The FanDuel Fantasy Awards: NBA All-Star Break Edition

The NBA All-Star break is here…which means it’s the most dreadful week of the year: No NBA, NFL, or MLB to speak of. It’s been an excellent season for us here @TopShelfDFS so far and we wanted to reflect on the season and give our FanDuel Fantasy Awards for the season thus far. We would like to thank all our loyal readers, hope we were able to help!

So without further adieu, let’s check out the FanDuel Fantasy Awards so far through the 2015-16 season.

Most Valuable Fantasy Player ?

Of course, this award goes to the best overall fantasy player so far through the 2015-16 NBA season: Russell Westbrook
We as NBA fans are spoiled to have a player like Westbrook in the league. Never have we seen a player play with so much intensity, ferocity, and passion before. Even with Durant back,  Westbrook is still almost AVERAGING a triple double a game on the season with 24.1 PPG, 7.6 RPG, and 10.0 APG. The violent dunks, triple-doubles, and incredible rebounding numbers aside, the most impressive aspect of Russell’s game is that he never misses a game no matter what. If you recall last year Russ suffered an actual dent in his head against the Blazers and had to have facial surgery, but was of course back the very next game.

Sleeper of the Year ?         

There were a ton of worthy candidates for this award, but nobody deserves it more than C.J. McCollum
Can you imagine if the Blazers were able to keep this team from last year: Damian, Aldridge, Batum, Will Barton, McCollum, Wes Matthews, Lopez, and even Allen Crabbe…Portland fans can only dream. Last year, McCollum was almost a complete unknown, warming the bench for the Blazers and half a year later he’s averaging 20.7 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 3.4 RPG. The Blazers are somehow the 7th seed in the West going into the All-Star break after being completely gutted this offseason, and they have McCollum and Lillard to thank as the two are the 2nd highest scoring backcourt in the entire NBA behind the Splash Brothers. Although the Blazers lost almost their entire starting lineup this offseason, the future looks bright in Portland.

Punt of the Year ?

This next award goes to the best daily play(value wise) of any game up to this point in the 2015-16 season: Nikola Jokic
On November 18th, Jokic came out of nowhere and dropped 47.4 FanDuel points at the minimum price tag of $3,500. Nikola came off the bench and delivered 23 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals against the Spurs no less. If you happened to have rostered Jokic that night, there is a 0% chance you lost a single contest. Over his last 10 games, Jokic is averaging 12 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 2.5 APG(as a center) in just 24 minutes/game. How did 29 teams let Jokic fall to the 41st pick in the 2014 draft? The Nuggets did their homework and got a steal with Jokic falling to them in the second round. Keep an eye on him.

Fantasy Rookie of the Year ? 

There’s almost no competition for this next award, as the consensus pick for Fantasy Rookie of the Year is without a doubt Karl-Anthony Towns. Towns has won Western Conference Rookie of the Month every single month that he’s been playing in the NBA. At just 20 years old, Towns is averaging 18 and 10 for the Wolves, and even won the Skills Challenge over the All-Star weekend as a 7-footer. Towns has been awesome for fantasy owners this year and he’s very close to locking up the Rookie of the Year award up already. If the Wolves can snag another top 5 pick in next year’s draft…watch out!

Fantasy Zombie of the Year ? 

Matthew Berry coined the phrase “Fantasy Zombie” for Packers WR James Jones, described as a player who is “back from the dead” and putting up great fantasy numbers just like old times. Rajon Rondo has been a revelation for the Kings after it looked like his career took a turn for the worst after his fall out in Dallas. Rondo is close to averaging a triple-double a game this season (11.9 PPG, 11.9 APG, and 6.8 RPG) and, believe it or not, the Kings are just 4 games out of a playoff spot, mainly due to the play of Rajon Rondo. Rondo has been leading the team on the defensive end of the floor as well, he knows where everyone is supposed to be on the court and is averaging 1.9 steals/game which is his most in 6 years. 

League Pass Player of the Year ? 

This next award goes to the most fun player to watch on NBA league pass: Isaiah Thomas. If you’re on the fence about getting NBA League Pass…DO IT! League pass will make you a better fantasy player and there’s no better feeling than actually watching your fantasy team. Isaiah Thomas went from being the very last pick in the 2011 draft to an all-star this year for the Celtics. It’s incredible that a player only 5’9″ can make NBA-caliber defenders look foolish every night. Thomas looks like he’s floating out there on the court, making incredible passes and highlight reel layups. Thomas If a player never wins an NBA Finals or makes an all-star team, the biggest compliment anyone can say about a player is “hey, that guy was fun to watch”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wQ-O_8Rp-8

Defensive Fantasy Player of the Year ? 

Our final award goes to the best fantasy defender of the season so far: Nerlens Noel. If you disagree with this selection, check out Nerlen’s box scores on a nightly basis. We’ll just use his last 3 games as an example:

vs. LAC            9 reb, 4 stl, 1 block

@ BKN           4 reb,  4 stl, 3 blocks

@ WAS         8  reb, 1 stl, 4 blocks

Noel is the king of the highlight reel block and sending the ball into the stands, he’s got my vote for most fun player to watch on defense. Noel cares more on the defensive end of the floor than he does on the offensive end, which is extremely rare for a player, especially in today’s NBA. The 76ers have taken 3 big men in the last 3 first rounds, and if I had to pick one of the three, it would be Nerlens…no contest.

(Credit Tykes.co for images)

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