Arachnophobia, Fear The Durantula

By: Mark Kaplan (@Datrueguru)

 

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You know that uneasy and scary feeling you get when you see a giant spider? Well, that is the same feeling fantasy owners get when drafting Kevin Durantula in the first round of a fantasy draft. Durant is going to miss at least six weeks as he recovers from foot surgery to repair a small fracture he suffered early on in the preseason. He will not be able to do basketball related activities until his foot completely heals. That means he still has to rehab the foot, get in game shape, and overcome other obstacles before he can play in a regular season game. This definitely hinders his fantasy value as he's no longer worth a first round pick in drafts. So where should owners draft him in fantasy leagues? The answer to that depends on what type of league it is, rotisserie or head-to-head.

 

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It isn’t as scary to draft Durant in the first round of a head-to-head league, rather than a roto league, because fantasy owners are going to be without him for the first part of the season, but should have him back for the latter part of the season, and most importantly, for the fantasy playoff run. However, it is impossible to replace that type of talent and fantasy production in the later rounds of a draft, which will put fantasy teams that draft him at a huge disadvantage. Think about it, every other team will be starting a first round caliber player, while the Durant owner is going to be starting his best bench player. That is a disadvantage that is hard for any fantasy owner to overcome and is not the way fantasy owners want to start a season. However, if a fantasy team is able stay afloat during that time, then the return of Durant will give that fantasy squad the best boost it could possibly get, which is why he's worth a late second round pick in head-to-head leagues.

 

Drafting Durant in a head-to-head league is like dealing with that pesky house spider. It looks scary, but it's easy to get rid of as long as the proper steps are taken. However, drafting him in a rotisserie league is like dealing with a brown recluse, not only are those things big and scary, but they can end you with one bite. Just like drafting Durantula will end a rotisserie team’s chances of winning with just one pick because he’s going to miss a minimum of 20 games(occurs on December seventh) to start the season. Those are games fantasy squads can’t get back or recover from. There is also a chance that he misses a total of 30-40 games because of this injury, which would make him a bad pick in the fourth or fifth round. That is why there is no value in drafting him in the first round of a rotisserie draft and it would be hard for me to take with any of my first three picks in a rotisserie draft.

The first round pick is the most important pick in the draft because that is the player you build your team around, the player you have the most confidence in, and more importantly, the player that gives your squad the best chance to win. Durant comes with more question marks and red flags, than any other first round pick. During drafts, treat Durantula like you would treat a spider, pretend he’s not there and let someone else deal with him. Checkout the 2014 NBA Draft Guide to see where we have him ranked in each type of league as well as among small forwards.