March 6, 2017

Trevor Crippen recommends Week 20 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 20 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

Tyler Ulis, PG, PHO (22% owned)

While Brandon Knight is still inexplicably owned in over 40% of Yahoo! leagues as he racks up DNP-CDs, Tyler Ulis has been forcing his way into the suddenly frisky Suns rotation, capping off his week with a game-winning three pointer against the Celtics on Sunday. Ulis played over 30 minutes for the first time in his career, scoring 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting, with 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and the aforementioned game-winning three pointer. While he's not going to start for the Phoenix unless they start sitting Eric Bledsoe, Ulis has become the first and often only guard off the bench for the Suns in their recent three game winning streak, and they have no reason not to let him show what he can do for the remainder of the season. It's not like playing Knight or Leandro Barbosa is going to do anything for their future. Ulis is a high priority pick-up for managers in search of a quick fix of scoring and assists at the guard position.

Ish Smith, PG, DET (25% owned)

While rumors of struggling starting point guard Reggie Jackson getting benched haven't yet come to fruition, Ish Smith has been given more and more responsibility as the Pistons backup ball handler, and has been providing very nice standard league value even with minutes in the low-to-mid twenties. It's time to stop waiting for him to start before you add him to your team and grab him now. Why not just enjoy the 8.4 assists (despite only 0.6 turnovers) and 2.0 steals he's been racking up in just 23 mpg over the last two weeks worth of games, and be pleasantly surprised if Stan Van Gundy finally pulls the trigger and ends up starting him?

Standard League Honorable Mentions: Jameer Nelson, PG, DEN (32% owned); Cory Joseph, PG, TOR (32% owned); Jamal Murray, PG/SG, DEN (25% owned)

Deep League Waiver Wire Guard Adds

Garrett Temple, PG/SG, SAC (4% owned)

Temple returned to action on Sunday after missing 12 games with hamstring with 11 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 three pointers in 24 minutes. He'll sit on Monday night for the second half of the Kings back-to-back, but will be back in action later in the week Wednesday in San Antonio, and for at least one end of their back-to-back in Sacramento on Friday and Saturday.  Given the Kings will be taking it easy with him and that they have a bunch of other guards now, he won't get the same run he did before his injury, which was giving him marginal standard league value. However, he's a favorite of Coach Joerger for his defense and leadership, and it seems he'll have a solid spot in the rotation when he does play, and be a decent deep league source of steals and treys without being bad anywhere. His return pushed Ben McLemore, who had been producing decent deep league numbers himself into a DNP-CD, which goes to show what Joerger thinks of each of those guys.

Speaking of the Kings, Ty Lawson actually started for them, and put up 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. He may not be available in decently deep leagues, which is why I talk about Temple above, and he's not quite reliable enough to consider in standard 10 or 12 teamers, but he's worth looking out for in 14 and 16 team leagues if available. The Kings certainly need someone who can score.

Deep League Honorable Mentions: Ty Lawson, PG, SAC (18% owned)