Fantasy Basketball: Top Waiver-Wire Adds for Sunday, March 30th
By Josh Lloyd
Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
With the San Antonio Spurs’ “injuries” mounting up, Marco Belinelli is in prime position to get extra run down the stretch and make a big difference to the outcome of plenty of fantasy leagues.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Belinelli and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Darren Collison.
» Marco Belinelli, SG, San Antonio Spurs (10.5 percent owned on ESPN.com)
18 points (7-11 FG, 0-0 FT), 4 three-pointers, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover vs Pelicans.
With pretty much the entire Spurs’ starting five considered day-to-day due to rest from now until the end of the season, guys like Marco Belinelli are going to be fantasy saviours down the stretch.
In the last two games, with coach Gregg Popovich reducing the minutes load of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard, Belinelli has excelled. He has averaged 22.5 points, 5.0 three-pointers, 3.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 65.4 percent from the field. Those are some incredible numbers.
But it’s not just those two game in which Belinelli has performed excellently. In the last eight games, Belinelli has averaged 14.4 points, 2.3 three-pointers and 3.1 assists on 54.4 percent shooting. And all of this production is coming in only 25 minutes a game.
In fact, Belinelli has been productive all season. He’s the 107th ranked player on Basketball Monster.com over the course of the season, meaning he should be owned in pretty much all leagues. But so far, Belinelli has eluded the attention of many owners. With the playoffs upon us, don’t let him slip past you as well.
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» Darren Collison, PG/SG, Los Angeles Clippers (32.3 percent owned)
11 points (4-14 FG, 2-4 FT), 1 three-pointer, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers vs Rockets.
Darren Collison has had an up and down fantasy season. He had close to zero value early on this season, but as soon as Chris Paul went down with his shoulder injury, he became a must-add player. Then CP3 returned and Collison was once again relegated to a back up role. Or so we thought.
But Collison has carved out a role as the starting shooting guard next to Paul, while J.J. Redick continues to battle his back and hip injuries. The way that Collison is handling his new role has allowed coach Doc Rivers to move Jamal Crawford back to his more familiar role as the first man off the bench and makes the Clippers look a more dangerous and balanced lineup.
In the past month, Collison is the 55th ranked player on Basketball Monster.com, with averages of 14.4 points, 1.6 three-pointers, 3.9 assists and 1.6 steals, shooting 47.7 percent from the field.
Redick still has no clear timetable for his return, so Collison should be locked into a very important role for a few more games yet. When Redick does return, he’s not guaranteed to move straight back into the starting lineup, so Collison could still maintain some value for a few games after he does make his first appearance.
If you are in need of points, dimes, steals and three-pointers, Collison is a great player to target on waiver-wires and should be owned until Redick actually makes his way back into the starting five.