RADIO
The deeper a fantasy basketball league, the harder it is to hit a winner with your last few picks. It is also harder to find decent help from the waiver wire if your late-round picks don't do you justice. If you picked up a few stinkers, don't lose hope just yet. I will try to help you pick up a winner.
Here are my deeper league fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams. These NBA players should be available in most leagues and they might just help you out, whether it's a few weeks rental or a long-term fix to a problem your team is having.
If a guy on your team is frustrating you with his weak performances, give some of them a go. They might just be worth it.
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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets for Week 6
Bruce Brown (SG/SF, BKN) - 13% rostered
We're about to hit December. With 16 completed games on Brooklyn's schedule, Brucey Brownie has started 14 of them while playing more than bulky minutes as the average reads 27 MPG since his first start all the way back on Oct. 25. Gotta love him if only because of that... only he's now also putting up numbers on the counting stats front we care about in our fantasy leagues.
As ridiculous as it sounds, Brown has gone from scoring 9.7 PPG in his first seven starts to only 6.8 PPG in his past seven, though he's averaging more fantasy points per game. He's basically gone from "only" scoring to doing everything. Brown is putting up some efficient 0.94 FP/min starting Nov. 10 compared to his below-average 0.62 prior to that. He's grabbing boards like a madman (5+ in four of his last five games through Saturday), sharing some dimes, stealing rocks possessed (3 steals in three of his last six games, 2+in four of them), and shooting 50% from the field while the connection on the odd triple here and there. Must roster-and-play in any deeper league while the role stays the same and the production keeps growing.
Jarred Vanderbilt (PF/C, MIN) - 12% rostered
With Karl-Anthony Towns manning the paint (at least in terms of being designated as the C-starter), Minny went with Jaden McDaniels at the PF position to kick the season off, then moved on to Jarred Vanderbilt, came back to Jaden for a four-game span, and seems to have settled on Vanderbilt as he's started all last six Wolves games through Saturday. Don't get it wrong, though, as McDaniels is still playing a solid 26 MPG off the pine--although to very bad levels of play.
Vanderbilt, on the other hand, has definitely welcomed his fresh starting role. He's gone from averaging 0.80 FP/min prior to Nov. 10 to a higher 0.99 FP/min since then in seven games played in that span. He's played 24+ minutes in four straight games and is coming off back-to-back games putting up 5-10-2-0-2 baselines (6-12-2-0-2 against SAS; 5-10-3-3-2 against MEM). Obviously, it'd be a little too much to expect those 10+ boards coming nightly, but Vanderbilt is pulling down 6.7 RPG on the season and he offers a tasty upside in the scarce cats of steals (1.2 SPG) and blocks (0.8 BPG on the year, 1.1 BPG starting from Nov. 12 on).
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (SF, OKC) - 12% rostered
The Thunder are most probably playing above their true-talent level these days clocking in at the 11th seed in the West with a 6-10 record entering Monday's game. The Thunder, too, have basically relied on both Derrick Favors and Darius Bazley when it comes to manning the paint. Only an injury to the former opened the door to JRE to start for a few games of late. He's now back to the pine, though, but that's no reason for concern given his production and the chance he keeps seeing minutes as the season grows older and the Thunder inevitably sink, thus favoring youngsters (JRE) over veterans (Favors).
With Favors back in the starting five last Saturday against Boston, JRE still found a way to play 27 minutes off the pine. That's pretty much the playing time he was getting starting the prior five games (26 MPG, in fact) while his production stayed above the water with a 0.96 FP/min mark compared to his average of 0.85 in the five matches he started before that (from Nov. 12 on). JRE can hit treys (he's got 2+ triples in five games already, but he can find his way to zero as often--eight such games to date). JRE will give you good rebounds (5.1 RPG on the year, 6.8 in the past two weeks) and comes also with good upside on the steals (1+ in the last eight games) front.
Immanuel Quickley (PG, NYK) - 10% rostered
Something very interesting is happening in New York as no.1 backup-PG Derrick Rose has started to lose minutes to no. 2 backup-PG Immanuel Quickley through the past 10 days of play. IQ has gone from averaging 15 MPG up to Nov. 10 to staying on the court for an average of 24 since then; Rose has gone from 24 to 21. The truth is that both guards are playing to very similar levels in terms of per-minute production, but while Quickley had a rough start to the season on the shooting department he's already fixed that and is putting up numbers of late, thus making him more valuable than ever for HC Thibs and fantasy GMs.
Since IQ dropped 9+ points for the first time back on Nov. 5 he's only had one game below that mark (8 total games played). He's been able to raise his FG% to a perfectly rounded 50% on a 7+ FGA diet and he's also hit 16-of-18 free throws attempted in that span. Compared to Rose, IQ is turning the ball over pretty much on a daily basis but almost never more than once (he only has 2 TOs in two games of the 16 he's appeared in this season, and averages a measly 0.75 TOPG). Quickley will give you reasonable points (11.5+ PPG since Nov. 5), triples (2.5+ 3PG), and good enough rebounds (2.5+ RPG) and dimes (3+ APG) for a reserve guy into the 20-ish MPG.
Brandon Clarke (PF, MEM) - 8% rostered
B-Clarke missed a few games at the start of November, but that didn't prevent him from performing to fantastic per-minutes levels of play once he returned on Nov. 5 to play a low 10 minutes against the Wolves. That, sadly, has been the playing time Clarke enjoyed in the early season on a nightly basis while he's now logging some 17 MPG for the Grizz. Clarke, though, is putting up a great 1.19 FP/min average (even better 1.30-mark if we don't count Memphis' ridiculous stinker-of-a-game against Minny last Saturday.
With Jaren Jackson Jr. back and Steven Adams entrenched in starting lineups, Clark is always going to be relegated to relieving duties. Nothing to worry about considering we're talking about a low-end Robert Williams in Boston last year. Bench player? Yes. Efficiency monster? You bet. Clarke won't stretch the floor in the tiniest of ways (no treys this year in 14 games but he cans every other shot he takes (56+ percent FG% in November), pulls down boards as the big man he is, and more than anything is putting up good steals and blocks numbers through the past eight games this month (at least one steal in five matches, 1.1+ BPG since the start of the month).
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More Fantasy Basketball Analysis
By popular demand, RotoBaller has aggregated all of our fantasy basketball NBA waiver wire pickups into a running list of NBA waiver options, so bookmark the page and check back often for updates.
