Buy/Sell: The Nonchalant Defensive Omen

Sometimes there are signs that things in the world are not going as they are supposed to go. Like the equilibrium of the cosmic powers is at an imbalance. Older civilizations relied on omens to determine this, such as the flight of the birds or natural disasters. In our modern era, we have more advanced indicators for such a disturbance of the proverbial force…

Is this because I drafted Harden this year more than I have in all the previous years combined? Is it because of global warming? Is it because the strip clubs or LA were on strike? We will never know. All I know is that Harden has the most nonchalant way to strip the ball off players’ hands I have ever seen in the NBA and it is very fun to watch when he is engaged.

Regarding last week’s suggestions, Bilal Coulibaly seems like a good bet to maintain value for the rest of the season and his ownership has doubled since my recommendation due to a good week of games. Tobias Harris has also performed well and his buy low window is closing fast, as he improved his shooting percentage from 34% to 44% over the course of this week. Finally, the 2 last suggestion of the rookies in Utah, Cody Williams and Kyle Filipowski did not wow with their performances but especially for the former the playing time seem to be there, so they at least have streaming value for the time being.

Buy

Peyton Watson: What a cursed start to the season for the Denver Nuggets. After the controversial decision to let Kentavious Caldwell-Pope walk in free agency due to financial reasons, they will be without another core player from their championship run for the foreseeable future in Aaron Gordon, as he suffered a calf strain. The obvious next man up is Peyton Watson, who got 30 minutes in the game Gordon suffered the injury and is a stocks machine for fantasy. He complemented his last fantasy line with 16 points but those are more volatile for him but if you are in need of defensive stats, Watson is the man to grab from your waiver wire (14% owned).

Goga Bitadge: Are you looking for cheap big man stats in the short term for your fantasy team? I know you do because we all do. Look no further than Goga Bitadge, who is starting for the injured Wendell Carter Jr in Orlando and will produce prototypical big man stat lines with rebounds, fg% blocks and bad but low volume ft%. Carter Jr has been already ruled out for today’s game so go grab Goga whiel he is available (10% owned).

Carlton Carrington: Are the Wizards utilizing correctly a rookie point guard from the start of the season? In what world are we living in…

Indeed sorcery must be involved as Carrington is breaking the usual first-year point guard fantasy mold of inefficient play and high turnovers. He has started 5 of the 6 games Washington has played and is averaging 29 minutes, 4.8 assists and more impressively 1.3 turnovers. Granted his usage is low for a floor general at 14.5% as Jordan Poole is dominating the ball, but with the Wizards heading for another lotter season and Carrington starting so promising I see no reason why we should leave him on the wire. Expect his ownership percentage to sharply rise in the coming month from the 19% that is today.

Sell

Alex Caruso: A lot of people had high hopes for his move to the Thunder and in terms of real life basketball I think he has fit in nicely in his new team, as they have started the season undefeated in 7 games. However, Caruso’s playing time has decreased significantly to 20 minutes per game and without an injury, I don’t see a path to increased minutes. He can still bring the steals (pun intended) but I would treat him more as a streamer than a steady part of a fantasy team that his ownership stat of 68% suggests.