October 10, 2017

Kristaps Porzingis and Myles Turner are 2017-18 fantasy basketball draft values and sleepers. Jake Finnen predicts they will have breakout seasons as NBA stars.

The season is creeping up on us and that means fantasy basketball is peering its ugly, attention-seeking head around whatever sports app you prefer to use. Albeit the monster that is fantasy basketball is one of the most engaging of all fantasy sports.

While you might have some serious decisions already brewing around whether to go with a proven veteran point guard, high-flying rebounder, or rookie phenom, let me give you some advice and to pass on the phenom. Rookies are terrible for fantasy.

They always leave stats on the table and are not trustworthy enough for nightly production. But you know who aren’t rookies? That’s right -- Myles Turner and Kristaps Porzingis. One of them is bound to explode and I’m here to tell you why it’s both.

Kristaps Porzingis or Myles Turner?

If you look at their general stats, nothing is surprising. Porzingis is the more talented on-ball player and Turner tends to stay in the low post area. Both can hit the three, but only Porzingis has an effective pull-up jumper. As far as scoring is concerned, Zingy has the clear advantage.

Offensively, Porzingis has the edge. He can handle the ball and generate offense from just about anywhere on the court. Especially now that Carmelo Anthony is gone, he will be the undeniable leader in New York (sorry Michael Beasley). Knick fans have been waiting for the moment where Zingy can be the one not passing the ball. His shot attempts will go up, his usage will go up, but his durability is still a problem. Until Porzingis can play a full season, we will always be skeptical when it comes to fantasy.

This is where Turner can be a better option. He played 81 games last season and literally improved in every category. He will continue to improve, simply due to his play style. Like Porzingis, he also benefits from the departure of his team's usage leader for Oklahoma City (in Turner's case, it's Paul George).  Turner is a bruiser in the paint that has shown to have plenty of touch. He has no problem making the easy and open pass which will play to his benefit when he is conducting the Indiana offense. With a team that is in rebuild mode within a weakened conference should play to his favor.

Both Porzingis and Turner are ready for new roles in their respective offenses and have the potential to explode. This puts them as highly touted big men, with only a few players that can be considered more valuable. With their offensive skillsets in mind, let's look at the other stats. Both tend to have lower rebounding numbers than other elite early round bigs. This will require you to go after a more dominant rebounder to counter-act any negative effect they Porzingis and Turner might have. Both with get blocks, while Turner should get marginally more steals.

Porzingis will take more shots and have a higher usage, so Porzingis always gets the nod over Turner in just about every format. The only problem Porzingis runs into is that he needs to stay healthy. If he cannot play a full season then he does not provide as much value compared to someone who can.

If you are looking to make your next pick and managed to read this entire article, you need to go with Porzingis. If he does succumb to an injury late in the season, it still gives you more than enough time to monitor other options and backup plans. Turner is also primed for a breakout season so this does not mean to completely fade the 21-year old center in Indiana. He's still an awesome consolation prize if Porzingis goes off the board before you can take him. Both players will have the opportunity to be the leaders on their young teams and that means the stats will soon reflect that.

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