On Monday RotoBaller covered waiver wire centers worth adding and on Tuesday we covered forwards. Today, in a big surprise, it's time for the guards! Here are some PGs and SGs who might be worth adding to your team, depending on your needs and the depth of your league.
NBA Week 2 Waiver Wire: Guards
Standard League Adds
Evan Fournier (SG/SF, ORL) - 48% Owned
23-year-old Evan Fournier looks to be on the verge of a break-out season with the frisky Orlando Magic. In the last three games, he's averaged an astounding 23.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals, 2.7 threes, and 1.7 turnovers on a .500 FG% and .700 FT% in 40.9 minutes per game. While his insane shooting won't keep up, he's still going to see a lot of usage and have the greenest of green lights from deep on a team that lacks outside shooting elsewhere in the starting lineup. It's time to give up on the hype of Aaron Gordon, and get on board the Evan Fournier train. Add him in all leagues, though whatever you do, don't Google his name.
Jerian Grant (PG, NYK) - 25% owned
Grant is off to a nice start to his NBA career. He has very good (though unsustainable) FG% for a point at .538 and an outstanding number of steals, averaging 1.5 in just over 24 minutes a game. Meanwhile, of his two main competitors for minutes at PG, one isn't a true PG (Langston Galloway) and the other one is old and busted (Jose Calderon, who has been beyond awful with a .286 FG% and only 1.8 assists per 20 minutes). Even when Arron Afflalo returns as primary SG, I think Grant's opportunities will continue to grow at the expense of Calderon. He would look awfully nice in a small-ball lineup with Galloway, Afflalo, Carmelo Anthony, and Robin Lopez.
My main concern with Grant right now is that his assist rate is still low for a point guard at 3.8 in 24 minutes a game. However, I think the same continued development that will earn him more minutes will also lead to better passing numbers for Grant. He's a reasonable speculative add in standard leagues if you have a roster spot, and must-own in deep leagues.
Other Standard League Adds: Langston Galloway (PG/SG, NYK) - 45% owned, Kent Bazemore (SG/SF, ATL) - 40% owned, Arron Afflalo (SG/SF, NYK) - 37% owned, Dennis Schroder (PG, ATL) - 31% owned, C.J. Miles (SG/SF, IND) - 28% owned
Deep League Adds
Nik Stauskas (SG, PHI) - 16% owned
Stauskas performed admirably for the 76ers in a surprisingly close loss on Monday to the Cleveland Cavaliers. His final stat line in that game was 29 minutes, 4/10 FGs, 4/4 FTs, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 threes, 0 blocks, 2 turnovers. With an absolute dearth of NBA-level wings on the 76ers roster outside of the currently injured Robert Covington, this is a wide-open opportunity for "Sauce Castillo." It's hard to imagine him not continuing to get significant run going forward.
In standard leagues, he'll be too much of a zero or negative in too many stats (FG%, assists, and blocks) to be worth owning. However, in leagues with 14+ teams or deep rosters where you can deal with a few zero categories from guys, Stauskas will bring a nice infusion of points and treys with a few rebounds and a plus FT% impact.
Marcus Thornton (SG, HOU) - 8% owned
Thornton has actually provided top 60 value in two games he's started for the Rockets, thanks in large part to the 7 treys he managed to sink in a total of 68 minutes played against Miami and Oklahoma City. I'd never pull the trigger in a standard league hoping for that value -- it's unsustainable. Thornton doesn't do much else other than hit threes and score, and he won't continue to hit threes at the rate he is. The minutes will also come crashing to earth once the Rockets get back injured power forwards Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas and stop playing so much small ball.
In a deep league, though, it's worth a shot. If you have someone on the bottom of your roster who has a zero chance of ever providing top 75 value, why not trade that in for the non-zero chance Thornton gives you for top 75 value in the short term?
Other Deep League Adds: Matthew Dellavedova (PG/SG, CLE) - 13% owned, Jeremy Lamb (SG/SF, CHA) - 12% owned, Rodney Stuckey (PG/SG, IND) - 5% owned, T.J. McConnell (PG, PHI) - 5% owned, Toney Douglas (PG/SG, NO) - 3% owned
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