Denver Nuggets Fantasy: Implications From Preseason Opener
By Tim Hart
Biggest Sleeper (in the entire NBA?!) : Jusuf Nurkic
If you aren’t a Nuggets fan, then you probably have no idea whats going on with Jusuf Nurkic. The young Bosnian center has been training HARD in this off-season. He has made it clear that he wants more minutes, and shed a reported 30 lbs to prove it.
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He was given a shot at good minutes in their preseason opener, playing for 22 minutes, compared to his career average of around 17 minutes per-game. In those twenty-two minutes, the Bosnian Beast was incredibly productive.
He was the player of the night, undoubtedly. Had the Raptors won, his match-up, Jonas Valanciunas, may have taken the title. If anything about Nurkic’s performance was complaint worthy, it was his inability to stop JV. His defense wasn’t bad, but it was also not enough. Fortunately, this is irrelevant to his performance as a fantasy player, which was absolutely superb.
He notched a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring 15 points, leading the team in both categories. He also managed 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals. Fantasy regulars know the value of these particular stats. Assists, blocks, and steals are usually scored above their 100% values, and add up quickly; for example, on Draft Kings, one steal actually worth two fantasy points. Nurkic killed it, and is still relatively unknown among many NBA fans.
His performance suggests that Jusuf Nurkic may be one of the single most-valuable sleepers for this coming fantasy basketball season.