Fantasy Daily: Waiver Wire

Sometimes it can be extremely difficult managing a fantasy basketball team. If the draft doesn't go as expected or a player gets hurt, it can be impossible to match your expected production. Although there are always break-through sleepers picked up via free-agency, those players are typically picked up in the first two weeks of the season. Scouring the waiver wire and free agency pool, you may think there is nothing waiting out there for you. You'd be dead wrong. There are no stars our there, but there are plenty of valuable and overlooked players who could help out most teams. If you decide to improve your roster via free agency as opposed to through trade, here are four of the best available players. All players are available in over 50% of ESPN leagues.

Carl Landry (49.3% ownership): Somebody needs to give this man a shout out. Landry gets no respect. No regards either. He doesn’t start for his own team. He is hardly owned. He’s a former second round pick. You would think somebody so consistently overlooked lacks the physical tools or statistics to warrant this long stint in purgatory. Unfortunately the 6’9 250 Landry is an absolute beast, currently averaging 15.9 points and 5.9 rebounds on 57% shooting and an astounding 89.7% from the charity stripe. Oh by the way, this is all in only 25 minutes per game. Over his career he has yet to start a single game…and this is a Houston team that has been ravaged by injuries over the years. This is a man who defines the term dirt dog. He is the over-achieving, unheralded, hard worker that people used to love to obsess about. He’s a resilient scrapper who lacks elite NBA athleticism but compensates with a great basketball IQ, nose for the ball and sticktuitiveness. These are my favorite type of players. They remind us of the value of out-working and out-smarting our opponents rather than relying solely on brawn. Maybe he won’t be able to keep up his current numbers, but he’s a good player who has improved every year, and deserves a roster spot in your league. Won’t you give him a nice home?

Season Prediction: 14.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 55% fg, 83% ft, .7 bpg

Kendrick Perkins (44.8% ownership): Even after being added in 15% of leagues last week, Perkins ownership still lies beneath the 50% plateau. I’ve got to say, I am very disappointed in my fellow managers. I believe this website speaks to his ox-like strength. But more importantly than his in-human might are the strides Perk continues to make. During the off-season Perkins actually dropped 20 pounds giving him greatly increased mobility. He added a terrific hook shot with surprisingly soft touch. A year or two ago if you gave KP43 the ball in the post you knew what he was doing. One useless power dribble. Throw a shoulder into his defender (and often times pick up the charge). An attempt to overpower his opponent and dunk the ball (or futilely throw it towards the hoop).  How times have changed. Perkins eliminated that need to put the ball on the ground so he can play like a seven footer, not a guard. When he catches the ball now, he settles himself first before trying to use the rim as an extra defender and using the glass as his friend. These may seem like pretty basic basketball fundamentals but the addition of these hoops cornerstones have allowed Perkins to blossom. He has the physical tools to be an excellent player, and potentially an all-NBA defender. If you watched last season’s playoff series against Orlando, you saw him keep Dwight Howard out of the paint and force Superman to throw up those hideous running lefty hook shots. Clearly not an easy task…just ask Cleveland.  His season averages of 11.6 and 7.6 are nice, but it is the 64% field goal percentage (which is on pace for the Celtics single season record) and 2.0 blocks that give Perkins true value. His blocks tie him for 5th in the NBA, and yet he remains widely unowned. I mean come on, his back-up Rasheed Wallace is owned in more leagues, and he’s not even playing well. His 27 minutes per game are low and unlikely to go up barring an injury, but should not be overly affected by Glen “Big Baby” Davis’ return, as those minutes will likely come at the expense of Shelden Williams. The man may never crack a smile, but his production should leave you beaming.

Season Prediction: 11ppg, 8 rpg, 60% fg, 61% ft, 2 bpg

Tayshaun Prince (26.5% ownership): After discussing two bulldozer-sized men, I figured Tayshaun should fit in the same mold. At 6’9 215 he is not exactly the heartiest player in the NBA, but boy is he consistent. Prince has missed the better part of the season with a back injury but has recently started some light practicing and could be returning in a week or two. Although a ruptured disk is serious, a healthy Prince is just so much better than the other players owned in fewer than 50% of ESPN leagues. Last season’s averages of 14.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists on 45% shooting including 40% from downtown show Prince’s complete package. Add that with the confidence he must be gaining from beating Austin Daye in arm wrestling matches on a daily basis and you have a winning package. While the additions of Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva could cut into his scoring, the team did lose Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. That scoring comes close to balancing out and leaves more rebounding opportunities for Prince. He should come in and immediately start at the three with Jonas Jerebko as the incumbent. In all reality, I would not be surprised if Tayshaun got some run at the four-spot if Detroit decides to push the pace and run. Ben Wallace is no spring chicken, and it would be a chance for the Pistons to get their five best players on the court at once (Will Bynum, Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince and Charlie Villanueva). Apologies to Rip Hamilton but he’s not exactly the fast break type. Plus he is hurting and almost 32 years old. Although ESPN lacks a real ranking system for players, Prince was the 76th ranked player last year based on yahoo! ranks. If a player with that type of value is available in such a high percentage of leagues, his injury should be more serious than Prince’s. Pick him up and I promise his production will be far more attractive than he is.

Season Prediction (52 games): 13 ppg, 6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 46% fg, 78% ft

Dahntay Jones (46.9 % ownership): Jones is an interesting case as he averages the most points of any player below the ownership mid-point. I have always liked Jones which is peculiar because I hate Duke like a hippie hates showering. Maybe it was his origins at Rutgers. Maybe it was the way he was under looked on that incredible 2001-2002 squad. (OK random NCAA tangent but what happened with that team? They won the national championship the previous year and then returned Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy and Chris Duhon while adding Dahntay Jones and Daniel Ewing. Was Battier really that valuable?) Any whom, Jones has been averaging career highs with 16.6 points 3.8 rebounds with a steal and a block per game on 46% shooting from the field and 81% on the free-bees. Unfortunately Mike Dunleavy recently returned which bumped Jones to the bench for three games before Coach O’Brien realized Dahntay was a better player than Brandon Rush. Dunleavy is healthy should cut into Jones production which made his entry onto this list more difficult than it should have been. Then I got to thinking. Jones is effective when he is attacking the hoop as evidences by his 5.8 free throw attempts per game. With the rate Danny Granger is shooting trifectas (8.9 attempts a game for those counting at home), Jones is the only penetrator in the starting line-up. Having a unique skill-set (and a very necessary one at that) should provide Jones with ample playing time to keep his production closer to this season’s averages than his career averages (5.6 ppg). Jones is logging 33 minutes per game, more than double his career average. Assuming his minutes don’t slip below 30 a game, Jones should be a deserving contributor to your squad.

Season Prediction: 14 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% fg, 78% ft, .8 spg, 7 bpg

Other potential pick ups: Brendan Haywood (49.4%), Marvin Williams (5.8%), Beno Udrih (32.5%), Corey Maggette (54.8%), Ersan Ilyasova (30.0%), Ryan Gomes (4.5%), Hakim Warrick (4.2%)