RADIO
Euan Leith looks at fantasy basketball starting lineup changes for Week 16. These NBA players are seeing increases or decreases in minutes and playing time.
Welcome to Rotation Watch! Each week this article will break down who is gaining and who is losing minutes around the NBA. Fantasy managers want the players that are getting the opportunity to shine, not the ones who are sitting on the bench and watching from the sidelines.
The NBA Trade Deadline is Feb. 4th. That means a lot of next week's Rotation Watch will review who got shipped and who stayed put. The trade machine was reasonably quiet until late Tuesday night when the Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and Minnesota Timberwolves orchestrated a huge four-team, 12-player swap that will surely have ramifications on playing time for those four teams. NBA Twitter is trying to figure out who won the trade, or if there even is a winner. I'll leave that debate alone for now, but I can say with confidence that one of those 12 players is about to lose a lot of minutes and affect some fantasy basketball playoff-contending teams during the stretch run.
Let's start searching those box scores from Jan. 27th to Feb. 2nd and look for those hidden gems that are grabbing some minutes to help your fantasy basketball team.
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NBA Playing Time Changes
Shabazz Napier (PG - Denver Nuggets)
Season: 23.8 Minutes per Game
Week 15: 32.9 Minutes per Game
Let's start this week's article on a down note. Shabazz Napier was one of the 12 players involved in Tuesday night's mega swap and could be the biggest loser of this entire trade. During Week 16, Napier average 32.9 minutes for the Timberwolves as a starter. In Denver, he will not only join a loaded backcourt with Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, and Monte Morris, but he will compete for band-handling duties with Will Barton and two-time All-Star Nikola Jokic.
It's crushing for the sixth-year guard's fantasy value as he had started the previous 22 games for Minnesota and averaged 11.4 points, 6.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in over 27 minutes per game. Those numbers will all dip in the Mile High City, and Napier should see his ownership percentage crater unless there is a new injury to the Denver backcourt. Napier is droppable in any league with more than 14 teams due to his lack of upside in his new city.
Josh Hart (SG - New Orleans Pelicans)
Season: 28.2 Minutes per Game
Week 15: 26.4 Minutes per Game
Brandon Ingram has ascended to an All-Star level talent, Lonzo Ball is the starting point guard for one of the most exciting young teams in the Association, and then there is Josh Hart. The New Orleans Pelicans guard has become the forgotten piece in the Anthony Davis trade. The third-year player has only started 11 of 44 games this season but showed us flashes of his potential during a couple of his Week 16 matches.
For the week, he averaged 26.4 minutes, 9.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and one block across three games. Those averages dropped due to a two-point, 21-minute performance against the Cavaliers. In the following two games, against the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston, Hart collected two double-doubles while shooting 50 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from behind the three-point line. Statistically, they were the best back-to-back performances for the former-Laker since early November.
There's been a lot of smoke about a Jrue Holiday to Denver trade (RIP Shabazz Napier and Monte Morris' playing time), and Hart would make the most sense to step in and take on a majority of those missing minutes. There are maybe four to five weeks left in your fantasy basketball season for head-to-head leagues, and now is the time to take fliers. Still, Hart could turn into a solid role player that complements your team's superstars and turns you from a playoff contender to a championship favorite.
Danuel House (SG, SF - Houston Rockets)
Season: 30.5 Minutes per Game
Week 15: 36.1 Minutes per Game
NBA teams are allowed 15 players on a roster at any time, but Houston Head Coach Mike D'Antoni only seems to see eight guys every night when he looks down his bench. That type of strategy will kill the championship aspirations for a team like the Rockets in late-May during the playoffs. Luckily, we, as fantasy basketball managers, don't have to worry about these kinds of problems and can use D'Antoni's crazy rotations to our advantage. One of those advantages is Danuel House.
House averaged 36.1 minutes during his four Week 16 games and was able to average 13.3 points, 7.5 boards, 2.0 threes, and 11.5 field goal attempts per game. He had a clunker of a game last Tuesday against the Trail Blazers on national television but sandwiched a couple of double-double performances around it. On Monday night, with a shorthanded Rockets team, House dropped 21 points and 11 rebounds against the Jazz in Utah. Then on Super Bowl Sunday, the fourth-year forward had 12 points and 12 rebounds against the New Orleans Pelicans.
House's ceiling will always be limited by his two, ball-dominate teammates in James Harden and Russell Westbrook, but in 14-team leagues or deeper, he is well worth an add for a sneaky supply of points, three-pointers, and some surprising rebounds.
Taurean Prince (SF, PF - Brooklyn Nets)
Season: 29.9 Minutes per Game
Week 15: 28.6 Minutes per Game
As basketball fans, we heard about the Brooklyn Nets and their two prized additions over the summer in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, but those two are hardly affecting the Nets and their results on the court during the 2019-20 season. It's another offseason add in forward Taurean Prince that seems to be making the most significant impact of all the Nets summer moves.
The fourth-year forward has logged 25-plus minutes in 14 of his 17 games in 2020 and is averaging a respectable 12.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.4 made threes. In Week 16, he upped his performance across three games with 13.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game. Last Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons, Prince was the King as he had 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting, seven rebounds, and four steals to help the Nets win for the first time in two weeks.
He has acquitted himself admirably to the New York atmosphere, and although Brooklyn is a softer landing spot than Madison Square Garden, the former-Atlanta Hawk has transitioned himself well to his new team. The shooting ratios are a little lower than most fantasy managers would like, but Prince is a worthy of a roster spot in most formats thanks to his modest counting stats in points, rebounds, and three-pointers.
Davis Bertans (C - Washington Wizards)
Season: 29.3 Minutes per Game
Week 15: 29.3 Minutes per Game
There are three forwards in the NBA that average 15 points per game, and 3.0 made threes per game. One is Paul George, the other is Danilo Gallinari, and the final player is Davis Bertans. Now those are pretty specific parameters to make a list, but Goerge and Gallinari play the loaded forward position while Bertans is eligible at the center spot. The Wizards forward hit his 8.4 three-point attempts per game at a 42.9 percent rate. That makes him the ninth-best three-point shooter in the entire league. How is he still available is 45 percent of leagues?
Bertans has popped up in Rotation Watch a couple of times this season, but there remain some fantasy managers that will not bite on the career year. He had a down Week 16 but was still able to contribute 10.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.0 block, and 2.7 made threes per game for the 52.1 percent of fantasy basketball teams he is on.
Looking at his season averages makes me daydream about his potential when he is not splitting minutes in a rotation with Thomas Bryant and Rui Hachimura. He is an attractive piece to add for a contender at the trade deadline and could net the Washington Wizards a reasonable return during their strange rebuilding phase. I don't want to put him in this article next week, but I will if his ownership hasn't picked up. Snag Davis Bertans if you require threes or stable ratios from your center position.
