Many a man, nay, many a soul have chosen poorly during their fantasy drafts. The last few picks are always a gamble. If we don't like the initial hand luckily we can fold and get another one, from the waiver wire that is.
The deeper and more competitive your league is the less chance there is for you to hit gold from the fantasy free agent pool. Here are some potential golden nuggets (no connection to the NBA team from Denver) currently covered by sand, but who might just get dusted off and used to forge your NBA Fantasy Championship ring.
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Deep League Add
Timofey Mozgov, C, LAL (25% owned)
Timofey Mozgov has been very efficient with his shooting so far this season. He has been hitting 61.2% of his field goals and a whopping 90% of his free throws. That's good enough for top 30 in the NBA. Those percentages are ridiculous, and it will be hard for him to keep them up at that level. But here we are 14 games in and they still look great, so they shouldn't drop too much. He also has 8.7 PTS, 4.7 REB, 1.1 AST, 0.4 STL and 0.7 BLK per game so far in 2016. He is the best center on the Lakers team and he is usually used more when there is a dominant center on the opposing team.
This all being said, he is still averaging just 22 minutes per game. His eye injury did have a little to do with that, and it seems to be fully behind him now. But his owners, and all fantasy managers looking into becoming one, would like to see him getting more playing time. Somewhere in the upper 20s would be enough for Mozgov to do some serious damage in rebounds, FG% and blocks to your league rivals. If those are the categories you are looking to improve, Mozgov is the guy for you, no question about it.
Super Deep League Add
Nik Stauskas, SG, PHI (10% owned)
While we are still on the subject of good percentages, we can use the efficiency argument for Nik Stauskas, too. The former Wolverine has been shooting pretty well connecting on 53.8% of his shots from the field, 46% of his threes and on 82.6% of his free throws this season. He is getting his fantasy owners 10.0 PTS, 1.6 3PM, 2.6 REB, 1.0 AST, 0.5 STL and 0.3 BLK per game. He's been killing it even more softly in his previous seven games, scoring in double figures in six of them and averaging 13.6 PTS, 2.4 3PM, 2.4 REB, 0.7 AST and 0.4 BLK and on a beautiful 62.3 FG%.
Now those percentages are a vast improvement on his career average. But he is in his third year in the NBA and who's to say he won't finally find his shot? He has been compared with Peja Stojakovic and has trained with him when he signed for the Kings, so maybe some of Peja's sniper aim rubbed off on him.
Stauskas is a sharpshooter and a three point specialist who also gets you defensive stats and is helpful with your percentages. He is getting 24 minutes per game with his recent run of good performances he might get even more playing time, and that would make him a very valuable pickup in those deep, deep leagues.
Insanely Deep League Add
Justin Holiday, SG/SF, NYK (1% owned)
While Justin Holiday has been pretty quiet to start the season, playing more than 20 minutes in just one of his first seven games, he has been on the rise since. In his seven games after that rough period, Holiday has been playing 22 MIN and scoring 8.3 PTS with 1.3 3PM, grabbing 3.6 REB and getting 1.1 AST, 0.7 STL and 0.6 BLK while turning the ball over just 1 time per game. He is also going 47.7% from the field, 45% from three point range and hit 7/8 of his free throws. Not too shabby for a guy owned in just 1% of Yahoo! leagues.
He is currently a backup to starting SG Courtney Lee who is playing 30 minutes per game. Lee is not a star player and I could see Justin stealing some minutes away from him over the course of the season. Also, let's not forget who the point guards are for the New York Knicks. Derrick Rose is the former MVP, and his talent is undeniable, but he is a huge injury risk. He played a total of 166 games in his past four NBA seasons. Brandon Jennings is a bit more reliable, but has also played just 41 and 48 games the previous two seasons. If any one of them goes down, Holiday could get more run.
Holiday's stats are already solid for a player available in almost any league, and his recent uptick in production as well as his outlook for more playing time as the season goes on make him a viable option which could prove to be crucial come fantasy playoffs.
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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.