JaMychal Green (PF, MEM) - NBA Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in Deep Leagues

OWNED IN: 1% of Yahoo! Leagues

ANALYSIS: I'm a huge fan of Brandan Wright's fantasy potential if he can work his way up to anywhere near a starter's share of minutes in filling in for Marc Gasol. Wright has never played more than around 20 minutes a game, though, and he's still not starting right now. The guy who is starting at C for the Grizzlies is a guy named JaMychal Green, whose appearance in box scores for the Grizzlies as "J. Green" is making it seem like Jeff Green never left.

In a start at center on Friday night, Green filled the stat sheet with 9 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, and only 1 turnover. The most encouraging part about this is the 3 steals and 3 blocks. Per 36 on the season, Green has shown he can score (13.6 pts/36) on good percentages (.502 FG%, .771 FT%) and rack up rebounds (9.5 reb/36), but he's only averaged 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per 36 -- not awful, but fairly lackluster, especially when it comes to blocks from a big man. Perhaps starting at center will be a boost, though, with Green tasked with rim defense more now without Marc Gasol monopolizing that role.

There are caveats to his increased playing time. Wright was in his first game back from offseason surgery on a minutes cap -- his playing time should amp up at the expense of Green. Further, Green was especially relied upon in this particular game after an injury to Tony Allen all but precluded the Grizzlies from using any small ball lineups. Maybe he goes back to a reserve role. In the meantime, though, he's a double-double threat with good percentages who's shown a sign he might be contributing a bit in the defensive categories. He needs to be owned in deep leagues, and warrants watch list status in standard leagues to see if he can keep up his playing time and blocks/steals contributions.