Another Wednesday, another Buy/Sell column for you good folks. As established in the last post, I will start by briefly assessing the performances of the players I included last week. Will Barton has not yet taken off with two underwhelming games to end the week, but I still believe he is the one to benefit the most from the Millsap injury. Bojan Bogdanovic is on a THRAGNOFy streak for the ages and, in the past three games, is averaging 17.0/1.0/1.7/0/0.3/0/0.7. I can’t believe that a player averaging 36 minutes in those games has so little peripheral stats, but he is the wing scorer Indiana needs and trusts. Denzel Valentine is filling up the stat sheet and has been more than useful. Kris Dunn had his breakout performance yesterday with a career-high 24 points and as Son says, “the PG competition in Chicago is Dunn.” Finally, Lord Covington’s shot started to fail him as predicted (35% in his last five games), so I hope you capitalized on the sell high opportunity. Without further ado, let’s look at this week’s candidates…
Want the best tools and projections to help dominate your league? Check out the Stocktonator, the byproduct of Rudy and machine making love. Click HERE for a FREE 7-day trial.
Buy
Kawhi Leonard: It has been a frustrating year for owners that drafted Leonard in the first or second round. What was initially thought to be a minor injury has forced him to miss the entirety of the season so far. A friend of mine even changed his team name to “Kawhi me a river” then proceeded to trade him a week later. However, Coach Popovic was moderately optimistic when addressing the press last week saying Leonard will be back “sooner rather than later.” Then Tony Parker stated that he has looked good in training and will be back in “approximately three weeks.” This is the time to make an offer to that frustrated Leonard owner in your league with a top 25 player to acquire a proven first round caliber player when healthy.
Rudy Gobert: Gobert’s situation is very similar to Leonard’s in that he has already missed a considerable amount of time and is making his owners impatient in the meantime. Per Eric Woodyard he is already back in practice and looking good
Here is Jazz big man Rudy Gobert putting in work today during practice. pic.twitter.com/Ts6fvnrhIx
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) November 27, 2017
Act fast with a trade offer before news that he might return sooner than expected becomes common knowledge.
Pascal Siakam: Siakam is more of a deeper league suggestion, but he has quietly produced top 80 value during the last two weeks. His main contribution comes on the defensive side of the court with 1.0/1.3 steals and blocks respectively. He is still raw and can’t make a free throw to save his life, but with minimal turnovers and great fg% he can be a valuable addition to certain team builds.
Wesley Johnson: Blake Griffin keeps finding new ways to injure himself year after year. After many postseason-ending injuries and the infamous punch to a member of the Clippers training staff (who was also his friend) he landed awkwardly on Austin Rivers foot and is expected to miss the next two months. Lou Williams and the aforementioned Rivers will need to pick up the scoring burden, but since they should already be owned Wesley Johnson might be worth a look. He is already very close to being a member of the 1/1/1 club with 1.2/1.1/0.9 and with Gallinari still sidelined he will have more opportunities on offense. Sam Dekker is also worth a look in deeper leagues, as he might be looking at around 25 minutes per game…
Sell
Justin Holiday: Although I like him as a player from his days with the Knicks, the return of Lavine will eat into his minutes and most importantly his number of shots. His value is centered around his triples (2.8) and if/when his attempts decline he will have a hard time to stay fantasy relevant due to his abysmal fg%. Maybe you can sell him high off his fantastic game last night against the dream matchup that are the Suns.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: He has been on fire this week and even took 28 (!!!) shots against the Clippers yesterday. He is a decent 3&D player and can help with the occasional scoring outburst, but if there is a time to sell him it is now. He is more of a middle round guy for the season and his top nine performance the last two weeks can get you a better player in the long run.
Rajon Rondo: If you are not specifically interested in assists and assists only, then Rondo is not worthy of a roster on your team. His peak years are well past him and I think you can find better production if you stream his spot or if you try and trade him to a punt fg% or points team…
As always, comment below with your thoughts and suggestions about players I have not included and, of course, all your fantasy related questions!
