Brian Roberts

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Fantasy Basketball 2013: This Week’s Waiver Wire Pickups

Posted by fantasyfurnace on January 13, 2014
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

We featured Brian Roberts PG for the Pelicans as our Waiver Wire Pickup of the Week over last weekend and hope he helps all the Jrue Holiday owners out there. Here are four more little owned waiver wire pickups you should consider in both standard as well as deeper leagues…

C. J. Miles- SG,SF-Cavs – 26% Owned- Looking for points, steals, and 3-pointers? Look no further than C.J. Miles, former 2nd round pick of the Utah Jazz. Miles has averaged 21 points over the last five games and earlier this month, on Jan. 7th, Miles knocked down a franchise record 10 3-pointers in a game vs the 76ers and tallied a season-high 34 points for the game. He is a streaky player but should be ridden for as long as he stays hot.

#0 C. J. Miles' hot streak makes him a must add Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images week.

#0 C. J. Miles’ hot streak makes him a must add this week. Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images

Mo Williams- PG,SG-Trailblazers- 18% Owned- In deeper leagues, Williams, after announcing his intentions to opt out of his contract ( but choosing to stay with Portland), has been on a mini-streak of his own. In his last five games he has averaged 12.6 points, 5.8 assists, 2 3-pointers, and 1.6 steals all off the bench. Williams can help in multiple categories and might be playing even harder while he auditions in front of the Trailblazer bigwigs in the hopes of remaining with Portland at ever more than his current $2.7 million.

Iman Shumpert-SG,SF-Knicks- 30% Owned- The former 1st round pick (17th overall) in the 2011 draft, with trade rumors circling around the press for most of the first third of the season, found himself under-performing. He came out of his season long funk while the Knicks were on their three-team Texas swing in the first week of January. After lighting it up on the road, Shump came back to the garden and found himself playing a career-high 43 minutes in the game vs the Heat last week. Starting on Jan. 2nd vs the Spurs, Shumpert has averaged 14.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 3.1 3-pointers over his last six. We don’t look for him to sustain these averages but now that the trade rumors have dissipated, he could have less of a fall-off.

#21 Iman Shumpert has averaged 14.3 points a game while scoring a combined 53 points vs the Spurs & Rockets earlier this Barton Silverman/The New York Times.

#21 Iman Shumpert has averaged 14.3 points a game over his last 6, while scoring a combined 53 points in 2 games vs the Spurs & Rockets earlier this month. Barton Silverman/The New York Times.

Jeremy Lamb-SG,SF-Thunder-15% Owned- This is a no-brainer. With Russell Westbrook not due to return until mid February, the former UCONN Husky has and will continue to see extra minutes. Over his last 10 games, Lamb has scored in double-digits in five of them and missed having that number climb to 8 by finishing three games with 9. He too will get you some steals and threes but can also average 3-4 rebounds and assists per game. Perfect for a roster addition at least until Westbrook takes over the starting PG role again.

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Waiver Wire Pickup of the Week: Brian Roberts

Posted by fantasyfurnace on January 12, 2014
Posted in: NBA. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Now that PG Jrue Holiday is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his right tibia (medical term for a fractured ankle), Brian Roberts has secured the starting point guard position and although he did not fare well against the Mavericks in his first game since filling in for Holiday, he is expected to improve as he settles in to his new role and while he and the Pelicans become more familiar playing with each other on a regular basis.

#22 Brian Roberts becomes a Must Add now that Jrue Holiday will be out indefinitely. Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

#22 Brian Roberts becomes a Must Add now that Jrue Holiday will be out indefinitely. Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In five starts last year, he averaged 12.6 points, 10.0 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.4 3-pointers and 0.8 steals; a small sampling to be sure, but one that shows the potential of the 28 year old undrafted player out of Dayton. As for Holiday’s injury, there is no timetable for his return as the healing process for this sort of injury varies greatly from player to player. A walking boot and ample rest are the best ways to deal with this particular injury. A fair and reasonable amount of time however, would be 4-6 weeks in which case Holiday would miss between 17-25 games.

Depending on your roster and settings, some of you especially in deeper leagues, should consider picking Roberts up as insurance until Jrue makes his return. In Roberts’ last two games, both against the Mavs, he averaged 8 points, 5 rebounds and 4.5 assists, however the whole team struggled in those two without Holiday on the floor. We think that Roberts is worth owning in standard leagues for his ability to add points, assists, steals and 3-pointers if and no other waiver wire guard can offer you his potential grab him now! He is currently owned in just 16% of Yahoo! Leagues.

2013 Fantasy Baseball-Players to avoid drafting…Part 1: Hitters

Posted by fantasyfurnace on February 18, 2013
Posted in: MLB. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

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We always suggest entering several mock drafts in anticipation of your real draft, if for no other reason than to familiarize yourself with the tenor of the rooms you draft in and to see who your fellow managers are avoiding and who they are snagging early or late in the drafts. After all, practice makes perfect, so take advantage of the mock drafts that are available where you regularly set up your leagues.

Even though the pre-season has not gotten underway yet, we have done enough of these drafts and have completed our research so that we are now able to offer you advice, suggestions, and options in two major categories: who to avoid drafting and who the sleepers might be this year. This post will deal with the hitters we suggest you avoid drafting or at best, ‘draft with caution’.  AVOID

Stephen Drew-SS-Red Sox- Drew will start the season playing for his third team since April 2012. Boston signed Drew to a one-year $9.5 million contract in December while they wait for hot prospect Xander Bogaerts to become their SS of the future in 2014. Even when Drew is not injured, there’s a low upside as he has hit just 12 home runs and stolen 5 bases over his last 608 ABs (two seasons).

Alex Rodriguez-3B-Yankees- The biggest red flag for A-Rod has been his deteriorating health. His second left hip surgery in December will keep him off the field until the summer. He has averaged only 17 homers and 59 RBIs over the past two seasons and isn’t worth stashing until his return as his best years are behind him.

 Danny Espinosa-2B-Nationals- We would label Espy as a “draft with caution” as his nearly 20/20 potential makes him an intriguing choice at a position that is lacking in those numbers. However, there’s two problems with Espinosa: He has a hard time hitting from the left side which could mean more ABs for Steve Lombardozzi, and his strikeouts (355 in the last two seasons) are out of control. Maybe an option solely for deeper formats.

Rafael Furcal-SS-Cardinals- The often injured Furcal put off having elbow surgery last season and that’s a concern for a player that has missed 60 or more games in four of the last five years. His stolen bases have dropped from 22 in 2010, to 9 in ’11, to 12 last year. He can still score runs but needs to play for that to happen and that’s a big question mark.

Rafael Furcal #15 of the Cardinals walks off the field with manager Mike Matheny and trainer Greg Hauck during a game vs the Nationals last August after he felt something 'Pop' in his elbow. Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Rafael Furcal #15 of the Cardinals walks off the field with manager Mike Matheny and trainer Greg Hauck during a game vs the Nationals last August after he felt something ‘Pop’ in his elbow. Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Brian Roberts-2B-Orioles- Talk about a walking *M*A*S*H unit, (for those old enough to remember the movie & TV show), Roberts has been a cash cow for the medical community in Baltimore with a recent concussion, hip, groin, back, shin, knee, and stomach problems. Injuries have limited his games played to just 115 over the past three seasons. Alexi Casilla who’s been brought in from the Twins might be a better option (if he gets the starting nod).

Yasmani Grandal-C-Padres- This former #1 pick showed that he could be an outstanding catcher for the future with his second half performance with San Diego. After a stellar Triple-A stint, the younster proved he can hit for average (.297) and still have some pop in his bat (8 HRs in 192 ABs). Think Victor Martinez… Unfortunately we’ll have to wait to see how he progresses as a 50-game suspension for high levels of testosterone will keep him off the field and undrafted in most leagues.

With all of his raw talent, #12 Yasmani Grandal will go virtuallu undrafted due to 50-game suspension. Photo: David Zalubowsk/AP

With all of his raw talent, #12 Yasmani Grandal will go virtually undrafted due to 50-game suspension. Photo: David Zalubowsk/AP

Trevor Plouffe-3B-Twins- One of the most added players in fantasy baseball last summer, Plouffe had a torrid month of June going .327-11-21 and finished the season with 24 dingers. Too bad he followed that up with one horrific last third of the season batting .196 with only 5 home runs. That latter half is a better indicator of what you’ll get with Plouffe.

James Loney-1B-Rays- With the departure of Carlos Pena, Loney was brought in to Tampa Bay in the off-season to fill their void at first base. Our guess is that just a few months into the season, the Rays will realize they still have a void at 1B! The Dodgers gave up on him, the Red Sox didn’t want him, and the Rays will be sorry they picked him up. Two words for fantasy owners: “Stay Away!”

You would be "Loney- Tooned" if you pick up this waiver wire fodder who signed a 1-year $2 million contract with the Rays in the off-season. Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

You would be “Loney- Tooned” if you pick up this waiver wire fodder who signed a 1-year $2 million contract with the Rays in the off-season. Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE