Fantasy trade market is full of ups and downs. A few good performances can increase a players market price beyond his true value and owners in an active league can use that to swap a player for another with a higher ceiling or who better fits their team. On the other hand, a slump can hurt the views fantasy owners have of their player, especially if that player's poor play cost them in their weekly matchup. Disappointed owners could be willing to sell that player for less than his real value and perceptive owners could use that to their advantage.
Below are my Week 11 fantasy basketball buy low and sell high candidates. Owners of these two players have very different feelings about them in the previous week or two, but that may change in the future, and here is why.
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Buy Low, Sell High Advice for Week 11
Are You for Real, C.J. McCollum?
Now first of all I must say C.J. McCollum has been playing decent basketball this whole season. He is a top 30-40 player on the year with averages of 23.3 PTS with 2.5 3PM on 47.7 FG% and 90.5 FT%, 3.7 REB, 3.8 AST, 1.0 STL, 0.6 BLK and 2.3 TO in 34 minutes of action. In late December his frontcourt partner and Portland's first star Damian Lillard got hurt and McCollum came up big for the Trailblazers in his absence.
In his five games without Lillard, McCollum averaged 31.2 PTS with 2.6 threes on 49.1% from the field and 93.5% from the line, 4.2 boards, 4.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.6 swats in 36 minutes per game. C.J. also had a ridiculous usage percentage of 37.1% in thtat period compared to 26.6% before Lillard went down. He did have 3.4 turnovers a night but I'm sure his owners are thrilled with his performances nevertheless. These are top-10 numbers from a mid to late third round pick.
Lillard returned on Jan. 5 and played 36 minutes but McCollum still managed a decent game shooting 11 of 21 from the field and 2 of 2 from the charity stripe for 27 points (3 three-pointers), adding four rebounds, seven dimes, a steal, no blocks and two turnovers in 35 minutes. He kept his owner's hopes up that he can continue his hot streak even with Lillard back and his "sell high" window is still open with this performance. But there's no way McCollum keeps scoring 30 points a game, is there?
If you decide to try and get someone back for C.J. you should target a top-20 guy for sure. Depending on your league settings, your team's needs and other owners' views, you could get someone like Paul George, Paul Millsap, maybe even McCollum's buddy Lillard or if Draymond Green's owner needs points he might even be willing to swap him too.
Baller Move: Sell high
Time to Panic on Hassan Whiteside?
There are two sides to Hassan Whiteside's story. Let's talk about the positives first.
He is the number one rebounder in the NBA this season with 14.3 per game. He is a top-5 shot blocker with 2.2 per outing and we know he can do it even better having posted averages of 2.6 (2014-15) and 3.7 (2015-16) in his previous two seasons. Furthermore he has upped his scoring this season with 17.3 points a night. His FG% is down from his career averages, but that is expected because opponent's defences are a lot more focused on him with him not being surrounded by Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade anymore. But still, 54.6 FG% is still decent and him adding a career high 0.8 steals per game to the mix is helpful.
Now for the downside of Whiteside (see what I did there?). No threes and just 0.7 assists per game don't hurt too much, since you don't expect those stats from a center anyway. But with 2.0 TO per game he is among the worst 15 centers in the NBA and 54.0 FT% on 5.1 free throw attempts per game can do some damage to your team. Although what scares me the most are his injuries and Miami's playoff hopes.
Two seasons ago Whiteside was battling a hand injury with a laceration that needed stitches. That year, with Miami out of the playoff race with one game remaining their coach Erik Spoelstra decided to rest his star players. Instead he had a six man rotation in the final game of the season with four of the players playing the whole 48 minutes. Whiteside was not one of them.
This season Whiteside already admitted to playing banged up and is currently recovering from an eye injury which made him miss three games, but is expected to get back in the next game or two. Furthermore, the Heat is 7.5 games behind Chicago at the eight spot in the East so there is little hope for the playoffs this season in Miami. Will Spoelstra decide to rest him near the end of the season again?
And for all of you owners who have fantasy playoffs in weeks 20-22 (keep in mind that Yahoo! has the week of the All Star weekend running from Feb. 13-26) Miami has only 10 games during that spread. If Hassan sits any of those games, you're in big trouble.
Now if you believe in him and agree with me that he is a monster when healthy and given proper time on court you could decide to try and float an offer for him at this moment. He is currently slumping with just 10.3 PTS on 48.1 FG% and 62.5 FT%, 8.7 REB, 0.7 AST, 1.0 STL, 1.0 BLK and 3.0 TO in his last three games before missing his next three because of the eye injury.
Now neither of his two "major" injuries are something he can aggravate on his own (eye injury and stitches on his hand that have healed up). And he is a star player so he will be rebounding and blocking shots before you know it when he gets back, so he is worth a ponder over if you're in need of those stats.
A top-25 player would be required even for the most impatient owners to let him go so an offer of Isaiah Thomas, Kyle Lowry or even better might be necessary. Or you could try to use the hotness of Nikola Jokic or even the hero of our previous story C.J. McCollum to tempt Hassan's owner.
Baller Move: Hold or buy low