Fantasy Basketball: Top Waiver-Wire Adds for Friday, April 4th
By Josh Lloyd
Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
In one of the least surprising developments of the season, the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich has been sitting his star players down the stretch. That means, that guys like Patty Mills are raising their hands to be noticed in fantasy leagues.
In today’s edition of “All Wired Up”, I’ll delve into the fantasy strengths of potential waiver wire gold like Mills and the Dallas Mavericks’ Vince Carter.
» Patty Mills, PG, San Antonio Spurs (5.5 percent owned on ESPN.com)
21 points (8-13 FG, 0-0 FT), 5 three-pointers, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 blocks vs Thunder.
I will be baffled beyond belief if Tony Parker plays all of the remaining games for the Spurs in the last two weeks of the season. Patty Mills, therefore, stands to benefit immensely from Popovich resting his players and even in the games when the Spurs have a full squad, Mills will be viable contributor.
When Parker does sit, Mills doesn’t become the starting point guard. That role falls to Cory Joseph. But in terms of minutes played, Mills will be the man to get close to 30 minutes a night.
Let’s focus now on what Mills has been doing recently, with Parker in the lineup. Over the last two weeks, Mills is the 57th ranked player on Basketball Monster.com, averaging 11.9 points, 1.9 three-pointers, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals, shooting 51.3 percent from the field and going a perfect 100 percent from the line. The contribution in points, triples, steals and percentages make Mills a very interesting target in fantasy leagues, especially considering he’s doing all that in 19.6 minutes.
In fact, over the course of the season, Mills is the 119th ranked player in fantasy, meaning he would be valuable in even 10 team leagues. Not many fantasy owners (5.5 percent in fact) are wise to this fact, so maybe you get a leg up on the competition as we enter the pointy end of the season.
While I’d love to see Mills get a chance to play starters minutes on another team, a la Eric Bledsoe this season, we have to make do with what we are getting and that is plenty good enough for the time being.
Be sure to check out my podcast, where I discuss things all things fantasy basketball. You can subscribe here or on iTunes here.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
» Vince Carter, SG/SF, Dallas Mavericks (56.2 percent owned)
16 points (6-12 FG, 0-0 FT), 4 three-pointers, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 blocks vs Clippers.
Before I offer any reasoning, let’s get this out of the way now. Vince Carter should be owned in all leagues. Yep! It’s that simple.
Check your waiver-wire as a matter of urgency and make sure you add Vinsanity onto your squad and begin reaping the benefits.
Now that you’ve scooped up Carter off the waiver-wire, here’s what he’s been doing of late.
In the last two weeks, Carter is averaging 14.6 points, 3.1 three-pointers, 3.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals, which ranks him at number 42 on Basketball Monster.com.
I think a lot was lost in the offseason when looking at Carter’s 2012-13 campaign. He ended the season as the 61st ranked player in fantasy, yet he wasn’t on the radar for 10 and 12 team league drafts when October rolled around. That was a mistake on the part of owners and fantasy experts alike.
Correct the mistake now, and add Carter for the final weeks of the season.