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The NBA’s second favorite German, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Chris Kaman, has been rejuvenated since re-entering the starting lineup.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Kaman and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Thabo Sefolosha.
»Chris Kaman, C, Los Angeles Lakers (48.1 percent owned on ESPN.com)
19 points (7-13 FG, 5-7 FT), 0 three-pointers, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 0 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers vs Thunder.
Just one more point. That’s all that Chris Kaman needed in order to notch his third consecutive 20 points and 10 rebound game. Not that it really matters because the numbers are still superb. Since Mike D’Antoni replaced Robert Sacre with him in the starting lineup against the Utah Jazz, Kaman has been one of the top centers in fantasy basketball.
Kaman has averaged 22.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 blocks in the games versus the Jazz and the Thunder and if you include the game against the Bulls, the numbers look even more impressive.
Some skepticism is understandable, given that the production has come with Pau Gasol sidelined with a groin injury. Gasol is slated to return sometime toward the middle to end of next week, but the spectre of a trade hangs over the situation. With it appearing more and more likely that Gasol will find himself in a new uniform come next week’s trade deadline, Kaman has the ability to retain a ton of value long term.
Probably the most rumored destination for Gasol has been Phoenix, moving to the desert in exchange for Emeka Okafor‘s back injury. If that trade was to happen, Okafor is unlikely to play this yea, so minutes at the pivot would be wide open for Kaman to continue this run of form.
If that trade does indeed materialise, Kaman could be a top 50 fantasy player for the duration of the season, so adding him now makes a lot of sense.
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»Thabo Sefolosha, SG/SF, Oklahoma City Thunder (4.4 percent owned):
7 points (3-4 FG, 0-0 FT), 1 three-pointer, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 0 blocks, 1 turnover vs Lakers.
Any fantasy player who is able to positively contribute in five categories is a decent player. That’s what Thabo Sefolosha does, yet no-one really appreciates his fantasy skill set. It doesn’t help him out that his contributions come in the least sexy stats imaginable – three-pointers, steals, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and turnovers.
But in fantasy leagues, winning the steals category is just as valuable as winning the points category. Sefolosha is never going to help out in the points category – he’s season high is only 14. But he is the number 74 player on Basketball Monster.com over the past two weeks, fuelled by those peripheral categories.
In the last eight games, Sefolosha has averaged 8.8 points, 1.3 three-pointers, 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.8 turnovers, while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 82.4 from the free throw line. The steal numbers are elite and in deeper leagues of 14 teams or deeper, Sefolosha should be considered a must own player from now until the end of the season.