Waiver Wired: Waiver Wired for Week 5

Thanksgiving in Thursday. That seems crazy to me. Anyway, we are getting close to the quarter pole of the fantasy season and yet we still have some rotations up in the air. Those rotations will drive us crazy, but the upside is just too high to ignore. That’ll be our focus this week:

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Two games – Blazers, Bulls

Three games – Nets, Mavs, Nuggets, Warriors, Rockets, Pacers, Lakers, Heat, Pelicans, Thunder, Raptors, Jazz

Four games – Hawks, Celtics, Hornets, Cavs, Pistons, Clippers, Grizzlies, Wolves, Bucks, Knicks, Magic, 76ers, Suns, Spurs, Kings, Wizards

All of these players are owned in less than 50 percent of Y! leagues and there are also some shallow options for each positon, too.

Point guard

Zach LaVine, Wolves – The Wolves are playing LaVine at shooting guard again. In the last three games, LaVine has played 31.8 percent of his minutes next to Rubio. That was almost non-existent earlier this season after ZL Smooth flopped in Summer League and in the preseason season. With those minutes next to Rubio, the Wolves have a positive net rating of 12.9 in that playing time, so it’s working to a degree. Coach Sam Mitchell is all about results.

In those three games, LaVine averaged 15.0 points, 3.3 boards, 2.7 dimes, 0.3 steals and 2.0 treys. If he can continue to flirt with 30 percent of his minutes next to Rubio, he should have nice value. Although, the Wolves have gone smaller more often because Nemanja Bjelica (knee) hasn’t been himself. I wouldn’t consider LaVine a terrific add in 10-team leagues, but he should be owned in standards.

Update: The Wolves will start Kevin Martin over Tayshaun Prince on Monday, which sort of confirms the LaVine SG experiment is on.

Jose Calderon, Knicks – For years, Calderon was one of those guys that the normal NBA world wouldn’t like and the fantasy world would be all over him. He was a terrific shooter, he had some assists and he didn’t turn the ball over. That’s gold.

Well, he’s 34 years old and has torn like five muscles in his leg, making him one of the most injury prone players in the NBA. However, he’s coming into the week with some nice momentum over his last three, averaging 9.7 points, 5.7 dimes, 1.7 steals and 2.3 treys in his 31.7 minutes.

The Knicks are actually winning games and Calderon isn’t quite as exposed on D as he’s usually been — Porzingis defensive backbone??????

Anyway, you might remember the Knicks traded for Calderon because they thought he was a terrific fit in the triangle for the reasons stated above. Nobody in your league will say “Rats!” when you pick him up, but Calderon has a nice floor with 26-28 minutes. Plus, he’ll have to stay healthy.

Cory Joseph, Raptors – The fantasy world is different now. The old days used to be all about picking up the backup when a player goes down. Now? It’s all about figuring out which lineup combination will step up.

With Jonas Valanciunas (hand) going down, the Raptors should be ready to go smaller more often. We still don’t know how long JV will be out with his broken hand, but it’s likely going to be a few months. Here’s a look at what the Raptors did with their lineups in the second half against the Lakers on Friday sans JV:

That’s a lot of small ball and Co-Jo has been a key player in the rotation. Coach Dwane Casey loves putting No. 6 on the point guard for defense to take some pressure off Kyle Lowry and maybe that’s why Lowry is breaking out.

Anyway, Joseph has ninth-round value on the season and I’d expect him to trend up slightly. All things equal, I’d pick him up over the Raptors bigs below.

Matthew Dellavedova, Cavs – I’m not the biggest Delly fan. Kyrie Irving (knee) is getting close, Mo Williams (ankle) won’t be out long and Delly has a very low usage rate. He’s arguably had two of his best games of his career, but I’m still not ready to cut anything of value to get him.

Patrick Beverley, Rockets – Ty Lawson is not good right now. He might find himself out of the rotation at this rate. Here’s his shot chart:

Gross. Pat Beverley should be back this week and should take over the starting job. He was very good at hitting treys and picking up steals, so he has a decent floor. The demand won’t be high on Bev, but just keep that in mind if he returns early.

Shallow

D’Angelo Russell – He had his best game and the Lakers are probably going to want to take to keep their top-three protected pick. His arrow is pointing up after a career-high scoring night on Friday. He’s playing a lot better off the ball, which will be key. I like him as a pickup in almost any H2H format.

I’m not really sure why T.J. McConnell is just 36 percent owned. Yeah he’s not good on defense, but at least he makes the other players better around him. Trust the process.

Ish Smith, Pelicans – He should have been owned out of the gate.

Shooting guard

Gary Harris, Nuggets – He’s had three good games in a row. In his last three games, Harris has averages of 17.0 points, 2.7 boards, 1.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.0 treys on 61.3 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the line. Here’s his shot chart in that span:

That is really nice. Harris is lapping the field for SG minutes because Jameer Nelson is blowing plays on defense and Randy Foye has also looked lazy at times. Harris had some bright shots, but he’s still not too much of a high-ceiling SG. He’s kind of a poor man’s C.J. McCollum, but is worth a look in standard leagues.

Manu Ginobili, Spurs – He is what he is. Manu is No. 53 on Y! right now per game, but we all know he will miss a lot of time. He’s actually been tremendous off the ball more and that should continue. Kawhi Leonard for president.

If you don’t have a harsh limit on pickups per week, you should pick him up. Chances are nobody will be waivering him after you cut him when he misses time.

Jeremy Lamb, Hornets – Are we buying Lamb? Is this like the old Lamb but maybe with some new flavor. Like some Gyro meat? Deliciousness aside, he’s playing really well. In his last five, he’s averaged 11.8 points, 5.2 boards, 2.2 assists, 0.6 blocks and 1.0 treys.

Lamb was an absolute catastrophe with OKC and he lost playing time to guys who aren’t even in the league anymore — Perry Jones III will be back, though. Almost every stat I can think of can diffuse Lamb as a pickup, but he’s been putting up mid-round value since he got playing time with the Hornets. I wouldn’t bend over backwards to add him, but I’d give him a look if I hated the last guy on my roster.

Langston Galloway, Knicks – NY64? Galloway is ranked 64th per game and has been a better surprise than than Super Smash Bros. Shoutout to anyone who lived the N64 life growing up.

Galloway has been phenomenal as a 3-point shooter, making 55.3 percent from that range. He’s hit 1.9 treys per game to go with averages of 10.7 points, 4.1 boards, 2.1 dimes and 1.2 steals. He won’t be this hot, but he’s managed to be one of the best shooters since the preseason. As a sidenote, he’s the anti-Summer League case because he was a disaster in Vegas. But I digress.

I’m still not sold, but definitely give him a look to see if he can keep it going. I like him more than any of the point guards, all things equal.

Shallow

Avery Bradley is only owned in 64 percent of leagues, which is criminally low. He should be owned in 100 percent. His added range looks like it’s for real.

J.R. Smith is piping hot and his post-break run last year was no pipe dream. He should be a mid-round player this season and should be owned basically everywhere.

Small forward

C.J. Miles, Pacers – He’s burned more people in fantasy than the arsonist with the oddly shaped feet, but Miles has been more like kilometers because he’s been killing it so much. He has found a nice little spot as the shooting guard with three good games.

There’s no data on this, but C.J. Miles is probably the most in-game injured wing in the NBA. I’d still be a little apprehensive in adding him, but he’s hot like Hanzel in a favorable system for him.

Omri Casspi, Kings – Rudy Gay (shoulder) is only day-to-day with his shoulder strain. The good news is that it’s to his non-shooting shoulder, but the bad news is that he’s had surgery on that shoulder before.

Casspi came off the bench on Saturday, scoring 11 points with 11 rebounds, two assist, one steal and one 3-pointer in 32 minutes. He’ll likely be looking at minutes in the low 30s and should have a better game than this one for the next week.

The Kings love their space and their stretch fours, so Casspi should have some decent value while they’re healthy, too.

P.J. Tucker, Suns – If you drafted Markieff Morris, you’re probably a hot little potato right now (yeah, two Zoolander references in one column — Z2 in Feb!!!).

He did have a monster 20-point game on Wednesday because T.J. Warren was ill, so we can probably throw that out. The Suns are staring to like the spacing more in their offense with Mirza Teletovic, so it might not be long before we see Tucker and Warren together. They’ve only played together for 19 minutes all season, so that’ll have to change.

Jared Dudley, Wizards – The Wizards added him for a reason. He has seen his minutes go up every game in his last four, scoring nine points with two treys in 27 minutes on Saturday.

The Wizards will be using him as a stretch four a ton despite how Dudley can’t defend most power forwards. He’s trending up in a big way and you can probably pick him up in 16-team leagues right now.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson – If coolness was a fantasy category, Rondae would be a must-own player. He’s one of the nicest guys in the NBA and he played in Daryl Morey’s ping-pong tourney in Las Vegas in Summer League. How cool is that? (he also rocked some Bred 13 lows in the tourney for you sneakerheads out there)

RHJ is coming off his best game with a 13-point, 11-board game against the Celtics on Friday. His minutes are trending up, but he’s really going to have to crush it on D to have fantasy value. Rondae’s offense isn’t there yet, so his ceiling is really just 100 or so. The minutes will be there enough for owners in 16-team leagues to grab him.

Shallow

Tyreke Evans should be back soon, so you have to add him. He does have three surgeries on his knee in the past year, so he’s going to be risky. You have to add him, though.

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