RADIO
Hello my fellow merchants and welcome to Rotoballer's Week 19 fantasy basketball buy low and sell high candidates. The fantasy trade deadline is approaching fast in most leagues, and it's set by default for today in Yahoo leagues. There's little time left for those final tweaks to your roster to adjust it for your fantasy playoffs.
Whether you are after a player because of what stats he brings to the table, how well he fits your team's fantasy playoffs schedule or you believe he will blossom in the final few weeks of the regular season the clock is ticking and you should give it one last shot before midnight comes around.
I, myself, have been pretty active on the trade market recently, taking my own advice from last week and the week before. I've traded away Brook Lopez and D'Angelo Russell for Myles Turner and Serge Ibaka in separate trades and felt pretty good about it. Then I "took advantage" of the fact that a fellow competitor was in must-win-now mode and traded Ibaka and Gary Harris for two players with "minor" injuries but higher upsides, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Lowry. Well, that backfired, didn't it? Lowry is now done for the season and I'm stuck with a streaming spot.
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Buy Low, Sell High Advice for Week 19
Are You for Real, Pau Gasol?
Pau Gasol has been very good since his return from a hand injury which had him sidelined for over a month. In his three games back he averaged 16.7 PTS with 2.3 3PM on 57.7 FG% and no misses from the line in 13 attempts, 7.7 REB, 1.3 AST, 0.3 STL, 1.3 BLK and 1.7 TO in just 23 minutes per contest. Gregg Popovich is definitely easing him back to the rotation, and Gasol is actually coming in off the bench at the moment. But he has thrived in that role and said that he doesn't mind the change as long as it helps his team win.
Gasol is playing pretty well this whole season with 12.1 PTS, 0.6 3PM on 51.4 FG% and 68.4 FT%, 7.9 REB, 2.6 AST, 0.4 STL, 1.2 BLK and 1.3 TO in 26 minutes a game. Still, these stats are a significant drop off from previous seasons, of course. Gasol's limited time this season is by far the least in his career as he had averaged over 30 minutes in each of his previous 16 seasons. That is unlikely to change since San Antonio seems safe in that second place in the Western Conference. Furthermore, Pop is known for resting his older players and stars more as the NBA playoffs get nearer.
So, Gasol's owners would be wise to pursue a trade for the right player. Someone around top-50 could be available if a manager in your league believes Gasol can keep up his recent insane three-point shooting and get minutes in the high 20s the rest of the way. I would consider giving Pau up for the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Bradley Beal or Nicolas Batum if that kind of opportunity presented itself. But, as always it all depends on your league's settings and your team's needs.
Baller Move: Sell high
Time to Panic on Giannis Antetokounmpo?
The answer to this question is HELL NO!
He did have two poor games in a row by his standards, with him averaging 12.0 points with no threes on 34.6% from the field and 60.0% from the line, 8.0 boards, 6.0 dimes, no steals, 2.0 blocks and 4.5 turnovers in 38 minutes a game. That's way under the bar he has set for himself. But there's no need to blow this out of proportion.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a beast this whole season and you would be unwise to trade him away unless you get an offer you can't refuse. Let's just take a look at his season long stats: 23.2 PTS with 0.7 3PM on 52.7 FG% and 78.7 FT%, 8.7 REB, 5.4 AST, 1.7 STL, 1.9 BLK and 3.1 TO in 36 minutes per outing. That's top-5 production on the year. Moreover, he will have even more offensive responsibilities with Jabari Parker suffering a season ending injury a few weeks ago, and the return of Khris Middleton will help spread the floor for Giannis. Expect The Alphabet to be back to his usual ways in no time.
On the other if his owner in your league is getting cold feet and is looking to trade the Greek Freak, you should definitely try to take him up on his offer. Swapping anyone outside of top-10 for Antetokounmpo would be a good deal. Perhaps using the hotness of LeBron James could do the trick.
And if Giannis' owner isn't paying attention, or just believes that DeMarcus Cousins is done with his technical foul shenanigans, including Boogie in that trade would not just benefit your team because of the insane stats Giannis puts up, but will also save you a lot of headaches due to missed games because of disciplinary measures. Just to clear it up, Cousins has received his 18th technical foul and was already suspended for one game, and from now every two technical fouls will hand him a one-game suspension, so if you own Boogie and there's an opportunity to trade him for Antetokounmpo do your best to do so.
Baller Move: Hold or buy low
