Fantasy Basketball: Waiver Wire Report

Purpose:

The Waiver Wire Report aims to identify players who played minutes above and beyond their season average in yesterday’s contests. The list is filtered for players owned in less than 20% of Yahoo Leagues, and is sorted by minutes played above the season average. I’ve also included average minutes the last 5 games compared to the season average to provide context of whether a player’s minutes are trending up or down. Lastly, the Game Score for yesterday’s performance is included to give the context of a player’s ability to produce with these extra minutes. As a reminder, per basketball reference:

Game Score; the formula is PTS + 0.4 * FG - 0.7 * FGA - 0.4*(FTA - FT) + 0.7 * ORB + 0.3 * DRB + STL + 0.7 * AST + 0.7 * BLK - 0.4 * PF - TOV. Game Score was created by John Hollinger to give a rough measure of a player's productivity for a single game. The scale is similar to that of points scored, (40 is an outstanding performance, 10 is an average performance, etc.).

Results:

Picks:

Here are my recommended adds based on today’s report

Kenneth Faried (DEN - PF/C) - 11% owned

It is now clear that Faried is going to be the greatest beneficiary of the Paul Millsap injury. Faried started again and logged 31 minutes compared to 17 minutes and 16 minutes for Hernangomez and Trey Lyles, respectively. Faried can fill up a box score and is a must add in all formats given Millsap’s 3-month absence.

Fred VanVleet (TOR - PG) - 1% owned

The Wichita State product has been a revelation for the Raptors since Delon Wright went down. He’s averaged 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in Wright’s 5 game absence and seeing ~20 minutes per night. Wright is out for at least a month so VanVleet should see plenty of more opportunities and has a chance to stick around even after Wright returns.

Darius Miller (NOP - SG/SF) - 3% owned

The Pelicans roster is extremely crowded with Rondo’s return, Moore and Cunningham being healthy, plus Tony Allen and Jameer Nelson playing roles in the rotation. Still Darius Miller is carving out an expanded role as a do-it-all wing for New Orleans. He can knock it down from deep, contributes in rebounds and assists, and has played 28 minutes in three of the last four games. I don’t see him as a long-term play, but he’s a must-add while he’s playing well and until the Pelicans rotation becomes clearer.

Wayne Ellington (MIA - SF/SF) - 2% owned

Ellington is earning more minutes at the expense of Tyler Johnson. He has 15 3PTM in his last 3 games and is shooting above 50% from the field. His fantasy profile is the exact inverse of Tyler Johnson - Ellington does nothing but score so I’d only recommend him as an add if you’re consistently chasing the scoring categories. Tyler Johnson is close a drop for me in standard formats if this trend continues.

I do want to call out Jordan Bell here as well. He looked like a stud in his first start against Chicago, and while he likely returns to the bench with Draymond Green’s return today, if you have any option to stash him I would highly recommend it. He only needs to carve out a 20-min per night role for him to be a fantasy relevant. An injury, or the Warriors taking their foot off the pedal in the second half could result in such an opportunity.

Be sure to follow on Twitter (@BrianCreagh) for any questions or reach out via email (bcreagh119@gmail.com)

Sources:

www.basketball-reference.com

www.fantasysports.yahoo.com

www.basketball.realgm.com