Hoops Lab: Is Kawhi in the Discussion for Roto MVP?

Recently, on Twitter, I was asked this question:

@ProfessorDrz durant & IT 2 for Lowry Kawhi and Jokic. Whatcha think? Thanks

— Tyler Durden (@jbr_24) December 27, 2016

This makes some sense, as Leonard is perhaps the most low-key superstar/MVP candidate in the NBA right now. Everyone knows LeBron James and Steph Curry. Kevin Durant and James Harden are on every other-commercial. Russell Westbrook is as ubiquitous with his quirky style off the court as he is with his frenetic athleticism on the court. But Kawhi? If he were sitting next to you on the bus, are you confident that you'd recognize him? Outside of the fact that he'd be giant, I have to feel like most people might not even look twice at him.

But people really SHOULD know who he is, because he's one of the best players in basketball in both real-life and fantasy. Let's focus on the latter, here, starting with Kawhi's current stats:

24.4 pts, 47% FG on 16.9 FGA, 92% FT on 7.1 FTA, 1.9 treys, 6.0 reb, 3.1 ast, 2.0 stl, 0.5 blk, 2.0 TO

In the Yahoo! player rater, these numbers are good for a ranking of 5th overall by totals; on the ESPN player rater, which doesn't account for turnovers, he ranks 7th overall; and in the Rotowire 9-category roto rankings, he ranks 3rd overall.

Kawhi's lofty roto rankings stem from the fact that he has some very good strengths with no real weaknesses. He's a plus scorer, his percentages are excellent for a high-volume wing, he contributes in all three difficult-to-fill categories (treys, steals and blocks), he contributes positional average or better in boards and assists, and he turns the ball over less than any other primary option.

Durant and Curry are the only players that are ahead of Leonard in all three of the rankings listed mentioned above, and in both of their cases they have similarly strong resumes without glaring weakness. Anthony Davis and Chris Paul also fit in that category, but their main weaknesses are health-related. Westbrook and Harden have awesome (in some cases staggeringly eye-popping) categories, but they also have glaring weaknesses: relatively low field goal percentage on huge volume and a combined 11 turnovers per game.

The bottom line: Leonard very rightfully SHOULD be mentioned in the same breath as those other superstars. It's not a case of him playing just well enough to be a stepping stone to a true superstar; he IS a true superstar. In real-life, Leonard is even more valuable given his enormous defensive impact, which has made him the two-time Defensive Player of the Year and the reigning MVP runner-up. But even though he's the type of player who is even more valuable than his box score numbers, he is still a beast in fantasy, which is ALL about the numbers.

In summation, Leonard isn't a player who you easily let go of to get a superstar -- instead, he's the superstar who you should be trying to acquire.

Around the NBA

Paul's hammy: Chris Paul continues to sit with the left hamstring injury he aggravated last week. He has missed three games going into Wednesday, and though listed as a game-time-decision Doc Rivers has said that he is "probably doubtful" to play. The good news is that the injury is minor enough that he isn't expected to miss much more time, and owners actually should want him to rest as much as possible to make sure that the issue is gone and doesn't degenerate into a recurring problem.

Lillard's ankle: Damian Lillard will miss his second straight game on Wednesday due to a sprained ankle that he suffered last Friday. He still has yet to go full speed since sustaining the injury. In his absence, C.J. McCollum shifted to the point guard slot with Allen Crabbe coming in as the 2. McCollum was huge in Lillard's first game out, dropping 29 points with seven assists and three treys, which is worth keeping in mind for DFS purposes while Lillard remains on the shelf.

Embiid's minutes limit creeping up: It was announced last month that the 76ers were going to re-evaluate Joel Embiid right after Christmas to determine whether he should remain on his strict minutes restriction moving forward. While there has been no public announcement of such a meeting, the 76ers announcer did state during Monday's game against the Kings that Embiid's minutes restriction was up to 29 minutes now. He's already putting up impact fantasy stats in only 24.7 minutes per game thus far, but in his last two outings he has played 28 and 29 minutes. The more relaxed Embiid's minutes restriction gets, the more his potential blurs from "impact player" up towards elite.

Conley limping: Mike Conley continues to struggle to stay on the court. His current injury is a toe issue. The Grizzlies haven't announced the severity of the injury, but it was enough to cause him to sit on Tuesday and to bring his Thursday availability into doubt. Consider him day-to-day until more detail is given.

Dragic's back: Goran Dragic sat out Tuesday's game with back spasms, but is traveling with the team for its upcoming two-game road trip. This is good news, as it indicates that the team doesn't believe the injury to be serious if there's a legitimate chance that he may play in the next two games. But back injuries have a tendency to recur, so the hope is that he rests long enough for the issue to completely go away.

Hill on verge of return: George Hill has missed the last 13 games with a sprained left toe, but he was able to practice at a light intensity on Monday for the first time since December 1. His ability to go practice on Wednesday will go a long way to determining whether he is available for game action on Thursday, but either way it sounds like he should return soon.

Linsanity still struggling: Lin has once again strained the left hamstring that caused him to miss 17 games earlier in the season. It's unclear yet how serious the new injury is, but he is not traveling with the Nets for their upcoming two-game road trip which indicates his time-scale is currently more week-to-week than day-to-day. Isaiah Whitehead, Randy Foye and even Spencer Dinwiddle could see bumps in playing time, but the last time Lin sat it was Sean Kilpatrick that saw the biggest bump in production.

Scouting the Pistons: I went and watched the Pistons play the Cavaliers at the Palace on Monday. Even though LeBron James didn't play for rest purposes, I always get new insight from watching a team live as opposed to on television. Check out my scouting report, as well as a series of pictures on the Hoops Lab blog.

New Additions and DFS value

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, F (47% owned in Yahoo! leagues): Kidd-Gilchrist's value is tied heavily into the non-scoring/defensive categories. He has been crashing the boards very hard of late, averaging 10.0 rebounds over his last three games, a stretch in which he also has six blocks two steals and 30 combined points. Essentially a defensive role player on the wing, in both real life and roto hoops.

Sergio Rodriguez, G (35% owned): The point guard slot in Philadelphia belongs to Rodriguez until Ben Simmons returns, which is still likely at least a month away. In the meantime, Rodriguez has scored a bit more in his last couple of games (19.5 points, 6.0 assists, 4.0 treys in last two) to separate himself a bit from back-up T.J. McConnell.

Thabo Sefolosha, GF (%30% owned): Sefolosha is on here purely because he gets starter's minutes and can contribute a bit across the board. Over his last four games he is averaging 11 points, 5.3 boards, 2.3 steals, 1.5 treys, 1.0 blocks and only 0.8 turnovers. More of a role player in very deep leagues, he doesn't have very much upside.

Marreese Speights, FC (%20% owned): Speights has played himself into a useful roto role player in Blake Griffin's absence, knocking down 2.0 treys while scoring 12.0 points with 3.7 boards over his last six games. He's still only playing 18 minutes per game, so he is a bit risky, but he has at least one made trey in all six of those games and in 11 of his last 12 games overall.

Keeping up with the Professor

The Hoops Lab is now a blog with daily content, so check out/follow for the freshest NBA content every day. Follow me on Twitter @ProfessorDrz. Also, don't forget that you can catch me on the radio on Rotowire Fantasy Sports Today with Chris Liss and Jeff Erickson on XM 87, Sirius 210 on Tuesdays at 1:30 PM EST. Plus, I'm doing DFS articles just about every day, writing analytics pieces for Nylon Calculus on the Fansided Network, and I co-host the TYTSports basketball show on the weekends.