Fantasy Basketball Dynasty Weekly: Christian Braun is a stud

One year after winning a national championship at Kansas, Braun was drafted in the first round by Denver and added another ring to his collection. He showed flashes in a small role as a rookie, and with Bruce Brown gone, he had some expectations to step up in year two. However, Braun’s minutes only jumped from 15.5 to 20.2, and his numbers weren’t much better.

This past summer, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope signed a deal to head East to Orlando, opening the door for a new starter at shooting guard. The Nuggets opted against bringing in a new face and made it a position battle between Braun and Julian Strawther, a second-year guard that can space the floor well. With KCP gone, would Mike Malone value shooting in the starting lineup or a guy that can do a bit of everything else?

He went with Braun, and the early results have shown that it was the correct choice. He is averaging career-highs across the board with 16.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.9 blocks and 1.7 threes in 35.3 minutes per game. The increase in volume hasn’t negatively impacted his efficiency. Braun is shooting 55.2% from the floor, 81.1% from the free throw line and 50% on 3-pointers, all of which are career-highs.

Denver is one game out of first place and has won five games in a row. Braun’s leap is a big reason why they’re still among the elite teams in the league despite not making many improvements to their roster during the offseason. But just how good is Braun, and how should dynasty managers value him?

Let’s get one thing straight: Nikola Jokic deserves a ton of credit for Braun’s statistical leap. Jokic is obviously one of the best playmakers in the league, and Braun’s playstyle is maximized by playing alongside him. They spend 34.4 minutes per game on the court together, which means that Braun has played about nine minutes through 10 games with Jokic on the bench.

This isn’t to discredit Braun, because he really is having an awesome season. The context is important for dynasty managers, since if he were to be traded tomorrow, his value would likely dip. That isn’t going to happen, but it alters how we…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy-basketball-dynasty-weekly-christian-145442244.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-12 14:54:00

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