It’s Thursday, and you know what that means.
Buy low-sell high is one of the oldest terms in fantasy, but it’s more involved than that. You have to look at the “low” and “high” of it to make sure you’re maximizing value. We can also buy the player, but question the team and role that they are in when it comes to maintaining the pace that they are on.
Most importantly here, with any call you make, you have to be willing to lose the deal or accept that you made the wrong call. It happens all the time when we think we are selling at the highest value, only for that player to buck the trend and play like a stud going forward.
Now that you have an idea of what to expect for this column week to week, let’s get to the players.
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Buy
He’s Herb Jones (who?), Herb Jones, the one and only you can’t clone him. He’s got a lot of haters and a lot of homies. Some friends and some phony.
What’s not phony is the run that Jones is on right now. Offensively, maybe. He’s scored 13 and 19 points in two of his last three games. Jones is mainly a defensive contributor, recording at least one steal and one block in all but one game this year.
Jones has been playing major minutes for the Pelicans, including 39 against Denver on Wednesday and 36 against the Mavericks last Friday.
Fantasy is as much about opportunity as it is skill and Jones has enough skill to take advantage of his huge opportunity. I’m buying.
Over the last month, Davis is the 121st player in fantasy. Narrowing it down more, he’s 67th over the last two weeks, and 18th (!) over the last week.
The Kings have been rewarding him for his performance by playing him 29.5 minutes per night over his last three games.
In those, Davis is averaging 22.3 points per game, and he’s earned himself a spot in the Kings’ starting lineup for now.
I’m cautiously buying in deeper leagues and looking to add him in 12-team leagues as a wait-and-see player.
We were wondering who was going to step up for the Grizzlies in Ja Morant‘s absence. Tyus Jones, De’Anthony Melton, Brandon Clarke, and Jaren Jackson Jr. have all been great, but it’s been Bane who has played out of this world.
He comes in as the 46th overall player in fantasy this year, and he’s putting up top 30 numbers in the last week.
The TCU standout fell to the Grizzlies with the last pick in the first round in the 2020 draft. He’s providing the same type of value for fantasy managers as he is for his real-life squad.
I’m buying his top-35 status with Morant out of the lineup, and even when Morant is back, he’s a top 60 player for me.
Sell
The Trail Blazers are slammed with injuries in their backcourt making Smith a must-roster player right now. But, like, we’ve seen this story with him before.
“But Michael, you said the opportunity is as important as skill.”
Yes, opportunity is huge, and that makes him a must-roster guy. But Smith has 11 turnovers in his last two games. Eleven.
I get streaming him, but if I have him rostered and I’m not in need of a guard, I’m trading him to a team who needs someone right now and taking whatever they offer me.
Boston has played 22.5 minutes in his last two games and has averaged 20 points per game. His big breakout performance came Wednesday night against the Celtics, who he torched for 27 points on 9-13 shooting, including five made three-pointers.
I’m not doubting the rookie’s skill at all, but this is the definition of a sell-high moment with all of the injuries and COVID time missed we are seeing.
If you can flip Boston in a non-dynasty league for a player who helps you elsewhere, you do it, and you can live with Boston breaking out and becoming a must-start player. I don’t see that happening, at least this year.
Patrick Beverley (MIN – PG/SG)
Beverley returned to the T’Wolves lineup – and started – Wednesday night, posting a 16/2/2 line in a blowout loss to the Jazz. It’s reason to get excited, and the veteran should be rostered in 12- to 15-team leagues. However, as has been the case with the other two players in the sell category, I question the long-term value with Beverley, who has always really been a fantasy streamer, which is fine. Once D’Angelo Russell returns, Beverley will assume his place on the Minnesota bench. Sell after the big game in his return.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
