Welcome to your midweek guidance for Week Seven! The goal of this post is to help you identify players on the waiver wire who can help you win your weekly matchup. Keeping up with the consolidated injury report is no small task these days. The past 10 days were not kind to the league’s stars, with several going out for extended absences. If you’re in the unfortunate position of holding a top-tier player who’s dealing with injury or sickness, it’s time to figure out who will benefit from their time off. There is no shortage of talent to mine from the hardest-hit teams like Houston, Denver, and Portland.
Hopefully, you added Alec Burks after reading last week’s Black Friday post. Shortly after it went up, Kemba Walker got pulled out of the rotation and Burks has filled the vacuum ever since. It never hurts to be lucky. On the flip side, the Patrick Beverley and Cedi Osman mentions didn’t pan out so well with both hitting the injury report shortly thereafter. Much like the cheap electronics store nearby, I have a strict no refunds policy!
For the second straight week, there are no teams with three remaining games, so the schedule is less of a consideration when picking up players. The following teams have only one game remaining this week: Hornets, Nuggets, Pistons, Pacers, Lakers, Timberwolves, Thunder, Magic, 76ers. If you have a pickup or two to burn, however, streaming players from these teams shouldn’t limit you. Here are my players to watch and add heading toward the end of the matchup.
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Two Category Contributors
- Anfernee Simons (Points, Threes): With Damian Lillard dealing with an abdominal injury, Nassir Little out for a week, and Norman Powell questionable for Thursday, Simons is a must-add. To sweeten the deal, the Blazers have a favorable schedule to close out the week (Plays Thurs, Sat).
- Dewayne Dedmon (Rebounds, Blocks, FG%): If you’re in a tight matchup with big man stats hanging in the balance, this is potentially another “run, don’t walk” situation. Bam is projected to miss several weeks with a thumb injury, and Dedmon played 30 minutes in his first outing as a starter, posting a double-double (11/13) with two blocks (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Gabe Vincent (Threes, Steals): Vincent played more than 27 minutes in his three most recent games, totaling 11 threes and three steals over that span. If Jimmy Butler is back in the lineup Friday, Vincent becomes a more risky pickup (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Facundo Campazzo (Assists, Steals): The injury situation is dire in Denver. Michael Porter and PJ Dozier are likely out for the season. Jamal Murray won’t be back any time soon. To top it off, Austin Rivers and Bones Hyland just entered health and safety protocols and will miss Saturday’s game at least. There should be plenty of minutes for Campazzo this weekend (Plays Sat).
- Otto Porter Jr. (Threes, Steals): Every once in a while, we get to relive the glory of a bygone era when Porter was a top 20 nine-category player. Injuries have done a number on him, but if he can maintain 24 minutes per game over a sustained period, he has streaming value. He averaged 2.8 threes, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals over his past four games (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Talen Horton-Tucker (Points, Steals): Foul trouble spoiled THT’s outing on Tuesday, but he’ll have another chance to take advantage of LeBron James’ absence on Friday (Plays Fri).
- Malik Monk (Points, Threes): He’s on a hot streak, hitting 48% of his shots over the last eight contests. He’s providing 12.4 points and 2.1 threes in 28 minutes per game over that stretch. The allure of Monk lies in the fact that he could go ballistic and score 30 on any given night, so he’s a good medium risk/high reward player for Friday (Plays Fri).
- Garrison Matthews (Points, Threes): In taking on an expanded role for the injury-riddled Rockets over the past four games, Matthews averaged 16 points and four threes. He should continue to start with Jalen Green sidelined (Plays Fri, Sun).
- Armoni Brooks (Points, Threes): Kevin Porter may miss additional time this weekend after leaving Wednesday’s game with an injury. Brooks took advantage of his early exit, scoring 18 points on four threes to go along with two steals and two blocks (Plays Fri, Sun).
- Daniel Theis (Rebounds, Blocks): Christian Wood ended up in a walking boot after Wednesday’s game. And you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Rockets! Theis and Alperen Sengun are in for increased minutes assuming Wood is out Friday (Plays Fri, Sun).
- Naz Reid (Rebounds, Blocks): Karl-Anthony Towns took a hard fall late in the Wolves’ Wednesday matchup, so he may end up missing Friday’s game. Naz is the obvious beneficiary in that circumstance and provides a boost as a big who can also hit threes (Plays Fri).
- DeAndre’ Bembry (Rebounds, Steals): In five consecutive starts for the Nets, Bembry averaged six rebounds, 1.2 steals, and a block. He appears to be in line for more starts with Joe Harris out multiple weeks (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Immanuel Quickley (Threes, Assists): Kemba Walker’s struggles have resulted in his being removed from the Knicks rotation altogether. Time will tell if this arrangement is temporary or permanent, but Quickley is getting more run as a result (Plays Thurs, Sat).
One Category Contributors
- Patty Mills (Threes): Last week, I speculated that Mills was shooting at an unsustainable clip based on past performance. He then proceeded to hit 48% of his shots over the week, so I’m still waiting for the crash. Expect him to continue to garner plenty of opportunities with Joe Harris out of the lineup (Plays Fri, Sat).
- Herb Jones (Steals): Herb is laying to rest doubts about the sustainability of his defensive numbers. In his previous eight games, he played 28 minutes per game and averaged 2.3 steals (Plays Fri, Sun).
- Joe Ingles (Threes): Thanks to Joe’s solid shooting from downtown over the past two weeks (2.3 threes/game), I am able to meet my two Aussie quota for the week (Plays Fri, Sun).
- Cameron Johnson (Threes): No Devin Booker for a few games means increased looks for Cam Johnson. There’s no shortage of points and threes streamers this week (Plays Thurs, Fri).
Leave a comment below if you have any questions or feedback. Best of luck!
