The All Waiver Wire Team

I am signed up for my annual fantasy basketball league, and every year I wish their was more roster spots for waiver wire pick ups.  Every year, I study religously for my draft and come away with either high potential guys, or fantasy studs. If I'm lucky, I will end up with 1-2 players I can drop and play the waiver wire with.

 

Honestly, playing the waiver wire is my passion. I love it and can think of no bigger thrill than snagging the next Leandro Barbosa, Kevin Martin, or Al Jefferson off waivers. It should be noted that all but Kevin Martin were available on waivers at the beginning of last year in my league. Due to this passion of playing the waiver wire, I often wondered how good a team composed of all waiver wire players would do against other drafted teams. Granted, winning a fantasy championship is probably out of the question under that method, but finishing third in a league of 10 or 12 seems like a realistic possibility to me.

 

So, here goes the All Waiver Wire Team. All of these players are based on my current fantasy league and all of these players were available on the waiver after the draft. I will try to not pick players that were drafted in most other leagues. I am ashamed to say that Mike Dunleavy and Hedo Turkoglu were not drafted in my league, but I will not include them in this list.

 

I will assume a standard Yahoo league with 9 stat cat scoring system with 2 centers starting.

 

C Joel Pryzbilla (C) - I have fond memories of Pryz. I remember a monster stretch where he had double digit rebounds and was a blocking machine. He is now the starting center in Portland and is apparantely in the best shape of his life.

 

C Al Horford (F/C) - I must be honest, I have a man crush on Horford. He is one of the most NBA-ready players to come out of college in awhile, and though he is playing on a team with a glutton of forwards, they have a lack of any true power forwards, in my opinion. He is currently starting, since Zaza has a knee injury and I forsee Horford keeping the starting job the entire year. Maybe not at center, but at least at power forward.

 

F Reggie Evans (F) - Evans is a rebounding machine. He won't give you much else but will keep you competitive in that category.

 

PF Udonis Haslem (F) - Riley wants him to average a double-double this year, and I think he can do it. Haslem also gives you nice %s for a big man

 

SF Damien Wilkins (F) - Wilkins is starting and had an opening day stat line of 21 points, 8 rebs, 2 assists, 4 threes, and only 1 TO. Maybe he isn't Dominque, but he will do the trick.

 

G Linas Kleiza (G/F) - OK,OK, so he wasn't the opening day starter at SG for Denver but can you argue with 5 threes off the bench?

 

SG Ronnie Brewer (G/F) - He will score around 15 ppg and get you around 2 steals. He won't shoot many threes, but won't turn the ball over much either.

 

PG Acie Law IV (PG) - If he is not starting on opening day, he will be starting by the end of the year. Speedy will not be returning any time soon.

 

Util Damon Stoudemire (PG) - A lot of people left Mighty Mouse for dead. Sure, there are a lot of point guards on this team, but if Memphis wants to win now they will play Mighty Mouse. If he gets 30+ mins per game watch out!

 

Util DeSagna Diop (C) - Right now he is the starting center and got 4 blocks on opening night. He might not remain an option all year, but ride him while you can. The Mavs are trying to play "tougher" this year and develop an attitude, and they can't do that without a center clogging the middle. Just be prepared to drop him once his minutes start declining.

 

Bench Nick Collison (F/C) - I am a big fan of Nick and of the Sonics. Maybe this is a homer pick.

 

Bench Corey Brewer (F) - Corey has the possibility to blow up with Ricky Davis out of the way, but to be honest I am not sure how the minutes are going to be distributed yet. Still he has the potential to be huge on the intangibles like blocks and steals.

 

Bench John Salmons (G/F) - With Mike Bibby's injury, Salmons will be expected to pick up more minutes. I expect him to slide to point guard once Artest returns from suspension. Who knows? Maybe he will get point guard elgibility.

 

I will track this team in the next few weeks and see how they compare against my league leaders and approximate where they would be in the standings.

 

Oh, and if you haven't gotten the chance yet, check out the new features added to the standings in Yahoo Fantasy Sports (if that's the platform you use). Very nice!

 




Waiver wire this season

Great blog, Ray. Hope to have you back for more this season.

 

This year especially is going to be huge for waiver wire pickups. With so many stars migrating to same teams in the past couple seasons (KG, Pierce and Ray Allen going to Boston; Allen Iverson and Melo playing together in Denver; etc...) it's been opening things up for a lot of youngsters to have breakout seasons. Add to that the fact that several other former fantasy studs are passing their primes and hitting injury snags, and you've got a recipe for a potentially deep wire this year.



Frankly I'm surprised that

Frankly I'm surprised that Collison, Haslem and to a lesser extent, Evans haven't found a team yet.

 

None are flashy, wow-me players, but Collison and Haslem are always potential double-doubles, while Evans can get you superlative rebounds, making up for a deficiency on your team.

 

Horford and Kleiza are great picks as well. If J.R. ever wears out his welcome in Denver, Kleiza stands to benefit.

 

I gotta agree with you - the waiver wire is where the fun is.