Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
With the Dallas Mavericks surging toward the playoffs, it’s grizzled veteran Vince Carter who is helping guide the way in his sixth man role.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Carter and the Phoenix Suns’ Marcus Morris.
» Vince Carter, SG/SF, Dallas Mavericks (23.2 percent owned on ESPN.com)
15 points (5-14 FG, 1-2 FT), 4 three-pointers, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover vs Bulls.
I’m sure many people are surprised that Vince Carter is still capable of putting up the sort of lines that he is this season. But if we look at his performance from last season, we really shouldn’t be.
In the 2013-13 NBA season, Carter was actually the 59th-ranked player in fantasy basketball according to Basketball Monster.com, putting up impressive numbers in just 25 minutes a game. A lot of his numbers came because Dallas was playing with a semi-healthy Dirk Nowitzki and a starting backcourt of Darren Collison and O.J. Mayo.
Hopes were not high for Carter this season, as the Mavericks brought in Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon to run the backcourt.
But all he’s done is been super productive this season, relishing the role of the primary scorer with the bench unit. In the last month, Carter has averaged 13.1 points, 2.0 three-pointers, 4.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals, while shooting 83.7 percent from the line. Now, in the interests of full disclosure, Carter has shot fairly poorly, hitting only 41.3 percent of his field goal attempts, but that hasn’t been enough to kill his value.
Over the past four weeks, his numbers have been good enough for 58th in the NBA on Basketball Monster.com, and they’ve only gotten better since the All-Star break.
With the way he’s playing, there’s no reason why Carter shouldn’t be owned in all leagues and all formats, so make a beeline to your waiver-wire and let Vinsanity take hold.
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»Marcus Morris, PF, Phoenix Suns (0.5 percent owned)
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
15 points (4-8 FG, 5-6 FT), 2 three-pointers, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover vs Pelicans.
I’ve already extolled the virtues of adding Markieff Morris and I’m hoping that all of you have added him to your rosters with the form he is displaying.
But now it’s his twin brother, Marcus, who is making waves in the fantasy basketball world.
As one of the keys to the Suns’ bench unit, Marcus Morris is putting up some fantasy relevant lines on the regular.
Morris has been incredibly consistent this year, ranking 141st on Basketball Monster.com for the season, 148th in the last month and 148th in the last two weeks also. Over those last 14 days, Morris has averaged 10.1 points, 1.4 three-pointers, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals.
These aren’t mind-blowing numbers by any stretch, but they are remarkably consistent and worthy of a place on your team if you’re in a league of 14 teams or more, and possibly in 12-team leagues, as well.