Razzball Nation, what’s good?
Welcome to the column, for our first-time readers, and I hope you find the information provided here to be advantageous for your particular squad in your league. For those of you who have been here before, you know what it do baby, we out here, uncovering sneaky value floating around the fantasy landscape looking for an opportunistic GM such as yourself to procure that talent for your team. The key, as always, is to find the value in someone who is playing well below their perceived value with a reasonable pathway to increasing their current rank. This process is not without minefields as we can surely be wrong in our evaluation, but glory cannot be obtained without some element of risk and, in fantasy, that can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing.
So then, we head to South Beach to check in on the GROAT.
The Greatest Raptor of All Time. I am ready to chop it up in the comments section below for anyone who disagrees with me.
My man Kyle has had a tale of two seasons already and we are only in January. You were able to draft Kyle in the 80 to 90 range of many drafts, and some even into the 100s, as it seemed people were convinced the great fall off into obscurity had begun for the Philly-born point guard. However, to everyone’s surprise, Kyle was producing at a top 50 level throughout portions of the early part of the season and had us thinking that the inevitable fall-off had been deferred another season.
Whoa Nelly, not so fast.
Over the past week, he is the 175th ranked player and, over the past two weeks, he is the 192nd.
Now, Kyle never has and never will be the spokesperson for solid field goal percentage as he is shooting 39.8% on the season, down from a respectable 44% a season ago. However, over this recent slump, we are seeing that number take a nosedive to 31% over the past two weeks while also averaging 1.0 3-pointer, 6.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.3 blocks. Kyle is also shooting 100% from the line during that stretch on a paltry 0.8 attempts.
What these numbers tell us is that this is not sustainable, and he will bounce back. He may not continue to average 13 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 5.6 assists as he has done this season making him the 66th ranked player on the year. However, we can envision a scenario where he averages 11 or 12 points and thus brings his threes and FG percentage up while his teammates hit a couple more shots thus bringing his assists totals up. Those minor tweaks in his game are enough to bring him to top 80 value and it would not cost you more than someone sitting near or at the end of your bench.
The other layer of risk here for Kyle is the missed games, and not the ones due to injury. Kyle has a personal issue happening in his life that caused him to miss a chunk of games last year and has continued into this season. We do not know what the issue is, as it is none of our business, but that is some of the risk you’re taking on in making a move for Kyle.
Still, the trade should cost you very little and if you are in a position to carry his shaky field goal but need assists, steals and threes then this is your man for the job. His current GM is likely tired of him and willing to move him for a fresh start with someone else. Offer out a two-for-one with a player or players who give some scoring like a De’Andre Hunter and Cole Anthony combination. I would prefer to take a flier on Kyle Lowry than those two players.
This could be the last year for standard league value for Kyle so put the GROAT on your squad one last time. Then again, we might have said that last year.
As always, hit me up in the comments section and give me your thoughts and feedback, love to hear what you have to say.
Good luck out there,
Peace.
