January 4, 2018

Week 12 fantasy basketball waiver wire adds for shallow leagues. Take a look at three NBA players who are owned in less than 65% of fantasy basketball leagues.

It's Week 12 – we're reaching the stretch run, and you can't let off the gas now.  Shallow leagues have waiver wires stocked with high-performing talent because there's just not much roster space to go around. You should dump dead weight and grab production now, because the same is going to be true all year -- you'll be able to pick up someone good later, too, once your add cools off.

This year, we're tossing out our old convention of separating waiver wire posts into positions, and instead, we're separating them into of league -- standard, shallow, deep, etc. The NBA is trending to positionless basketball, so we at RotoBaller should too.

For shallow (8-10 team) league adds, we use a general rule of thumb of an ownership rate of under 65% on Yahoo. All position eligibility based on Yahoo leagues.

Shallow League Adds for Week 12

Gerald Green, SG/SF

Ownership: 22%

13.8 PPG / 3.0 REB / 3.3 3PM / .543 FG%

If the above stat line doesn’t make you drop what you’re doing to go pick him up then I don’t know what will. Green’s performance has been superb so far and if you are in need of a player who can fill up the stat sheet when given the minutes, he’s your guy. With James Harden being sidelined for a minimum of two weeks, players like Gerald Green, Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza could be the main beneficiaries with Chris Paul distributing the ball.

His best game to date is 27 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 7 threes, all while shooting 60% from the field. It is a small sample size so if you can take the risk and stash him, I would recommend doing so. He has the ultimate green light playing in his hometown of Houston and in their faced paced offense, I can easily see him duplicating his most recent game. If your team needs a boost in threes, consider taking a look at Gerald Green.

Marquese Chriss, PF/C

Ownership: 57%

7.2 PPG / 5.0 REB / 1.0 BLK / .429 FG%

I’m almost hesitant mentioning a player from the Suns on these weekly columns because you never know what their role on the team might be by the end of the week. However, if you are willing to take your chances, Marquese Chriss is the guy to pick up if he’s still available in your league.

Over the last week, he is averaging 14.3 ppg, 8.7 reb, 2.7 3pm and 1.7 blk, all while shooting .625% from the field. The lineup rotations on the Suns seem to come in waves so ride this one while you can, Chriss is getting close to 30 minutes a game and should be at least streamed for the near future. He is also worth looking at long term as the Suns may eventually look to develop their younger core by giving him and Alex Len more minutes.

Tyler Johnson, PG/SG

Ownership 51%

11.0 PPG/ 3.6 REB / 1.4 3PM / .409 FG%

Tyler Johnson is probably the safest bet to pick up off waivers if he’s available in your league. He rarely has bad outlier games and his numbers are extremely steady. With no clear number one option on the Heat, the scoring has been evenly distributed most nights which makes him a reliable pickup.

Tyler Johnson had a monster game against the Pistons recently scoring 31 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. Although that was definitely an outlier game for Tyler Johnson, he has been producing double digit scoring outputs almost consistently. With Dion Waiters, likely being out another week, Johnson should be on your team if you need a boost in scoring and 3 points made.

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