February 14, 2017

Trevor Crippen recommends Week 17 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 17 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

Garrett Temple, PG/SG, SAC (5% owned)

There is a full slate on tomorrow and a limited slate on Thursday before we head into the All-Star Break. It's hard to accomplish anything on those days with the waiver -- there's slim pickings of worthwhile adds for Thursday, and you likely already have a full lineup for Wednesday. As a result, it's time to start looking after the All-Star Break. Kings guard Garrett Temple was having a career season with useful, if boring, all-around contributions as a nice source of steals without being really terrible in any other category. Then he suffered a small tear in his hamstring on January 31st in a game against the Houston Rockets that was projected to cost keep him out "up to three weeks."

If you do the math, three weeks after January 31st is February 20th, which is  still in the middle of the All-Star Break. The Kings first game after the break is the 23rd against Denver. It's possible Temple is back by that game, or at least very close. He might be limited at first, but he could still contribute a little bit to your lineup right away, and possibly be ready to return to form by the fantasy playoffs. For someone owned in only 1 out of 20 leagues, he actually could make an impact in a standard league lineup short on guards, especially if you're punting points or if you need a cheap PG-eligible source of steals/threes in an assists punt.

Jeremy Lin, PG/SG, BRK (56% owned)

In the same vein as Temple, this is pure speculation. While Lin is more likely than not owned in your league, if you're in a league without IR spots, there's a good chance he's sitting out there. Who the heck knows when he's coming back, but you might as well grab him now and hold onto him through the All-Star Break, waiting to hear news. While he may be treated with kid gloves by the Nets for the rest of their abysmal, meaningless, void-of-hope season, he's the closest to a starting caliber PG available in some leagues. He's got a better chance of making an impact post-ASB than the rest of the scrap heap.

Standard League Honorable Mentions: Malcolm Brogdon, PG/SG, MIL (41% owned); Ish Smith, PG, DET (20% owned)

Deep League Waiver Wire Guard Adds

Jerian Grant, PG/SG, CHI (1% owned)

This is what qualifies as speculative add in deep leagues. Grant has been playing fairly well of late with Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler missing time, averaging over 20 minutes per game and shooting well (58% over the last two weeks). If nothing changes, the Bulls stars get healthy, and Grant's shooting goes back to his normal bad shooting, then that value goes away. But who thinks the Bulls aren't going to make a move? If they ditch Rondo and/or trade one of their bench wings to acquire Jahlil Okafor, it stands to reason he could retain a role with minutes in the 20s. If he combined that with at least respectable shooting, he could maintain Top 200 value, which is enough to make him worth owning in 16+ team leagues, especially as a FG% punt play.

Deep League Honorable Mentions: Ben McLemore, SG, SAC (1% owned)