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Fantasy Basketball Risers & Fallers: 12/14/15 – 12/20/15

Fantasy Basketball Risers & Fallers: 12/14/15 – 12/20/15
Even though he comes off the bench, Will Barton has become an asset to the Nuggets and his fantasy owners

Even though he comes off the bench, Will Barton has become an asset to the Nuggets and his fantasy owners

In this weekly column, I will be focusing on the best/worst performances over the past week. I will focus on out of the ordinary trends, or players that have strayed greatly from their average draft position. Great performances by top players or bad performances by bench warmers will generally be ignored.

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RISERS

  • Will Barton (SG/SF – Denver Nuggets) – Barton continues to come off the bench, but his playing time has steadily gone up over the last two weeks. He thrives off the bench and often brings energy and scoring to a meddling Nuggets’ lineup. Barton also regularly closes games including last Sunday’s game, when he made seven three-pointers scoring 32 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. If Barton is still available in your league, he won’t be for long. His value is peaking, so owners might want to think of moving him, but I don’t see a sudden drop- off for Barton. He should get regular playing time in Denver and has the ability to blow up any night, including high per-minute rebounds and blocks from the guard position.
  • Michael Carter-Williams (PG – Milwaukee Bucks) – Finally earning back the starting role and more playing time from Coach Kidd, Carter-Williams has made the most of his opportunity. Last week he averaged 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block in 36 minutes per game. Carter-Williams’ length is an important cog in Jason Kidd’s defense. With Kidd out indefinitely from his coaching position, you might want to watch what happens with Carter-Williams’ playing time, but I doubt there were be major philosophy changes on a temporary basis. If anything, maybe this will mean more stability with the Bucks’ lineup.
  • Channing Frye (PF/C – Orlando Magic) – Frye has moved into Orlando’s starting lineup with Oladipo moving to the bench. Though he is only averaging 22 minutes per game over the last two weeks, it doesn’t take much for Frye to sneak into standard league value. Frye doesn’t hurt you anywhere, and he is a great nine-category player with his excellent three-point value coupled with almost no turnovers. Deeper leagues should be all over Frye, and if you need threes from a forward starting spot, you should take a flyer on him.

FALLERS

  • Avery Bradley (PG/SG – Boston Celtics) – Bradley has struggled heavily over the last few weeks. His shooting has completely dropped off. However, he was shooting above his career average for the season so far. Still, over the last two weeks, his field goal percentage has dropped below 40%, and he is averaging under 13 points per game. I think this slump is attributed to both his quad injury and an illness that he has been dealing with recently. Bradley is young enough to take a leap and has played at a high level starting or coming off the bench for a majority of the season. I like this as a buy-low opportunity for Bradley.
  • Jeff Teague (PG – Atlanta Hawks) – Teague is obviously bothered by his ankle injury as it has been lingering for over a month now. His value has dropped to an all-time low, as he’s losing minutes to Schroder. Over the last two weeks, he is only seeing 26 minutes per game and averaging 12 points, four assists and less than a steal per game on 37.5% shooting. The fact that he is playing means he will eventually heal from this injury with a little rest. Other than the holidays, the next rest will be the All-Star break. I fully expect Teague to return to his former value, but at a much slower rate than someone like Avery Bradley. Teague is still a buy-low opportunity.
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo (SF/PF – Milwaukee Bucks) – Antetokounmpo ended up moving to the bench recently but has not seen a drop-off in minutes. He has taken a hit in production, though. With Coach Kidd out with an injury, it is a wait-and-see situation with Antetokounmpo. This might just be a tactic to get more out of Antetokounmpo, but it has to be frustrating for owners. Similar to Carter-Williams, the rotations with the new coach shouldn’t be completely different, but it might mean a better change for Antetokounmpo to start.

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Mike Catron rambles on about the fantasy impact of NBA box scores and provides other insights on strategy at WatchtheBoxes.com. You can follow him on Twitter @WatchtheBoxes where he will be live tweeting various NBA games, answering your fantasy questions and mostly retweeting stuff you need to know from people you already follow.

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