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.
#7 Brandon Knight PG Milwaukee Bucks
Today we get to our first player not in his second year: Brandon Knight. I will say that the trading of the Brandon’s between Milwaukee and Detroit should come out as a win for the Bucks. We know what Brandon Jennings is as a player at this point in his career. Knight, on the other hand, has a lot of room for growth. I think the trade out of a dysfunctional franchise like Detroit will pay huge dividends. Detroit was playing players because of the money they made and not for the impact that they had on the court. It was a dreadful environment for guys that played hard. We know that Knight plays hard as evidenced off the vicious dunk that DeAndre Jordan threw down on him in a late season blow out. Knight lost minutes last year from his rookie season but we should see that bounce back this year as the Bucks are not deep in the back court. Below are his stats for his second year and his per 36’s as well:
Brandon Knight 2012-13 Statistics
| G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| 75 | 75 | 31.5 | 4.8 | 11.7 | 0.41 | 0.73 | 3.3 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.7 | 2.1 | 13.3 |
Brandon Knight 2012-13 Per 36 Statistics
| G | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| 75 | 75 | 36 | 5.4 | 13.4 | 0.41 | 0.73 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 15.2 |
Also falling was Knight’s shooting percentages from almost every area on the floor. Most people would probably see these drops as negatives. I see the positive because he still managed to bring up his scoring average. This showed me that he is a player who is figuring things out offensively. The Bucks will also be a better team than the Pistons were last season. There are some expectations for this team to win games unlike the Pistons last year who were just a group of guys out there to collect a pay check and selfishly get their own numbers.
A part of Knight’s game that could provide a statistical payoff is aggression. He is a guy that has really low career foul numbers. He averaged 2.4 fouls per 36 minutes. With more aggression will come more fouls and in turn more steals. If he could push his steals per game to two, it would push his value up a full round or more in most fantasy drafts. Knight is going on average 124th in fantasy drafts. To become a better defensive player you need to be more aggressive. Overall, I feel that Knight will be given the reins of this Bucks team. This will increase his usage rate and with that you should see an increase in his overall stats.
The #6 player will be up tomorrow.
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References: www.basketball-reference.com
