It’s Saturday. You know what that means.
If you’re new to this column, here’s what we will be looking at each and every week.
Every week, we’ll be looking at players who are widely available and rostered in fewer than 60 percent of fantasy leagues on Yahoo. We’ll be focusing on 8-cat leagues because turnovers are a waste of a category, to be honest. We’ll be looking at players who can help you in each of the eight categories who you can get before your league-mates catch on.
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The eight categories we’ll focus on each week are:
- Points
- Rebounds
- Assists
- Steals
- Blocks
- Threes
- Field-goal percentage
- Free-throw percentage
Let’s get to it.
Points
Cameron Johnson (SF/PF – PHO): 65%
The cutoff is usually 60 percent, but Johnson has been on fire lately, so I’m making an exception here.
Johnson poured in nine three-pointers for a career-high 38 points – including the game-winner Friday night against the Knicks. This wasn’t just an outlier performance from Johnson either. He now has at least 20 points in four of his last five games, and over the last two weeks, he’s the No. 9 player in fantasy.
We’ve discussed him all year, and he’s back to playing big minutes for the best team in the NBA. Scoop him up if he’s available.
Rebounds
Roby has played 35 minutes per game over his last two contests, and he’s come through in a big way for OKC. In those games, he’s averaged 23.5 points and 8.5 boards.
Over the last two weeks, Roby is posting top-50 numbers, and the Thunder should continue to play him in a semi-consistent fashion as they continue to be shorthanded.
Assists
Cameron Payne (PG/SG – PHO): 48%
The Suns have two Cam’s that aren’t only must-roster players, but must-start players. The second is Payne, who played a full workload after being brought back slowly in his return.
Payne dropped 17 points and 16 assists Friday night against the Knicks. While you can’t expect 16 dimes every game, you can expect a great assist total moving forward with Chris Paul (PG – PHO) out.
Payne is a must-start option in every single league of every single size.
Steals
We took a few weeks off, but Jones is back in the steals spot in this column.
He deserves serious consideration for Rookie of the Year voting, and he deserves more respect from fantasy managers, too.
Jones contributes across the board for fantasy, and he continues to excel defensively for real-life and fantasy purposes. He has 11 steals over his last four games.
Blocks
Aleksej Pokusevski (SF/PF – OKC): 25%
The playing time and the production continue to be inconsistent for Poku, but he’s played 26 minutes or more in three straight games and has offered across-the-board production of late.
Before his recent three-game stretch, Poku scored in double-digits in his previous three games – making it four of his last six total.
The Thunder should continue to turn him loose down the stretch, and his skill-set is super fantasy-friendly.
Threes
Grant Williams (SF/PF – BOS): 10%
The Celtics didn’t need Jaylen Brown (SG/SF – BOS) against the Memphis Grizzlies this week, but if his ankle injury continues to persist, we could see more of a run for Williams.
He’s quietly put together a solid season, posting top-100 numbers over the last month.
What’s more, he’s taken become a three-point shooter for Boston, in a strange turn of events.
Are there better sharpshooters available? Sure, but Williams has continued to see increased run and should continue to flourish given the opportunity.
Field-goal percentage
Bruce Brown (SG/SF/PF – BKN): 28%
Since the All-Star break, Brown has been very, very solid for fantasy managers, offering across-the-board contributions.
He’s scored at least 14 points in five of his six post-break games, shooting 50 percent from the field and posting top-58 numbers for fantasy.
The Nets are bad, and until (if?) they get fully healthy, Brown should continue to produce.
Free-throw percentage
Markelle Fultz (PG/SG – ORL): 24%
You know the drill by now with this category. We find someone who can knock down free throws, yes, but it’s also to highlight a player who we can’t quite squeeze into any of the above categories. This week, we’ll talk about Fultz.
Fultz returned after missing an entire year with a torn ACL. Now, he’s been limited – of course – in his return, playing a combined 31 minutes in two games. But he has scored 21 points with eight dimes during that stretch.
The Magic have a loaded backcourt, and Fultz will likely be limited for the rest of the season when it comes to his minutes. But in deeper leagues, Fultz can still have some counting value, and he could see an increased role if Cole Anthony (PG – ORL) or Jalen Suggs (PG/SG – ORL) were to miss any time.
Check out today’s NBA Layup from FanDuel
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
