NBA Fantasy Breakout Players: #3 Derrick Favors and #2 Enes Kanter

Welcome back to NBA Fantasy Breakout – the 10-part series where I present you with the players who I think are going to have breakout fantasy seasons. I know the fantasy season has started for most but there is no reason you can’t go out and make a deal for the top five guys left on my list.

If you missed it, here are #10 – #4:

#10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4,

#3 Derrik Favors and #2 Enes Kanter Utah Jazz

I decided to mix things up today and give you the number 3 and 2 guys off my breakout list. This will actually make my 10-part series a 9-part one. I figured this was the easiest thing to do being that they are both play for the same team: the Utah Jazz.

Derrik Favors is the number 3 player in my countdown. He is only 22 and is entering his 4^th year in the NBA. He has shown flashes of being a future NBA star.

Enes Kanter is a third year player out of Kentucky, but not technically. He was not allowed to play because of a supposed NCAA infraction. So this really is only his 3^rd year of post high school basketball.

The two combine to make up a really solid fantasy front court. I am not completely sure how many real world wins their production will provide but it’s a good thing the Jazz wins and losses don’t matter in the least when it comes to fantasy.

There a few things that will contribute to this pairing putting up good fantasy numbers. They play for a very weak Utah Jazz team. The Jazz are at the point with these two young players that they need to give them every opportunity to succeed. This is so that they can get a better understanding of what they have in terms of NBA talent. On top of that, neither has any real internal competition for minutes at their positions. This will allow them both to make a lot of mistakes and still get the minutes necessary to be productive fantasy players. Below are their per 36’s from last season:

Derrik Favors 2012-13 Statistics

Enes Kanter 2012-13 Statistics

Through 8 games, both Kanter and Favors have not disappointed fantasy owners. They have put up near identical stats to last years per 36 minutes. They are doing this while playing identical 34 minutes a game.

Favors has struggled shooting the ball to this point, but I would expect his percentages to level back out as the season goes on; shooting is very cyclical. When this happens you will see about a 2 or 3 point increase in his scoring average. Being one of only 13 NBA players averaging a double-double at this point in the season is nothing to be ashamed of (even of your shooting percentages are a little low).

Kanter’s only small draw back is a lower than expected average in the rebounding category. That is if you call averaging 7.3 with 4.3 coming on the offensive end a let down (4.3 is good for 3^rd in the NBA). The 7.3 is a little low for a starting center playing 34 minutes a game; however, if your league has offensive rebounds as a category he would give you a chance to win this every week. With Favors out on the court with him rebounds are a little harder to come by. Although, he is making up for that with outstanding free throw shooting which is at an astounding 90.5 percent. That is a crazy number for a 6’11” center. He has also lowered his turnover numbers while fouling less.

Favors went on average 75^th and Kanter 34^th in fantasy drafts. Both have played as well as I expected so dealing for one of them may not come cheap. Although you may get an owner thinking he is selling high on them and that may just allow you to steal one of them before their value soars.

The #1 player is coming soon.

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