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Welcome back to RotoBaller's weekly fantasy basketball waiver wire column and schedule breakdown. How's the start of this season treating your fantasy rosters? Do you already need some help?
These recommendations are mainly for 9-cat leagues, but if you play in another format, there's a good chance that the information here can still help you. We'll be looking at centers, forwards, and guards whose low rostership and upside make them ideal players to get onto your fantasy team.
Our staff at RotoBaller has great insight and daily columns on how to improve your squad and tips to make your team successful, so be sure to check them out! Now, let's get prepared for Week 2.
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!
NBA Week 2 Schedule Guide
Let's take a look at some notable things on the schedule this week.
Teams with four games: Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Golden State, Houston, Indiana, Miami, Minnesota, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Utah
Teams with three games: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland, Toronto, Washington
Teams with two games: Sacramento
Number of teams playing each day:
Monday: 16
Tuesday: 8
Wednesday: 20
Thursday: 8
Friday: 22
Saturday: 14
Sunday: 16
Back-to-Backs:
Sunday/Monday: Minnesota, Portland, Utah
Monday/Tuesday: 0
Tuesday/Wednesday: Detroit
Wednesday/Thursday: Brooklyn, Miami
Thursday/Friday: 0
Friday/Saturday: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Indiana, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Utah
Saturday/Sunday: Dallas, Golden State
9-Category Leagues - Waiver Wire Adds
This column is written based on H2H 9-category 12-team leagues. All players in this article are rostered at around 50 percent or less.
Nicolas Claxton, C - Brooklyn Nets - 71% rostered
Honestly, the window to add Claxton has probably closed in most competitive leagues, but there are still 29% of leagues on Yahoo! where Claxton is on the wire, so if you're in one of those, go add him now, and then come back to this article.
Claxton is currently fourth on the Nets in minutes per game and has played substantially more minutes than Day'Ron Sharpe has, highlighting what seemed obvious: Claxton is the team's best center and it's not super close.
Through two games, Claxton has a pair of double-doubles, including posting 19 points and 11 rebounds on Friday against the Raptors. He also blocked four shots in that one. Pick Claxton up because he'll help you in a variety of categories, though he might kill your free throw shooting.
Santi Aldama, PF/C - Memphis Grizzlies - 67% rostered
This Santi Aldama thing is a ticking clock, as Jaren Jackson Jr. will return at some point. But for now, Aldama is third on the Grizzlies in minutes per game and has averaged 11.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.
And there's some room for growth, too. Aldama is shooting just 28.6% from three so far, but he's averaging 4.7 attempts per game from behind the arc. If that volume stays and he can start to hit them at a higher clip, Aldama's upside goes up even more. Who knows: maybe if he keeps this level of play up, he'll have value even after JJJ is back.
Kelly Olynyk, C - Utah Jazz - 40% rostered
Olynyk got into foul trouble in Utah's first game and played just 15 minutes, but Friday night's contest against the Timberwolves showed what Olynyk with a full workload looks like. In 35 minutes, Olynyk went 8-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-6 from three for 21 points, plus added three rebounds, three assists, four steals and one block.
Some of the traditional big man things—rebounds and blocks—look like they'll go to Lauri Markkanen and rookie Walker Kessler, but with the Jazz roster being so weirdly built, Olynyk is going to get a lot of chances to score the basketball.
Kevin Huerter, SG/SF - Sacramento Kings - 57% rostered
Need threes? Then take a gander at Kevin Huerter's numbers. A career 38.2% shooter from deep, Huerter has connected on 64.7% of his three-point attempts this season, averaging 5.5 made threes per game. Overall, he's averaging 20.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
The other stats are a good bonus, but points and threes are the No. 1 and No. 2 reasons to look Huerter's way, and then there's a big gap to everything else. If you need someone more well-rounded, this might not be your guy, but he has a chance to be an elite three-point shooter.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG/SF - Denver Nuggets - 33% rostered
Caldwell-Pope is second on the Nuggets in minutes per game so far this season, and while that number will likely drop a bit as Jamal Murray gets healthier, he's shown that he'll be on the floor a good bit this year for Denver.
After struggling with an 0-for-3 night in the opener, KCP went 7-for-14 against the Warriors with 17 points, then 7-for-13 against the Thunder for 21 points. In the latter game, he was 6-for-10 from behind the arc. That kind of three-point volume really raises the ceiling on what Caldwell-Pope can give fantasy managers, and it doesn't hurt that he's averaging 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game—not elite numbers, but good enough to boost his value a bit more.
Lonnie Walker IV, SG/SF - Los Angeles Lakers - 29% rostered
Walker has been third on the Lakers in minutes per game early on, ahead of other wings like Patrick Beverley and Juan Toscano-Anderson.
He's currently averaging 15.5 points per game, the best mark of his career. It's worth noting that Walker has increased his points per game every year of his career, and it's also worth noting that he's averaging this many points despite shooting just 16.7% from three. He won't be an elite three-point shooter, but he'll definitely get that number up into at least the low 30% range, so there should be even more upside going forward for a player who fills a big need for the Lakers: a source of scoring other than LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Terrence Ross, SG/SF - Orlando Magic - 13% rostered
Ross has played over 30 minutes in each Orlando game, and he's coming off of his best game of the season, scoring 29 points on 11-for-16 shooting against the Celtics, with four rebounds. He's scored in double figures in each game.
He'll likely cool off at some point, especially when the Magic get Jalen Suggs back and Ross ends up with a little dip in usage, but with how many minutes Ross is playing and factoring in that Orlando has four games this week, he should be someone that you look to add if you need points and threes.
Kevin Love, PF/C - Cleveland Cavaliers - 41% rostered
With Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen in the frontcourt, you'd think there might not be enough opportunities for Kevin Love, and you would be partially correct, as he's averaging just 22 minutes per game this season.
But he's made the most of the minutes he's getting. Last time out against the Bulls, Love had 15 points and 12 rebounds, with all of the points coming off of three-pointers. He also had four assists. You might not love playing a center-eligible player who has zero blocks or steals this season, but there are definitely some fantasy builds where you can take advantage of what Love is providing.
Dennis Smith Jr., PG - Charlotte Hornets - 21% rostered
Dennis Smith Jr. has been a pleasant surprise so far, scoring in double figures in both Hornets games so far. But the points aren't the biggest appeal when it comes to fantasy: what is appealing is that he's made multiple threes in both contests so far, plus had four assists in each game. Add that he's also had multiple steals in each contest.
DSJ won't have much value once LaMelo Ball is back, but he provides decent value for fantasy managers who need some short term help at point guard.
Cedi Osman, SG/SF - Cleveland Cavaliers - 10% rostered
Osman has been a nice surprise this season, shooting over 50% in both games and being perfect from the free throw line so far. He's made multiple threes in each game and has scoring totals of 17 points against the Raptors and then 15 points against the Bulls.
Osman isn't really giving fantasy managers much in rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, but as long as he can keep making his shots, he'll have some situational value.
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