Jon Leuer hasn’t looked back since claiming a starting role with the Suns
We’re now a quarter of the way through the 2015-16 NBA season, so your fantasy lineups should be showing their true colors. Many unexpectedly hot players have cooled down, and many others, having high expectations but starting slow, have picked it up. Injuries, as always, have played a big role, sometimes taking and other times giving. But, regardless of how it’s been for your team so far, now is the time to start making the tougher decisions. It’s now time to come down on one side of the fence about that player you just can’t seem to drop but aren’t crazy enough to play. So, just for you, we present our top Week 7 waiver wire picks for each position.
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Ownership totals are in ESPN leagues as of December 10.
Jon Leuer – PF – Phoenix Suns 20.6 percent
Since grabbing the starting power forward position five games ago, Leuer has averaged 14 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 blocks, 0.8 steals, 1.6 turnovers and 0.8 three-pointers in 32 minutes. When fellow Sun, Markieff Morris, went down with a bruised knee, Leuer was given a shot in the starting lineup and immediately began to perform. When Morris came back, Leuer stayed in the starting lineup but saw fewer minutes than Morris. Despite the playing time difference, Leuer still outplayed Morris by shooting a better field goal percentage and scoring more points.
Morris has played well below expectations so far this year and also seems to have a somewhat rocky relationship with head coach Jeff Hornacek. For now, it looks as if Leuer has locked down starter’s minutes (or close to it). As someone who’s been producing valuable three-pointers while shooting above 50 percent from the field, that means he is definitely worth a pickup in all deep leagues. For standard points leagues, Leuer is more of a low-end value with upside, and for standard category leagues, his production across all of the difficult stats (blocks, steals, threes and field goal percentage) makes him a much more intriguing add. There is talk of the Suns trading Morris, so things could certainly change for Leuer, but for now, he is more than capable of helping fantasy teams in almost all leagues as either a spot play or a low-end starter.
Ian Mahinmi – C – Indiana Pacers – 22.9 percent
The center position is pretty thin at the moment, so finding anything more than a specialist or spot play is a little bit more difficult than normal. Therefore, we bring you the eight-season veteran, Ian Mahinmi. He is finally averaging more than 20 minutes per game, and it’s allowed him to put up career numbers across the board. While his current average of 7.8 points per game isn’t exactly turning heads, no one is looking at Mahinmi for his scoring.
What the Frenchman can produce, however, is blocks, steals, rebounds and field goal percentage. Over the past five games, Mahinmi is shooting 68 percent from the field while averaging 9.2 points, eight rebounds, 1.2 blocks, one steal and 1.8 assists. His main issue is free throw shooting, where, on the year, he’s currently making 46.2 percent of his attempts. But, even that has improved quite a bit recently, as Mahinmi has shot 66.7 percent from the line over the last five games (not great, but not exactly Hack-a-Shaq territory either – something the Clippers recently tried, but to no avail). Mahinmi is definitely a late-round play, and as such provides mid to low-level value in deeper leagues and is more of a spot play in standard leagues, seeing a boost in category leagues.
Patrick Beverley – PG – Houston Rockets – 20.7 percent
One should remain skeptical of just about any Houston Rocket at the moment as the team has been in a state of disarray most of the season. As a top-five preseason pick, Houston now finds itself a game below .500 with an 11-12 record. One of their biggest disappointments has been Ty Lawson, who lost his starting job to Beverly by putting up the worst numbers of his career.
Shooting an uncharacteristically low 34 percent from the field and managing just 6.7 points and 4.2 assists in 26.8 minutes per game this season, Lawson has been more of a hindrance than a help to the Rockets. Over the past five games, Beverly has averaged 12.4 points, three assists, two steals and three three-pointers in nearly 30 minutes. And while he’s never shot better than 42 percent from the field in past seasons, over that five-game stretch, Beverly is shooting an efficient 49 percent. He may have a hard time keeping that up, but even so, it’s likely that Beverly will keep his starting position for a while. Because of his valuable threes and steals, Beverly is currently a nice spot start for any owner in standard leagues looking to find an edge in those categories. Averaging over 10 points a game gives Beverly enough value to be a longer term asset in deeper leagues. Depending on what the Rockets do before the trade deadline (February 18th), Beverly could see a boost to his current production (or he could become worthless, but there is definitely potential for more time).
Mirza Teletovic – PF – Phoenix Suns – 17.7 percent
Sitting just outside the top-10 in three-pointers made this season, Mirza Teletovic has averaged 2.2 threes a game, and that number has jumped to three a game over his last five contests. The three-pointers alone make Teletovic a nice spot play for any owners needing a temporary boost in that category, but recently he’s been doing much more than just making threes. If you forget, for a moment, about his game against Washington, where he saw just seven minutes due to matchup reasons, Telotovic is averaging 16.5 points 4.3 rebounds and 4.2 threes in 26.5 minutes in his last six games. He may not be the best free throw shooter, but by only averaging 0.7 attempts per game this season, his misses from behind the line are essentially negligible. Tyson Chandler, the Suns’ usual starting center, is expected to return any day now, but because Teletovic has taken the power forward role, any possible hit to his playing time will probably be minimal. Teletovic is most certainly worth an add in deeper leagues, and because of the hot streak he currently finds himself on, he’s also worth at least a temporary addition in standard leagues.
Omri Casspi – SF – Sacramento Kings – 26.3 percent
Over his last four games, Casspi is averaging 33.8 minutes, 5.5 rebounds, 13.8 points and two three-pointers per game. Coach George Karl had thought about returning Casspi to his former bench role before their most recent game against Utah (to help out the second team), but he’s been playing so well as a starter, Karl decided to go with the hot hand, and it’s likely to stay that way for at least the foreseeable future. Normally Casspi is more of a spot play in standard leagues for teams needing more three-point production, but at his current pace, he deserves more serious consideration, and should be picked up in all deep leagues.
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George Haw is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from George, check out his archive and follow him @georgeWarfieldH.
