I would like to start by wishing happy holidays to everyone and best wishes for the new year that is coming in a couple of days. May all your plans come to fruition and all your fantasy teams win their league with ease. As per usual, the festive season is a period that emphasizes hope and positive change for the upcoming year and as such it can’t come quick enough for the Pistons organization and its fans.
After dropping last nights game to the Nets, the Pistons have set the All-time record for straight loses in a single season, with 27 loses, bringing their record to an embarrassing 2-28. And not only that, but they have lost 51 of their last 55 competitive matches, dating back to last season, making this one of the worst stretches of performances in NBA history. You can see in the featured image of the article the state that Cade Cunningham is currently, who to his credit is trying his best, but the Pistons roster is just not going to cut it in the modern NBA, especially with its lackluster frontcourt. Let’s see how low the bottom of the barrel will be for them, as they have 5 away games in their upcoming schedule with only one home game versus Toronto.
Regarding last week’s suggestions, Talen Horton-Tucker proved to be a bust, as the return of Keyonte George awarded him a DNP-CD and he can be safely dropped, while Caris LeVert has been uninspiring, particularly taking into account the enhanced opportunities he had with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland both sidelined. He is questionable for today’s game so his mediocre playing time might have something to do with an injury. Finally, my best suggestion proved to be Grayson Allen, who exploded against Dallas for 32 points and 8 triples and should continue to be very useful as long as Bradley Beal remains sidelined.
Buy
Andre Drummond: Nikola Vucevic has a left foot strain that will sideline him for a week at minimum and that allowed Andre Drummond to start last night against Atlanta and he promptly went crazy on them, with 24 points, 25 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks. And no, that was not a typo on the rebounds number. Of course, we cannot expect this kind of performances but as long as he starts, Drummond is an elite source of rebounds and an underrated source of out of position steals so he is a must add player in my book for standard leagues. Go get him now that he is available because you will miss your window if you wait for him for Thursday, when the Bulls play again (22% owned).
Tari Eason: This is more of a preemptive suggestion but Tari Eason has one of the most fantasy friendly skillsets out there and the reason he is pushed to standard league relevance is the injury to Dillon Brooks, who should miss some time with an abdominal injury. His playing time will be given to Tari Eason and Amen Thompson, but Eason is the preferred target for now, due to his ability to rack up rebounds and steals, even in limited minutes, so go get him and start him until Brooks returns (53% owned).
Alex Caruso: I was making my usual research on under owned players to feature in today’s article and was amazed to see that Alex Caruso is owned in only 37% of leagues, despite the Zach LaVine injury happening more than a month ago. The main problem with Caruso is his availability, as he has a major tendency to leave games due to injuries and that can be frustrating. However, he is a steady contributor with 1.3 steals and 1.5 triples during the last week and is on a relatively healthy stretch so I think he warrants a standard league roster spot for now.
Sell
Zach Collins: The season started great for Zach Collins, as the Spurs were playing Victor Wembanyama at the power forward position so there were ample minutes at the 5 for him. However, since early December Wemby has moved to the center position and thus Collins has become his backup, playing only 22 minutes per game. This is obviously not enough to maintain standard league relevance and his good games have only happened with Wemby either sidelined or struggling to get his usual playing time. I know it can be hard to drop a player you invested a top100 pick in and who can be a contributor when given minutes, but he is currently not helping your fantasy team and if you are in a tough spot in the standings, you might have to make that decision here (72% owned).
