RADIO
Below are my Week 16 fantasy basketball buy low and sell high candidates. If you have a bit of a merchant inside you take a look and decide for yourself if you will try to improve your team by wheeling and dealing at just the right time.
Good strategy is definitely one of the most important things in fantasy basketball. But so is good intuition. If your player is performing above all expectations, don't get too attached. He might be back to his old ways before you know it. If you can get a good offer for the overachiever you would be wise to make the most of it.
On the other hand, if one of your picks whom you put so much faith in is disappointing you, have some patience. He might reward your trust with some bounce back performances right when you need them the most.
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Buy Low, Sell High Advice for Week 16
Are You for Real, Marvin Williams?
I personally like Marvin Williams. I consider him to be a lovely guy to own in most fantasy formats. He's an all-around contributor without any big flaws to his game. So far this season he has been more-less on par with what was expected from him (apart from the FG% which is a bit below his career average of 44.3%) with averages of 11.3 PTS and 1.8 3PM on 41.2 FG% and 84.0 FT%, 5.7 REB, 1.2 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.5 BLK and 0.7 TO in 28 minutes per game. That has him ranked around the top-100.
But Marvin kicked it up a notch in the last two weeks posting top-50 value by getting his owners 14.2 points and 2.0 threes on 44.9% from the field and 90.9% from the line, 6.3 boards, 0.5 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.0 blocks and just 0.7 turnovers in 33 minutes per game. Lovely jubbly! Both Rotisserie and Head-2-head owners sporting a balanced strategy would be lucky to have him on their roster.
Now Cody Zeller's injury might have had something to do with the increase of playing time Marvin's been seeing. And that is coming to an end with Zeller probable to return on Feb. 9 against the Rockets. Furthermore, the Hornets acquired Miles Plumlee in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. Even though they sent two bigs in Roy Hibbert and Spencer Hawes the other way, Plumlee should be a better fit in Charlotte and get more minutes than the aforementioned pair. And while both Cody and Miles are centers and not a direct threat to Williams' court time, their insertion into the rotation will push Frank Kaminsky back to the power forward spot and as a result of that, Marvin is probable to see a few minutes less per game.
If you act fast you can still sell high, unless you believe that Marvin can keep up this level of performance and that volume of counting stats in reduced time. You should be looking for a player in the top-60 to top-80 region. Tobias Harris has been in a bit of a slump lately so his owner could be willing to swap the two. Portland's Mason Plumlee is a low-key player with high value this season as he has established himself as the primary option in the Blazers frontcourt. And if you believe that Victor Oladipo can turn his season around he definitely has a higher upside than Williams. If you can get any of those players in return I would say you made a good deal.
Baller Move: Sell high
Time to Panic on Reggie Jackson?
Reggie just can't seem to get it going. He missed the beginning of the season with a sprained knee and just hasn't been himself since the return. He's been playing particularly poorly lately with averages of 8.2 PTS on 31.3 FG% and 80.0 FT%, 0.6 3PM, 2.0 REB, 6.0 AST, 0.4 STL, no blocks and 0.8 TO in 25 minutes per game in his previous five. His backup Ish Smith playing 22 minutes a night in that same period speaks volumes about the slump Reggie is in.
Now don't get me wrong, Ish is a good player, but there's no way that he should be able to steal that many of Jackson's minutes. The Pistons didn't sign him to a 5-year, $80M contract at the beginning of last season just to give up on him after a few bad games. Reggie should be back in the undisputed leader role before too long. Let me just remind you of what he is capable of when he is up to his old tricks by mentioning his last season averages of 18.8 points with 1.5 three-pointers on 43.4% from the field and 86.4% from the charity stripe, 3.2 rebounds, 6.2 dimes, 0.7 steals, 0.1 blocks and 2.8 turnovers in 31 minutes per outing.
He is not THAT far off those this season either with 15.6 PTS, 1.3 3PM on 42.5 FG% and 84.5 FT%, 2.4 REB, 5.6 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.1 BLK and 2.4 TO in 29 minutes. That's a small drop off in most of the fantasy relevant categories which when added together drop him from a top-90 player last season to well outside the top-100 this year.
If you have trust that Jackson can pick himself up and dust himself off and once again be the player we all know him to be, you could consider extending an offer to his owner of a player outside the top-100. A hot player like Will Barton or even Reggie's teammate Jon Leuer could be enough to tickle an disgruntled owner's fancy, and if you offer someone like Kyle Korver or Terrence Jones and have your offer accepted, you can count yourself a lucky man.
Baller Move: Hold or buy low
