Pickup of the Day: Andray Blatche

(Richard Mackson / USA TODAY Sports)

This season I will highlight a notable player, based on the games played each night, who’s available in at least 60% of Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball leagues.

The Sneaky Fantasy Basketball Pickup for Saturday, November 16 is Andray Blatche. He’s owned in 5% of Yahoo! Leagues and 0.3% of ESPN Leagues. Fantasy owners who were lucky enough to get him on their fantasy teams last year when he filled in for Brook Lopez can attest to his upside, and he’s about to get the same opportunity again with Lopez limping around on a bum ankle.

Here’s a look at Blatche’s line tonight against LA:

The Nets have been dropping like bad dubstep beats (and bad analogies!) this week, with Deron Williams going down with an ankle sprain last night and apparently infecting Brook Lopez with the same ailment today (in less severe absences, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce also sat out for what Gregg Popovich would categorize as “DNP – Old”). The big winners here are Shaun Livingston and Andray Blatche. Of the two, Blatche has the higher upside. Livingston will give you solid numbers in points, rebounds, assists and the percentages, but I’m wary of players that don’t give me anything in threes, steals, or blocks.

Both Williams and Lopez appear day-to-day, so don’t consider dropping anyone with long-term value for either Livingston or Blatche. We might be looking at a one-week rental at best, but, especially if you’ve just lost either of those Nets starters, their replacements are worthwhile fill-ins.

Is he legit? Oh yeah. In his eight starts filling in for Brook Lopez last year, Andray Blatche averaged 17.9 pts, 9.3 reb, 1.5 ast and 1.8 stl in 30.5 mpg. He’s already dropped similar numbers tonight. Remember, this is a very temporary rental, but the type of numbers Blatche can give you are difficult to find on the waiver wire.

Other Notable Players: Those of you who inserted DeJuan Blair into your line-up received a nice reward with a robust 18-5-2-2-1 line. Nothing about his role has changed in Dallas, so don’t expect this on the regular…Martell Webster didn’t have a good shooting night but still played 42 min and had a decent line. He’ll continue to have value until Trevor Ariza returns, which might be in a week…It was also a terrible shooting night for Josh McRoberts, but he did drop 9 assists and 7 rebounds. He continues to be the most surprising source of assists in fantasy basketball this year, and the fact that Cody Zeller got less than seven minutes tonight just solidifies McBob’s position…How about Shelvin Mack with the 12 pts and 12 ast! Not sure if he got additional run tonight so Jeff Teague could take a break after his monster game last night, but Teague played fine and isn’t injured, so don’t expect more like this from Mack…Tony Wroten had a third straight productive game, and MCW will be out until Wednesday at least. Darius Morris can be ignored, however, as he got all his points during garbage time of a major blowout…Derrick Rose returned, but Kirk Hinrich stayed productive? Okay, now I’m paying attention, because Rose has been anything but reliable this year…Even though I made him a Pickup of the Day, I still should’ve been higher on Terrence Jones. However, it is worth noting that Donatas Motiejunas got 16 min of playing time. Motiejunas is whom the Rockets wanted taking over that PF spot coming into the season, so there might be competition for Jones after all even with Greg Smith injured and Omer Asik sulking at the end of the bench…Dante Cunningham had a similar game to last night’s, except he shot better and added 3 ast and 5 stl. Still think he’s a non-factor though…Another horrible shooting night for Zaza Pachulia, but I am going to continue preaching patience because he’s still contributing in other areas and getting increased minutes. On the other hand, John Henson had a great game in a mere 16 min, but it would’ve been much better if he had been able to stay out of foul trouble…Shaun Livingston put up numbers but–as seems to be the trend tonight–had a disappointing shooting night. That’s not common for him, so except it to get back up above .500 soon. Along with Blatche, Mason Plumlee also took advantage of both Lopez and Garnett’s absences. He had a nice 19-6 night with a steal and a block, though he went a Dwightmarish 5 for 12 at the line. Finally, Alan Anderson and Reggie Evans also played some decent minutes, but both Pierce and Garnett should be back in the line-up by the next game.

Top 5 Sneaky Pickups (owned in under 40% of Yahoo! Leagues): Another day, and the pickings get slimmer. We bid farewell to Jordan Hill, who hit 41% owned today.

1. Martell Webster (25%)
2. Josh McRoberts (14%)
3. Jodie Meeks (23%)
4. Terrence Jones (13%)
5. Andray Blatche (5%)

Hindsight: I popped the champagne way, way too early on Jared Sullinger (and now am probably shelving him way too early to overcompensate). According to coach Brad Stevens, conditioning was the reason Sullinger only played 14 min tonight. The way Stevens is handling him is not a good sign for anyone hoping for any type of consistency. I am 100% still holding on to Sullinger, but there is a small thought creeping into my mind and wondering if I might be a year early and an offseason of intense conditioning away from his true breakout season.

Pickup of the Day: Jared Sullinger

(AP Photo / Charles Krupa)

This season I will highlight a notable player, based on the games played each night, who’s available in at least 60% of Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball leagues.

The Sneaky Fantasy Basketball Pickup for Friday, November 15 is Jared Sullinger. My friends, I told you to be wary of Brandon Bass in the long run because Sullinger wasn’t healthy to start the year. I told you Boston would want to see how Sullinger could handle starter’s minutes. I told you to hold on to your Sullinger stock. I told you he was outplaying Kelly Olynyk. I told you to get on the bandwagon. I told you the revolution was coming.

That’s right. Six times I’ve brought up Jared Sullinger in Other Notable Players without having the stones to make him the Pickup of the Day because I am a pansy conservative risk-taker in fantasy basketball, but, after last night, Sullinger leaves me no choice. He is currently owned in 14% of all Yahoo! Leagues, 3.6% of all ESPN Leagues, and 100% of my fluttering heart.

Here’s a look at his line last night against Portland:

If you’ve already owned and been playing Sullinger for the past week and a half like I have, you’ve already been getting some usable if not spectacular numbers from him. He’d been doing it in 20-25 min while competing for playing time with Olynyk, Bass and Vitor Faverani. However, Sullinger is just more consistent than Faverani, more versatile than Bass, and more talented than Olynyk.

Boston is a team in transition (i.e. Boston is a team ready to blow up its roster at any time), and it wants to know what it has in its talent. It knows what it has in Bass and Rajon Rondo. It knows both its rookies, Olynyk and Faverani, are going to struggle adjusting to the NBA. So mainly, it wants to know what it’s got in Avery Bradley, Jeff Green and Sullinger (and now probably also Jordan Crawford) and whether it wants to keep any of them. That is why I predicted these guys would get playing time. That is why I wasn’t sold on Brandon Bass during his hot start.

(That is not why I picked Vitor Faverani as our third Pickup of the Day. Listen, that was early in the season, and honestly I’d rather just pretend it never happened.)

Is he legit? There has always been two knocks on Jared Sullinger. The first is that he has an injury history. The second is that he’s too undersized and unathletic to be a PF in the NBA. The injury concern has been very legitimate so far. He missed 37 games and all of the playoffs last year, and coach Brad Stevens has handled him with kids’ gloves this year, even sitting him out the last game after he banged his knee in practice. He still has conditioning issues and it’s very early in the season, but at least Sullinger appears to have conquered the back problems that have plagued him dating all the way back to OSU.

As for the second knock, I’m going to pull a Matthew Berry trick and show you a comparison:

Player	MP	FG%	FT%	3P	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV
A	31.0	0.530	0.733	0.3	17.3	9.7	1.2	1.1	0.8	1.8
B	29.6	0.559	0.767	0.7	17.5	10.6	1.9	0.7	1.4	2.0

These stats look eerily similar don’t they? Player A is Jared Sullinger, and those are his stats through 74 career college games. Player B is another player who scouts considered to be too undersized and unathletic to be a PF in the NBA while he was in college, and those are his career stats through 37 career college games. Who is Player B? Kevin Love.

What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. But what am I trying to insinuate? Obviously that Jared Sullinger could be as good as Kevin Love! (Though I’m not the only one making comparisons) While that might be my irrational man-crush talking, it is worth noting that Jared Sullinger’s per-minute numbers this year aren’t terribly different than what they were last year, except that he’s scoring at nearly double the rate. Per 36 minutes, his ppg last year was 10.9. This year it’s 21.7. This corresponds with him attempting more shots from the field (9.1 vs 16.1), more threes (0.2 vs 2.9), and more free throws (2.5 vs 4.6) while shooting better percentages in all three categories (although his 28.6% from three isn’t something to brag about).

This is truly an improved Jared Sullinger we’re looking at, and he’s dying for the opportunity to prove it. An opportunity that Boston is going to give him. To sum up the way-too-long drivel above, there are only three things you need to know about Sullinger: 1. Get him. 2. Play him. 3. Stick with him.

Other Notable Players: If not for my selfish desire to over-validate my faith in Sullinger, the Pickup would be Shaun Livingston. Deron Williams injured his ankle tonight, and his status for next week is currently in jeopardy. The latest news from him is that it’s not as bad as it was when he injured the same ankle last October and sat out for a month. In the meantime, Livingston will be a good source of points, rebounds, and assists with strong percentages. His ceiling as a PG is limited, however, as he’s always been weak in steals and nonexistent in threes…Milwaukee was completely shut down by Indiana, the best defense in the league, so don’t stress too much on the low numbers because that won’t happen every night. Call it stubbornness, but I did not view Zaza Pachulia’s 4-11 line as a bust. Yes he missed 12 of 14 shots, but he took 14 shots in just 24 min. Meanwhile, John Henson did have three blocks, though only coupled it with an 8-8 in 28 min…Kirk Hinrich played 40 min with Derrick Rose out tonight. Rose will be back tomorrow. Just to let you know it’s non-news…Michael Carter-Williams didn’t play again tonight, and, while it’s no triple-double, Tony Wroten did have another good night. It seems Wroten will continue to have value while MCW is wearing a boot, which he’s still expected to be lugging around tomorrow. James Anderson, on the other hand, fell back to earth with a 2-4-5 line. I did not understand the rush to pick him up after his last game. He’s gotten regular rotational minutes all year and even played over 44 min before without much value. Hopefully the one or two people who read this column heeded my warning against him…I also don’t understand the buzz about DeMarre Carroll. He did have a good game tonight, but, same as Anderson, he’s another guy who averages over 30 mpg while doing nothing with it…On the other hand, Mo Williams has now had three effective games while playing around 30 mpg each. This is a situation worth monitoring, as Williams has always been a valuable PG when given regular minutes…Josh McRoberts is back on the radar with another solid game. He’s averaging the most assists of any C-eligible player, aside from Kevin Love, for the season (4.1 apg) and the most of any C-eligible player, period, in the last week (5.5 apg)…C.J. Miles did not have a good game, but he did get 33 min while Waiters was out sick. Considering the numbers that Miles put up in limited minutes, he could be in line for a big game tomorrow if Waiters is out again…Vince Carter has averaged a 17-3-2 with 2.7 threes since putting up a goose egg 10 days ago. He was a valuable contributor last year in Dallas with 13-4-2 and 2.0 threes, and he’s in the exact same position this year. Though he has almost no upside at this point of his career, 28% owned seems a little low considering the quality of some of the guys owned more than he is…DeJuan Blair put up a funky 9-7-5-3-2 line. Of all C-eligible players, he leads the league in spg (2.2) followed closely by the incomparable Anthony Davis (2.1)…We’ve had a J.J. Barea sighting! Unfortunately, he’s been far less helpful for the Timberwolves this year with most of the team actually healthy. Consider this game just a reminder of what he can do off the bench when given a chance, but he won’t get many this year…On the other end in that game, Timofey Mozgov fell off while J.J. Hickson put up a decent double-double. It seems coach Brian Shaw played Mozgov more in the previous game just to take advantage of match-ups. The 42% owned Hickson is still the guy to have…We had a Morris twin swap tonight. Markieff has struggled since coming back from his illness a few days ago, but Marcus Morris picked up the slack with a 13-9 and 2 threes…Boris Diaw: 17-5-2-2-2 too inconsistent for me still…Don’t look now (actually, please do, don’t just believe what I’m saying), but Richard Jefferson has actually strung together two decent games now, and he probably should have had an even better one tonight had Utah’s two starting guards decided to pass more instead of going 10-35 combined….Speaking of which, Utah will likely soon realize neither John Lucas III nor Alec Burks should be their starting PG. “Soon” as in sooner than Trey Burke is expected to return, which means recently picked up Diante Garrett could be in for an extended look…I lied about Livingston. If not for Sullinger, the Pickup today would be Jodie Meeks. Though we’ll have to change his nickname from “Mr. Consistency” to “Mr. Averages Out in the End”…Jordan Hill and Steve Blake regressed but still contributed. Don’t ask me to trust Nick Young though. I don’t trust anyone whose sole value is points. He’s Francisco Garcia without as many threes.

Top 5 Sneaky Pickups (owned in under 40% of Yahoo! Leagues): We sadly have to say goodbye to both Steve Blake and Corey Brewer today as both pass the 40% owned mark. Averaging 12.0 pts, 4.3 reb, 9.8 ast, 1.3 stl, and 2.3 3’s in the four games this past week, Blake’s been an elite PG in place of Steve Nash. Brewer’s value has been more long-term and is in his versatility. He and Wilson Chandler were the only players in the past week to average 2.0 3’s, 2.0 stl, and 50.0% FG or more.

1. Jordan Hill (37%)
2. Martell Webster (23%)
3. Jared Sullinger (14%)
4. Josh McRoberts (14%)
5. Jodie Meeks (18%)

Hindsight: Nope. No regrets here. I’m basking too much in the glow of my rewarded faith in Jared Sullinger. Come back tomorrow and ask me about Zaza Pachulia. And if Sullinger only plays 20 min and puts up single digits against Minnesota, just leave me to drown in my own tears.

Pickup of the Day: Martell Webster

(D. Clarke Evans/NBAE via Getty Images)

This season I will try to highlight a notable player, based on the games played each night, who’s available in at least 60% of Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball leagues.

The Sneaky Fantasy Basketball Pickup for Wednesday, November 13 is Martell Webster. He’s owned in 15% of Yahoo! Leagues and 1.2% of ESPN Leagues, which is actually a dip from where he was before posting three straight lousy games. His performance tonight might change that though, depending on what’s happening with Trevor Ariza.

Here’s a look at his line tonight against San Antonio:

This is Webster’s best game by far, and it was 100% because Ariza went out with a hamstring injury. Ariza will get an MRI on his hamstring and may miss extended time with this injury, and Webster is the no. 1 candidate to reap all those minutes, most likely moving into the starting line-up as well.

Is he legit? One would think that there wouldn’t be many shots left to go around playing alongside John Wall and Brad Beal (okay okay, so only I did), but Ariza made it work very successfully, and there’s no reason to think Webster can’t do the same. The rebounds tonight are totally fluky, but this year Webster’s been a strong source of threes and steals even in a limited role off the bench. It’s only going to get better as he absorbs most of Ariza’s minutes.

Other Notable Players: I’ve been following the exploits of James Anderson and Tony Wroten in this space for a while, but I never saw this coming. With Michael Carter-Williams out tonight, Anderson scored a career-high 36 points while Wroten dropped a career-first triple-double. Unfortunately, this does nothing to clarify whether either will gain fantasy relevance when MCW returns. The track record for both is still way too inconsistent for me to recommend a pickup…Jeremy Lin, as I said before and never ever wavered from ever, is the PG you want in Houston. Both he and Patrick Beverley started tonight with James Harden out. Both did well, but Lin continues to be hell-bent on recreating Linsanity in Houston. Beverley did have a very efficient game, and we’ll see if he keeps it up…Terrence Jones got the start over Omer Asik, who finished with fewer than five minutes in an overtime game. Not looking good for Asik, but Jones’s stock just went up with a double-double and three blocks tonight. Omri Casspi did also have a good game…John Henson put up a decent line tonight (can’t be mad at 5 blk!) with Ersan Ilyasova, Larry Sanders and Zaza Pachulia all out, but Khris Middleton turned out to be the big winner, especially with news that Caron Butler had to go back to the locker room with a shoulder injury. Though what we’re all really waiting for is more Giannis Antetokounmpo time…Just a reminder that Corey Brewer is only 31% owned, and he just dropped 27 points with five threes and two steals…Steve Blake and Jordan Hill blew up tonight, while Pachulia didn’t pay me his bribe play at all after posting two poor games. I know Pachulia will be back and meaningful minutes will be waiting for him. I wouldn’t drop him if I didn’t need to, but I can’t recommend picking him up with so many other strong options…Wesley Johnson started for the second game in a row and put up numbers in literally every category. His value is entirely in the peripheral stats (2 3’s, 3 stl, 5 blk tonight), but he needs 30 mpg like he got tonight to rack them up consistently. The Lakers got very little from their bench and lost tonight, though, so coach Mike D’Antoni might be cooking up more changes. Hill and Blake are probably safe until Nash gets back. Johnson, not so much…Just after I call Jodie Meeks Mr. Consistency, he goes out and finishes with one three and a bunch of bagels. Here’s a guy who was giving his team more off the bench…Timofey Mozgov thoroughly outplayed J.J. Hickson tonight. There’s discord brewing at the C position for Denver. Neither the Nuggets nor the Lakers give opposing big men many problems, though, so don’t get up too high on either Mozgov or Hill just yet (as I move Hill to no. 1 on my Top 5)…Remember how Gerald Green was going to drop off after Goran Dragic got back? Somebody forgot to tell him to do that…Ben McLemore and Jason Thompson were moved to the starting line-up with great results for the Kings. Even if Thompson gets regular minutes, though, he doesn’t contribute much more than in points and rebounds, the two easiest categories to get. But check out how well underperformers Greivis Vasquez and Marcus Thornton did under the new arrangements.

Top 5 Sneaky Pickups (owned in under 40% of Yahoo! Leagues):
1. Jordan Hill (19%)
2. Steve Blake (34%)
3. Martell Webster (15%)
4. Corey Brewer (31%)
5. Patrick Beverley (35%)

Hindsight: Reggie Jackson spent a lot of time atop my Top 5 Sneaky Pickups, and now he clearly isn’t worth a roster spot. Things are going to be different with Zaza, though. They are. Really…I had high hopes for Steven Adams if he ever replaced Kendrick Perkins in the starting line-up. Well Perkins was out tonight, but Adams still did not capitalize. Despite the 17-10-3 (blk) game, he’s not ready yet…So that’s two disappointments on the Thunder. The lesson, as always, is the overlooked teams produce the most overlooked fantasy players. Check out the Sixers, Lakers, Suns, Celtics and Bucks for evidence.

Pickup of the Day: Miles Plumlee

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

This season I will try to highlight a notable player, based on the games played each night, who’s available in at least 60% of Yahoo! Fantasy Basketball leagues.

The Sneaky Fantasy Basketball Pickup for Wednesday, October 30, 2013 is Miles Plumlee. He was owned in 10% of Yahoo! leagues when I started writing this, and now his ownership is at 23%! He might well become ineligible to count as a “sneaky” pick by tomorrow, so I’m posting this tonight.

Here’s a look at his line tonight vs. Portland:

This was a massive night in NBA games with 28 teams playing, and there were so many possible great performances by players eligible to be sneaky pickups that I can’t even justify wasting too much time waxing poetic about Michael Carter-Williams (79% owned) coming out of a terrible summer league and lackluster preseason to post 22 pts, 7 reb, 12 ast, 9 stl, 4 3’s, 60.0 FG%, 75.0 FT% in his first career game. I’ll just leave it at “Wow.”

So out of all the great performances tonight, why does Miles Plumlee take the prize? Opportunity. As Cody Ulm superbly wrote for SB Nation, Plumlee was the biggest winner from the Marcin Gortat trade. Channing Frye hasn’t played NBA basketball in 16 months after suffering a heart ailment, Alex Len is still recovering from double ankle surgery, and no one knows when Emeka Okafor will be back on the court.

Plumlee has the athleticism and the skills, and now he’s finally getting the minutes, too, as the Phoenix Suns’ starting center. Coming over from Indiana in the Luis Scola trade, he put up yeoman numbers in the preseason as the Suns’ coaching staff fiddled with him in the starting line-up. Now with Gortat out of town, he’s the incumbent.

It’s hard to predict his ceiling, as he never even averaged over 21 mpg at Duke, and he nearly hit 40 min tonight. The three blocks are likely a rare treat, but this is a guy who’s going to get you points and rebounds without hurting you in percentages.

How legit is he? Legit. There is nobody else on this roster I see taking minutes away from Plumlee aside from Len and Okafor. I see the Morris twins and Frye cutting into P.J. Tucker’s minutes before they do Plumlee’s. Okafor may be the better defensive player, but it’s not like the Suns will rush him back for some postseason run. Though at some point, the Suns will be so terrible that they’re going to want to see what they have in Len, I don’t envision that until after the All-Star break. Plumlee is a lock, and now he’s at 25% owned! Stop reading, and go pick him up!

Other Notables: Josh McRoberts gets the silver medal. Like Plumlee, he’s an athletic journeyman who’s won the starting job from a hyped rookie big man, in this case Cody Zeller. Zeller just seems to be a bigger threat here than Len does to Plumlee…Utah is going to be a very interesting team for fantasy this year as all sorts of unproven players get huge minutes, and Alec Burks could easily be Sixth Man of the Year if he doesn’t move into the starting line-up outright…Tim Duncan left the game tonight with a chest contusion, which means Boris Diaw could be in line for serious minutes…Trevor Ariza posted a monster line, but I don’t buy it. He’s 40% from the field in the past four years, he’s  competing with Martell Webster and Al Harrington for minutes, and I don’t trust he’ll always get his shots while sharing the ball with John Wall and Bradley Beal…Apparently Larry Sanders hasn’t gotten over his foul problems, and Zaza Pachulia will stand to benefit on nights he’s limited…Speaking of Milwaukee, Gary Neal seems to be the winner if Brandon Knight’s hamstring injury is serious…And Will Bynum is the winner in Detroit while Rodney Stuckey and Brandon Jennings are out…Here are three veterans who should just be owned in more leagues: Vince Carter, Corey Brewer, Caron Butler…Andrew Nicholson: another solid line, another game under 20 min…I’ve seen Francisco Garcia put up hollow stat lines like tonight’s his entire career. The Houston bench guy you want is Omri Casspi, and you don’t actually want him that much. Oh, and so much for Patrick Beverley taking over that PG job.

Accountability: Well, the Lakers certainly seem committed to giving Xavier Henry all the opportunities he could want to succeed, as he got 35 min while Wes Johnson, Jodie Meeks, and Nick Young all got under 25 in tonight’s historic beatdown by the Warriors. Henry’s final line didn’t look atrocious, but it really was before a full fourth quarter of garbage time. As was Jordan Farmar’s. Still, as long as Henry is playing 35 min, he’s rosterable.