It's never too early to start streaming. Whether you have an opening due to an injury, you auction-drafted a crew of stars and scrubs, or you just didn't bother putting any effort into your last couple draft picks, you probably have a player or two on your team who isn't must-own. You're better off using that roster spot to stream players to eke out wins in close categories in your weekly head-to-head matchups.

This year, RotoBaller will be making weekly recommendations for extreme short term category specialists every week in all six counting stat categories (points, assists, threes, rebounds, steals, and blocks). Below are my Week Nine offensive category streamers for fantasy basketball - points, threes, and assists are below. All position eligibility and ownership percentages are based on Yahoo! fantasy leagues.

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Three Points Made Streamer

Austin Rivers, PG/SG, LAC, Opponents: Thursday vs. SAS, Friday vs. DAL, Sunday @ LAL (10% Owned);

Austin Rivers reminds me of the coach’s son I hated growing up. I still hate you Nick. That being said, Doc’s boy has shown improvement and holds deep league value in his fifth season as a pro. Prior to this year, he had miserable percentages of 40.8 FG% and 32.9 3P%. It looks like he’s turning things around since the shot selection has been better as he’s shooting 45.3 FG% and 41.5 3P% as well as a career-high true-shooting percentage of 55.4. From what I can see, Rivers has made huge improvements to his mid-range game, which has opened up better looks from distance. From 10 – 16 feet, he’s shooting 54.5%, which is Hulk-like in transformation compared to his career 31.5% prior to this season. Maybe he’s always angry?

The Clippers have three games in the late week which includes a Thursday and Sunday with only five games in the league. Additionally, with Blake Griffin out of the lineup, Doc will be forced to start small with Paul Pierce at the four spot. In the past five games, Rivers has averaged 30.6 minutes and will probably continue to see above 25 minutes with Griffin’s 29.0% usage out of the lineup. On top of that, he’s had four multi-three games in the past five. While it pains me to say it, he does make a decent streaming threes option in the late week.

Other Options: Seth Curry, PG/SG, DAL (20% Owned); Marco Belinelli, SG/SF, CHA (19% Owned); Mirza Teletovic, SF/PF, MIL (10% Owned); Langston Galloway, PG/SG, NOP (10% Owned); Jared Dudley, SG/SF/PF, PHX (8% Owned)

Points Streamer

Marreese Speights, PF/C, LAC, Opponents: Thursday vs. SAS, Friday vs. DAL, Sunday @ LAL (25% Owned);

Blake Griffin is going to have minor knee surgery and is expected to miss 3 – 6 weeks, so the Clippers are going to be thin in the backcourt going into the new year. Doc Rivers doesn’t have many options as Brandon Bass and Marreese Speights are the other true power forwards on the team. He’s opted to start Paul Pierce. We’ve seen this before from Doc and don’t expect much from Pierce even as a starter; he’s averaged 11.3 minutes in a whopping seven games this season. For the next 3 – 6 weeks, the trio of Speights, Pierce, and Wes Johnson should split the extra frontcourt minutes.

I’m not expecting Mo Buckets to consistently break the 20-minute mark off the bench, but he’ll get more than the 15.3 minutes he’s averaging on the season. His per-36 numbers project 21.2 points and we're not expecting much else than that. To be fair, he does do that one thing really, really good. He’s at 9.1 points in limited minutes, so we can expect a marginal bump in production for the next little bit. On top of that, the Clips have three games in the late week, which should give Speights ample opportunity to accumulate points. He’s a points specialist so I don’t like holding him longer than this awesome three game stretch.

Other Options:  Tony Parker, PG, SAS (23% Owned); Marco Belinelli, SG/SF, CHA (19% Owned); Garrett Temple, PG/SG, SAC (14% Owned); Austin Rivers, PG/SG, LAC (10% Owned);

Assists Streamer

Tony Parker, PG, SAS, Opponents: Thursday @ LAC, Friday @ POR, Sunday @ CHI  (23% Owned);

I get it, Tony Parker’s old and gets maintenance days, so on the fantasy front most people are staying away. Makes sense. However, since coming back from a knee injury on Dec 8, Tony Parker has looked a lot closer to the floater-wielding Frenchman that wed Eva Longoria. He’s put up 11.8 points, 5.2 assists, 1.4 turnovers on 50.9% from the field. Pretty slick numbers from a player only 23% owned in Yahoo.

The Spurs are always near the top for efficiently moving the ball and this year is no different as they’re ranked fourth in AST/TO (1.81) and seventh in AST% (62.1). Parker will lead the charge as they have three games in the late week. Realistically though, I’m expecting Parker to sit one of the back-to-backs (Thursday/Friday) before they tip-off at the AT&T Center against Chicago on Christmas Day.

It may be too much of a headache to deal with him for the rest of the season, so let’s take advantage for the rest of the week while he’s widely available. He could be a hold candidate if he looks good, but don’t hesitate to drop him if he see’s too many days off for your liking.

Other Options: Brandon Jennings, PG, NYK (21% Owned); Ish Smith, PG, DET (20% Owned); Shelvin Mack, PG, UTA (6% Owned); T.J. McConnell, PG, PHI (4% Owned), D.J. Augustin, PG, ORL (3% Owned)