Ranking The Denver Nuggets Best Fantasy Options For The 2014-15′ Season
By Andrew Dill
April 10, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried (35, second from left) is congratulated by guard Randy Foye (4), center Timofey Mozgov (25), and guard Evan Fournier (94) for making the game-winning basket during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Nuggets defeated the Warriors 100-99. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Justin Becker of FantasyBasketballMoneyLeagues.com. You can follow him on twitter at @NBAFantasyInfo, and you can follow the Fantasy Basketball Money Leagues Google+ Page. For more NBA news visit Fantasy Basketball Money Leagues, a fantasy basketball blog.
Now that the regular season of the NBA is over with and the playoffs are well underway, it’s time for many fantasy basketball owners to start contemplating who to pick up for next season’s draft. If you’re looking to pick up anyone from the Nuggets, there are plenty of good options out there. Despite their disappointing season, they have a great group of basketball players. They seem to just have trouble winning as a team. Below are the top five players fantasy-wise to pick up off of the Denver Nuggets.
Ty Lawson has spent his whole career with the Denver Nuggets, which has resulted in him completely understanding their schemes and receiving a lot of trust from coaches and teammates. He has spent five years there and has been a starter for three of those years. Also a positive is that he has increasingly gotten better through the years in scoring, assists, rebounds and steals. Seeing the constant improvement is always an eye-catcher for fantasy owners, especially since he had a tremendous season last season. Who knows what he can do next season?
In his first full year as a starter, which was the 2011-2012 season, he averaged 16.4 points per game, 6.6 assists per game, 3.7 rebounds per game and 1.3 steals per game. The next season, he averaged 16.7 points per game, 6.9 assists per game, 2.7 rebounds per game and 1.5 steals per game. During this season, he averaged 17.6 points per game, 8.8 assists per game, 3.5 rebounds per game and 1.6 steals per game. There’s the possibility of him going for 20 points and 10 assists per game next season if he is healthy. He also brings a good dose of steals to the table. There’s no doubt he is one of the top point guards out there and shouldn’t be overlooked come draft day next season.
Randy Foye has done his fair share of traveling throughout his 8 years in the league. After starting his first three years in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he went to Washington for a year, then to the Clippers for the next two years, followed by a year in Utah and lastly spent this season with the Denver Nuggets. He has seen more minutes this year than he has in the past five years, which means the Nuggets see some potential in him. He played in 81 games this year, starting 78 of them and averaged 30.7 minutes per game.
His averages are decent enough to pick up as a second or third guard, but can get hot and score like a number one option. He averaged 13.2 points per game this season, his second highest average in his career behind his 16.3 during the 2008-09 season. He dished 3.5 assists per game, grabbed 2.9 rebounds and had 0.8 steals per game this season. All of those are more than his career averages, so that’s a good sign of what’s to come. If he keeps getting chances with the Nuggets, he could be a liable pick up next season.
Danilo Gallinari has unfortunately been hit with major injuries the last few years. It’s unfortunate because he is a dominant player on the court and can score at will. He has only played two seasons with over 70 games. He started the first two years of his career with the Knicks, playing in 81 games the second year. Then he went to Denver, where he only played in 14 games before being traded back to New York the rest of the season.. In New York, he played in 48 games. For the next two seasons, he went back to Denver, playing in 43 games during the 2011-12 season and 71 games in 2012-2013. He spent all of last season going through reconstruction surgery on his left knee and didn’t play a single game, but says he is ahead of schedule and will most likely play next season.
He had his best season in the NBA in 2012-2013 before getting injured. He averaged 16.2 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.9 steals and shot 42 percent from the floor. He is a tremendous scorer and can really help out your fantasy team if he is healthy. Make sure to keep an eye on him and if he is expected to make a return, hop on him.
Kennest Faried is a crowd-pumper, making big play after big play. He has three years under his belt in the NBA and has spent those three years proving to be a dominant big man. The 6-foot-8 power forward was drafted by the Nuggets in 2011-12 and played in 46 games that season. The following season, he was named a starter and started 80 games. This season, he started in 77 games and played in a total of 80 games. He seems to be durable, rarely getting injured.
Faried does most of his damage on the boards and can score fairly well. Last season, he averaged 13.7 points per game, 8.6 rebounds, 0.9 blocks, 0.9 steals and shot 55 percent from the floor after having a slow first half of the season. He really picked his game up down the stretch, increasing his draft stock quite a bit. He can’t make a good utility player or second/third forward depending on who you have. If he is available late in the draft, don’t think twice about picking him up. I expect him to have a breakout season next year.
If you are looking for a bench player to put in when your center has a day off, Mozgov isn’t too bad of an option. He played in all 82 games this season, starting 30 of them. He averaged 9.4 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks per game, 0.8 assists per game and shot 52 percent from the floor this season. Something to note is that all of those stats are his career bests, which means he is showing improvement. If the Denver Nuggets give him 22 minutes per game next season, which is what he averaged this season, or more than he can be a pretty good pick up come draft day next year.