Fantasy Basketball Week In Review: Week 4

Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we will highlight one key fantasy basketball takeaway from each night during the past week. These viewpoints can be both positive and negative and will hopefully help to provide insight into different roster moves you should consider making.

Fantasy basketball has a lot of moving pieces with all the different scoring settings that are possible to play under, so I will always do my best to spotlight where players gain or lose value in certain game types.

Without further ado, let's get right into the fourth week of the season and try to figure out how to take advantage of what we saw transpire.

Monday, November 11th

What's Wrong With The Rims At The Garden?

Kemba Walker took on some additional responsibility at the offensive end in Boston's first game since Gordon Hayward broke his left hand, connecting on a few key three-pointers down the stretch to finish with 29 points, five rebounds, five assists and a monstrous eight shots from behind the arc on the night. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown also helped add to the victory with an impressive 25 points and 11 rebounds, but it was the two staggering shooting displays from Mavericks power forward Kristaps Porzingis and Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum that stole the headlines for me.

Tatum and Porzingis combined to make two of 29 shots on the night, which slotted out to be about a nine percent field goal percentage for Porzingis (1-for-11) and a little over five percent for Tatum (1-for-18). I wouldn't place too much emphasis on a single performance for either player, but Porzingis has struggled this season with connecting on only 40.1% of his attempts. Tatum, on the other hand, is shooting just 39% from the field, although his five percent outing is surely weighing those numbers down slightly. At this very moment, Porzingis is ranked 76th in nine-category leagues and 38th in point settings, while Tatum is 37th in nine-category groups and 32nd in point systems. All those numbers are fine and dandy, but what does that mean for owners of theirs going forward?

I find it impressive to see Tatum ranked as highly as he is in category leagues, especially when you consider the fact that he is tanking field goal percentage for owners and not stealing the show in any one particular category either. All those details make him a very intriguing buy-low target because once his field goal percentage does increase slightly, we should be looking at a top-30 player in all settings. Porzingis, however, is a little more challenging to assess. He is an elite shot-blocker that produces a plethora of threes for his position, but you aren't going to get tons of production outside of that. He is a subpar rebounder for his size, doesn't provide too many assists or steals and has been a poor shooter with volume throughout his career. Owners in points leagues can own him with confidence that he is going to produce top-40 statistics, but I have never been a massive fan of his in head-to-head category groups for the price it costs to acquire him unless you are willing to punt field goal percentage and rebounds.

Tuesday, November 12th

Will Barton Continues Strong Start To 2019

Will Barton entered the season with an ADP on ESPN of 127th overall but has exceeded expectations so far in 2019, ranking 34th in nine-category leagues and 49th in points settings.

On Tuesday, Barton continued his well-rounded display by scoring 21 points to go along with nine rebounds, four assists, one steal and four three-pointers made in 36 minutes of action. That gives the 28-year-old six straight games of reaching double figures in scoring and a rebounding average of 9.6 during that same period.

Regardless of how you want to shake it, Barton is looking like a lethal threat in category leagues and is posting averages on the season of 15.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.8 blocks and 2.1 three-pointers made. His shooting average is struggling slightly at 43.9%, but he is more than making up for it with his 53.1% sniping from behind the arc. To add to all the superlatives he has achieved so far during 2019, Barton has been a steady producer with at least one steal in every game this year. If you are looking for a cheap player to acquire via trade, Barton is someone you might want to send a few feeler deals out for. You might be surprised how cheaply his owner is willing to let him go.

Wednesday, November 13th

Is Andrew Wiggins Beginning To Reach His Potential?

I think it is important to note that there is a maturation process that some players have to go through before they can reach their greatest heights. That is often forgotten because we live in a day and age where we expect things to happen as soon as possible, but that isn't always the case for young athletes who need time to become acclimated to the pro ranks. Some of those unreasonable expectations that are levied on players such as Andrew Wiggins can cause them to be labeled as a bust at a young age, and I believe that is why mental blocks begin to form in situations where the athlete is trying too hard to prove their critics wrong.

I realize this take isn't going to be universally accepted, but I've never viewed Wiggins to be a bust during his career. He was drafted first overall in 2014 and had expectations that were potentially unreachable, which most likely stemmed from the fact that the 2013 draft class was perceived to be the weakest in decades. As many of you probably know by now, Giannis Antetokounmpo ascended out of the darkness from that 2013 group, but that wasn't on pundits minds as we entered 2014. In fairness, the former Kansas Jayhawk did average 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his rookie year, but the issues that plagued him with his jump shot in college continued to be a nuisance throughout the first five years of his career.

However, Wiggins appears to have figured something out in 2019 at the age of 24, averaging career highs in field goal percentage (47.8%), points (25.9) and three-point percentage (36.1%). And if that is not enough, Wiggins has also managed to set career highs in rebounds, assists, blocks and turnovers rate. On Wednesday, the former 2015 Rookie of the Year continued his hot stretch of basketball in the month of November, scoring 30 points to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists, one block, two steals and four three-pointers on 12-for-23 shooting from the field (52.2%). That sort of production has helped to place him at over 50% shooting in his seven games in November and at nearly 30 points per contest. We will see if Wiggins can continue his scorching start to the year, but let's remember to use this as a reminder to be patient with young talent.

Thursday, November 14th

Caris Levert Is Droppable In 12-Man Leagues

Caris LeVert's right thumb injury happened last Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, but we now know that the former Michigan Wolverine will be sidelined for four-to-six weeks after having surgery to repair ligament damage on Thursday. Owners of LeVert's were off to a rocky start even before his injury, as the fourth-year pro was averaging a career-low field goal percentage of 42.1% while also bottoming out from the charity stripe at 64.5%. If you have an IR spot available and don't need to use it for another player, I am fine with stashing him there, but once his absence from the lineup begins to impede with your weekly production, LeVert doesn't have enough upside to warrant putting your team behind the eight-ball for over a month.

Garrett Temple will draw the start for the Nets while LeVert is out, but it should be Spencer Dinwiddie that sees the biggest boost in both his playing time and return. If you are in a deeper league, Taurean Prince could be available in some settings and has averaged 13.5 points, seven rebounds and 2.5 three-pointers made during the two games LeVert has missed. The Nets play four times during each of the next two weeks, so you might want to look into patching your hole with Prince if you can find him on your waiver wire in 12-man and up leagues.

Friday, November 15th

Evan Fournier Is A Safe Source For Category League Production

Evan Fournier scored a season-high 26 points on Friday night, adding four rebounds, three assists, one steal and five three-pointers in 32 minutes of action. If you own Fournier in a category-based league, his ability to score without tanking field goal percentage has always made him an interesting player to target late in drafts, but we still shouldn't be overemphasizing his fantasy prospects.

Fournier should be viewed as someone who can provide just enough substance across the board to keep owners happy but never enough to warrant trying to acquire via trade if it means cutting too far into your current roster construction. Essentially, his value increases when there are more participants in the league and decreases in smaller settings. Fournier is currently averaging 16.2 points per game to go with 3.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.2 three-pointers made. That has been solid enough to render around top-100 value, and there aren't many reasons I can think of with why that ranking wouldn't continue to improve as the year goes on.

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