The NBA season has about 25 games remaining per team and now is a great time to shed some dead fantasy weight and load up on guys with the hot hand. The trade deadline has come and gone and many players who were bought out have found new homes. With all that player movement settled, players are fitting in with their new squads.
The key to fantasy success is having productive players on your roster at all times. Now some general managers are in a salary cap format while others are in keeper leagues. Trades and salary cap pickups at this point in the season can make all the difference as the season starts to wind down.
Here are some hot-handed players who are certainly worthy of a look. Consider adding a couple of these guys to your roster in favour of potentially more expensive options and players who aren’t performing up to potential.
Let’s get the ball rolling here by taking a look at the depleted roster that is the Los Angeles Lakers. With Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash out with season ending injuries, someone on that team has to score the ball. Two players who have stepped up in the absence are Jodie Meeks and Jordan Farmar.
Meeks has been a pleasant surprise for Laker fans this season. He has stepped into that scorers role for the Lakers and while he certainly isnt a Bryant, he is a serviceable two-guard who has no fear in letting it fly from the perimeter or attacking the rim. Over the last two weeks Meeks is averaging 20.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg and 2.1 apg. While the assists and rebounding numbers are pretty weak, his job on the court is to score the ball.
The man tasked with distributing the ball for the Lakers is Farmar. While he started the season by coming of the bench and not seeing much time, he has exceeded Kendall Marshall in terms of productivity and coach Mike D’Antoni might be forced to start the more experienced Farmar as the season winds down.
Doing his part, Farmar is averaging 14.3 ppg and 5.5 apg over the last two weeks. Farmar is a bit of a wildcard due to his up and down style of play; however, he is a serviceable point guard for spot starts on your roster and he can go off for solid scoring nights as well as double digit assist games.
Staying with the theme of streaky-play guards, we see that the Phoenix Suns Gerald Green is having a wicked start to the month of March. Green is posting averages of 30.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 2.7 apg thus far. This stretch was highlighted by a huge 41 point, 5 rebound, 2 assist performance in a win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Green is capitalizing on the roster absence of Eric Bledsoe and even with the imminent return of Bledsoe, Green will be hard to displace out of the starting lineup if this strong play continues.
The streaky Chicago Bulls are benefiting from the inspired play of Joakim Noah as they make a push to finish the season on a high note. The energetic play of Noah is contagious and Taj Gibson has caught it. Gibson has also raised the level of his play of late as he is averaging 16.5 ppg and 7 rpg over his last ten outings. Gibson’s play has not only been instrumental in Chicago’s success but it also all but sealed the amnesty and departure of Carlos Boozer.
Not much has gone right this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season and it likely won’t end well for them either. A newly acquired player though in Spencer Hawes has been a breath of fresh air for the team. While Hawes addition hasn’t translated into team wins it has elevated his fantasy value considerably.
Hawes has played nine games with the Cavaliers, during which he has scored in double figures in all of them except for his first game with the team. He has registered five double-doubles over that stretch and he is seeing regular minutes on a nightly basis with the absence of Anderson Varejao.
Over the last two week stretch of games, Hawes is actually the 23rd highest ranking fantasy option in the entire Association. He is performing better than the likes of Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins, Damian Lillard and Josh Smith. Any fantasy general manager will take that production out of Hawes as he is valued far below all of these guys in all formats.