Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
As the New York Knicks’ continue their unlikely playoff push, winning their last six games, rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. is playing a vital role.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Hardaway and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Jeff Adrien.
» Tim Hardaway Jr., SG, New York Knicks (8.9 percent owned on ESPN.com)
20 points (8-12 FG, 2-3 FT), 2 three-pointers, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 0 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers vs Bucks.
Could the Knicks do it? Could they really grab the eighth seed? It’s definitely possible. The Knicks, winners of six straight including back-to-back 20-plus point drubbings, are running on all cylinders and rookie shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. has been a key cog.
Actually, Hardaway has been one of the better rookie performers over the duration of the entire season, sitting fifth on the rookie fantasy rankings according to Basketball Monster.com behind Michael Carter-Williams, Victor Oladipo, Trey Burke and Ryan Kelly.
With Pablo Prigioni‘s role being reduced since he was demote from the starting lineup, minutes have opened up for Hardaway and it looks like he’s going to get consistent run down the stretch.
In the last three games, Hardaway has been phenomenal averaging 23.3 points and 3.3 three-pointers shooting an insane 66.7 percent from the field.
Those numbers are set to normalize, no doubt, but Hardaway will still be a productive player for the rest of the season and it’s going to be hard to ignore him in even shallow leagues.
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Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports
» Jeff Adrien, PF, Milwaukee Bucks (3.5 percent owned)
10 points (5-10 FG, 0-0 FT), 0 three-pointers, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 blocks, 1 turnover vs Knicks
The development of Jeff Adrien as a fantasy relevant player has been one of the strangest developments of the season for me as a fantasy writer.
Adrien barely played in Charlotte, but when he was traded with Ramon Sessions to Milwaukee for Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour, things definitely changed for the better.
The reason this development is a strange one is the fact that Adrien is getting as many minutes as he is. The Bucks have some good players in the frontcourt in Ersan Ilyasova and John Henson and also have Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo to develop on the wings.
But Larry Drew is Larry Drew, so he’s giving minutes to Adrien, a guy who is an unrestricted free agent and looks unlikely to be with the team next season. As I’ve mentioned many times on my podcast, in fantasy basketball we only have to be concerned on what coaches are actually doing and not what we wish they would do.
And Drew is playing Adrien.
Over the last two weeks, Adrien has averaged 10.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 1.0 blocks shooting 56.4 percent from the field.
Those sort of numbers are really impressive and should probably lead him to be added in all leagues of 12 teams or deeper.