RADIO
The deeper a fantasy 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 Week 8 deeper league waiver wire pickups for your fantasy basketball teams. These 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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Deep League Waiver Wire Add
Brandon Jennings, PG, NY (22% owned in Yahoo! leagues)
Brandon Jennings is a backup point guard for the New York Knicks. There's not too much appeal in that title. But even in that role he has contributed to his team, both in real life and in our little fantasy world. He is averaging 8.0 PTS with 1.0 3PM and 78.4 FT%, 2.8 REB, 5.2 AST and 0.9 STL in just 23 minutes per game. The assists and steals are what make Jennings valuable to your fantasy team. Low minutes, poor field goal percentage of 38.1%, lack of blocks and 1.9 TO per outing are what's keeping him on the waiver wire.
Owners, especially ones who are punting some of those categories, could deal with the turnovers and poor shooting if they need assists, a few steals and threes. And Jennings seeing more time on the court would get his owners even more of those. Well, if you take into consideration that Derrick Rose is the primary option at the point guard position, more minutes could come for Jennings.
Rose has played in only 166 out of the possible 312 regular season games in his past four seasons. Furthermore, he has already missed time this season. He sat out of three games and played just 10 minutes in one in the past 10 days. In 5 games during that period Jennings' usage percentage went up from 17.5 to 21.1. He was getting 30 minutes a night and averaging 12.2 PTS with 0.8 3PM, 3.6 REB, 5.0 AST and 0.4 STL on 83.3% from the line. Now the steals not being there was a coincidence since Jennings steals an average of 1.3 possessions per game in his career so far. His assists didn't go up with the minutes because he scored a lot more.
So if you are in the market for a PG who passes and will get you steals, Jennings could prove to be just what you need. Especially if the circumstances during the rest of the season go his way and he gets even more minutes.
Super Deep League Waiver Wire Add
Kelly Oubre Jr., SF, WAS (10% owned in Yahoo! leagues)
Kelly Oubre Jr. is getting more and more run with the Washington Wizards. And deservedly so! in his last four games he is scoring 11.8 PTS with 1.0 3PM on 50.0% from the field and 81.8% from the line. He is also getting 6.5 boards, 0.5 dimes and 1.8 steals with just 0.5 TO in 32 minutes of action in those past seven days. And while it is true that this spike in playing time came with Markieff Morris sitting out the Dec. 14 game and playing just 18 minutes in his return yesterday, the numbers don't lie.
Kelly played very well and used the opportunity he was given. He might not take away Morris' starting gig just yet, but he is knee deep in Washington's forwards rotation and there's no reason to think that will change. Moreover, Bradley Beal and John Wall both have had serious injury issues in the near past and have missed five games between them already this season. While Oubre Jr. isn't directly a replacement for those two position wise, if either of them were to go down with an injury that would open up more than 30 minutes per game for the rest of the team, and you better believe Kelly would get some of those with the way he has been playing.
Until Oubre Jr. gets consistent minutes in the Wizards' rotation, he is only a deep league add. But with Washington's backcourt being pretty injury prone, and him playing this well, there is a real possibility he gets the time and opportunity he needs to become a valuable asset to any fantasy team. If that happens your friends will rue the day you picked him up from under their noses.
Insanely Deep League Waiver Wire Add
Austin Rivers, PG/SG, LAC (5% owned in Yahoo! leagues)
Austin Rivers has been playing somewhat of a sixth man role for the Clippers so far this season. His counting stats averages haven't been overwhelming, but his owners could count them in the "positive" column. 9.0 PTS with 1.3 3PM, 1.8 REB, 2.0 AST, 0.6 STL and 0.2 BLK can come in handy. His 44.3 FG% and 64.4 FT% on the other hand do not. The 0.9 turnovers in 24 minutes per game don't ruin you, but are neither here nor there.
But it's not his season averages that might tempt you into taking a flier on Austin. It's his recent play. In his previous four games he was shooting lights out scoring 16.0 PTS with 3.8 3PM on 56.8% from the field and 77.8% from the charity stripe. His effective field goal percentage went from 47.1 to 77.0 and true shooting percentage from 49.2 to 78.1 in that period. He was also adding 2.3 REB, 2.3 AST and 0.5 STL with just 0.8 TO in 32 minutes per game. He even missed a game due to a concussion in the middle of those four and came back in style.
Although Luc Richard Mbah a Moute missing the last two games did help Austin get more minutes, his performance was well deserving of the time he was given by his coach and father Doc Rivers. And Luc is not known around the league for his durability either. In his last six seasons he played in more than 67 games only once. And while Mbah a Moute brings defense to the table, whenever the Clippers are in need of an offensive push, Rivers is the guy of the bench to give them just that.
It's also worth mentioning that the Clippers starting PG Chris Paul missed the last two games of the playoffs due to a broken hand last season. Rivers played 32 and 37 minutes in those two games without Paul. If he was to go down again, or if his coach decides to rest him occasionally as the season nears the end, Rivers could see another boost in minutes right in the middle of the fantasy playoffs.
If Rivers can keep his shooting anywhere close to this new level he will be a huge contributor to fantasy teams. In addition to this, him getting more run in the odd chance Mbah a Moute or Paul go down again would possibly result in even more nice stats for Rivers fantasy owners.
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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.
