As we approach the All-Star break it is likely increasingly difficult to find value either in a trade or off the wire. No matter what format you play in, be it weekly, head to head, or rotisserie, one of my favourite strategies is unearthing a player who is playing below their potential and executing a deal to obtain said player.
At this point in the season, rosters become hard-wired and GMs may exercise patience with their underperforming player as they have a large sample size of production to reference. However, if you are persistent and do your due diligence you will discover value in your league. This column’s intent is to be a curator of sorts, doing some of that research for you to deliver a player that I believe can be a positive contributor to your team and help increase your position as you move towards your championship aspirations.
My hope for you is that this player is one you are able to obtain before the break and have with you for the second half of the season.
The Texas native is enjoying the best season of his career and was one of the hottest players in the Association to begin the season. Throughout the first eight games of the season, Turner had two games with eight blocks and a total of 33 blocks during that span. He was not just having a block party; he was having a block rave on a yacht with champagne and models feeding him grapes. To put this into perspective, Rudy Gobert, who is among the league leaders in blocks every year and a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, had 13 fewer blocks during that same span.
Say what!
Myles Turner was boasting a block rate of over four per game for nearly two months. Incredible! As predicted, the production has leveled off and he is currently at 3.4 blocks per game on the season. That is still an elite level and no one is close to him. Myles can win you the blocks category almost single-handedly and, it is for that reason, that he is someone to target this week.
The opportunity has presented itself due to his nose-dive in the field goal category. Over the past week, Turner has averaged 36.2% from the field. (Yuck) Taking it back one week further and we see that he is averaging 37%. These numbers are completely unacceptable for any player on an NBA roster, let alone a center. Another Texas native may have put it best when he said:
“Day by day it’s more impossible to cope, I feel like I’m the one that’s doing dope”.
Has his GM reached that level of frustration in your league? If so, it is your time to make them an offer to persuade them to jump ship. Myles Turner has not been amongst the most efficient big men in the league and is currently at 45.7% on the season. However, 37% is simply too low and I project he will bounce back towards his yearly average sooner than later leaving you with a small window to get a deal signed and sealed.
Myles is currently ranked at number 23 on the season in Yahoo and that number has fallen to 70 overall during the past six games. Offer up a top 50 player and it will at the very least, have his or her GM staring at the offer while rubbing their hands in contemplation. I hope that you will find an itchy trigger finger that puts just enough pressure on the accept button and completes the transaction.
Good luck and hit me in the comments section if you like my analysis or disagree, all feedback is welcome.
Peace.
