November 14, 2016

Milos Zvekic looks at NBA players to target on the waiver wire when punting FT%, assists, and/or threes. Follow RotoBaller for more fantasy basketball strategy.

Another week of NBA is behind us. Another set of ups and downs, poor performances, injuries and opportunities for new faces to shine. Another week of shots blocked, balls stolen, rebounds grabbed. On the other hand, another week of missed free throws, no threes shot and no balls passed.

For all of you who don't mind the latter and appreciate the former, here are a few pickups that should be available in your league. They could help you bring your mates down to their knees, ruing the day you read about (and made that courageous decision to add) the player who blocked that one shot and won you your weekly matchup.

Editor's Note: New users that sign up on FantasyAces, make a $20 deposit, and enter any game will receive our full season NBA (or NFL) Premium Pass for free (includes DFS Cheat Sheets). Just email [email protected] with your new FantasyAces username - and boom, that's it! We will email you with your Premium Pass.

Waiver Wire Guard for Punting Small Stats

Andre Roberson, SG/SF, OKC (8% owned in Yahoo! leagues)

There are just too many minutes on the court for Andre Roberson to ignore him in deep leagues or as a category specialist for your weekly matchup. He is appalling from the line, his career average is 52.7% thanks to him hitting only 29.4% of his free throws this season. For comparison Andre Drummond hits almost twice as many of his free throws (53.1%) so far this year. He gets you just one assist in 29 minutes per game. But we already decided not to care about those stats right?

Those massive minutes translate well to defensive stats he stacks up pretty well. Extraordinarily well for a guy owned in 8% of Yahoo! Leagues. He is getting averages of 4.9 REB, 1.4 STL and 1.1 BLK. Taking into account he plays 29 minutes a game, his 0.8 turnovers is a bargain. He does score just seven points per outing, but it's on a decent 45.2 FG% and is a career 47.8% shooter so he might improve there. He only scored in double digits twice this year. The good news though for Fantasy Basketball owners is that it happened in the last two games, so he seems to be loosening up on offense. He might just step his scoring up a bit, keep your fingers crossed.

Other guard options: Thabo Sefolosha, SG/SF, ATL (22% owned), Gerald Henderson, SG/SF, PHI (4% owned), PJ Tucker, SG/SF, PHO (7% owned)

Waiver Wire Forward for Punting Small Stats

As a young player in his second year in the NBA Larry Nance Jr. has the capacity to become a fantasy relevant player. He plays for a talented Lakers team and for coach Luke Walton, who doesn't shy away from giving his youth the space and time they need to develop. He is averaging 6.7 PTS on 62.5 FG%, along with 5.1 REB and 1.4 STL per game. He also gets a block every other game and turns the ball over twice in three games he plays, so he helps out in those categories too. One assist and 66.7 FT% with averaging under one free throw taken a night won't hurt you too bad either.

And this is all with him getting minutes in the low 20s. In the three games Mozgov was out or limited with his eye injury this season Larry got 86 minutes. That's almost 30 a night! And he produced too! He racked up 12.3 points, 7 rebounds, 2.7 steals and one block on 68% shooting in those three games. Mozgov has played in more than 46 games just twice in his 8 years in the NBA so far. That is far from reliable.

Larry Nance Jr. is also getting some time at the center position in his last few games and if he outperforms his frontcourt rivals, or someone gets injured he could get his minutes up to around 30 and with his current level of performance, those minutes would make him a fantastic add from the wire. Just make sure someone else doesn't beat you to it.

Other wing options: Dwight Powell, PF, DAL (5% owned), Jared Dudley, SG/SF/PF, PHO (11% owned), Marquese Chriss, PF, PHO (7% owned)

Waiver Wire Center for Punting Small Stats

Lucas Nogueira, C, TOR (28% owned in Yahoo! leagues)

Lucas Nogueira has been tearing it up! He's been just too good not to mention, especially if you are punting small stats. Just listing his averages proves a point: 8.3 PTS, 7.3 REB, 1.8 STL, 2.5 BLK and all that with a ridiculously efficient shooting of 88.2% from the field. He is also contributing 0.8 AST with 75% from the line and 0.9 TO which doesn't hurt too bad. And all that in 26 minutes of playing time a night.

He leads the league in FG% if you count all players that play more than 10 minutes per game. He is second to only Anthony Davis (4.7) in combined blocks and steals with 4.3. And Davis plays 38 minutes per game.

Now, first of all, Nogueira has played just 4 games so far. Second, Jonas Valanciunas got hurt and missed two and was limited in the other two games. If that hadn't happened, who knows weather Nogueira would have gotten any playing time at all. But it did happen. He did get his chance. And boy did he use it!

He is playing with his heart out there. He contests 14.3 shots per game. Only Robin Lopez contests more with 15.4. He is also useful on offense where 3.8 of his screens lead to field goals every game. That is tied at 11th in the whole NBA!

So, is it possible for him to keep this level up? No. Will he get the same amount of run when Valanciunas is back to 100% health? Probably not. But is he worth a flier, just in case he gets his minutes one way or the other and keeps up at least a part of what he is producing now? YES, YES, YES!!!

Other center options: Alex Len (50% owned), Timofey Mozgov (25% owned), Cody Zeller (33% owned)