RADIO
If you're looking for a wing on the waiver wire to replace an injured player, or just a guy that's not up to your standard, here at RotoBaller we are searching high and low for someone to recommend to you in hopes that one of those guys will help you win your fantasy league.
Today, we will be looking at some guys who haven't had the best of seasons and didn't live up to the hype that surrounded them in the past, but are on a path of redemption. They are serious bounce-back candidates with their recent performances and you would be wise to keep them in mind, especially as they have shown before just how fantasy valuable they can be. Here are our Week 19 waiver wire pickups for the wing spot.
Featured Promo: Get any full-season NBA Premium Pass for 50% off. Win big with our exclusive DFS lineup tools, matchup rating projections, powerful Research Station, Lineup Optimizer, daily DFS lineup picks/cheat sheets and more! Sign Up Now!
Standard League Waiver Wire Wing Adds
Al-Farouq Aminu, SF/PF, POR (53% owned)
Al-Farouq Aminu was picked around the 123rd pick on average this season in Yahoo leagues. He finished the previous season flirting with top-100 value with 10.2 PTS and 1.2 3PM on 41.6 FG% and 73.7 FT%, 6.1 REB, 1.7 AST, 0.9 STL, 0.6 BLK and 1.5 TO in 29 minutes per game, so it's not too surprising he averaged such a high draft pick. But he has been a letdown during the first few months of the season.
First of all, he missed 20 out of 58 games Portland played so far this year with injuries. Secondly, he is shooting just 30.7% from beyond the arc this season which has dragged his field goal percentage down to 37.0 percent, compared to his already poor career average of 42.6 percent. As a result, his points and threes have also gone down from last season with just 8.4 points and 1.1 threes per contest.
But on the bright side, his other stats are on par, or have even improved. He is connecting on 76.7 percent of his free throws, grabbing 7.4 boards and averaging 2.1 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.7 blocks and 1.5 turnovers in just 30 seconds more on the court compared to his previous season. Furthermore, Aminu seems to have broken out of his funk. In the month of February he is averaging 14.3 PTS on 43.3 FG% and a very decent 45.5 percent from three-point range, and 90.5 FT%, 9.0 REB, 1.3 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.5 BLK and 1.5 TO in 33 minutes per game in the six games he played. Unfortunately, he did miss two games in that span too.
Aminu is currently owned in just 53 percent of Yahoo leagues due to his unstable and poor FG shooting, but there is definitely enough upside to him that more daring owners should take notice.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, SG/SF/PF, BKN (52% owned)
Rondae Hollis Jefferson hype train from the fantasy pre-draft period didn't have any more room aboard it. The hype was based on a couple of his good performances from before his ankle injury in his rookie season, and a pretty promising return from the injury. He was back for the last 10 games of the previous year and, even with him being limited to just 21 minutes per game, he averaged 6.7 PTS with 0.4 3PM on 35.7 FG% and 77.8 FT%, 3.6 REB, 1.6 AST, 1.0 STL, 1.1 BLK and 0.4 TO.
Now when you look at the percentages and well, offensive stats all together, his performance wasn't really hype-worthy. But next year there will be no Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young, Andrea Bargnani, Wayne Ellington or Shane Larkin. It was going to be Rondae's year. At least that was the popular opinion around the fantasy community which led him to being drafted with 92nd pick on average in Yahoo leagues this season.
Rondae didn't live up to the role he was given as a starter in Brooklyn and pretty soon lost the gig and returned to the bench. That had him owned in well under 50 percent of fantasy leagues a few weeks ago. But he finally stringed a few good games together and averaged 10.8 PTS with 0.3 3PM on 55.8 FG% and 65.2 FT%, 8.0 REB, 2.7 AST, 1.2 STL, 2.0 TO and no blocks in 24 minutes a game in his past six. Now those stats are a lot more promising, especially the rebounds and field goal percentage, and the lack of blocks shouldn't worry owners too much since his career average is 0.5 per game.
Rondae is playing more minutes at the PF position recently so that change might be the reason for his better play. Even though Trevor Booker was very good at the four spot for Brooklyn this season, Hollis-Jefferson is slowly cutting into his minutes, so that position battle will be something to watch going forward if you're interested in Rondae. And with Brooklyn more focused on developing young talent than winning games, 22-year-old Hollis-Jefferson should have a slight advantage over 29-year-old Booker. Moreover, Brooklyn has four games in each of the three default fantasy playoff weeks (Weeks 20-22).
Other options: Courtney Lee, SG/SF, NY (47% owned) and Terrence Ross, SG/SF, ORL (46% owned)
Deep League Waiver Wire Wing Adds
Nik Stauskas, SG/SF, NO (7% owned)
Nik Stauskas has found a pretty decent role with the Philadelphia 76ers. He hasn't been too consistent in the beginning of the season, but he seems comfortable with his situation at the moment. And he's performing like it. He has hit double-digits in points in eight straight games and is averaging 11.3 PTS with 1.9 3PM on 41.7 FG% and 77.3 FT%, 4.3 REB, 3.0 AST, 0.6 BLK, 0.4 STL and 2.0 TO in 27 minutes per outing in that period.
Nik is only 23, and Philadelphia is all about developing their young players at this moment, so it's reasonable to expect Nik to keep getting minutes in the upper half of the 20s. If he can keep his performances up to his recent level, he could be worth owning in deeper leagues. And if you need some threes and a bit of everything else, Stauskas is probable to be able to tend to your needs.
Although he probably won't be anything else than a low end three-point specialist, if you're in a deep league take him into consideration. He might just be the sharpshooter that beats your opponent into the ground with that long range hammer.
Other options: Maurice Harkless, SF, PHO (35% owned) and Tony Allen, SG/SF, MEM (17% 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.
