Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire Pickups: All-Star Weekend Edition

Chris Kaman managed to make a brief appearance before the All-Star Weekend, accumulating 4 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in just ten minutes off the bench. This was his first game back after missing 45 games with an ankle injury. Clearly he is hungry to either take back the starting center spot from DeAndre Jordan or audition for other teams before the trade deadline. Kaman is available in over one quarter of Yahoo fantasy leagues. Considering this is a player who last year, averaged 18.5 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 49 percent from the field, he should be universally owned by next week.

Ryan Anderson has been a 3-point assassin since the Magic-Suns blockbuster trade that sent Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter, and Mickael Pietrus to Phoenix. Yet he was dropped by a lot of fantasy owners this week due to the return of Brandon Bass. What many fantasy owners fail to realize is that Anderson is a bigger fantasy asset coming off the bench. In 28 games as a reserve this year, Anderson has averaged 11.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.2 three-pointers, 1.1 steals/blocks per game. His numbers drop off in every statistical category in 11 games as a starter. He was just dropped in one of my leagues, so I immediately scooped him up. Check out the waiver wire in your league as Anderson is available in almost half of the Yahoo leagues.

Troy Murphy could be a Golden State Warrior by the trade deadline. It is too early to pick up a player that has logged a total of 10 minutes in 2011. But keep the former rebound and three-point machine on your watch list. A move to the Golden State will make Troy Murphy fantasy – relevant once again as he will take minutes away from the under-performing Andris Biedrins.

Tony Allen has averaged 30 minutes over the past week, despite coming off the bench in three of the last four games. O.J. Mayo has returned from his suspension but Rudy Gay is out for at least another four weeks with a shoulder injury. That means that Sam Young (who is also a strong pickup), Mayo, and Allen will get ample minutes at the shooting guard and small forward positions. Allen will likely be inserted into the starting lineup to fill the void on defense, with Mayo providing the offensive spark off the bench. Averaging 2.5 steals per game over the past four contests, Tony Allen also provides double-digit scoring and great field goal and free-throw percentages.

Kenyon Martin is unowned in almost every league. Yet he is finally starting to return to fantasy-relevance. Over the past week, he has averaged 8.3 points, 7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.7 blocks per game. He had five blocks in his last game against Milwaukee, which appears to be an outlier, but he did register at least one block in the three games before that. If he continues to rebound and block shots in Denver’s first few games after the All-Star break, pick him up if you need help in the defensive categories.

C.J. Miles must have been disappointed that All-Star Weekend arrived. With both Andrei Kirilenko and Raja Bell inactive due to minor injuries, Miles played around 41 minutes per game over the past three contests. During this span, he averaged 19.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 three-pointers. Keep in mind, this was against the Suns (two games) and Warriors. Not exactly stout defenses and all three games resulted in Jazz losses. At the same time, AK-47 and Bell are both injury-prone veterans that may remain sidelined longer than expected. Miles is only a short-term pickup as he should return to his reserve role once these guys return.

Written by Win My Fantasy League Senior Writer Justin Hasan (J-Has)