Welcome to your midweek guidance for week two! My goal is to help you win your category-league matchups by providing streaming suggestions for the rest of the current week’s action. If you need an explanation of streaming, check out my week one post.
I’ll be running down players who are owned in fewer than 50% of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues and have two or more games to play this week. Hopefully, you were able to cash in on Cole Anthony, De’Anthony Melton, Desmond Bane, and Ricky Rubio after reading last week’s post. I am equally hopeful that you steered well clear of duds like Khem Birch and Marcus Morris Sr.
As the dust settles on the waiver wire frenzy that usually characterizes the opening stages of the season, I expect that you’ll see more repetition in the names that are featured here. For now, however, there are still opportunities to find players on the wire who will become 12-team stalwarts for the rest of the season. That being said, be wary of dumping underperforming players if you spent significant draft capital to acquire them. If an underperforming player is receiving playing time that’s comparable to what he got last season, it’s typically wise to hold on and wait for his performance to come around.
The following teams have only one game remaining this week: Clippers, Timberwolves, Thunder, Suns.
The following teams have the maximum of three games remaining this week: Mavericks, Pistons, Jazz.
Here are some players to consider as we close out the matchup:
Two Category Contributors
- Jalen Brunson (Points, Assists): Mavericks are hot commodities toward the end of this week, with three matchups on relatively low-volume game days. Brunson puts up solid per-minute stats in two hard-to-find categories. He’ll also chip in some threes if you’re in need (Plays Thurs, Fri, Sun).
- Dorian Finney-Smith (Rebounds, Steals): The key to Finney-Smith’s production is the 32 minutes per game he receives as a starter. Even if he shoots horribly and contributes nothing offensively – a common occurrence – he plays enough to accumulate other counting stats (Plays Thurs, Fri, Sun).
- Hassan Whiteside (Rebounds, Blocks): Remember when Whiteside and Andre Drummond finished the 2019-20 season as the 9th and 28th ranked players respectively in nine-category formats? Whiteside then went on to finish 304th last year… Life is strange. Utah has a fairly streaming-friendly schedule to finish the week, so consider Hassan for big man stats (Plays Thurs, Sat, Sun).
- Royce O’Neale (Rebounds, Steals): There’s nothing special about his game, but Royce O’Neale has managed to stay in the top 150 for two full seasons now. He is locked into a starting role for the Jazz and serves as a three-and-D guy who mops up the rebounds that don’t go to Rudy Gobert. He’s even been known to average more than two assists per game (Plays Thurs, Sat, Sun).
- Eric Gordon (Points, Threes): Gordon scored 15 or more points in three of the Rockets’ first four games. He’s also shooting over 50% to start the season, so it’s difficult to know which version of Gordon you’ll get. Nonetheless, points are hard to find on the wire, so he’s worth the risk if points are hotly-contested in your matchup come Sunday (Plays Thurs, Sun).
- Lonnie Walker IV (Points, Threes): Lonnie is another player enjoying a jump in FG% to start this season, which is leading to elevated scoring numbers. He’s also contributing significantly more threes (2.5/game) and assists (3.3/game) than last season (Plays Thurs, Sat).
- Franz Wagner (Threes, Steals): Wagner has stepped in nicely for the injured Chuma Okeke, who should be out through at least the end of the week. In 32 minutes per night through five games, Wagner is averaging two threes and a steal (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Alex Caruso (Assists, Steals): The Bulls acquired a defensive maven in Caruso, who seems to disrupt every opponent’s possession when he’s on the floor. He’s currently second in the league in steals at 3.3/game (Plays Thurs, Sat).
- Damion Lee (Threes, FT%): Lee’s solid start has been masked by the hype surrounding Jordan Poole. He’s playing just one minute less per contest than Poole while putting up comparable numbers in points (14.3/game) and threes (2/game) (Plays Thurs, Sat).
- Kevin Love (Threes, Rebounds): I recommend confirming Love’s status before adding him for either end of the Cavs’ upcoming back-to-back set. If you add him for Friday, be prepared for him to sit on Saturday. Despite being buried in the Cavs’ frontcourt rotation, he can still do damage in the 20+ minutes he’s receiving (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Anfernee Simons (Points, Threes): The minutes are trending higher for Simons and he’s shooting the lights out at 53.5%. Though the stratospheric percentages will regress at some point, Simons is a solid stream option as the TrailBlazers put more trust in him (Plays Fri, Sun).
One Category Contributors
- Daniel Theis (Rebounds): Theis’s first productive outing came on Tuesday in 29 minutes. If there are better rebounding options available for Thursday, it’s worth waiting to see if Theis continues to receive those minutes before adding him for Sunday’s game (Plays Thurs, Sun).
- Pat Connaughton (Threes): Jrue Holiday’s status should be monitored before adding Connaughton and/or Grayson Allen for the weekend. If Jrue continues to sit, both Bucks wings are worth a look, given the back-to-back set to end the week (Plays Sat, Sun).
- Grayson Allen (Threes): See the Connaughton blurb above (Plays Sat, Sun).
- Precious Achiuwa (Rebounds): Against my better judgment, I decided to write up Khem Birch last week. Turns out My Precious was the most noteworthy of the Raptors frontcourt cadre. Proceed with caution if you need FT% to win your matchup (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Bruce Brown (Steals): He’s drawn two consecutive starts for the struggling Nets. Last season, he shot the ball and rebounded really well when given opportunities, so he’s one to watch as the Nets continue to toy with their rotation (Plays Fri, Sun).
- Dwight Powell (Steals): We started with a player from the team with this week’s most streaming-friendly schedule, and we’ll end with one. Kristaps Porzingis is questionable for Thursday, so there’s an opportunity for Powell to showcase his mediocre fantasy profile. However, keep in mind that the Mavs have four other centers on the roster, so playing time is not guaranteed even in that scenario (Plays Thurs, Fri, Sun).
Drop a comment below if you have any questions for this week or beyond. Best of luck to you!
