In this post, we are looking into some potential Week 19 waiver wire pickups for guards.
We'll provide options for guards, eligible at PG, SG, or PG/SG who may be available in both standard leagues (less than 50% owned) and deeper leagues (less than 25% owned), and will typically provide a boost in points, assists, threes, and steals. All position eligibility and ownership rates based on Yahoo! fantasy leagues.
This year, RotoBaller is separating its waiver wire recommendations by position a little differently. In our three position breakdowns, we'll be separating players into GUARDS, including point guards (PG), shooting guards (SG), and combo guards (PG/SG); WINGS, including small forwards (SF), swing men (SG/SF), and small ball fours (SF/PF); and BIGS, including power forwards (PF), centers (C), and bigs who play both front court spots (PF/C).
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Standard League Waiver Wire Guard Adds
Cory Joseph, PG, TOR (29% owned)
Kyle Lowry is expected to miss most of the remainder of the regular season, returning either in the playoffs or for a game or two before to get back up to speed. That means for all intents and purposes, CoJo is the Raptors starting point guard for the rest of the fantasy basketball season. Joseph doesn't have elite upside, and doesn't do any one thing particularly well. His per 36 minute production is mediocre -- 13.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 0.8 threes, 1.2 steals, 0.1 blocks, and 1.6 turnovers on percentages of .444 and .787. The good news is he'll be getting close to 36 minutes, though, so his per 36 numbers will actually be realized.
He will bring middling across the board production, though, and should be added, especially in roto leagues where having a guy who's decent in a lot of stats without being terrible for his position anywhere has nice value. In H2H leagues, whether he's worth adding depends on who you're dropping and what position you need. He's not going to be a strong play in many punt builds since he has no concentration of strong categories.
Malcolm Brogdon, PG/SG, MIL (35% owned)
Like Toronto, Milwaukee's been hitting some injury woes (first Jabari Parker, now Michael Beasley) that are going to lead to extra production for some of the bench guys. Like Cory Joseph, Brogdon is a guy who produces for fantasy by being pretty good everywhere, which lends him best toward roto leagues. He won't get quite the opportunity that Joseph is getting, since he's still stuck behind Matthew Dellavedova (who he is vastly outplaying) in whatever you want to call the spot in the Bucks starting lineup that defends opposing point guards but plays a shooting guard role on offense while Giannis Antetokounmpo runs the point. Brogdon will get plenty of opportunity behind Delly, though, with the opportunity to eventually force his way into the starting lineup, and he'll get rotated in alongside Delly behind Khris Middelton and Tony Snell as well. He'll even get the occasional starters minutes like he did last night against Cleveland with Beasley knocked out of hte game and Middleton resting.
On a per minute basis, Brogdon has actually been better than Joseph -- he has had a better FT%, more assists, more threes, and more steals per 36 than CoJo. He just won't get the minutes that Joseph is getting in Jason Kidd's unpredictable rotations. He won't quite have the safe production that Joseph will in roto leagues where ever stat counts, but Brogdon has more upside if he gets minutes and is useful in more H2H leagues -- his SG eligibility is especially nice for lineups where you're already going PG heavy and trying to beat all comers in assists and FT%.
Standard League Honorable Mentions: Jameer Nelson, PG, DEN (41% owned); Yogi Farrell, PG, DAL (37% owned)
Deep League Waiver Wire Guard Adds
E'Twaun Moore, PG/SG, NO (6% owned)
Capping off our rundown of guards who aren't great, but aren't terrible in any one area is Pelicans guard E'Twaun Moore. Moore hasn't had a chance to play too much yet with the new Pelicans starting lineup featuring DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Solomon Hill, since he missed one of three games post All-Star, and came off the bench in another, due to a personal matter. It's clear he's the best (and really the only legit) shooting guard on the Pelicans roster, though, and starter's minutes will be coming. It's not like they're going to play Hollis Thompson 30 minutes every night. While he won't do a ton except for some nice defensive stats (he's a good defender, and will often be guarding the opponent's primary ball handler, leading to steals plus good blocks for a guard), he'll essentially be CoJo-lite with minutes, producing a little bit in every category. In 14+ team leagues, he should be owned.
Deep League Honorable Mentions: J.J. Barea, PG/SG, DAL (11% owned); Ben McLemore, SG, SAC (10% owned)
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.