Centers Went From Rare To Everywhere

Late-December and early-January is right about the time when players mysteriously suffer from an un-curable disease called "rest." It's common and floods every teams locker room at some point. Luckily it only lasts one game, usually on the front or back end of back-to-back games. Teams are starting to totally scrap game plans because of injuries, for example the Miami Heat naming Justise Winslow as their new starting point guard. This happened last year as well and really improved Winslow's value, but the overall impact on other players was minimal. He is able to play make, but since he isn't the strongest shooter, it's not hard for teams to really accommodate for that and fill passing lanes. Regardless, his value increases massively for the time being, but the rest of the Heat will need to create their own opportunities until a more suitable option is available.

You have probably noticed the juggernaut of juggernauts having started to slow down, further proving how truly dead of a period this is. Look for Luke Kornet, Rodions Kurucs, and Thomas Bryant have emerged as suitable bigs, while others like Ivica Zubac should already be picked up. With the amount of upside these forward/centers have, you need to at least roster them for the their immediate upside. I made sure to list a bunch of high-upside centers early, because this article will feature two guards and one big.

Make sure to stay updated on injuries and return times, but as far as I'm concerned, these next three players will see the biggest benefit. As a reminder, for standard (10-12 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 50% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues.

Standard League Adds for Week 10

Tomas Satoransky, G  – Washington Wizards

Ownership: 4%

6.1 PPG / 2.9 APG / .457 FG% / .8 SPG

This pick is more on the bold side since Tomas Satoransky has basically seen his peak for this season, but I'm confident the Wizards will continue to need his bench production. He was benefitting from John Wall dealing with a minor illness and injuries, but he still good for 20 minutes every game. Of course, he is not going to be that type of player that is having massive outings every night and he won't stack one category, but since he does offer upside in every category and helps with steals and shooting percentages, the recoil is minimal. This week should be a big week for Satoransky seeing how the Wizards play the Bulls, Hornets, and Hawks as their next three games.

Langston Galloway, G – Detroit Pistons

Ownership 2%

9.6 PPG / 2.6 RPG / 1.8 3PTM / .406 FG%

Langston Galloway's last two games were huge for his value and he should still be available in most leagues right now. In both games he scored 20 or close to 20 points and was able to convert from deep on decent percentages. He didn't have his highest scoring night of the season in either game and he's hit four threes in multiple games this season. His minutes have taken a slight downturn recently, but he offers spacing and defense at the guard position, something Detroit is very, very limited on. Galloway should see his minutes start to circle back around to the 25-27 range in the near future, but his upside will most likely rely on how well he performs each night. His role in the offense allows for him to produce under fairly easy circumstances, so look for him to be the primary a three-point shooter for the next month, while the Pistons search desperately for another source of consistency.

Jakob Poeltl, F/C – San Antonio Spurs

Ownership 18%

6.0 PPG / 5.1 RPG / .627 FG% / .7 BPG

This is old news at this point, but Jakob Poeltl carries so much upside it's annoying. His ability to actually score and get to his spots on offense needs work, but defensively he seems at home with the Spurs. Despite Poeltl not being the strongest defender, you wouldn't be able to tell until you actually watch him get run over and dunked on. Both Davis Bertans and Poeltl are getting their fair share of posters sent their way, but it's ultimately grooming them for defensive longevity. Since Poeltl still needs a ton of work and the Spurs are low on young bigs, Poeltl only has the curse of the Spurs holding him back. The curse is that the Spurs don't have solid rotations and tend to rest players at random, but since San Antonio is struggling, it's easy for him to find production all over the place. If he can continue to scrape at double-doubles in barely 20 minutes, I expect him to find consistency the more he comes of the bench.

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