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Fantasy Basketball Risers & Fallers: 01/04/16 – 01/10/16

Will Lou Williams stay this hot?

Will Lou Williams stay red-hot?

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

  • Victor Oladipo (PG/SG – Orlando Magic)  – Oladipo has finally returned to the starting lineup. Owners who have been holding on to him in hopes of him returning have to be very excited about this turn of events. Over the last week, Oladipo has averaged 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, almost two steals, one block and, most importantly. 37 minutes per game. Oladipo has the most talent on this team, and his move back into the starting lineup is hopefully the vote of confidence that he needs to make a jump into being the high-level fantasy player he was projected to be at the beginning of the year.
  • Louis Williams (PG/SG – Los Angeles Lakers) – Williams has been one of the few consistently good fantasy players on the Lakers, but over the last few weeks he has improved his game even further. In the last two weeks, he has averaged 22 points, four rebounds, a little over a steal and two and a half three-pointers a game. His field goal percentage is up from 40.9% to 44.8% during this stretch, and I would expect it to drop back to normal after his hot streak is over. This might be a good time to sell high on Williams, especially since the Lakers are such a mess and their second half could prove to have any variety of rotations.
  • Otto Porter (SF – Washington Wizards) – Porter’s up and down season has been on the upside for longer than normal lately. Over the last two weeks, he has averaged an impressive 16 points, two three-pointers, seven rebounds, and over two steals a game. This might be the Porter of the future the Wizards have been hoping for, but I would expect his up-and-down swings in production to continue, but hopefully they’ll be less volatile for the remainder of the season.

Fallers

  • Marc Gasol (C – Memphis Grizzlies)  – Gasol has not been a top-20 player this year like the previous season, but over the last week his shot and all-around production has completely fallen off the ledge. In just under 32 minutes per game, Gasol has only managed to put together nine points, six rebounds, two assists, and a half of a block while shooting a horrible 26.3%. This might be one of the worst slumps Gasol has ever gone through, but players of Gasol’s caliber figure their way out of slumps. A good buy- low opportunity if Gasol’s owner is tired of his horrific week.
  • Will Barton (SG/SF – Denver Nuggets) – Barton’s shot has been off over the last few weeks, his shot attempts have also decreased. Some of this decrease in production is due to the return of Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari has played very well in his return, and Barton has suffered. Barton has been able to play with Gallinari in the past, but it might take a slight adjustment period this time around. Once Barton’s shot returns, his value should return to normal.
  • Tobias Harris (SF/PF – Orlando Magic) – Another case of a shooting slump, Harris has been shooting under 40% for the last two weeks. In that period, he has averaged 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, less than a half a steal and a half a block per game. Harris is still starting, and he is still playing around 35 minutes per game. It is safe to say Harris will be given the opportunity to play his way out of this slump, unlike other players on the Magic.

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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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