Week 4 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: NBA Centers

November 18, 2014

In his week 4 NBA Waiver Wire column, Trevor Crippen focuses on a few centers that could deserve some attention in your Fantasy Basketball league.

Now a few weeks into the 2014-15 NBA season, the waiver wire has taken its typical place in the weekly/daily routine of fantasy basketball managers. The following centers, whether of the “sleeper” variety or just cashing in temporarily on an unforeseen opportunity, almost certainly deserve attention across the various formats.

Position Eligibility & Ownership Rate Based on Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball Player List

Waiver Wire Center in Standard Leagues

Steven Adams (OKC – C) – 19% owned

A lot of things about the stats put up by Adams so far are as ugly as his moustache. But such is the life of trying to find help at center.

Center is currently an extremely barren position on the wire in most competitive standard leagues. If you are in the type of shallow league where Gorgui Dieng or even Kelly Olynyk is still available, then help finding a center is not needed. However, if you are in a competitive league where those guys are long gone, it might just be time to stare into the darkness that is Steven Adams.

Is he worth it? Well, to begin with, his percentages are fairly frustrating. A field-goal percentage of 47.2 is excellent for a guard, but out of a low-volume center, it does not move the needle all that much.

Meanwhile, Adams is also a terrible free-throw shooter, knocking down a pedestrian 56.3 percent on about three attempts per game. That is not Andre Drummond bad, and nowhere near Dwight Howard, but it is actually worse than what DeAndre Jordan has done so far this year (53.3 percent, but on only two attempts per game).

If you can handle those percentages, and his consistent single-digit scoring efforts, and his double-digit turnovers, Adams is a good source of rebounds and has been on fire blocking shots – with 13 in his last four games, including 11 in the last two.

Adams is extremely situational, but in points leagues that favor rebounds and blocks, he is great. At the end of a week, if blocks are needed and you can afford to absorb the damage in a few other categories, Adams can be useful.

Just remember, in a standard roto league, Adams is actually a negative commodity. His percentages, lack of points and turnovers relative to usage are toxic. In most leagues, I would rather have an efficient guy in limited minutes such as Brandan Wright or even the guy below.

Waiver Wire Center in Deep Leagues

Marreese Speights (GS – PF/C) – 5% owned

Steve Kerr has announced that Speights is “going to play a lot” for the Golden State Warriors. This only makes sense, as Speights has been the best back up big for the Warriors so far and is backing up a center with an extremely checkered injury history in Andrew Bogut.

After starting off buried on the depth chart, Speights has emerged for a reliable 15-20 minutes per game off the bench. Over the last three games, he is averaging, 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.0 block.

Speights has proven over his career that he can score (17.4 points per 36 minutes on 47.0 percent shooting from the field), get to the free-throw line and convert (4.2 FT per 36, 77.5 percent, including 82.4 percent since joining the Warriors), crash the boards (9.8 rebounds per 36) and block some shots (1.2 per 36).

Right now, Speights is only worth playing in a deep-league setting and brings a nice skill set in that context. He should continue to see excellent spacing thanks to the attention drawn by the Warriors various other scoring options an has solid upside as an injury replacement in the Warriors frontcourt.