The other Gasol headlines Jumping the Waiver Wire this week.
Photo courtesy OCRegister.com

As the holiday season comes to an end, all you “worker bees” can go back to your nest that is the nine to five. While your boss isn’t looking you can sneak a peek here to see who you might try to add this upcoming week in your fantasy basketball leagues. I know Tuesday mornings are tough guys, but we’ll get through this one together.

This article takes you to a couple of extremes — from those who are owned in most competitive leagues to those who are owned in almost none. The stats are legit and the reasoning is sound, so fire up that cup of coffee and let’s try to keep you awake till lunch.

Marc Gasol (Owned in 62 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) Gasol’s ownership has risen steadily since the preseason and I believe there is good reason for it to rise a little higher. While Darko Milicic sits out the next three to five weeks with a broken knuckle, Gasol won’t have to split minutes with anyone else at the center spot. He won’t play all 48 minutes every night but in the four games since Darko’s injury, he’s seen a healthy 35 minutes a game; well up from the 29.5 he’s averaged all season. In those four, Gasol has averaged 15.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 steals, while shooting over 50 percent from the floor. It will be exciting to see what this soon to be 24-year-old kid can do with the opportunity he’s going to get.

Grant Hill (Owned in 52 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) Since Hill supplanted Matt Barnes in the starting lineup, the Suns’ record has swung from 11 – 9 to 19 – 12…that’s an 8 – 3 record for all those who are too lazy to do the math. The truth is over their careers Hill’s game has suffered from coming off the bench much more than Barnes’ has. With no testament being greater than the splits from this season, the Suns are simply a better team with Hill in the starting lineup. In fantasy league’s he becomes much more of a threat. Not only have his minutes risen from 21 to 33 but the numbers are night and day **Bold for stats as a starter, ( ) for sub numbers** 12.8 PPG (6.4), 5.2 RPG (3.4), 2.2 APG (1.2), 0.7 3PTM (0.1), 1.6 SPG (0.8 SPG), 0.7 BPG (0.4) and a 56 FG% (43). As you can see, every facet of his game has improved, most notably his field goal percentage. He’s lying around in nearly half the leagues out there and is currently one of the best-kept long-term option secrets in fantasy.  

Anderson Varejao (Owned in 44 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) While Big Z sits out three to four weeks with a fractured left ankle, Varejao, Ben Wallace and the rookie, J.J. Hickson, will have an extra 26 minutes between them to rotate in and out of the four and five positions. Varejao has much more fantasy potential than the other two—one of whom is too old and the other too young—so I had to give him his second nod of the year on Jumping. The situation is relatively new, so you still have a chance to jump on him before it’s too late. Don’t miss out. In his last and only game since the injury he posted 26 and eight with three steals on 9 - 14 shooting. Another outing like that and the cat’s out of the bag.

Daequan Cook (Owned in 16 percent of all Yahoo! leagues) As Cook settles into his second season as a pro, he can start to forget about all of the rookie stumbles that everybody makes and get into the groove of experiencing life as a tenured player in the National Basketball Association. Cook, another returning character on Jumping, has been one of my favorite targets since his rookie season because of all the potential just oozing out him. He is getting a second go round on here and likely his last for at least a little while because he started Saturday (15 pts and three treys) in place of Shawn Marion, who was suffering from back spasms, an injury that caused him to miss 11 games at the end of last season. Marion is listed as day-to-day plus Dorell Wright and James Jones should be back within a couple of weeks, so the window for Cook may be small and closing. But if you need to take a risk on a stream in candidate for this week, you could do a lot worse than this former Buckeye.

Dominic McGuire (Owned in three percent of all Yahoo! leagues) The second-year wingman out of Fresno State isn’t much of a shooter or a scorer, for that matter, but what he can do is fill up the stat sheet in other areas. Since replacing DeShawn Stevenson in the starting lineup, McGuire has posted 7.8 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.5 BPG and 0.7 SPG. The kid shot only 32 percent in that time but good news for you as and owner is he averages less than 5 shot attempts per game, so he doesn’t exactly hurt you like Stephen Jackson in that area. It’s easy for him to get lost in the shuffle in a standard league but for all those in deep leagues, you simply can’t ignore forever someone who’s averaging 31 minutes a night on a 7 - 25 team.

Jared Jeffries (Owned in two percent of all Yahoo! leagues) Kooky isn’t it? The last few games the Knicks have run out a starting lineup that doesn’t feature their two leading scorers…and this on a Mike D’Antoni coached team. No these days Mike D is sticking with defense which is why the versatile Jeffries has landed in the starting lineup recently and is posting 30 minutes a night. It’s a no-brainer that the 6’11”, guard eligible, Jeffries is someone to be owned in deeper leagues. The Knicks, due to bad trades, injuries and malcontents, are throwing out a 7 – 8 player rotation every night. As long as Jeffries can stay healthy, which isn’t a given, he should put up solid numbers. I mean a super-athletic big who can run in D’Antoni’s up-tempo system, how could he not hold value? Well actually, to answer my own question, while being “super-athletic,” Jeffries also has not averaged more than seven points a game in his seven year NBA career. However, I will settle with the 6.5 points, 5 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and one steal he’s averaged in his last four.

Bobby Jackson (Owned in one percent of all Yahoo! leagues) Marked with inconsistency, Jackson’s season has been sub-par to say the least. Now that K-Mart is back and will be eating up minutes at the two-position along with Francisco Garcia, the only way Jackson can hold any value is if he sees extended minutes at point guard because of a struggling Beno Udrih. Another obvious contingency is Jackson actually playing well in the time he’s allotted because his leash will be very short. Saturday night in a close one against Indiana, B-Jack found himself putting up 15 points, 10 boards and five assists in 34 minutes. Meanwhile Udrih played poorly in only 12 minutes. Jump on him now in the early going if you’re in a deep league with a roster spot to spare because as I’ve stated many times before you can dump him just as easily in a game or two if he struggles.

Von Wafer (Owned in one percent of all Yahoo! leagues) Since his days in LA it has been well known that the kid’s got talent and he’s shown in two game stretches—like his last two of 18 and 17 points respectively—that he can put up the numbers. All he needs is opportunity. With Ron Artest day-to-day and T-Mac fighting his never ending battle with back spasms, Wafer could see some decent burn this upcoming week as the Rockets play four games in seven days against three of the easiest teams to score fantasy points against and then the Celtics (the toughest). Pick him up now and later on you might find yourself surprised at how hard it is to let go.

Austin Brown writes the weekly Jumping the Waiver Wire, an article that will help fantasy NBA managers everywhere pull the trigger on hot pickups throught the season. He also has a blog at www.efantasysportsblog.com .