Welcome back, folks. Just a reminder that Waiver Wire Scoops focuses on the players that gained value from the last day of action (this case Tuesday's nine-game slate). These players are available in 50 percent of leagues (except Dalembert) and are listed in how I would value them as adds on a fantasy team. Some guys have more short-term value and others are more of long-term projects.
As always, you can ask me on Twitter on which guys you might want to add. My feed @MikeSGallagher is always buzzing and I promise to stop bragging about how I highly encouraged picking up Jeremy Lin on 2/4. Oops.
Here we go:
1. Samuel Dalembert (HOU)- Dalembert has been cut loose in a loose in several leagues after completely falling apart for almost two weeks. He logged 27 minutes on Tuesday and posted a nice line of nine points, 10 boards and a block. He played 21 on Sunday and things are looking up.
2. Arron Afflalo (DEN)- Afflalo has really hit his stride and looks healthy. His 20-point outing on Tuesday was his third 20-plus performance and also put his MPG over his last four at a cool 34.0. He is easily the biggest winner of the Gallo fallout and I'd expect him to score close to 20 while flirting with 2.0 3PM and some other stats.
3. J.R. Smith (FA)- He should be signing very soon and owners seeking threes should pounce very soon. I'll analyze it more once he signs.
4. Tayshaun Prince (DET)- Prince is a boring fantasy asset at this point and it's still a bit head-scratching to why they brought him back. Nevertheless, the scoring and minutes are there for the UK product. Although absolutely no D stats in his last eight games in 34 MPG. There's no much upside, but he's fairly safe.
5. Linas Kleiza (TOR)- Andrea Bargnani is still out and should remain so until the All-Star break.Kleiza has been fairly productive off the bench and added a nice dub-dub with his scoring and three-point prowess. He'll certainly have some ups and downs in a fluid rotation, but over his last five he has been able to score.
6. C.J. Watson (CHI)- Derrick Rose is still in doubt at this time. While Watson hasn't been his usual stellar-handcuff self, he still is a strong start in almost any league while he has the starting gig.
7. Courtney Lee (HOU)- Kevin Martin is now dealing with a back issue to go with his plantar fasciitis. We can probably compound those issues with Kevin McHale's screwy rotation. As stated about 30 times, Lee would be the main beneficiary in the even Martin is no longer on the active roster. There are also trade rumors swirling about Martin heading out of town via trade. As for Lee himself, his last four games have been superb for a bench guy with 12.5 PPG, 1.0 SPG and 2.3 3PM per game in 29 MPG. There's a lot to like about this guy and another big game or two would put him on the radar in even shallow leagues.
The rest of possible adds after the jump:
8. Amir Johnson (TOR)- This isn't fun at all. 37 minutes on Friday, 16 minutes on Sunday and 32 minutes on Tuesday. The D-League grad was useful though with his 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting and swatting five shots against the Knicks. One more good game might make it too late to grab Amir. I swear I've typed that last sentence 10 times in the past two years when talking about him,
9. Iman Shumpert (NYK)- Everyone keeps waiting for Shump to fall off. It didn't happen on Tuesday thanks to his four steals which launched his SPG to 3.2 in his last five games. Shump will probably take a bit of a hit when Melo comes back later this week. However, I'm not sure how D'Antoni can keep him out of the lineup with the way he keeps the perimeter in check.
10. Earl Watson (UTA)- It seems like any day now that Watson will usurp the starting gig from Devin Harris. Well, maybe usurp isn't the right word because Harris is giving his job away. On Monday Watson played the last 18 minutes at point guard, then he played 13 more minutes than Harris on Tuesday. Watson is the better player and it makes little sense for the Jazz to keep Harris on the team. If you need a PG to stash, chances are this will be the best you can do in competitive league.
11. Markieff Morris (PHX)- Morris rock-chalked his way to a career-high 21 points accompanied by six boards, four steals, two blocks and two threes in 29 minutes on Tuesday. The 29 minutes was the most he played since January 23rd. I discussed some reasoning to why I though Morris got so much run on Tuesday while Channing Frye did not and I'm not completely buying it. Long story short, Frye had a bad matchup with the way Denver attacks the basket as evident by Denver's 34 FTAs last night and also Steve Nash not playing could have been a factor. Keep an eye on Morris tonight.
12. Jordan Crawford (WAS)- When Crawford gets hot, he's one of the most deadly shooting guards in the game. He played 30 minutes and poured in 21 points with a three and three swipes. While the small lineup last night was a thing of beauty for Washington, I'm not entirely sold.
13. Jan Vesely (WAS)- As mentioned above, the smaller lineup hit the jackpot last night. The Wizards had that luxury thanks to LaMarcus Aldridge going down and Portland playing Nic Batum at the four for a large portion of the game. Vesely played the clutch minutes as part of his 29 minutes en route to a nine-board, three-point, two-block game. While the last two games and a 28.5 MPG is nice, Vesely hasn't quite hit all cylinders at this point. If he keeps it up, you will be hearing a lot about him on the mainstream sites.
14. Kenneth Faried (DEN)- While Kosta and Birdman stole the stat-line storylines, Faried arguably gained the most value. Koufos and Andersen can't really play the four in Karl's system while Faried is certainly athletic enough to run up and down the court for Denver's possessions-per-game machine (ranked first). Faried played 23 minutes on Thursday and 24 minutes last night and should be on the upswing with very few power forwards on the roster. The Denver offense gives him some fantasy value kind of like how the Packers had so many WRs go off this year.
15.Kosta Koufos (DEN)- Nene could be out for a couple more games and KK should continue to start in his absence. The Buckeye lit it up with nine points, nine rebounds, five steals and three blocks in 26 minutes on Tuesday.
16.Corey Brewer (DEN)- Even though Brewer is starting, it's really tough to like him as a fantasy asset. He is a career 41.3-percent shooter from the field and has some competition around him, too.
17. Marreese Speights (MEM)- The Mattress woke up a little bit over his last four with 30.8 MPG yielding exactly a double-double average of 10.0 PPG and 10.0 RPG. I'm still not ready to call him a strong grab in most leagues.
18. Jason Thompson (SAC)- JT is riding a minutes roller coast in his last five (most recent first): 30, 19, 30, 25, 17. Since he doesn't really bring the D, owners might want to wait for some consistency.
19. Chris Andersen (DEN)- 16 points, seven boards and six blocks in Tuesday bout with the Suns. OK. Maybe it wasn't a bout.
20. Leandro Barbosa (TOR)- Jerryd Bayless still isn't healthy which allowed The Blur to put up 13 minutes in 31 minutes. Before Barbosa went down a couple weeks ago, he was rolling with production in points and threes. Obviously Bayless being out was the main reason why he had a mild eruption on Tuesday. Having said all of that, what Casey does is anybody's guess and LB does have som upside.
21. Michael Redd (PHX)- Redd put up season highs in points (20) and minutes (27) on Tuesday. This may seem nice and all, but his twice-torn ACL is going to need rest at some point and he will certainly have his minutes capped at some point. I'd also not be surprised at all if he is a healthy scratch for Wednesday.
22. Patrick Patterson (HOU)- McHale has played Patterson 24 MPG in his last 10 games and doesn't look to be vanishing any time soon. While Pat-Pat stunk it up on 1-of-7 shooting, that shot allotment is mildly encouraging.
23. Norris Cole (MIA)- Cole scored a career-high 20 last night while Mario Chalmers rested his left hand. Mario is healthy, so the only take-away is that Cole could have some nice value as a handcuff. If you didn't know that already.
24. Chandler Parsons (HOU)- The minutes were there for the Gator. Although Lee stepping up his game doesn't help his value much.
25. Alec Burks (UTA)- I love how this kid plays and I'm rooting for him to take Raja Bell's job. DO IT!
26. Dahntay Jones (IND)- It sounds like Danny Granger is going to play.
27. Craig Smith (POR)- LaMarcus could be out for a little bit and the Rhino might be a sneaky deep-league player. They also play on Thursday for you deep-league owners.
28. Lance Stephenson (IND)- Another moot point if Granger plays. He will need to climb more than a flight of stairs to gain value. Please tell me someone got that joke.
Thanks for reading!