Fantasy Basketball Category Analysis: Week 17
Reggie Bullock has become a reliable scorer for the Mavs this season.
Every week, we’ll be looking at players who are widely available and rostered in fewer than 60% of fantasy leagues on Yahoo. We’ll be focusing on 8-cat leagues because turnovers are a waste of a category. We’ll be looking at players who can help you in each of the eight categories, which you can get before your league-mates catch on.
The eight categories we’ll focus on each week are:
- Points
- Rebounds
- Assists
- Steals
- Blocks
- Threes
- Field-goal percentage
- Free-throw percentage
Points
Reggie Bullock (SG/SF – DAL): 29%
It’s Reggie Bullock season in Dallas with Tim Hardaway (SG – DAL) out for the season.
Bullock has scored 20 points in three of his last four games and has been in double-digits in each of his previous five.
What’s more, he’s eclipsed 31 minutes in each of his last three games.
The path won’t always be pretty, but Bullock should continue to be in line for big minutes and opportunities in Dallas as they look to fill THJ’s void.
Rebounds
But then, he injured his ankle Wednesday night.
There’s no timetable for Jackson’s return, but he’s worth stashing with the deadline less than a week away as he has league-winning ability.
Assists
On Friday, Dosunmu dropped a career-high 14 assists against the Pacers to go along with 15 points. The rookie plays about 38 minutes per night, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
Steals
Top-42 value over the last month, Top 62 over the previous two weeks and he’s the 43rd ranked played on the year. He’s also tied for ninth in the NBA in steals.
Help me mix up the names in this column by picking him up in more leagues.
Blocks
Whiteside has nine blocks in his last five games, and he’s 18th on the season among all players in total blocks.
Interestingly, his season-long total is that he’s played the fewest total minutes (737) of all players with at least 45 blocks on the season.
He continues to be a per-minute defensive standout for fantasy purposes.
3-pointers
The green light alone to fire off seven shots and hitting none is encouraging to me, believe it or not.
And, what’s more, we’re seeing Osman play more significant minutes for the Cavs (ignoring his 15 on Friday night).
Ignoring the 0-7 performance, Osman has hit 12 threes in his last four games (six came in one game), and he’s able to move around the lineup based on opponent. As a result, he’s a sneaky-good pickup for managers who need help across the board, especially in threes.
Field-goal percentage
Sengun should get a ton of run moving forward, and we’ve seen the upside that Sengun has.
Free-throw percentage
Bledsoe has been putting up mid-round value this year, and his value should remain the same after the trade to Portland.
Instead of hovering in the low-20s for minutes, I’m expecting Bledsoe to have a more prominent role with the Trail Blazers and play more minutes. It’s a great landing spot for him, and you shouldn’t overlook him to give you a boost across the board.
