A new season is here with the usual excitement, unexpectedly good and bad team starts and the drama that follows the NBA. However, a constant in recent years are the preseason hype videos for Ben Simmons, who is apparently always on track to recover from another injury. The narrative is the same. His personal coach says he is in the best shape of his life. He is taking and making threes now. He is dunking on people, he is aggressive, this is the redemption season. And then…
It has to be psychological at this point, as I can not find any other plausible explanation. I hope Ben gets out of his head and returns to his pre-injuries form but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
If you are a first-time reader of this column, welcome. What we do in this internet corner every Wednesday is discussing players that should be targeted from the waiver wire or in trades in the Buy section and players that we should try to cash in while they are hot or flat out drop in the Sell section. If you are a returning reader, welcome back and you know the drill by now. Hit me up in the comments section below to talk anything fantasy.
Buy
Tyrese Haliburton: It is obviously early and the game sample is very low but if there ever is a time to buy low on Haliburton it Is now. It will be difficult as the draft that his owner selected him with a first round pick is very recent, but his shooting has been atrocious with 34% from the field and 64% from the line. It will not get worse than this all season so maybe you can snag him for a fair offer at this point from a frustrated owner.
Bilal Coulibaly: A popular sleeper last year, Bilal Coulibaly flew under the radar in most drafts as managers were unsure of his playing time for the rebuilding Wizards. For the first 3 games this seems like a non-issue, as he is averaging 34 minutes with 16 points, 1.7 triples and a steal. He has yet to register a block and for a player of his defensive ability this will not be the case as we move forward, so he makes for an excellent add in my book while he remains available in most leagues (27% owned).
Tobias Harris: Another player that started the season on a shooting slump is obviously Tobias Harris, who is shooting 34% for his new/old team in Detroit. The rest of his stats are par for the course of his career averages so with his shot percentage bound to improve, he makes for an excellent buy low option currently.
Cody Williams – Kyle Filipowski: Unfortunately Taylor Hendricks suffered a gruesome injury that will force him to miss the entirety of this season, while Lauri Markkanen played only 17 minutes yesterday due to back spasms. It is pretty clear that the Jazz will tank again this season and maybe at an even greater pace than last year so that makes younger players in their roster pretty intriguing for fantasy. Cody Williams (3% owned) got the starting nod and played 30 minutes while Kyle Filipowski (2% owned) came from the bench to play 25 minutes. Neither of them is polished fantasy contributors but their opportunity is big and will only increase as the season progresses so give both a long look.
Sell
C.J.McCollum: Things were not looking bright for McCollum’s path to playing time with Dejounte Murray running the show in New Orleans, but unfortunately he suffered a hand fracture and will miss the next month at minimum. In the short term, this is an obvious boost to CJ’s value as he will start and handle the play-making duties for the Pelicans but if we are looking at the longer picture, when the fantasy playoffs start his minutes should be decreased. I would utilize the next month as an excellent opportunity to swap him for a player I feel will have a more guaranteed path to minutes in March and April.
Noah Clowney: Noah Clowney got the start that the fantasy community fantasized about last night against Denver and proceeded to post 0 points with a 5.7 usage. He showcased some glimpses last season but with Nic Claxton returning to form there is no reason to continue holding onto Clowney if you drafted him as an upside swing (14% owned).
