Norris Cole continues to be worth targeting with Eric Gordon’s season-ending injury
For standard non-rotisserie leagues, Week 20 (or Week 19 if the All-Star break was considered to be one week) is the final week of the regular season. Some leagues have already entered their post-season, but for the majority, the playoffs begin in just a few days. With little time to sit and wait for a player to come around or progress to a proper talent level, owners needing to make improvements may want to focus more of their waiver wire attention on players fit for streaming rather than on those seen as projects or lottery tickets. In other words, if there’s a notable weakness you’ve tried to sure up with little success, it may be time to abandon the hope of finding one guy who can solve your problems for any extended period.Instead, you might have more luck focusing on today, tomorrow or, at most, the current week. If you happen to be sitting pretty at the top of your league, or can afford to use a roster spot on a long-shot, then by all means, take some risks. For those in need of immediate help, however, taking a pragmatic view of the waiver wire will reduce uncertainty and hopefully present a clearer and more realistic path to victory. We’ll continue to present you with our top picks for each position based on production, but just remember that acquiring a stud for tomorrow won’t do one bit of good if you can’t make it past today.
Instead, you might have more luck focusing on today, tomorrow or, at most, the current week. If you happen to be sitting pretty at the top of your league, or can afford to use a roster spot on a long-shot, then by all means, take some risks. For those in need of immediate help, however, taking a pragmatic view of the waiver wire will reduce uncertainty and hopefully present a clearer and more realistic path to victory.We’ll continue to present you with our top picks for each position based on production, but just remember that acquiring a stud for tomorrow won’t do one bit of good if you can’t make it past today.
We’ll continue to present you with our top picks for each position based on production, but just remember that acquiring a stud for tomorrow won’t do one bit of good if you can’t make it past today.
Import your team for free to get waiver wire advice 
Norris Cole (NOR – PG) – 31.2%
There are many options at point guard currently available in most leagues. Cole looks to be your best bet regarding overall production, but in case he’s not available, we’ll briefly mention some other options following this analysis. Norris Cole is not a strong enough player to demand substantive amounts of court time for the Pelicans, but he does bring enough to the table to rationalize placing him in the starting lineup when the usual starters go down. He thrived (relatively speaking) when both Tyreke Evans (knee) and Eric Gordon (finger) were sidelined, and while he still had some consistency issues, managed to hold low-end standard league value during that time. When Gordon returned, however, it looked like Cole’s fantasy stock would take a hit. Whether that was going to be the case or not, we’ll never know because as soon as Gordon returned, he was out again, only lasting three games until reinjuring his finger. Gordon is out for the season after undergoing another procedure on his finger, and Cole is now a lock to receive starter’s minutes from here on out. He is currently dealing with an injury (back), but it doesn’t appear to be all that serious. Cole could miss Friday’s contest against the Grizzlies but beyond that should return soon. He can be relied upon to provide useful assists regardless of format and mid- to low-end points, rebounds, steals and three-pointers in 10-team leagues.
If Cole isn’t currently available, Jerryd Bayless, Ronnie Price, Isaiah Canaan and Tony Wroten are all worth your attention and can tentatively be considered in that order. Bayless is a safe bet for starter’s time with Michael Carter-Williams out. He’s a nice source of three-pointers to go along with low-end scoring, rebounding and assists. Price could very well hold more value than Bayless, but right now it’s a toss-up. The Phoenix guard is also a good source of perimeter shooting but has produced more steals than Bayless. However, his scoring and assist potential may have a lower ceiling. Canaan hasn’t been shooting at a particularly efficient rate lately, but that hasn’t hindered his shot attempt total in the slightest. Despite his underwhelming field goal percentage, he’s knocking down a fair amount of threes (averaging 2.4 over his last eight games). He’s also producing low-end scoring while adding a few assists and rebounds to boot. Lastly is Tony Wroten, who will become a New York Knick any day now. He’s only played in eight games this season, so he’s not worth adding at the moment, but the Knicks have struggled at point for most of the season and could end up heaving significant playing time at Wroten soon after he arrives. He’ll be worth monitoring to see if anything comes of the move this season.
Lance Stephenson (MEM – SG) – 23.1%
Markel Brown was originally going to be this week’s pick at shooting guard, and while one could certainly have argued a case for Stephenson instead, it by no means seemed obvious. Stephenson has shown greatness in the past but has also struggled with consistency issues, and it’s been nearly impossible guessing which night will hand him enough minutes to be of value to fantasy owners in standard leagues. Not minutes before writing the Brown defense, however, SportingNews’ Alec Brzezinski reported that the Grizzlies had waived Mario Chalmers (Achilles) and are now going to start Stephenson at the point. Since this news is still ongoing, it’s unclear how definitive the Stephenson role change is. Because he already had low-end value as a bench player (averaging just 23.4 minutes over the last nine games), though, the potential of a permanent starting gig makes Stephenson the guy to target. If he looked like an intriguing pickup before Thursday, you should go ahead and add him immediately, as there’s simply too much possible upside now.
Mirza Teletovic (PHO – PF,SF) – 45.6%
Over his last 11 games, Teletovic is averaging 16.3 points (43.3% FG, 80.6% FT), 3.1 three-pointers and 5.1 rebounds in just 26.2 minutes. He’s slowed down a bit over his last four games, but it’s not due to a decrease in playing time as Teletovic played 30 minutes in Wednesday’s contest against the Nicks. He should continue to record 25-30 minutes per game for the foreseeable future, and, therefore, should be owned everywhere an owner is in need of perimeter shooting.
JaMychal Green (MEM – PF) – 18.3%
Memphis is a mess. Their frontcourt has been decimated by injuries and is currently without Marc Gasol, Chris Andersen, Brandan Wright and most recently Zach Randolph (knee). Randolph has now missed two straight games, and as long as he is out, Green should be considered a must-own. Since starting the last two games, he’s averaged 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and shot 12-of-25 (48%) from the floor while playing nearly 37 minutes in each contest. When Randolph returns there’s a good chance Green’s value will take a hit, but because he’s come on so strong and the Grizzlies are so thin, he might very well manage to hold value even if he’s bumped to a backup role. If you need big man stats, Green’s currently the best thing going on the wire.
Ian Mahinmi (IND – C) – 31.8%
Mahinmi fits the bill for a big man streaming option. If you’re in need of extra blocks he’s a great choice as the Indiana center has averaged 2.4 over his last five games. To a lesser extent, but still worthwhile, if you could use some help on the glass, he’s been averaging 7.6 rebounds over the past eight games. Mahinmi’s sporadic usage has kept his potential at bay, but owners should be able to rely on a nightly average of about eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and one to two blocks. Those numbers aren’t going to warrant a starting role in standard leagues, but they are enough to make Mahinmi a player worth “flagging” for the rest of the season.
Use our Player Rater and get waiver advice with My Playbook
George Haw is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from George, check out his archive and follow him @georgeWarfieldH.
