Week 2 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: Three-Point Specialists

November 8, 2014

In his week 2 NBA Category Specialist column, Trevor Crippen searches the fantasy basketball waiver wire for some three-point shooting sleepers.

The 2014-15 NBA Season has really heated and with that it is time to dive back into the fantasy basketball waiver wire. Today, the focus is on sleepers of the three-point specialist variety.

Position Eligibility & Ownership Rate Based on Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball Leagues

Three Point Category Specialists

Garrett Temple (WAS, PG/SG) - 30% Owned

It is like déjà-vu in Washington with Bradley Beal. Once again he is hurt. And once again his back-up is playing 35-40 minutes per game and raining down threes. Last year the hot backup was Martell Webster. This year, Webster is out indefinitely after back surgery, and now it is Temple that is rocking the court as John Wall’s substitute running mate.

So far on the season, Temple has averaged 2.8 threes per game, good for eighth in the league over the small sample of the season so far. His value will drop if/when Beal returns as expected in late November, which means Temple will likely not be this guy all year or in the playoffs. However, there are a couple of things to consider.

First, Webster maintained value last year even alongside Beal, and was always tremendous when Beal was out. With that said, Temple still has some long-term value.

Second, long-term value is not real. Fantasy basketball is just a series of short terms, one after the other, that you can tackle one at a time. Over the next few weeks, Temple should be a winning option to have on your fantasy team.

Shawne Williams (MIA, SF/PF) - 17% Owned

The big offseason signing for the Heat, Josh McRoberts, was obviously expected to start at forward for Miami after they lost their previous starter at the position (just some guy you have probably never heard of). McBob has been hurt though, and while he has returned to action, it has so far been at just 8-10 minutes per game. McRoberts admits that he is simply not very good at basketball right now.

Miami is instead starting well-traveled journeyman Shawne Williams, who is playing for his sixth team in as many seasons. This would not normally be a good thing for the Heat – or any team, since starting Williams was something even last year’s horrible and snake-bitten Lakers only had to resort to a handful of times.

Williams has actually looked decent out there, hitting a trio of threes in each of his last four games. Given the hot streak he is riding and McRoberts' current limitations, Williams should remain the starter in the short term.

Iman Shumpert (NYK, SG/SF) - 31% Owned

I almost did not want to mention Shumpert. As a player doing well on a New York sports team, he has already been added in most East Coast leagues. New Yorkers can be completely out of the loop when it comes to players on other teams, but once one of their guys starts doing anything, they race to their waiver wires.

Shumpert is still owned in under a third of all Yahoo! leagues and readily available in more West Coast centric leagues.  So this one is for you, my West Coast friends.

Here is the run down. Shumpert will get steals and hit threes, provide a base line of about 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists, does not block shots and is a negative in both percentages. With that in mind, he has been blazing hot through the first six games of the season, knocking down 12-of-20 shots from beyond the arc.

Shumpert is obviously not going to continue shooting 60 percent from three-point land , but is a decent option if you have some dead weight on the roster with slim pickings on the waiver wire. He might just ride the wave through next week's four-game docket.