October 7, 2017

Taurean Prince is fantasy basketball sleeper and draft value for the 2017-18 NBA season. Milos Zvekic analyzes the fantasy prospects of the Hawks small forward.

Player: Taurean Prince

Position: SF

Team: Atlanta Hawks

Analysis: In his rookie year, Taurean Prince was a per-minute beast with averages of 5.7 PTS with 0.6 3PM on 40.0 FG% and 78.7 FT%, 2.7 REB, 0.9 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.5 BLK and 1.0 TO in just over 16 minutes per game.  And that was on an Atlanta team that finished 5th in the East and had big ball spenders in Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap on it. Now, with both of them gone, and with the departures of Mike Dunleavy, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Thabo Sefolosha, there will be both touches and opportunity for Taurean to show that he is worthy of the small hype connected to his name.

It is very likely that he will have the starting gig come the start of the season, after playing a prominent role at the end of last season and in the NBA playoffs. It is furthermore encouraging that he played team-high 22 minutes in his first preseason game against the Heat and played another 22 against the Cavs a few days ago, second to just the team's alpha and omega Dennis Schroder. His positional flexibility might earn him minutes at the two and four spots too, and with no real tough competition for him, he is in a great spot to earn 30 minutes or so a game. Actually, with him being just 23 and on this rebuilding Atlanta roster, I would honestly be shocked if he didn't come to the 30 minute mark. And if he does, boooy...

Those elite defensive stats numbers really translate well into fantasy. His FT efficiency, rebound rate and a presence of the 3pt shot help too. And if we get all that, but at double the court time, that could be some insane sneaky value near the end of the standard league drafts. Now his jumper is still a work in progress, but he could improve from his rookie season, as so many players have.

Imagine if he averages over 30 minutes a night, ups his FG% over 43.0, his FT% over 80.0, gets you over 2.5 blocks + steals, over 5 rebounds, over 2 assists, 10 points and 1.5 triples and keeps his turnovers under 1.5-2.0 per game. What kind of multi-cat contributor, a true rotisserie stud would you have on your team? It is truly breathtaking to daydream about picking a player at around 120-140 in your draft and him achieving such fantasy heights. And with Taurean Prince, that daydream of yours might just become a reality.

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