Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Fantasy basketball owners are always looking to add the next hot player off their league’s waiver wires. Owners in shallow leagues will probably have an easier time streaming players on a day-to-day basis, but in order to take home the title, those of you in deeper leagues will need take risks on guys like the Utah Jazz’s Marvin Williams and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ C.J. Miles.
This article is geared towards hardcore fantasy basketball owners and suggests some players with minimal ownership in 12-team leagues and up. All ownership percentages are based on ESPN.com fantasy basketball leagues.
Marvin Williams, SF/PF, Utah Jazz (3.6 percent owned): It’s hard to believe Williams was once the second player taken in the NBA Draft. He was never terrible in his years in Atlanta (11.6 points, 5.3 rebounds in seven seasons), but he also never became the star the Hawks expected him to be when they took him with the No. 2 overall pick in 2005.
Now in Utah, Williams has been given a chance to redeem himself. Coach Tyrone Corbin loves his work ethic and hustle, and it has showed in his playing time of late – which in turn is leading to better overall production.
Williams has played 32.3 minutes over his last four contests, resulting in per game averages of 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds. Those numbers are good for 27th overall on Basketball Monster.com’s player ranker over the past week. His shot volume is something that really pops out at you during his current run. In the past four games he’s taken 13 shots per outing — hitting 48.1 percent of them. If he continued that pace over the course of a season, it would be the most shots he’s ever attempted per game in any season during his entire career.
Improved 3-point shooting is something that’s really driven up Williams’ value this year, as well. He had never surpassed 1.0 threes per game in any of his previous eight seasons, but he is connecting on 1.5 of them during the 2013-14 campaign. If you take into account his 5.4 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 82.1 free throw percentage, Williams is a must-own player in deeper leagues.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
C.J. Miles, SF/SG, Cleveland Cavaliers (2.8 percent owned): Miles has always been a 3-point shooting threat when given ample minutes. He’s knocking down 1.6 3-pointers in just 19.6 minutes per game, but that becomes a whopping 4.0 threes when you extrapolate that over 48 minutes.
His most noticeable hot streak occurred earlier in the season when he averaged 19.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 3.5 triples during a six-game stretch from January 2-12. The best of those games was on Jan. 7 vs. the Philadelphia 76ers. Miles was unconscious from beyond the arc in that game, hitting 10-of-14 3-pointers to finish with 34 points.
That kind of production is hard to count on when you consider coach Mike Brown’s ever-shifting rotation, but Miles seems to found himself in the coach’s good graces again. Over his last two games, Miles is averaging 22.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 3-pointers in 27.0 minutes of playing time. This extra court time has been afforded to him due to Dion Waiters falling out of favor with the organization and to Luol Deng sitting out Friday’s game, but it’s still an opportune time for owners to pluck him off waivers.
It’s always important to plan ahead for “All-Star Week”, which in most leagues consist of a longer than usual head-to-head matchup. Beginning Sunday, the Cavs will play seven games over the next 14 days, giving owners who scoop him up a nice advantage in terms of game volume. Not only do they play seven games, but those games will come against some weak opponents, including the Kings, Pistons, Sixers and Magic.
If you are in need of scoring and 3-point help, adding Miles now could help you defeat your opponents in the coming weeks.