February 5, 2018

Milos Zvekic analyzes Week 17 streaming opportunities for head-to-head fantasy basketball leagues. He reviews the upcoming NBA schedule and players to add.

If you have an open Streaming spot or two on your roster and are pondering over who to pick up from the scarce quality on your Waiver Wire, this article may help you make the right decisions. We will look at daily games played, see which teams to target and which to avoid and then analyze which players from those teams could prove to be this weeks matchup winners for the owner who was insightful enough to pick them up before his competition.

This year we'll take more of a holistic approach to streaming, by providing a weekly overview of which teams to look at based on their schedules and what players to consider targeting in advance to maximize the bang for the buck you get out of limited weekly transactions. Streaming is just about maximizing a roster spot with whoever is available after all, it's never about targeting a specific player.

Anybody can go onto their waiver wire, look for the most interesting player with a game the next day, and add him. So we'll be plotting out our moves in advance because being able to target a stream two days out or add two extra games in one transaction is where you can really gain an edge over the average streamer. Hopefully, this weekly overview will help you realize that edge. Below you will find my fantasy basketball streamers for Week 17.

NBA Schedule Guide - Week 17

Week 17 is pretty evened out as no day has more than nine nor less than five games played. The days that are most likely to have an open spot on your roster are Thursday with five games, Monday and Sunday with six games apiece.

Teams with 4 games:
Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Hornets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Detroit Pistons
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
New Orleans Pelicans
Orlando Magic
Portland Trail Blazers
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards

Teams with 3 games:
Brooklyn Nets
Chicago Bulls
Denver Nuggets
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Sacramento Kings
Toronto Raptors

Teams with 2 games:
San Antonio Spurs

Number of teams playing each day:
Monday: 14
Tuesday: 16
Wednesday: 12
Thursday: 12
Friday: 18
Saturday: 14
Sunday: 16

Back-to-Backs (beware of older banged up players who might rest):
Atlanta: Thurs*/Fri
Boston: Thurs*/Fri
Brooklyn: Tue/Wed*
Charlotte: Thurs*/Fri*
Chicago: Fri/Sat
Cleveland: Tue*/Wed
Dallas: Sat/Sun*
Denver: Fri*/Sat*
Houston: Tue*/Wed*
LA Clippers: Fri*/Sat*
Memphis: Tue*/Wed
Milwaukee: Fri*/Sat*
New Orleans: Fri*/Sat*
Orlando: Mon*/Tue
Philadelphia: Fri/Sat
Phoenix: Tue*/Wed
Portland: Thurs/Fri*
Washington: Mon*/Tue*
- away game*

Teams Playing Twice on Days with Six or Fewer Games:
No teams

Teams Playing Three in Four Days on the Weekend:
Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Portland

Baller Streaming Strategy for the Week

Week 17 has six games played on Wednesday and Thursday and seven and more on all other days. With no teams playing on both Wednesday and Thursday, we will be concentrating on streaming options more based on potential performance than the schedule itself. Of course, we will take the schedule into account and mostly look at players from teams with four games this week. There will be no Spurs players in this column with them playing only two games in the next seven days.

The blockbuster deal for Blake Griffin reshaped both the Pistons and the Clippers. With Detroit playing four games this week, a closer attention should be paid to their guards. Avery Bradley left 31 minutes per game behind for them to divide among themselves. Detroit is a good place to find guys who should have increased value and could be found on most waiver wires.

Injuries have crippled the NBA, but it means more minutes for "The Forgotten". There are several players who have benefited from a teammate going down and have favorable schedules for the week. You can read more about them in the article below.

Streaming Options for the Week

Shallower League Streaming Adds for the Week:

John Collins, PF/C, ATL (56% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, REB, BLK
Taurean Prince, SF, ATL, (54% Owned) - Strong Cats: FT%, 3PM, REB
Terry Rozier, PG/SG, BOS (48% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL, REB
Jeremy Lamb, SG/SF, CHA (46% Owned) - Strong Cats: FT%, 3PM, PTS, REB
Frank Kaminsky, PF/C, CHA, (38% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%
Jae Crowder, SF/PF, CLE, (52% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, STL
Greg Monroe, PF/C, PHO, (53% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, PTS, REB
Ish Smith, PG, DET, (35% Owned) - Strong Cats: AST, PTS
Ryan Anderson, PF/C, HOU, (48% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, REB
Bojan Bogdanovic, SG/SF, IND, (36% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, PTS
E'Twaun Moore, SG/SF, CHA, (48% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FG%, PTS
Bismack Biyombo, PF/C, ORL, (24% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, BLK, FG%
Jonathon Simmons, SG/SF, HOU, (29% Owned) - Strong Cats: PTS, a bit of everything
Al-Farouq Aminu, SF/PF, DET, (47% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, REB, BLK/STL
Rodney Hood, SG/SF, UTA, (57% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, PTS, FT%
Dewayne Dedmon, C, ATL, (32% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, REB

Deeper League Adds

Tomas Satoransky, PG, WAS, (20% Owned) - Strong Cats: AST, STL

John Wall is out and Satoransky is the guy who benefits the most. In the last three games, he has been ballin' with 11.0 PTS, 0.7 3PM, 50.0 FG%, no misses from the line, 3.7 REB, 5.3 AST, 2.0 STL, 0.3 BLK and 1.7 TO in 28 minutes per game. That has him at around top-50 in that time frame and there's no sign of him slowing down. If he is sitting on your waiver wire and fits your team's needs, by all means, pick him up. Washington plays four games in the next two Game weeks (including the double week around the All Star Game) so he could stick around in your squad for more than just the next seven days.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF, CHA, (31% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, REB, BLK/STL

Marvin Williams just said that he doesn't have a return date in mind for his ankle injury. This should mean more run for Kidd-Gilchrist. And as I write this, Charlotte has just won their game against Phoenix and Michael has played 34 minutes going 3-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line for eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. Not the best of lines, but it can be quite helpful for owners looking to get some out-of-positon rebounds and FG% or need help with defensive stats.

Tristan Thompson, PF/C, CLE, (36% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, REB

The Cavaliers' coach Tyronn Lue has recently inserted Tristan into the starting line-up in an attempt to shake his team up from the slump the Eastern Conference Champions have undoubtedly fallen into. Even though it hasn't quite worked out, and Thompson isn't playing as well as his owners would have hoped, the injury of Kevin Love means that he will stick in the starting unit and continue to get around 25 minutes a night. That should result in him being a double-double threat everytime he steps on the court.

Reggie Bullock, SG/SF, DET, (25% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FG%, STL

Reggie Bullock has been playing really well lately, and he even cracked the top-100 in his last five games with the averages of 15.0 PTS with 3.2 3PM on 50.9 FG% and 71.4 FT%, 3.6 REB, 2.2 AST,  0.6 STL, no blocks and 1.0 TO in 33 minutes per outing. And now, with Bradley in Los Angeles, his minutes will be safe. It's just up to Reggie to keep hitting his threes at this insane rate (he is hitting 3.2-of-6.8 which is 47.1% over these five games and is at 44.4% on the season). He SHOULD NOT be on your waiver wire in almost any league.

Stanley Johnson, SG/SF, DET, (20% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, STL

Stanley is probably the primary beneficiary of Avery's departure, along with maybe rookie Luke Kennard. Furthermore, he has turned it around and is actually playing quite nicely as of late with 16.8 PTS with 1.0 3PM on 43.1 FG% and 76.5 FT%, 6.0 REB, 3.0 AST, 1.3 STL, 0.5 BLK and 2.0 TO in 34 minutes on average over his four games in the last week. And with Kennard dealing with a foot issue which may keep him out for a few more games, you can expect Johnson to be good for a few threes and steals over the next week at least. He could hold on to some value during the rest of the season too, and Detroit plays 4 games a piece in the next two weeks, so you may want to keep him if all goes well.

Other Deep League Options for the Week

Gerald Green, SG/SF, HOU (13% Owned) - Strong Cats: PTS, 3PM, FT%
Lance Stephenson, SG/SF, IND, (13% Owned) - Strong Cats: a bit of everything
Darius Miller, SG/SF, NO, (9% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%
Mario Hezonja, SG/SF, ORL, (5% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%
Tim Frazier, PG, WAS, (4% Owned) - Strong Cats: AST, STL
Anthony Tolliver, SF/PF, DET, (3% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%

Hope you guys enjoyed the article and the advice, and I hope that this will help you win your matchups for next and bragging rights for the week after.

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