RADIO
We are beginning to enter the final stage of separating the contenders from the pretenders, both in The Association and fantasy leagues. The following centers, whether of the “sleeper” variety or just cashing in temporarily on an unforeseen opportunity, almost certainly deserve attention across the various formats during Week 19 of the campaign.
Position Eligibility & Ownership Rate Based on Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball Player List
Waiver Wire Center for Right Now
Andrea Bargnani (NYK, PF/C) - 32% Owned
Bargnani has turned into a rare, unexpected bright spot of late for the Knicks. With New York's luck, and his checkered history in regards to staying on the court, it feels like we are just waiting for the other shoe to drop on a seemingly inevitable injury for Bargnani. In the meantime, however, it is hard to ignore the numbers he is putting up lately. In five games since moving into the starting lineup for the Knicks beginning on 2/27, "Bargs" has averaged 18.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 threes, 0.4 steals, 1.0 blocks, and 2.2 turnovers with high impact rates of a .552 FG% and .833 FT%. Those are top 40 numbers.
You definitely can't count on that kind of FG shooting going forward from a guy with a career FG% of .438, which will drain most of the value he'll provide in that category (where I expect him to even out as a negative given his position) as well as in the scoring, which is buoyed both by him hitting so many of his shots and by him probably earning slightly more shots as a result of being the "hot hand." However, until he does get injured, it's safe to assume he can continue to provide top 100 value, and he should be owned in all but the most shallow leagues.
Waiver Wire Center for Deep Leagues
Cody Zeller (CHA, PF/C) - 11% Owned
I feel like a broken record here, since it seems like there is always a Zeller featured in this column. This is due to the nature of looking at ownership rates and seeing who I think warrants attention in given ranges of ownership. For "deeper league" guys, I am looking for someone owned in less than 20% of leagues (preferably closer to 10% or lower) who provides good value or upside. The problem is, first, that this late in the year that there's no sense in looking at long term upside anymore (it's a week away from the playoffs in many leagues -- there is no more long term). Second, the market has developed to the point where if a guy is worth owning for his immediate contributions, he is probably already owned.
The cold truth is that, even in deep leagues, most of the guys owned in less than 20% of Yahoo leagues are worthless at this point except as streamers to beef up a category or two on days when your normal starters aren't playing. Zeller is a rare exception in category-based leagues at this point. While his minutes cap his upside for putting up monster stats, he has a nice floor of playing every day and usually getting around 10 points, 7 rebounds and a block with nice percentages. He's not going to kill it for you, but he'll provide a much more predictable baseline of production in deep leagues than other guys who might be available in the same range, such as Kevin Garnett or Brandan Wright.
