Fantasy Basketball: Raymond Felton Is A Must Add
By Josh Lloyd
Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports
Each morning, I’ll scour the previous night’s NBA games like a crazy person with a metal detector at the beach. I’ll be looking for players like the Knicks’ Raymond Felton and the Hawks’ Mike Scott, who may be just sitting there on your fantasy basketball league’s waiver wire waiting to be turned into fantasy gold.
As a brief explanation, I’ll suggest two guys who can help out — one of whom is owned in up to 75 percent of ESPN leagues — and a second, deeper cut, who is owned in less than 20 percent of ESPN leagues. Without further ado, here’s January 17th’s “All Wired Up”!
Platinum Pickup
Raymond Felton, PG, New York Knicks (72.2 percent owned)
12 points (5/10 FG, 1/1 FT), 1 three, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 4 turnovers
Felton is still sitting on way too many waiver wires after being dropped due to his myriad of injuries throughout December. His ownership numbers are slowing rising and if you want to snap up those hard to find assists, now is the time to put him on your team.
Felton isn’t exactly the most exciting player, but excitement doesn’t necessarily get it done in fantasy sports. It’s consistency and production and Felton has been reliable since making his way back into the lineup.
Since returning to the Knicks starting lineup, Felton is averaging 13 points and 5.8 assists per game, while also swiping 1.3 steals. I’m confident that those sort of numbers would be an asset to most fantasy teams as we draw closer to playoff time.
Deep League Diamond
Mike Scott, PF, Atlanta Hawks (1.4 percent owned):
17 points (6/9 FG, 4/4 FT), 1 three, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 0 turnovers
While Scott may not be in the starting lineup for the Hawks, he is still producing at a terrific clip. The Al Horford injury was extremely disappointing for fantasy owners and Hawks fans alike. Since then the Hawks have used a three-headed monster to fill the huge hole.
Scott is sharing time with Elton Brand and Pero Antic, but in his last three games, he’s averaged 25 minutes per tilt. Coming off the bench, he is the Hawks go-to scorer when playing with the reserves and has averaged 15.3 points in those last three games. All of the Hawks big men have their own value, but to me, Scott has the biggest chance to take his game to the next level in his second season.
He’s a guy to get on your team in leagues of 14 teams or deeper and someone to watch in other leagues to see if he can keep up his recent form.