February 6, 2017

Milos Zvekic recommends NBA forwards and centers (PF, C, PF/C) as waiver wire pickups for fantasy basketball in Week 16. These centers and forwards can be fantasy sleepers.

Need a tall player for your team? If you've been searching for bigs this season the waiver wire has been slim pickings. If you don't act on time, you could miss out on the little talent that is to be found there. But fear not! You're not alone. In the previous weeks we have been featuring a lot of centers not available in most deeper leagues. You can read more about the likes and future outlooks of Jusuf Nurkic, Bismack Biyombo, Willy Hernangomez, Jon Leuer and other standard league bigs in the articles you can find on my author's page.

This week, we will be looking more at some deeper league options. But a deep league option now could easily turn into waiver wire treasure even in the most competitive of leagues, so even if you're in a shallower league, keeping an eye on these players the rest of the way would be wise.

So, let's take a look at some potential Week 16 waiver wire pickups for power forwards and centers who should help you chose the right, rarely owned frontcourt player and never look back. And who knows? Maybe his dunk, rebound or block might just be the one that puts your team over the top and wins you your Fantasy NBA Championship!

Deep League Waiver Wire Big Adds

JaMychal Green, PF, MEM (28% Owned)

There's not too much flair to JaMychal Green's stat lines usually. But for true fantasy owners that doesn't really matter. He is a starter for the Grizzlies and plays 29 minutes per game this season. He is also a multi-cat contributor who doesn't hurt your team in any way. One might say, a Rotisserie league gold, especially if the league is a bit deeper.

Now that we've successfully dissed Green's game for the lack of flair let's take a look at his last game on Feb. 4 against Minnesota. With Marc Gasol, Tony Allen and Chandler Parsons out JaMychal stepped up! The Timberwolves didn't have a solution for him as he scored a career-high 29 points, going 8-of-11 from the field and hitting all 12 of his free throws. Yes, that's right. Twelve! He filled up the stat sheet elsewhere too grabbing six boards and getting an assist, a steal and a block while conceding only one turnover in 30 minutes of action. Now, of course he had the ball much more in his hands with three starters not playing. But still, that line is pretty special.

And his season averages of 9.1 PTS with 0.7 3PM on 47.6 FG% and 79.3 FT%, 7.3 REB, 1.2 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.6 BLK and 1.2 TO in 29 minutes per game show just how useful he is. So if you have some dead weight on your roster and would like a boost in rebounds with a little bit of everything else, JaMychal is your guy.

Frank Kaminsky, PF/C, CHA (22% Owned)

Charlotte was packed with frontcourt players to start the season. Frank Kaminsky had to battle it out with Marvin Williams, Cody Zeller, Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes for minutes. But a trade took place on Feb. 2 which saw the Milwaukee Bucks send Miles Plumlee to the Hornets for Hibbert and Hawes.

Now the implications of this trade on Frank are still unknown. On one hand, there's one less player to compete for his minutes. On the other, Plumlee has a much higher upside than either Hibbert or Hawes. But while Charlotte's front office is making deals, Kaminsky is playing his heart out. With Zeller out with a quad injury, Kaminsky has stepped into the starting line up. His last two games are very promising for his rest of the season outlook with him leading his team in scoring with 19.5 points and 2.5 threes on 51.7% from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. He also grabbed a total of nine boards, gave out a three dimes, stole the ball four times and turned the ball over just once in the two games in which he played 27 minutes a pop.

Zeller was out for those two games, but the encouraging sign was that with Plumlee sliding into the rotation, Kaminsky's playing time actually increased. Frank played 32 minutes in Plumlee's first game with the Hornets. Kaminsky could be considered a risky play since Zeller's return will probably hurt his value and it still remains to be seen what role will Plumlee have in Charlotte.

He is still the ninth overall pick of the 2015 draft and is considered to be a part of the future for the Hornets, so if I were to guess, I think Frank will still be getting minutes in the mid to high 20s. Even more so if Zeller keeps getting injured and Plumlee doesn't fit in well with the team. So if you like what you get in Kaminsky, and have a player to drop don't be too hesitant to pick him up. He has the upside to continue his current form and won't hurth you anywhere even if he doesn't.

Deep League Honorable Mentions: Ivica Zubac (25% owned), Willie Cauley-Stein (17% owned)

Even Deeper League Waiver Wire Big Adds

John Henson, PF/C, MIL (9% Owned)

Another player that was affected by the Milwaukee-Charlotte trade is definitely John Henson. Prior to the trade Henson picked up four DNP-CDs in five games. In the two games since the trade he's been killing it with 15.5 PTS on 65.0 FG% and 71.4 FT%, 6.0 REB, 0.5 AST, 1.0 STL, 2.5 BLK and 1.5 TO. Those are some lovely stats. And if you count in the fact he is owned in less than one tenth of the leagues those performances speak volumes.

There are two reasons to be careful with Henson, and both of them are his coach Jason Kidd. The first one is that so far this season Henson has been locked in a three-way timeshare with Greg Monroe and Miles Plumlee. With him getting just 20 minutes a game under those circumstances, it just wasn't enough for him to be too fantasy relevant. The second one is that we don't know yet how Hibbert and Hawes will fit in the Bucks system and what roles will coach Kidd assign to them.

John Henson has great per minute statistics, and I have no doubt that if he were to be given minutes in the high 20s he would be a decent fantasy option for all owners who need rebounds, blocks and steals along with some points on good shooting from the floor and who don't pay too much attention to free throw shooting. If I've just described you and you have someone to cut, don't wait too long. Henson is worth the gamble!

Even Deeper League Honorable Mentions: Miles Plumlee (2% owned), Mike Muscala (4% owned)