RADIO
Most of us drafted a player who just hasn't lived up to the expectations, got injured or just doesn't produce enough to warrant a place on our respective fantasy teams. Don't get too clingy unless you believe he will resurrect by some miracle and start turning in top notch performances to make up for screwing you over in the past, rather turn to the waiver wire to fix this problem.
If the problem seems to be a player at one or more of the SG/SF/PF spots, there are a few hot wings left on the waiver wire. They might just turn out to be finger licking good!
Welcome to a new edition of Waiver wire pickups for the wing spots for Week 17 here at RotoBaller. Today, we will be talking about three top tier thieves, if I may use that metaphore, who bring a lot of loot to their owners on the defensive end, adding some goods in other categories as well. If you'dd like to boost your steals and blocks from the wing spot, here are a few choices you should consider.
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Standard League Waiver Wire Wing Adds
T.J. Warren, SF, PHO (51% owned)
Out of our three choices for this week, T.J. Warren is by far the best offensive player. He has been pretty decent this season for the Suns with averages of 13.2 PTS with 0.4 3PM on 45.6 FG% and 77.7 FT%, 4.0 REB, 0.9 AST, 1.2 STL, 0.4 BLK and 0.8 TO in 30 minutes per contest. Apart from decent steals, no other stat pops up too much, does it? Nevertheless, all of the stats are there on a regular basis. Shooting percentages are decent enough, and 0.8 turnovers in 30 minutes is pretty low too. So are the assists though. So it's pretty clear that Warren is a better fit in a team that seeks an all-around production with a slight boost in steals.
Furthermore, he is trending in the right direction. In his last six games, T.J. has upped his averages to 14.2 points with 0.3 threes on 45.7% from the field and 81.8% from the line, 5.2 boards, 1.0 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.8 blocks and 0.7 turnovers per game. That is a slight increase in all of the fantasy relevant categories except for a small 0.1 drop in three-pointers.
And Warren is only 23. So, if we take a look at his rest-of-season outlook there is a possibility that he gets even more run as the season goes on.
First of all, Phoenix is sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference with no hopes of reaching the playoffs. So their primary goal will be to develop their talent and build chemistry between their young players. T.J. definitely belongs to that young, talented group and could see increased minutes as a result of this process.
Secondly, Brandon Knight's name has been mentioned in some trade rumors, and while nothing concrete has been reported, if he gets moved, that would open up 21 minutes of his average playing time. You can bet that Warren would get a piece of that cake.
Warren is a two-way player who humbly contributes in all categories. His upside is decent on the Phoenix roster, especially with the way things have been going for the Suns this season, so that humble contributions could get a lot less modest.
Tony Allen, SG/SF, MEM (19% owned)
Now there are several reasons to pick Tony Allen up, and several why you would be wise not to. Taking a look at his season averages will give us a clearer picture of what we're dealing with here. His 9.5 points with 0.1 threes, 62.9% from the charity stripe and 1.2 assists per game are definitely not something that would intrigue fantasy owners. The free throws come at a low volume of just 2.2 a game, so they're not too hurtful though. In contrast, Allen hits 46.0% of his jumpers, strips his opponents 1.8 times, which has him tied at number six in the NBA, blocks 0.5 shots and rebounds the ball 5.7 times per outing, which is good enough for the 10th spot in the NBA among SG eligible players in Yahoo leagues. His 1.5 turnovers in 28 minutes a game are neither here nor there.
There is one more conundrum that needs to be pondered about when it comes to Allen's rest-of-season outlook, and that is how much run will he get? On one hand, Allen has been dealing with some injury woes in the past few years. Those allowed him to play in just 55 (2013-14), 63 (2014-15) and 62 (2015-16) games in the previous three seasons, and made him miss eight games already this season. On the other, Allen is crucial to Memphis' defense and they're in the hunt for that fourth spot in the West that will allow them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
So the choice that is in front of fantasy basketball owners is clear. Weigh the good against the bad and make your decision. If you're looking for defensive stats and a small contribution in some other areas, Allen is your guy, if not, keep looking.
Other options: Brandon Ingram, SF, LAL (48% owned) and Tim Hardaway Jr., SG/SF, ATL (51% owned)
Deep League Waiver Wire Wing Adds
Andre Roberson, SG/SF, OKC (15% owned)
Andre Roberson is a very similar player to Tony Allen. The main differences are that Roberson gets a few more minutes, shoots less and worse and therefore scores less, hits a three here and there, has less steals but more blocks and turns the ball over half as much. Here are his stats from this season to back up the previous sentence: 6.7 PTS, 0.6 3PM, 44.0 FG%, 41.5 FT%, 5.2 REB, 1.0 AST, 1.2 STL, 1.0 BLK and 0.7 TO in 31 minutes per game.
But Roberson is on a defensive tear lately, and has been getting some more shots up too. In his last four games he has been scoring 9.8 points on 54.5% from the field and 50.0% from the line, grabbing 10.0 boards, dishing out 1.0 assists, getting 1.8 steals, blocking 1.8 shots and turning the ball over 1.3 times in 37 minutes a game. That's some live STOCK (combined steals and blocks) there!
It's unclear if Roberson will keep getting enough opportunities or remain on this level of shooting which would be necessary for him to continue to get his owners this type of scoring. Also, it would be unreal to expect THAT much defensive stats. Somewhere between 2 and 3 is probable, but 3.6 a game is too Draymond Green-like for Andre to be able to keep it up.
So, if you believe that Roberson will keep up his current level of performances, give him a look. He deserves it. If you think he will be back to his "defend-first, Russell Westbrook will score" philosophy sooner rather than latter, and his defensive contributions aren't enough for him to earn a spot on your roster, you might be better off leaving him on the wire and looking for a different option.
Other options: Michael Beasley, SF/PF, MIL (14% owned) and Jeremy Lamb, SG/SF, CHA (3% 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.
