Week 2 NBA Centers: Waiver Wire Pickups & Adds

November 3, 2014

Trevor Crippen analyzes Week 2 of NBA, focusing on fantasy basketball centers (C) - waiver wire pickups, adds and sleepers at the center position for fantasy basketball.

With the first few days of the 2014-15 NBA Season in the books, it is time to take a look at some fantasy basketball waiver wire sleeper options. Today's focus is at the center position.

Position Eligibility Based on Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball Player List

Waiver Wire Center for Right Now

Kevin Garnett (BRK, PF/C)

Wait, was that a vintage KG sighting this weekend? With a double-double (18 points, 14 rebounds) plus a couple of steals and a block on Saturday, it sure seemed like it was 2006 out there, if only for one day. Garnett says he is playing with an edge this year and Nets coach Lionel Hollins said before the season that the future hall of famer was in line for more minutes than last season. However, it would have been difficult to foresee this level of production.

Garnett is likely to have ups and downs this year, as he will still be rested frequently. And, at his age (38), he remains an injury risk. But after Saturday’s line, if you have a weakness in your fantasy frontcourt, Garnett would make a nice plug-and-play until injury does strike, or you find someone more reliable.

Waiver Wire Center for Deeper Leagues

Boris Diaw (SAS, PF/C)

There is not much to get excited about at center right now. It is worth noting, though, that Mr. Boris Diaw is getting Spurs-level starter’s minutes (29-30 per game) right now, and will be for the foreseeable future with Tiago Splitter (calf) out.

You are not likely to get much scoring out of Diaw – he is almost as pass first as Rajon Rondo trying to break an assists record. Diaw's upside is probably about 10 points per game. But given the court time, he can hit somewhere in the neighborhood of five boards and five assists, with decent percentages, semi-regular threes, steals and blocks. I would ballpark around 0.7 per game in each of the defensive categories, maybe more for steals, less for blocks.

In a vacuum, Diaw just a warm body at center in a deep league. Though with some team builds – for example, those where you are punting rebounds and/or blocks – he can be a plus player by providing rare assists and occasional threes at the center spot of your lineup.

Waiver Wire Center to Keep an Eye On

Alex Len (PHO, C)

So far this young season, the 21-year-old Len has shown some flashes of the promise the Suns saw in him when they spent the 5^th overall draft pick on him in the 2013 draft. In a Halloween night win against the Spurs where starting center Miles Plumlee got into foul trouble, Len put up a double-double in 32 minutes off the bench (10 points, 11 rebounds). The following day against Utah, he picked up four blocks in only 18 minutes.

On the whole, Len is averaging 5.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 23 minutes per game. If the blocks continue at this rate, he might be worth a look as a specialist. However, the real hope is that he starts to realize more and more of his upside, expand his scoring game and take over as the starting center in place of Plumlee.

Even if Len only gets to 10 points a game, the rebounds and blocks that he could provide as a starter would make him a viable fantasy option, possibly in the mold of a poor man’s Roy Hibbert.