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It's Week 20. We're in the home stretch of the regular season and working the waiver wire successfully in these next few weeks are key to making a strong run in the postseason. Here are some interesting adds that can help you with your season goals.
This year, we're tossing out our old convention of separating waiver wire posts into positions, and instead, we're separating them into of league -- standard, shallow, deep, etc. The NBA is trending to positionless basketball, so we at RotoBaller should too.
For shallow (8-10 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 65% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues.
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Shallow League Adds for Week 20
Rajon Rondo, PG
Ownership: 60%
7.6 PPG / 3.7 REB / 7.4 AST / .462 FT%
It finally seems like Rondo is finally getting back to what he did best in Boston. He's been one of the best passers in the league this season and with all the injuries the Pelicans have endured, he seems to be stepping up to the role. He's having a fantastic February, averaging 10.7 points, 8.8 assists on 50% field goal shooting. With Demarcus Cousins going down with a season ending injury and Jameer Nelson getting traded away, there has been a lot more ball handling time for Rondo and he's turned into such a reliable source for assists.
His most impressive game as of late was his triple double against the Nets that started their current 6 game winning streak, he put up a statline of 25 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. He's flirted with a triple double numerous times during this stretch and with Anthony Davis playing the way he's playing, Rondo's assists should stay as high as they are. He's owned in most leagues, but if for some reason he is available on your waiver wire.... run, don't walk to pick him up!
J.J. Barea, PG
Ownership: 26%
11.4 PPG / 6.3 AST / 1.6 3PM /.426 FG%
J.J Barea has been an absolute stud in the month of February. His play his been up there with some of the top point guards in the league. He's averaging 11.6 points and 9.1 assists in the month of February. Despite reports that the Mavericks have full intentions to lose the rest of the season, Barea is playing like he wants to win every game and that should be encouraging for fantasy owners that have him on their roster. He has tremendous upside the rest of the season as the Mavericks look to secure their lottery pick.
Barea also has the potential to light it up from three as he averages about five threes a game. His most impressive effort in this hot stretch was a 19 point 13 assist effort against the Kings in which he shot 54% from the field and hit five threes. The Mavericks aren't playing to win any more games the rest of the season, so I don't expect them to have a massive rotation change that affects Barea. At only 26% owned, he is a must add in all fantasy leagues if you need assists and three pointers.
Mario Hezonja , SG/SF
Ownership 41 %
9.0 PPG/ 3.5 REB / 0.9 STL / .468 FG%
The former #5 pick in the 2015 NBA draft has finally seemed to be showing some promise for the Orlando Magic. Hezonja has seemed to earn a consistent role in the lineup rotations and he's been producing heavily for the team. His fantasy value has usually been contingent on the health of the roster, however Mario's minutes still seem to be consistent with Aaron Gordon returning to action last week after an extended absence.
After playing most of the fourth quarter in Saturday's loss against the 76ers, coach Frank Vogel said he will continue to give Hezonja a lot of minutes as the season continues. This should be encouraging news for those on the fence about picking him up, in the past two weeks he's averaging 18.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.5 threes a game. He has the potential to be a late season acquisition that can help your team across the board.
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