Kyle O’Quinn is the center to own in New York

The old saying is really true, “time flies when you’re having fun.” It seemed liked just yesterday the NBA was starting back up. Now here we are with a third of the season behind us. Despite the larger statistical sample size we now have in play, there are still plenty of talented players remaining on the waiver wire. Here are some players that can help you in Week 8 and beyond that are owned in less than 25% of leagues.

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Shelvin Mack (PG – UTA) 2.3% Ownership
Week 8 Schedule, three games – Wednesday VS Oklahoma City, Friday VS Dallas, and Sunday @ Memphis

Let me get this out of the way first so there is no confusion — when starting point George Hill has played this season, he has been magnificent and is the unequivocal starting point guard in Utah. Hill is experiencing career highs in points, steals, three-point %, and field-goal% and is currently ranked 13th in player efficiency. Despite that, he’s been a very frustrating player to own as a barrage of injuries have caused him to miss 15 games. With Hill out, and no official timetable for his return, the point guard to own in Utah is Mack. While Donte Exum has received the starts in place of Hill, Mack has been the better player. Over the last week, Mack has averaged 11.8 points, 5.3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.3 three-pointers, and 1.0 steal in 31 minutes a game. While Utah does run the slowest pace in the NBA, Mack is still a safe pickup as long as Hill is out of the lineup.

Kyle O’Quinn (PF/C – NY) 9.8% Ownership
Week 8 Schedule, three games – Tuesday @ Phoenix, Thursday @ Golden State, and Saturday @ Denver

It hasn’t been a secret to anyone following the NBA or the Knicks this season that Joakim Noah has been a colossal disappointment. In fact, we even touched on this four weeks ago when we defined Noah’s play as “underwhelming.” One month later, and his play can still be described as underwhelming — at best. Last month we recommended Knicks rookie Willy Hernangomez and not O’Quinn as the pickup for the struggling Noah (oops – my bad). We defined the right problem, just came up with the wrong solution. Well, as the saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed try, try again. Now in all seriousness I really like Hernangomez. I think he has a long career ahead of him and could even be a fantasy sleeper later in the season. But for right now, O’Quinn is the center to own in New York. While Noah remains the starter, it is in name only. Over the last week, O’Quinn has averaged 8.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks in 21 minutes. I can only see his minutes increasing.

Tony Allen (SG – MEM) 10.1% Ownership
Week 8 Schedule, four games – Tuesday @ Cleveland, Wednesday VS Cleveland, Friday VS Sacramento, and Sunday VS Utah

Last week we discussed all of the injuries that are taking place in Memphis and gave you a list of three young players ready to step up. In the past week, those three young players didn’t disappoint. JaMychal Green has been a stud averaging a double-double the past week and Troy Daniels and Andrew Harrison have been solid, each averaging over 30 minutes a game. However, there has been another under-owned and underappreciated player that has stepped up in Memphis and that has been the 12-year veteran, Tony Allen. Allen has been on fire this season experiencing career highs in rebounds (5.2), blocks (0.6), and minutes (26) a game. In his last four games, Allen has averaged 15.5 points, 7.8 boards, 1.8 steals, 1.0 assists and 0.5 blocks. When ranking the underappreciated Grizzlies’ prospects, I would still take Green over any of the other three players for this week and for the rest of season. I would, however, rather have Allen over Harrison and Daniels. Allen’s current play has been better, and when Memphis gets healthy, Harrison and Daniels will see their minutes decrease whereas Allen shouldn’t see much of a reduction in minutes.

Dwight Powell (C/PF – DAL) 9.9% Ownership
Week 8 Schedule, four games – Monday VS Denver, Wednesday VS Detroit, Friday @ Utah, and Sunday VS Sacramento

With the news that center Andrew Bogut (right knee) is going to be out for the next month, Powell is the big man to own in Dallas. While Salah Mejri has received the starts in place of Bogut, Powell (24) has seen more minutes than Mejri (16.8) in the last three games without Bogut. During that three-game span, Powell has averaged 9.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game.  While those aren’t spectacular numbers by any stretch, Powell is very consistent when given a chance, and should be getting a ton of volume over the next month. Dallas is clearly playing for next season and hasn’t been in a hurry to rush back other injured veterans like Dirk Nowitzki and J.J. Barea. I would expect them to exercise the same philosophy with Bogut. I expect that the Mavericks want to get a good look at their younger prospects such as Powell and Seth Curry with an eye toward the future.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back every Monday as we continue to scour the depths of the waiver wire to find players owned in less than 25% of leagues who can help you win your week, and who could be long-term sleepers that help you win your leagues. If you have any question, feel free to hit me up on Twitter.

Archives

• Fantasy Basketball DEEP Sleepers: Week 4
• Fantasy Basketball DEEP Sleepers: Week 5
• Fantasy Basketball DEEP Sleepers: Week 7

Steve Maro is a correspondent with FantasyPros. For more from Steve, check out his archive or follow him @maro_steve.