RADIO
Surging players are always great trade bait, and if you do your fishing right, after their explosion is over you could end up with a nice catch. For this to be successful, one should always keep an eye out for players' forms and take advantage of their own player's hot streak and another, more valuable player's cold one.
This week we will be taking a look at Robert Covington as he has been tearing it up lately, and Kemba Walker who just hasn't looked like himself since returning from a three-game absence due to an illness. There are a few questions surrounding the two of them. Will Lord Cov continue to dominate? Can we expect the old Kemba to show up soon?
We will try to answer them in our Sell High and Buy Low candidates for Week 13 of the NBA season, right here at RotoBaller.
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Buy Low, Sell High Advice for Week 13
Are You for Real, Robert Covington?
First of all, let me point out that I really rate Lord Cov. He is one of the few players out there who will contribute across the board without really hurting you anywhere. Also, he is a member of the elite "1-1-1 club" - players who get you 1+ three-pointers, steals and blocks per game. This doesn't sound like much to people outside our fantasy realm, but around here these fellas are royalty!
So why sell Cov?
Well, unless you're getting back a player in at least top-30 who fits your team better - DON'T! Minnesota has a decent fantasy playoffs schedule with four games in both Week 22 and Week 24 and he is quite a valuable and consistent fantasy contributor who you probably picked because he fits your team, so if that is still the case and you are in a spot that can lead you into the playoffs, you can do a lot worse than Robert.
But really, why sell Cov?
Well, he is playing really well of late, averaging 14.7 PTS with 2.9 REB on 48.1 FG% and 64.3 FT%, 6.6 REB, 1.9 AST, 3.0 STL, 1.1 BLK, and just 1.0 TO in 30 minutes per game over the last two weeks which has him at #14 for this stretch. This is all with the Wolves pack leader Karl-Anthony Towns out with an injury, so these stats are a bit too high. KAT is expected to return soon so this should take a few boards and shots away from Covington. And those 3.0 steals per game aren't really maintainable as they were a bit inflated by the six steals he had in the crazy game against Houston. And to make things even crazier - he had all six in the first half.
The Lord should go back to his top-40 role soon and stick around it for the rest of the season. Although the Timberwolves are 3 games behind the 8th spot in the West so them being out of the playoff hunt early is a threat to his playing time and another potential reason for you to deal him at this moment. If the team fit is there, I would give Covington up for guys like Russell Westbrook, Deandre Ayton or the hero of our next story - Kemba Walker.
Baller Move: Sell high
Time to Panic on Kemba Walker?
Three games out with an illness to start off the New Year and then the next four with averages of 15.6 PTS with 2.5 3PM on 51.1 FG% and 72.4 FT%, 3.5 REB, 4.0 AST, 0.5 STL, 0.5 BLK, and 1.8 TO in 27 minutes per outing, including an ejection after just 18 minutes against the Spurs on Jan 8. He is outside the top-100 during this period.
Kemba is actually at #41 on the season, so we must acknowledge that he is not as good as he was back in Charlotte - at least for fantasy purposes. But he is still an elite scorer, great 3PT shooter and contributes in most "guard stats" with also adding 3.9 boards and 0.6 blocks to the table.
Now, Kemba might not be a top-15 fantasy player like he was a year ago, but he surely has the potential to be inside the top-25. Furthermore, if your fantasy playoffs fall on Weeks 21 - 23, he should be on your radar as he has 11 games during these three weeks. For these reasons, I would be prepared to part with a top-40 guy to get the chance to watch Kemba pour them rainmakers for my fantasy team. Players like his teammate Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton and DeMar DeRozan would all be someone I'd consider parting with to obtain the rights to Walker if the fit is right.
Baller Move: Hold or buy low
