RADIO
The deeper a fantasy basketball 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 deeper league fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for the upcoming and your fantasy basketball teams. These NBA 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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Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Targets for Week 4
Kevin Love (PF, CLE) - 15% rostered
Kevin Love might not be Kevin Love anymore, but he still is way more than an impactless-glue-guy a la Udonis Haslem in Miami. Love is the only remnant of Cleveland from the LBJ days of yore, pretty much like Chris Bosh was in Miami when James departed South Beach before returning home. Love, of course, is a bench player these days and he's been in that role for a while now. Not that that hasn't made wonders to his game.
Love spent last year on the pine (74 games, just four starts) and that's been the case for all of the early season to date. Love is playing 20 MPG and leading the Cavs' second unit while taking on the backup-PF role. His efficiency on a per-minute basis has been, simply put, out of this world: 1.28 FP/min and only one game behind the league average (0.90) in a nine-point, five-board game against the Celtics two weekends ago.
The shooting has gotten fixed of late with four games straight in which Love has attempted 10+ shots scoring field goals at a 54%+ clip. He's hit at least one three-point shot in seven of his nine games. Love is actually averaging 2.5+ 3PM a pop, a sight to behold!
Even though Love is only playing 20 MPG, he's already logged 181 minutes over the first three weeks of the season. He's the only pure reserve (no starts at all) with those many minutes played and an average of 1.25+ FP/min. All other players (starters and reserves) with those minutes and per-minute efficiency are rostered in at least 80% of all ESPN leagues.
Love is the only player in the NBA averaging a per-game 12-7-2 baseline in fewer than 20 MPG. Removing the minute restriction but adding his 2.5+ 3PM average, only Love and Jayson Tatum are currently at that level of play. Not bad company, I'd say.
Bones Hyland (PG, DEN) - 12% rostered
The Nuggets had to do without backup-point guard Bones Hyland for a couple of games at the start of November but the sophomore returned to the team last Saturday in the game against the Spurt without having missed a single beat. After a season-best game right before getting injured (hip) in which he put up a 26-1-3-1 line with seven (!) triples on 18 FGA and a monster 38.8% usage rate...
...all Hyland did in his comeback game was finish with 24 points (six treys), five boards, seven dimes, and two steals while shooting 53% from the floor on 17 FGA. It's now been back-to-back games for Bones scoring 24+ points and he's gone for 10+ in five of his seven games played. In the two he did not, though, he only played 14 and 17 minutes while attempting five and 12 FGA.
Hyland is one of the most efficient players in the NBA and he is not even close to the rest of the field. Hyland is averaging a staggering 1.18 FP/min (league average at 0.90) and that mark is on par with those of Zion Williamson, Paolo Banchero, Devin Booker, Cade Cunningham, and Kyrie Irving, just to name a few (min. 130 MP).
Obviously, Hyland is the only player at such ridiculous levels of efficiency still rostered in fewer than 87% (Christian Wood) of ESPN leagues. Even on a per-game basis, and if you're hunting for snipers, only 21 players are currently scoring 2.8+ 3PM in the NBA. Hyland is one of them, and all except the second-year Nugget are part of at least 59% of ESPN rosters.
Isaiah Hartenstein (C, NYK) - 11% rostered
The New York Knicks, as is customary in Manhattan, live in perennial mediocrity. They started the season with a 3-1 record, then put up a 1-3 run, and they are coming off a sound loss to Boston last Saturday in which the Celtics dropped 27 (!!!) three-pointers on the Knickerbockers defense for a franchise record (both positive--in Boston's books--and negative--in New York's).
The Knicks were without starting C Mitchell Robinson, so it was time for summer-signee Isaiah Hartenstein to start his first game with the Knicks. Harty played a massive 39 minutes (because... Thibs), putting up his first dub-dub of the year to the tune of a 10-14 outing with one dime and one block on top of everything.
Harty has appeared in all prior games this season but only once (in the season opener loss against Memphis) had he played more than 28 minutes. Consider him a nightly 22 MPG player.
That's not bad. In fact, Hartenstein is so efficient on a per-minute basis that he's better coming off the bench than starting games by the look of it. He's averaging 1.07 FP/min in games he's logged fewer than 30 MP compared to 0.82 in the two games he started/logged 30+ MP.
Hartenstein will give you high FG% (on a very low volume, mind you) with the odd three-point made, and a good bunch of blocked shots. He contributes minimal assists and steals, but at least a couple combined per game if that helps you in some way.
Patrick Williams (PF, CHI) - 4% rostered
The Bulls have started Patrick Williams at the PF position in all of their games this season. He had to go through the "rehab" process during the start of the year (read: October) but he's now finally logging 30+ MPG on a daily basis. The ground-level playing time murdered Williams' early-season upside but now he's in the fantasy picture.
Williams has played at least 29 minutes in all last five games, averaging 31 MPG with low 17.7% usage rates in that span (from Oct. 29 on). Even then, though, he's been able to dump 12+ points three times, has grabbed 5+ boards in four of those five matches, and has blocked at least one shot in six consecutive games through Sunday.
While the season-long line isn't that appealing and will scare some fantasy GMs off him, Pat is averaging a much tastier 12.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.0 APG, and nearly 2.0 BPG in November (four games). The shooting has been either black or white (two games at 50%+ from the floor, two below 34%) but he keeps putting up points and most importantly, long rangers.
Williams has scored six three-point shots in the past three games alone. Even looking at season-long data and baking his early-season low-usage, low-play-time days, Williams is still one of only 24 players hitting 1+ 3PM per game and getting 1.0 BPG on top of that.
Jevon Carter (SG, MIL) - 0% rostered
Khris Middleton keeps missing games and Jevon Carter keeps eating them. Nothing surprising here knowing that the Bucks thrive on offense thanks to boasting the likes of Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo, so adding a defensive dog like Carter would never hurt even if his contributions on the other end might not be that great.
The thing is: they have surely been. Of course, Carter is not an offensive maven, nor gets even the chance to prove his worth there with usage rates around 11% in most games. The shooting is a bit wild all things considered (he's shooting 36% from the floor) but when he hits, he hits.
That's why he has two games of 4+ three-point shots made and another one hitting a couple of them. That said, he also has a couple of 0-for matchups in his early-season resume to go with two more outings in which he didn't hit more than one shot putting up FG% at or below 25 percent.
Consider Carter a D-Man with minimal upside on the widely-available categories (PTS/RBD/AST) but an extraordinary appeal when it comes to steals (1.7 SPG) and blocks (0.6 BPG) when it comes to players with G eligibility. Only six players have been able to average 1+ SPG, 0.5+ BPG, and 1+ 3PM per game this season including Carter, and none other is rostered in fewer than 84% of ESPN leagues.
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