Welcome to your midweek guidance for week 17! Most of you are in the throes of a playoff matchup, and late week acquisitions will be the deciding factor in many close matchups. I’m here to provide some streaming options for eight-and-nine-category H2H leagues that will help you advance.
I’ll pour one out for those who are now without Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Zach Lavine, or Myles Turner in the midst of a playoff run. There’s no replacing their contributions, but I’ve profiled a few players below who should benefit from their absences. The Clippers don’t have much to offer in the way of streaming since they only have one remaining game this week, but Marcus Morris Sr. is the widely available guy to look at if you only need a game’s worth of production.
Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed that these players will not adversely impact your turnovers. Keep in mind that, unless a player has an asterisk next to his name, my recommendations are for streaming purposes only. These players have two or more games remaining in the current week and are rostered in 50% or less of Yahoo and/or ESPN leagues.
Four Category Contributors
- Danny Green* (Threes, Steals, Blocks, FT%): He’s available in well over 50% of both ESPN and Yahoo leagues and plays on two low-volume game days to close out the week. Ideally, you’ll dodge the duds that he sometimes puts up, but notwithstanding his low usage style of play, it’s difficult to find this combination of stats from anyone else on the wire (Plays Thurs & Sat).
Three Category Contributors
- Bruce Brown* (Rebounds, Steals, FG%): Speaking of unusual strength combinations, Brown is doing his part to fill the rebounding void left in the wake of Harden’s injury. Over his previous eight games in place of The Beard, he averaged nine rebounds, two steals, and 0.9 blocks. I’m skeptical of the block numbers, as he is averaging 0.5 blocks on the season, but the elevated minutes may help him to sustain that production (Plays Fri & Sun).
- Landry Shamet (Points, Threes, FT%): Another beneficiary of Harden’s absence, Shamet is averaging 16.3 points and 3.5 threes on 45% shooting from the field and 89% from the line in his last eight appearances (Plays Fri & Sun).
- Grayson Allen (Points, Threes, Steals): Grayson is a fixture in this post due to his widespread availability, but he’s being picked up in more leagues as managers are starting to notice his 32 minutes per game over the past two weeks (15 points, 3.3 threes, 1.1 steals). The Grizzlies’ backcourt injury report is worth monitoring if you’re looking to add him, but he has proven to be a consistent scorer throughout the many lineup changes (Plays Fri & Sun).
- Larry Nance Jr. (Rebounds, Steals, FG%): He won’t garner the 32 minutes per game that he received during the Kevin Love injury, but he will still do significant damage in 24+ minutes as a rebounder, ball thief, and underrated passer. He was on a good trajectory until Wednesday night when he only played 19 minutes in a blowout of Chicago (Plays Fri & Sun).
- Isaiah Stewart (Rebounds, Blocks, FG%): Since my last post, Stewart played four games in which he started twice, averaged almost 14 rebounds, and swatted seven total shots. The Pistons are firmly in tank mode and it’s not implausible to see more starts coming his way. He’s worth a stream any time Mason Plumlee is out (Plays Thurs & Sat).
- Jalen McDaniels (Threes, Steals, FG%): The most enticing aspect of adding McDaniels this week is his schedule. The Hornets are one of only three teams – Celtics and Bucks being the others – to play three more games this week. He should continue to see minutes in the low thirties and not hurt you in any category aside from assists (Plays Thurs, Fri, & Sun).
- Daniel Gafford (Rebounds, Blocks, FG%): For most of the season, Scott Brooks and Brad Stevens were locked in a battle to determine which coach could keep fantasy managers the most off-guard with their center rotations. Now that Stevens doesn’t have Daniel Theis to run out as the third option at center, Brooks is winning by default. Despite the playing time fluctuations, Gafford is managing to be productive in sub 20-minute outings. If you catch him on a night in which he plays 25+ minutes, you might hit the jackpot in big man stats. Just beware of the horrid free-throw shooting (Plays Fri & Sun).
Two Category Contributors
- Furkan Korkmaz (Threes, Steals): Ben Simmons is the status to watch if you’re considering Korkmaz. The Sixers play on two low-volume game days, making Korkmaz an especially valuable piece if Simmons is out again and you’re in need of three and D (Plays Thurs & Sat).
- Kevon Looney (Rebounds, FG%): With Juan Toscano-Anderson in the league’s concussion protocol through at least the end of the week, the runway is clear for Looney to do his thing in around 30 minutes per game. It’s worth noting that he is also averaging two assists per game. I suppose it helps to have one of the greatest shooters of all time on the receiving end of your passes. He will damage your free throw percentage, so make sure you either have a cushion or are punting that category before considering him (Plays Fri & Sun).
- Goga Bitadze (Rebounds, Blocks): In addition to Turner being out of the picture for the foreseeable future, Domantas Sabonis missed Wednesday’s game with a back issue. With or without Sabonis in the lineup, Goga should have a decent workload in the weekend back-to-back. Two watch items: For one, his FG% has fallen off significantly since his minutes increased. If that comes back to the 45-47% range, he’ll be more reliable as a scorer in addition to his current strengths. Secondly, he missed Wednesday’s game (facepalm) with an ankle injury, so have a backup plan if you need his categorical strengths (Plays Sat & Sun).
- Dorian Finney-Smith (Threes, Rebounds): Finney-Smith continued his boring yet steady production over the past week (14 points, 3.3 threes, 5.9 rebounds over 3 games). He is one of many players on this list with the stream-friendly Thursday/Saturday schedule (Plays Thurs & Sat).
- Patrick Williams (Steals, FG%): There’s nothing flashy here, but Williams has an attractive schedule for streaming and is putting up reliable production with Zach Lavine on the shelf and Lauri Markannen in the dog house (Plays Thurs & Sat).
- Kent Bazemore (Threes, Steals): Baze went off on Wednesday (19/9/3 with four threes, six steals, and two blocks), so you can rest assured that he will be terrible on Friday. While I may be over-generalizing, just look at a game log of his last nine appearances (Plays Fri & Sun).
Hit me up in the comments if you want any additional feedback. Best of luck!
