Category Strategy: Week 17 Targets

Category Strategy: Week 17 Targets

This article is part of our Category Strategy series.

There are some solid options available on waivers right now, but the looming trade deadline makes most potential adds feel small in scale. All of the players recommended below can be quality additions to a team, and there is no reason to put off making any moves because a trade might happen later – just be aware that some trades could unearth players far more valuable than anyone listed below. What I'm saying is, add these players now, just don't get so attached to any of them that you miss out on a bigger opportunity. The trade deadline is Thursday at 3PM ET.

In general, we'll focus on players available in at least 50% of leagues in ESPN, Yahoo!, and CBS. That said, since the ownership can vary significantly from one site to the next, sometimes we have to fudge those rules a bit, especially early in the season.

Points

Markieff Morris
(Ownership: ESPN – 35%; Yahoo! – 58%; CBS – 63%)

This is a really weak period for points. The only two sorta-good options were covered last week or are stuck in injury purgatory. So with a lack of very good options, let's focus on one of the most added players in Fantasy this week. With John Wall (knee) out for at least six weeks, the Wizards are going to need players to step up. They'll need to replace some of his scoring and passing, and given the (poor) quality of their bench, they're likely to shorten the rotation

There are some solid options available on waivers right now, but the looming trade deadline makes most potential adds feel small in scale. All of the players recommended below can be quality additions to a team, and there is no reason to put off making any moves because a trade might happen later – just be aware that some trades could unearth players far more valuable than anyone listed below. What I'm saying is, add these players now, just don't get so attached to any of them that you miss out on a bigger opportunity. The trade deadline is Thursday at 3PM ET.

In general, we'll focus on players available in at least 50% of leagues in ESPN, Yahoo!, and CBS. That said, since the ownership can vary significantly from one site to the next, sometimes we have to fudge those rules a bit, especially early in the season.

Points

Markieff Morris
(Ownership: ESPN – 35%; Yahoo! – 58%; CBS – 63%)

This is a really weak period for points. The only two sorta-good options were covered last week or are stuck in injury purgatory. So with a lack of very good options, let's focus on one of the most added players in Fantasy this week. With John Wall (knee) out for at least six weeks, the Wizards are going to need players to step up. They'll need to replace some of his scoring and passing, and given the (poor) quality of their bench, they're likely to shorten the rotation and try to get more out of the players who already play a lot. Morris averaged 20.5 points and 3.5 assists in the first two games without Wall, which is a great start. But be careful not to give up too much in acquiring him. In 13 games without Wall, Morris is averaging just 11.0 points per game, and he has only zero or one assist in eight of those. Now, a long-term absence is different than a series of short-term ones, so Morris' great first two games could continue, just don't expect too much.

Bogdan Bogdanovic was the featured guy here last week, which is most of the reason he wasn't the top player listed. His ownership has fallen after a few bad games, but don't read too much into that. He's one of the best players on the Kings, and their new rotation ensures that he should have a large role the rest of the way. He's a player you'll likely want to keep on your roster for the rest of the season.

Rodney Hood (leg) has already missed more than a week, but at no point have the Jazz given any indication that his injury would be long-term. I'm making an assumption based on a lack of information – which is often not the best way to make decisions – but it seems likely that he'll return soon. He's averaging 16.7 points per game this season, and 18.3 over his last four games.

Danilo Gallinari is owned in far more than 50 percent of leagues in Yahoo! and CBS, but he's still hovering around the one-third mark in ESPN. If he's available, you should grab him.

Other suggestions:Bobby Portis, Bulls; Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kings; Rodney Hood, Jazz; Wayne Ellington, Heat

Three-Pointers

Buddy Hield, Kings
(Ownership: ESPN – 24%; Yahoo! – 58%; CBS – 64%)

The Kings' new rest two veterans every night policy has boosted the value of a lot of their young players, including Hield (and Bogdanovic. Hield already played a lot of minutes, but his usage was highly irregular. He had as many games with at least 30 minutes as he had with fewer than 18 (seven each), and he only averaged 23.9 minutes per game over the course of the whole season. Since the implementation of the new policy, his role has been stable: between 25 and 29 minutes each night, for an average of 27.2 per game. We already knew Hield was an excellent shooter, but now that he has a stable role, he's much easier to trust putting him into your starting lineups. He has hit multiple threes in nearly two-thirds of his games – and when he plays at least 23 minutes, he has hit multiple threes in 86 percent of games.

For this week's edition of "Why Haven't You Added Wayne Ellington Yet?": Over the past month, Ellington has moved into second in the league in three-pointers per game. He should be owned in every single league with at least 10 teams, and in most smaller leagues, too.

Garrett Temple is worth a mention in deep daily lineup leagues. The Kings' new rotation has already caused three DNP-CDs for Temple, but in the four games he's played, he has averaged 16.3 points and 2.0 threes. The shortened rotation allows Temple to have better games when he plays. The Kings tend to announce their starters very late, so you have to be someone who is able and willing to check and reset your lineups in the minutes before games start – but if you are a manager who already does that, then Temple could work for you. He's unworthy of consideration in weekly lineup leagues due to the frequent DNP-CDs.

Other suggestions:Wayne Ellington, Heat; Rodney Hood, Jazz; Reggie Bullock, Pistons; Wesley Matthews, Mavericks; Kelly Oubre, Jr., Wizards; Darius Miller, Pelicans

Deep leagues only:Garrett Temple, Kings

Rebounds

Bobby Portis, Bulls
(Ownership: ESPN – 26%; Yahoo! – 44%; CBS – 66%)

Following Thursday's trade, Portis is probably getting snatched up pretty quickly across most leagues, but if he's still available, jump on the opportunity. The Bulls shipped out Nikola Mirotic, and all the Pelicans sent back was dead weight and a first-round pick. Portis is only 22 years old in his third season, and he spent most of his first two seasons playing limited roles off the bench, but he can be an across-the-board contributor – in his final season at Arkansas, he lead the Razorbacks in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks. Portis has played 33, 18 and 28 minutes in the last three games the Bulls played without Mirotic, so he's likely to see a large boost in his role with Mirotic now in New Orleans. He's averaging 21.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per-36 minutes this season.

Greg Monroe ended up going to the Celtics, so his value is a lot less than it could have been had he gone to the Pelicans. That said, he's still worth adding if you already have a player you want to drop. My own personal projection for Monroe is that he averages no more than about 20 minutes per game, but I don't pretend to know what Brad Stevens is thinking. If Monroe gets close to 25 minutes per game, which is very possible, he could reach Fantasy's top 80 over the rest of the season.

With the Suns finally giving up on Monroe, Tyson Chandler, Alex Len, Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss all see their values improve. It's unclear how the rotation will fall out, and all four cannot have value at the same time, but if the rotation becomes focused around any three of them, then all three could make some waves.

Other suggestions:Greg Monroe, free agent; Boban Marjanovic, Clippers;
Choose-your-own-adventure: Suns Big Man

Assists

Tomas Satoransky, Wizards
(Ownership: ESPN – 7%; Yahoo! – 17%; CBS – 22%)

Surprisingly, the Wizards are playing pretty good basketball in their first few games without John Wall. A part of that has been Satoransky's effectiveness filling in as the starter. In three games without Wall, Satoransky is averaging 26.3 minutes and 5.7 assists – and his 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals aren't too shabby, either. Wall is out for at least five-seven more weeks, so Satoransky could be a solid medium-term fill-in.

Other suggestions: Mario Chalmers, Grizzlies; Ish Smith, Pistons; Milos Teodosic, Clippers

Steals

Mario Chalmers, Grizzlies(Ownership: ESPN – 3%; Yahoo! – 6%; CBS – 12%)

Mike Conley is out for the season, and the Grizzlies are holding out Tyreke Evans until he is traded (presumably he'd reenter the rotation if not traded, but it's highly likely that he's played his last game in Memphis). If the Grizzlies bring back a point guard who is better than Chalmers in the potential trade – which is very possible – then Chalmers has only limited value in 16-team leagues. But as long as the return package is someone not yet ready to play above Chalmers, he should see a lot of usage the rest of the way as one of the team's primary distributor. He's averaging 1.3 assists on only 22.6 minutes per game, so an increase in court time would make him a great source of steals.

George Hill's current value is very low, but if he gets moved in a trade over the next week he could be a solid addition.

Other suggestions:Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kings; Larry Nance, Lakers; Wesley Matthews, Mavericks; Ish Smith, Pistons

Blocks

Boban Marjanovic, Clippers
(Ownership: ESPN – 3%; Yahoo! – 27%; CBS – 18%)
Marjanovic is the biggest fantasy mover following last week's shocking Blake Griffin trade. Marjanovic barely played for the Pistons, so there is some small-sample-size caveats, but his per-36 production was excellent: 24.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.3 blocks. The Clippers' big man depth chart is now destitute – they have DeAndre Jordan, oversized wing Tobias Harris, Danilo "missed at least 19 games six of the past seven seasons" Gallinari, and then… Montrezl Harrell?

Harris and Gallinari both play a lot of small forward, so the Clippers are going to have a hard time getting to 96 minutes out of the power forward and center spot each night. Even if they try to minimize the amount of time that Marjanovic plays alongside Jordan, it's highly probable that Marjanovic sees much more usage then he saw in Detroit. Given his per-minute production, that's worth adding in most settings.

Depending on how the Clippers rotation shakes out, if Wesley Johnson keeps getting good minutes, he's an option for blocks, too.

Other suggestions:Trey Lyles, Nuggets; Ed Davis, Trail Blazers; Wesley Johnson, Clippers

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Rikleen
Rikleen writes the NBA column "Numbers Game," which decodes the math that underpins fantasy basketball and was a nominee for the 2016 FSWA Newcomer of the Year Award. A certified math teacher, Rikleen decided the field of education pays too well, so he left it for writing. He is a Boston College graduate living outside Boston.
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