2021 is here and we’ve moved on to fishtails in our Cinnamon Toast Crunch as the worst thing of the week. Congratulations everybody, we made it through the pandemic! Actually, we haven’t and you better keep as wary for your friends as you are wary of crustaceans in your cereal. In the meantime, I continue my scorching series of “players who are left standing after an injury-riddled NBA season” by looking at the rookie Saddiq Bey, who’s got a starting job on the Detroit Pistons and worth a look in your fantasy basketball league.
Availability: Saddiq Bey is rostered in 35% of Yahoo Leagues. He’s more available than Yaslin Bey’s acting schedule after Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Good book, bad movie.
Rookie Transitions: The NBA is one of the few sports leagues where rookies can come in and storm the court for fantasy purposes. See Williamson comma Zion. But there are so many bad teams where those rookies end up and they might just be trapped by a bad team for a while. That’s probably the case for Saddiq Bey, who plays on a Pistons team that is ranked below 25th in all major scoring categories. That’s fine for the opportunity because the young Bey has climbed to the top of the depth charts and will get plenty of chances to gain experience and be useful for your fantasy team. But there’s also a cap to how good Bey can be on a team that would mostly be backups on other NBA teams.
Scoring: Yeah, that’s what you’re all here for. Over the past two weeks, he’s averaging about 14 points a game on .415 shooting. Yes, I omitted this week’s game where he went 1-9 and I’m corrupting you with flawed data. But, he’s a rookie and he’s scoring double digits almost every game. That’s what you want on the waiver wire.
3-and-D: 1.1 steals and nearly three tres per game. Yup. This is why you don’t need to worry too much about steals in the pre-season draft because guys like Bey are just hanging around the waiver wire waiting to be used on your team.
Free Throws: .970% over the last two weeks, albeit with only two per game or so. Still, if you got a stud going a lackluster 7-for-10 from the line, Bey comes in on the B-team and turns that 70% into 9-for-12, or 75% for you math majors. Conversely, that stud shooting 10-of-20 from the field helps mitigate Bey’s erratic FG%. It’s all about balance, right?
Fantasy Takeaway: Dynasty players should just line up and throw some FAAB at Bey because he’s going to have every chance to keep starting and grinding minutes in year two on the Pistons. Redraft players can use Bey as their B-squad 3-and-D guy, but be ready for a couple of games where he can’t compete against smarter veteran defenses.
What’s your take on Saddiq Bey? Leave a note in the comments, and have an awesome week!
