January 30, 2017

Trevor Crippen recommends Week 15 fantasy basketball waiver wire pickups for NBA guards (PG, SG, PG/SG). Add these potential waiver sleepers to your lineups.

In this post, we are looking into some potential Week 15 waiver wire pickups for guards.

We'll provide options for guards, eligible at PG, SG, or PG/SG who may be available in both standard leagues (less than 50% owned) and deeper leagues (less than 25% owned), and will typically provide a boost in points, assists, threes, and steals.  All position eligibility and ownership rates based on Yahoo! fantasy leagues.

This year, RotoBaller is separating its waiver wire recommendations by position a little differently.  In our three position breakdowns, we'll be separating players into GUARDS, including point guards (PG), shooting guards (SG), and combo guards (PG/SG); WINGS, including small forwards (SF), swing men (SG/SF), and small ball fours (SF/PF); and BIGS, including power forwards (PF), centers (C), and bigs who play both front court spots (PF/C).

Standard League Waiver Wire Guard Adds

T.J. McConnell, PG, PHI (47% owned)

I wrote him in last week, but I'll include him again here while he's still under 50% owned -- he's clearly the priority pickup where still available.

Jameer Nelson, PG, DEN (14% owned)

This is nuts. After shooting below 40% for every year of his thirties to date, all of the sudden prime Orlando Jameer Nelson is back, shooting .449 on the season, including .485 since the calendar flipped to 2017. This sudden efficiency, combined with his steady flow of 4 or 5 assists per game (depending on minutes) has suddenly turned Jameer Nelson from a washed-up fantasy after-thought into a bona fide top 100 fantasy option over the last few weeks, particularly since he's been thrust into a starting role with Emmanuel Mudiay ailing due to a bad back. He's a hot hand who you should be adding while this lasts where you need assists.

Warning, though -- everything about this screams that it's going to come crashing to an end at some point. Guys don't usually start shooting like gangbusters right before their 35th birthday after a four year decline. This has been driven by good health and probably luck for Nelson, things that never last forever. His increased value is currently being driven exclusively by this surge in shooting -- it's not like he's producing increased per-minute numbers in rebounds or steals or assists. His playing time is being driven by being on a team without any better options at the point. This all could end one of several ways -- he stops shooting, Mudiay comes back and takes the lionshare of the playing time, Nelson gets hurt, or Nelson gets traded to a contender where he could be the veteran backup (the Cavaliers are reportedly interested, and a logical destination).

Emmanuel Mudiay, PG, DEN (48% owned)

Let's make this the all Denver edition! The flipside to the inevitable end of the improbable run by Nelson is that Mudiay probably finds his way into relevancy again by the end of the year. His back injury has caused many owners on the margins of playoff races to drop him -- which I completely endorse. He's not good enough to warrant using up a critical bench spot in a tight playoff race. However, the back injury isn't considered "serious" or "long-term" (whatever that means), so we should expect him back soon. And he was really playing quite well just before the injury, shooting over 40% and racking up assists and steals in the last few games before he got hurt. If you've got an IR spot to burn, he's worth grabbing where he's been dropped, and taking a shot on him.

Standard League Honorable Mentions: Raymond Felton, PG/SG, LAC (21% owned); Ty Lawson, PG, SAC (17% owned)

Deep League Waiver Wire Guard Adds

Yogi Farrell, PG, DAL (1% owned)

The tanking Mavericks have finally reached that part of the year where they're starting a dude in his first game out of the D-league. With Deron Williams and J.J. Berea out due to injuries and the Mavs not wanting to extend soon-to-be 34-year-old vet Devin Harris past his customary bench role, Yogi Farrell found himself starting at the point in his NBA debut on Sunday alongside Seth Curry, Wesley Matthews, Harrison Barnes, and Dirk Nowitzki. The thing is, he was quite good, racking up 7 assists with no turnovers, while grabbing two steals of his own. He didn't look like a great scorer -- he only scored 9 points on 3/9 shooting and 2/2 free throws. He didn't need to be, though, as he facilitated well, allowing Curry to shine off ball, Dirk to find mismatches, and Barnes to do his thing whenever he wasn't being disappeared by Kawhi Leonard en route to an upset 105-101 win against the Spurs. Farrell's going to find his way back to the bench (probably flipping down to third string) soon enough when D-Will recovers from his toe injury, but he showed more than enough in that game to prove he has a place in the NBA, and he could carve some decent playing time on a team with negative incentive to go all-out playing vets.

Deep League Honorable Mentions: E'Twaun Moore, PG/SG, NO (4% owned)