.890.68-0.21
4Andre Drummond0.420.53+0.11
5Stephen Curry0.570.49-0.08
6Spencer Hawes0.470.470.00
7Kevin Durant0.780.46-0.32
8Brook Lopez0.490.41-0.08
9Ricky Rubio0.260.40+0.14
10Paul George0.590.39-0.20

Punting 3PM

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Anthony Davis1.031.31+0.28
2Chris Paul0.850.99+0.14
3Kevin Love0.890.83-0.06
4Kevin Durant0.780.80+0.02
5Brook Lopez0.490.70+0.21
6Al Horford0.450.63+0.18
7Andre Drummond0.420.62+0.20
8Carlos Boozer0.320.51+0.19
9DeMarcus Cousins0.290.47+0.18
10Paul George0.590.45-0.14

Punting Rebounds

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Chris Paul0.850.99+0.14
2Anthony Davis1.030.90-0.13
3Kevin Durant0.780.80+0.02
4Stephen Curry0.570.74+0.17
5Kevin Martin0.550.71+0.16
6Klay Thompson0.420.61+0.19
7Kevin Love0.890.61-0.28
8Mike Conley0.360.56+0.20
9Paul George0.590.56-0.03
10James Harden0.440.53+0.09

Punting Assists

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Anthony Davis1.031.24+0.21
2Kevin Love0.890.890.00
3Kevin Durant0.780.75-0.03
4Brook Lopez0.490.70+0.21
5Kevin Martin0.550.65+0.10
6Paul George0.590.62+0.03
7Andre Drummond0.420.62+0.20
8Klay Thompson0.420.54+0.12
9Al Horford0.450.51+0.06
10Spencer Hawes0.470.51+0.04

Punting Steals

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Kevin Love0.891.12+0.23
2Anthony Davis1.030.97-0.06
3Kevin Durant0.780.76-0.02
4Brook Lopez0.490.63+0.14
5Spencer Hawes0.470.62+0.15
6Chris Paul0.850.60-0.25
7Paul George0.590.590.00
8Kevin Martin0.550.57+0.02
9LeBron James0.400.56+0.16
10Stephen Curry0.570.53-0.04

Punting Blocks

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Kevin Love0.891.06+0.17
2Chris Paul0.851.05+0.20
3Kevin Durant0.780.89+0.11
4Stephen Curry0.570.74+0.17
5Kevin Martin0.550.73+0.18
6Anthony Davis1.030.72-0.31
7Paul George0.590.71+0.12
8LeBron James0.400.53+0.13
9Klay Thompson0.420.50+0.08
10Mike Conley0.360.48+0.12

Punting FG%

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Anthony Davis1.031.12+0.09
2Chris Paul0.851.00+0.15
3Kevin Love0.890.96+0.07
4Kevin Durant0.780.87+0.09
5Kevin Martin0.550.64+0.09
6Paul George0.590.63+0.04
7Stephen Curry0.570.570.00
8James Harden0.440.57+0.13
9Michael Carter-Williams0.300.55+0.25
10Damian Lillard0.290.54+0.25

Punting FT%

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Anthony Davis1.030.99-0.04
2Kevin Love0.890.85-0.04
3Al Horford0.450.65+0.20
4Andre Drummond0.420.64+0.22
5Chris Paul0.850.62-0.23
6DeAndre Jordan0.420.64+0.22
7Spencer Hawes0.470.56+0.09
8Paul Millsap0.300.55+0.25
9Blake Griffin0.260.54+0.28
10Paul George0.590.54-0.05

Punting Turnovers

RankPlayerRegular ValuePunt ValueValue Difference
1Kevin Durant0.781.18+0.40
2Chris Paul0.851.17+0.32
3Anthony Davis1.031.09+0.06
4Kevin Love0.891.05+0.16
5Stephen Curry0.570.90+0.33
6James Harden0.440.83+0.39
7Paul George0.590.80+0.21
8LeBron James0.400.70+0.30
9Spencer Hawes0.470.64+0.17
10Al Horford0.450.58+0.13