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Milos Zvekic's fantasy basketball waiver wire streamers for head-to-head leagues. He reviews the Week 8 NBA schedule (12/9 - 12/15) and streaming options to pickup.
Recently I had a short conversation on Reddit (fantasybball subreddit of course) about the benefits and importance of streaming. The fantasy owner who started the conversation analyzed the stats his streamers have brought him over a three-week period and calculated that it was equal to a top-25 to top-40 production. Mind you, this was a 12-team league with 7 transactions allowed weekly, but still - having a streaming production, most often than not, will beat what your worst player will do on a given period.
Now, I didn't check this guy's math - he posted the topic with good intentions and I trust he is for real, and I wouldn't like to question whether the contribution from the streaming spot in different leagues makes different impacts, we all know it does. But it was an interesting point, and I definitely agree that, in most cases, streamers that will bring a few extra games on a weekly basis will outperform the worst player on our rosters.
If you're on board with the streaming strategy, we're here again this week with our fantasy basketball streamers for Week 8.
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NBA Schedule Guide - Week 8
The three days with the fewest number of games will be Tuesday and Thursday with four games apiece, followed by Sunday with six. Players from teams that play on these days will be our focus today as they are most likely to help us fill out our starting lineups on scarce days.
Here's the low-down:
Teams with 4 games:
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Denver Nuggets
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Bucks
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Sacramento Kings
Teams with 3 games:
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Detroit Pistons
Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
Oklahoma City Thunder
Phoenix Suns
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Teams with 2 games:
Dallas Mavericks
Portland Trail Blazers
San Antonio Spurs
Washington Wizards
Number of teams playing each day:
Monday: 18
Tuesday: 8
Wednesday: 22
Thursday: 8
Friday: 18
Saturday: 16
Sunday: 12
Back-to-Backs (beware of older or banged up players who might rest):
Monday/Tuesday: -
Tuesday/Wednesday: ATL, CHA, NYK
Wednesday/Thursday: BOS, CLE
Thursday/Friday: PHI
Friday/Saturday: CHI, HOU, LAC, MEM, MIA, MIL
Saturday/Sunday: BKN, DEN
Sunday/Monday the following: -
Days with six or fewer games
Tuesday: 4 games
Thursday: 4 games
Sunday: 6 games
Teams playing on all three days:
Denver Nuggets (4 games - Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun)
Philadelphia 76ers (4 games - Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sun)
Teams playing on Tue/Thurs:
Portland Trail Blazers (2 games - Tues, Thurs)
Denver Nuggets
Philadelphia 76ers
Teams playing on Tue/Sun:
Atlanta Hawks (4 games - Tues, Wed, Fri, Sun)
Charlotte Hornets (4 games - Tues, Wed, Fri, Sun)
New York Knicks (4 games - Tues, Wed, Fri, Sun)
Denver Nuggets
Philadelphia 76ers
Team playing on Thurs/Sun:
Denver Nuggets
Philadelphia 76ers
Teams playing three games over the weekend (from Thursday to Sunday)
Denver Nuggets
Philadelphia 76ers
Baller Streaming Strategy for Week 8
Tuesday and Thursday (four games played on both) are the most difficult days to field a decent team, and Sunday (six games) is just behind.
Denver and Philadelphia are the only teams to play on all three of these days and their players will be worth gold this week.
There are four additional teams that play two games on these three scarcest days - Portland, Atlanta, Charlotte, and New York.
Portland is the only team other than Denver and Philadelphia that plays on both Tuesday and Thursday, but those are their only two games. This means that their players are decent options up until Thursday, and you should have a plan in place to swap your streamers from Portland after Thursday's game.
Atlanta, Charlotte, and New York all play on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. With four games this week, out of which two come on our target days, their players can prove useful for us streaming this week, so we will be taking a closer look at them as well.
Streaming Options for Week 8
Shallower League Streaming Adds for the Week:
Will Barton, SG/SF, DEN, (74% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, a bit of everything
Paul Millsap, PF/C, DEN, (74% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, STL/BLK, FG%, FT%
Gary Harris, PG/SG, DEN, (54% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL
PJ Washington, SF/PF, CHA, (53% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, FG%, 3PM, STL/BLK
Nicolas Batum, SG/SF, CHA, (31% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, AST
Cody Zeller, PF/C, CHA, (47% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, FG%, BLK/STL
Kent Bazemore, SG/SF, POR, (30% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, REB, STL/BLK - - should see additional minutes with Rodney Hood out for the season
Carmelo Anthony, SF/PF, POR, (73% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, PTS, FT%, REB
Jabari Parker, SF/PF, ATL, (74% Owned) - Strong Cats: PTS, REB, a bit of everything. Additional value now with John Collins out for until Dec 23!!!
Kevin Huerter, SG, ATL, (34% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, PTS, some AST - buyer beware: just returned from injury
Shallower League Add
PJ Washington, SF/PF, CHA - 54% Owned
Strong Cats: REB, FG%, 3PM, STL/BLK
The 12th overall pick in this year's draft is giving his owners pretty much what was expected from him before his first game in the NBA. Averages of 11.8 PTS with 1.3 3PM on 49.1 FG% and 64.0 FT%, 5.0 REB, 1.7 AST, 1.1 STL, 0.8 BLK, and 1.3 TO in 28 minutes per outing on the season has him ranked at #124 on Yahoo, which is quite close to his ADP of #133.
These stats are ridiculously similar to his performances over two years in college (total of 72 games) where he averaged 12.9 points with 0.5 three-pointers on 52.1% from the field and 63.2% from the charity stripe, 6.6 boards, 1.7 dimes, 0.8 steals, 1.0 blocks and 1.9 turnovers in 28 minutes per game.
This shows consistency and with Charlotte sure to give their youth all the run they can handle, it doesn't seem like PJ is going to drop anytime soon. So, with a pretty decent schedule for next week, he could be of big help in your next week's matchup - provided he is available in your league.
Deeper League Add
Cam Reddish, PG/SG/SF, ATL - 11% Owned
Strong Cats: 3PM, STL, FT%, a little bit of everything
After the 12th, we now come to the 10th overall pick in 2019 draft. Cam has had his ups and downs this season - from going scoreless in 15 minutes to hitting the 25-point mark in 37 minutes. The good news for him and his owners is that the scoreless game was on Nov 11 and the 25-point gem in his very last game on Dec 5.
Even though Reddish is terribly inconsistent, which is ironically consistent with him being basically a three-and-D specialist at this point in his very young career, he can get hot in a hurry. In the last game where he set his career record in points, he also broke or tied his career bests in field goals made (10), field goals attempted (17), three-pointers made (four), three-pointers attempted (seven), steals (three), minutes played (37) and came one rebound short of his previous record (he had six and his record is seven).
It is important for me to tell you that this came with both De'Andre Hunter and Allen Crabbe out, and neither is expected to miss a longer period of time due to their injuries, so Reddish is not likely to get 37 minutes a night regularly. But with the decent schedule, and his ability to catch fire, Cam could prove very helpful, especially in the 3-pointers and steals columns.
Insanely Deep League Add
Mason Plumlee, PF/C, DEN - 8% Owned
Strong Cats: REB, FG%, STL/BLK
Plumlee is an easy choice for owners who need big man stats, and don't care about the poor FT%. With such a great schedule next week, he is sure to make your starting roster on most if not all of his four games, and he is pretty consistent for a guy owned in just 8% of the leagues who plays just 17 minutes per game this season.
He had five or more boards in his previous six games and only had less than five rebounds in six of his 20 games this season. He also failed to register either a steal or a block in just five of those 20 games and had at least two stocks in nine games.
He is shooting better from the field (60.4 FG%) than from the line (52.9 FT%) so the team fit should be there before you decide to pick Plumlee, but if he does go well with the rest of your team, he is a good pickup for next week.
Other Deep League Options for the Week
Jerami Grant, SF/PF, DEN, (15% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FG%, STL/BLK
Malik Beasley, PG/SG, DEN, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: PTS, 3PM
Monte Morris, PG, DEN, (4% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL
Mason Plumlee, PF/C, DEN, (8% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, FG%, STL/BLK
James Ennis III, SG/SF, PHI, (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL (more valuable as long as Josh Richardson is out)
Matisse Thybulle, SG/ SF, PHI, (7% Owned) - Strong Cats: BLK/STL, 3PM - buyer beware: rolled his ankle and didn't return on Saturday's game against the Cavs.
Furkan Korkmaz, SG, PHI, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT% (more valuable as long as Josh Richardson is out)
Mike Scott, PF, PHI, (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, 3PM
Alex Len, PF/C, ATL, (27% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, BLK, 3PM
Deandre Bembry, SG, ATL, (6% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, STL/BLK
Cam Reddish, PG/SG/SF, ATL, (11% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL, FT%, a little bit of everything
De'Andre Hunter, SF, ATL, (25% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, PTS - buyer beware: missed the previous game with a dislocated right index finger
Damian Jones, PF/C, ATL, (12% Owned) - Strong Cats: BLK/STL, REB, FG%
Malik Monk, SG, CHA, (5% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, PTS
Marvin Williams, SF, CHA, (17% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, 3PM, BLK/STL
Taj Gibson, PF/C, NYK, (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, STL/BLK
Bobby Portis, PF/C, NYK, (18% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, REB, STL
Elfrid Payton, PG, NYK, (12% Owned) - Strong Cats: AST, STL
Frank Ntilikina, PG/SG, NYK, (8% Owned) - Strong Cats: AST, 3PM, STL
Anfernee Simons, SG, POR, (6% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM
Skal Labissiere,PF/C, POR, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, REB, STL/BLK
Mario Hezonja, SG/SF, POR, (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: FT%, a little bit of everything - should see additional minutes with Rodney Hood out for the season
Hope you guys enjoyed the article and the advice, and I hope that this will help you win your matchups next week and bragging rights for the week after.
