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It's Week 22. The playoffs are here, and I hope you're feeling good about your chances to win it all. Regardless of your situation, this is the home stretch and working the waiver wire successfully in these next few weeks are key to making a strong run in the postseason. Here are some interesting adds that can help you with your season goals.
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.
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Shallow League Adds for Week 22
Jonathon Simmons, SG/SF
Ownership: 38%
13.7 PPG / 3.5 REB / 2.5 AST / .471% FG
I don't know if it's like this in your leagues, but Jonathon Simmons might be the most picked up and dropped player throughout the season. With the Magic being deep at their guard and forward position, it's tough to gauge how successful Simmons will be on a per game basis. Evan Fournier (knee) is dealing with a sprained MCL and there is currently no timetable for his return, while Aaron Gordon (head) is currently dealing with a concussion that could see him return to court soon, however it's very possible he finds a way to miss games as he usually does.
This means it's the perfect opportunity for Simmons to be fantasy relevant again. December was arguably his best month where he averaged 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and most importantly a season high 34.6 minutes. Since then his numbers have trickled down and hovered around the 28 minute mark, but with the current injuries the Magic are dealing with, his minutes should trend upwards again. In his past two games, Simmons has scored 25 and 24 points respectively while shooting very efficiently and contributing in assists and rebounds. Ride the wave while you still can and pick up Simmons.
Austin Rivers, PG, SG, SF
Ownership: 56%
15.5 PPG / 3.8 AST / 1.1 STL / .432 FG%
The Austin Rivers era in LA has certainly had its highs and lows and that might play a factor on why his ownership is so low. However right now I hope you're a fan and riding the high. Rivers (when healthy), has been an extremely reliable fantasy player across the board. His ability to contribute in points, threes, assists and steals should make him a highly coveted player especially as the fantasy season comes to an end.
He's been a big part of the Clippers recent success post all star break, as he's averaging 15.2 points, 4.0 assists and 2.1 threes a game. He isn't the most efficient player from the field, he shoots about 13 shots a game, but he is a very streaky player so you can expect some nights where he can light it up from beyond the arc. He recently had a big game against Brooklyn, where he scored 27 points on 10-15 shooting and 4-8 from the three. Austin Rivers is your low risk-high reward player, he can occasionally have modest stat lines but also has the potential to stuff the stat sheet like one of the premier guards in the league.
Terry Rozier, PG/SG
Ownership 42%
10.6 PPG/ 4.4 REB / 1.8 3PM / .404 FG%
Terry Rozier might be the best waiver pick up of the week for those who need an immediate impact on their team. With news of Kyrie Irving (knee) possibly sitting out a week for rest and the injury to Marcus Smart (thumb), it's a no brainer that Rozier is about to be the hottest acquisition of the week, so act fast! Rozier isn't the conventional point guard however, he can also get you rebounds in addition to assists, which makes him that more valuable.
With the recent injury bug the Celtics are dealing with, Rozier will start for them as he did the previous games that Kyrie missed. As a starter, he's averaging 19.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and to make it sweeter, 3.3 threes a game. The Celtics heavily rely on him to create offense when he's a starter, so it's safe to assume he'll take on the same role. Boston is comfortably in second place and they have no reason to rush Kyrie back, which means Rozier could potentially get you through the first round of the playoffs.
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