We’ve reached the quarter mark in the NBA season and the waiver wire is still as active as ever. Two of the players in the buy section below are younger players that are just beginning to show what they are really capable of. Two more youngsters in the sell section aren’t worth owning at the moment due to playing time concerns or downright bad play.
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Players to Buy
Willie Cauley-Stein (PF/C – SAC)
Throughout his three-year career, Cauley-Stein has never been considered an offensive player. However, over the last few weeks, he’s showing glimpses that he can be more than just a defensive player that rebounds. Over his last four games, Cauley-Stein is averaging 16.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks on 62.8% shooting. Put that all together and you have top-50 fantasy value. Is it likely to continue? Probably not to this extent, but he’s at least showing that he can be a top-100 fantasy player moving forward.
There’s a slim chance that Cauley-Stein is hanging out on your waiver wire, but there’s a pretty good chance that his trade value still isn’t that high right now. If you need a boost in rebounding or defensive stats, Cauley-Stein would be a great fit.
Lance Stephenson (SG/SF – IND)
When Lance Stephenson is playing well, he’s able to give fantasy owners a little bit of everything. Over his last three games, he’s averaging 17.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.3 three-pointers. The downside is that he’s also turning the ball over 3.7 times per game in this three-game stretch.
We’ve seen this type of production many times from Stephenson throughout his career. He’s always seemed like more of an individually -minded player, which isn’t a great quality to have as an NBA player, but we love that in the fantasy basketball world because that means more production.
Stephenson might not be starting, but as long as he’s getting 20-25 minutes a night off the bench he has the ability to put up late-round fantasy value. Give him a look while he’s hot and ride this hot streak until he shows signs of cooling off or his playing time decreases.
Kris Dunn (PG – CHI)
It’s a little baffling that Dunn is available in almost 50% of fantasy leagues. Over the last two weeks, he’s averaged 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.3 three-pointers. I get it, he’s young and inconsistent, but that type of production cannot be ignored. If it wasn’t for a two-game shooting funk on the 24th and 26th against the Warriors and Heat, those numbers would look even better.
Last night was possibly his best game of the season and as a professional. In 33 minutes versus the Suns, his line was 24 points, four rebounds, eight assists, four steals, and four three-pointers. The arrow is firmly pointing upward here, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more of these games going forward. The shooting percentage will always be a tad low, but that shouldn’t be too big of a factor if Dunn is averaging in the vicinity of 15 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals the rest of the way. If he’s available in your league, add him now, especially if you need a point guard. If he’s not available, now is a great time to buy low before his value continues to rise.
Players to Sell
Alex Len (PF/C – PHO)
This has nothing to do with Len’s skills and everything to do with the ineptitude of Phoenix’s interim head coach Jay Triano. Len has received two DNP-CD in the last three games while Triano continues to run the rotting corpses of Tyson Chandler and Greg Monroe out there. In three games before his first DNP-CD, Len was averaging 12.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks. Yeah, great idea benching him Triano.
Triano came to his senses last night and gave Len 30 minutes against the Bulls. The results you ask? 13 points and 18 rebounds. Len is the best big man on this Phoenix roster and sooner or later you figure Triano (or whomever the new coach is) is going to realize that. For now, the occasional benching is going to make it difficult to keep Len on fantasy rosters. If there’s a hot free agent available in your league, dropping Len certainly makes sense for now, but keep an eye on his playing time going forward and be ready to pick him back up once Phoenix comes to their senses.
This is only a sell until Triano comes to his senses. Len is a good player that needs to be on fantasy rosters when he gets consistent playing time.
Rajon Rondo (PG – NO)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million more times: Rajon Rondo is one of the most gifted passers in the NBA when he wants to be. The problem is, that’s not very often lately. He was plenty motivated when he was playing on championship-caliber teams in Boston with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. Since then, Rondo has bounced around from mediocre team to mediocre team without a lot of individual success. But for some reason, a good amount of fantasy owners add him hoping that 2008 Rondo is still in there somewhere.
Let me tell you a secret. The Boston version of Rondo isn’t walking through that door anytime soon. That Rondo is done and has been for a while. What we’re left with is a point guard that can get you about six assists per game and not much else. He still can’t shoot or score and his steals have dropped dramatically in two straight seasons down to 0.6 this season. You can do better than Rondo in fantasy.
De’Aaron Fox (PG – SAC)
Some rookies adapt quickly to the NBA level and thrive right away. Others take a while to find their footing. It seems De’Aaron Fox falls into the latter. In five of his last eight games, he’s been held to single-digit points and hasn’t had more than five assists in a game since November 9th against Philadelphia. He’s just not providing enough stats to be on fantasy rosters at this point in time.
For the season, Fox is averaging a mere 10.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.4 three-pointers. On top of that, his percentages aren’t helping fantasy owners either. He’s shooting 39.4% from the field and 71.1% from the line. Simply put, he’s not worth owning right now outside of 14+ team leagues.
Eric Cross is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Eric, check out his archive and follow him @EricCross04.
