RADIO
If you love talking trades to your mates and are always on the prowl for a vulnerable owner who was just let down by one of his own, you will love this article as well. We are taking a look at two guys on completely opposite sides of the spectrum.
The hero of our story this week is Josh Hart. The Laker is playing extremely well, high above expectations. Will he be able to keep this up and for how long? Why? Why not?
The zero this week goes to Eric Bledsoe. Even though his Bucks are doing really well, Bledsoe is not. Will he be able to pick it up? Should you use his slump to try and acquire him for pennies on a dime?
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including NBA Writer of the Year, Best NFL Series, MLB Series, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!Here are our Sell High and Buy Low candidates for Week 13 of the NBA season, right here at RotoBaller.
Buy Low, Sell High Advice for Week 13
Are You for Real, Josh Hart?
Hart has been tearing it up lately! His averages of 12.4 PTS with 1.7 3PM on 38.1 FG% and 73.3 FT%, 7.6 REB, 3.1 AST, 2.3 STL, 0.6 BLK, and 1.0 TO in over 35 minutes per outing have him ranked at #38 over the past 14 days. Despite such low percentages, those counting stats are so good they are keeping him afloat.
But there's a big red flag waving above Hart's rest-of-season value. That's the biggest red flag in the NBA and arguably in the history of the sport. Yup, it's LeBron James. The King is out with an injury at the moment and Hart's surge has been largely supported by this fact.
Hart is playing 8 minutes per game more than his season average since Bron's been out. And with such a large part of his value being tied to counting stats, it's difficult to imagine Josh holding onto a top-75 finish to the season.
James is set to be reevaluated in a couple of days. The severity of the injury was played down, so unless the Lakers are keeping something from us, he should be back soon. That will probably mean the end of Hart's hot streak. He will hold onto some value, sure, but if you can get a top-75 player back for him now, while he is hot, it could pay dividends come playoffs. Players like Brook Lopez, Harrison Barnes or Nicolas Batum should all provide better value than Hart and perhaps their owners could be swayed by Josh's recent great run.
Baller Move: Sell high
Time to Panic on Eric Bledsoe?
The Bucks are #2 in the NBA but Bledsoe is just #72 on Yahoo. And it's even worse in the last two weeks where Bledsoe's stats of 11.0 points with 0.7 three-pointers on 42.6% from the field and 90.9% from the line, 4.5 boards, 4.7 dimes, 1.5 steals, 0.2 blocks, and 2.5 turnovers in just under 28 minutes a game have him down at the #145.
Now, even though this is pretty bad, and Bledsoe's slump is lasting for a while, I still believe he will turn things around. He wasn't ranked at #38 to start the season for nothing, and even though he will have a tough task to finish the season that high, I can easily see him providing such value for the rest of the season. He picked it up last year after the All-Star break with averages of 18.8 PTS with 1.9 3PM on 51.4 FG% and 81.7 FT%, 4.4 REB, 6.0 AST, 1.8 STL, 0.5 BLK, and 2.9 TO, so there is high hope he does it again this year.
If his owner is getting impatient with him you should definitely try to buy him cheap. If you could get away with an offer of a top-60 guy for Bledsoe, I would consider you very lucky and very resourceful as well. Gordon Hayward, Lou Williams, Jeff Teague... These are all names of players I would gladly swap for Bledsoe.
Baller Move: Hold or buy low
