Buying On Spec

The following is a list of players who might be on waivers in your league and who should definitely be on your radar heading into this week. I'm not saying you should add them, but if you've got an open spot, you should strongly consider it.

Jalen Rose, G/GF, Toronto Raptors

If you were getting benched in favor of Eric Williams, you'd be pissed, too. It really does seem to me like the Michigan product has gotten hated on at every stop in his career, and has had to claw and scratch his way to every bit of playing time and respect he's gotten... Well, he's having to do it again this year and in the past couple of weeks since the trade of Vince, his game has really taken off. Right now it isn't much more than scoring, but he's started to add some of the trimmings that make his fantasy game look so appealing when he's playing minutes and playing his hardest.

Tonight, he went 22-4-4 with one steal and one turnover, four threes, on 8-15 shooting from the field and 2-2 from the line. Could your squad use that kind of production?

Over his past five (not including today's performance), in a miniscule (but increasing) 29.2 minutes per game, Rose is going off for 21.8 points on .494 shooting (15.8 attempts), .8 threes, and .931 FT shooting on 5.8 attempts. The defensive numbers are not pretty and neither are the boards or assists, but at least the latter two should be on their way.

Look for Rose and fellow disgruntled Raptor Donyell Marshall to be dealt soon to the New York Knicks, who--I'll bet you--will be introducing Isiah Thomas as their new coach within the next several weeks. This should complete, at least for this generation, the exodus of Canadian basketball talent to the New York/New Jersey metroplex. It looks like the Knicks' offer of Kurt Thomas and Anfernee Hardaway isn't quite good enough... Trevor Ariza, anyone?

Dan Dickau, PG, New Orleans Hornets

My leaguemates scoffed when I selected Kirk Hinrich in the fourth round of our draft this year. Now who's laughing? Dan Dickau, acquired in December from the Mavericks in exchange for Darrell Armstrong, is a young point guard who is very much in the mold of Hinrich. He shoots a poor percentage from the field, but he shoots well from three and from the line, and he's great at dishing and stealing the ball. He's got that sweet, sweet, West Coast point guard game (see: Luke Ridnour, Gary Payton, Brevin Knight) and he's looking to impress while filling in for the oft-injured and soon-to-be-traded Baron Davis.

Since the trade to NO, he's played 28.2 minutes per game and produced 12.8 points, 2.8 boards, 1.2 threes, 3.6 assists, and .9 steals against 2.1 turnovers. Over his past five, he's up to 35.0 minutes per game, in which he's producing 18.4 points, 3.2 boards, 4.8 dimes, 1.2 steals, and 2.2 threes on .420 FG and .852 FT. Tasty.

That's Kirk Hinrich lite... and not even that lite. If you're looking for a short-term add for point guard numbers, Dickau's a great add right now. Once Baron gets the crick out of his back, Dickau should return to the fringes of fantasy, but if he ever gets the starting job for a sustained period of time, he definitely belongs on your roster. It's a shame that the Hornets are looking to acquire a "first string point guard" like Jason Williams of the Grizz in exchange for Baron Davis. Why not firm up the frontcourt and let Dickau do his dirty binness at the point? I'd also feel bad for Earl Watson, who definitely deserves the opportunity to start in Memphis once J Dub gets out of Dodge.

Chris Kaman, C, Los Angeles Clippers

I would go on at length about Kaman's potential to keep blowing up at the C even after Chris Wilcox comes back from injury, but when I accidentally deleted a previous version of this post, the folks at Fanball scooped me and made him their Pickup of the Week. He's good. Check it out.

Jason Hart, PG, Charlotte Bobcats

He's the second, more efficient coming of Brevin Knight. He is Antonio Daniels to Knight's Luke Ridnour. I ate up the 14, 7, and 11 he put up for me today on .500 shooting and no turnovers. He might be at the end of his run, but keep your eye on Brevin's balky ankle once he comes back.

Juan Dixon, G, Wiz

Hope you picked him up when you read the post devoted to his demotion back to the bench. If you did, you were handsomely rewarded on Jan 21 with 26 points, 4 threes, .688 shooting, 5 assists, 2 steals, and one measly turnover. I was stoked. He sat out last night's game with the flu, but look for him to come back and keep putting up fresh lines while Hughes is out. Jarvis Hayes is no reason for concern here.

Darius Miles, GF, Portland Trail Blazers

There's a lanky, vicious, multi-talented shotblocker coming off the IL this week, and his name is not Andrei Kirilenko. Before going on the IL with a knee contusion (I still doubt that he's completely recovered, but he's the healthiest of the Blazer frontcourt's walking wounded), D Miles, the pride of East St. Louis, was starting to blow up. If Shareef and/or Zach Randolph are out a while longer, the Miles Child should continue to get around 40 minutes, and the production he can put up in that time is scary. Think something like .500 FG, .500 FT, 16 PTS, 8 Rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 2.5 blocks... Players who can do that at any position are rare, but if you can find those numbers at SG and SF, you're one step ahead of the game. Keep an eye out.

Lee Nailon, F, New Orleans Hornets

Scoring, broken down in its purest form. People forget that Lee Nailon led Division IA in scoring as a TCU Horned Frog. over his four year college career, dude averaged 23.9 points on .532 FG shooting. He has that shot.

What he may not have is a well-rounded fantasy game, but recent returns indicate that he's starting to figure things out while playing major minutes for the miserable Hornets (you'll notice that three Hornets and one ex-Hornet appear in this piece).

Jim Jackson, GF, Phoenix Suns

Jimmy Jack wanted to get traded to a contender, so he didn't even bother reporting to New Orleans. It's hard to blame him and his 34 year old ass. Well, is this good enough? He steps into an outstanding situation in Phoenix, playing sixth man alongside the best distributors he's played with since the days of the Three J's, when he played with Jason Kidd and Jamal Mashburn in Dallas.

His minutes will take a huge hit from the 40 he'd been playing the last two years in Houston, but he should still get enough run to keep his numbers looking pretty useful. It should give one pause to note that never in his career, before he played in Houston, was he allowed to jack up anything approaching 5.1 threes a game, which greatly enhanced his fantasy value. However, seeing the huge increase in production from three this season for both Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson, it wouldn't be surprising to see him doing something very similar in a reserve role in Phoenix. Watch to see how the minutes shake out before you get too excited, but if the owner in your league dropped him when he opted not to show up in NO, now would be a great time to pick him up for the stretch run.

Jerry Stackhouse, GF, Wiz

Fine, I'll stop hating on Stack's game for a minute to tell you that, over the past month, he's averaged 17.6 points, 3.4 boards, 2.8 assists, .6 steals, and 1.0 threes on 2.4 turnovers. You might be able to use those numbers.

As tasty as the numbers appear to be, I am also contractually obligated to tell you that that nice-looking production rates him 121 by average over the same time span.

Nene Hilario, FC, Denver Nuggets

You'll all remember how Nene was the talk of the town while Camby and Martin were out a couple of weeks ago. Then they came back. Then Nene got suspended for four games for fighting with Michael Olowokandi. If he was still on your roster after all that, you're a much more patient owner than I am.

But there are a couple of recent pieces of news that current and prospective Nene owners should be interested in. First, Nene served the last game of his four game suspension today (Jan 23) against he Mavericks. Second, in a freak accident that no one could have seen coming, Marcus Camby left the game in the first quarter with a sprained ankle. X-rays were negative, but Marcusis the kind of guy who can turn negative X-rays into two-month hiatuses. Watch him go into back spasms now because he's favoring his bad ankle...


NOT YET...

Chris Andersen, C, New Orleans Hornets

Last year, playing for the Nugs (it's appropriate), Andersen blocked an average of 1.6 shots per game in 14.5 minutes per game. Make that thirty and the math is easy: Andersen looked like someone who had the potential to be a 3.0+ blocks monster if he ever got the opportunity to play.

He's getting there this season on a very bad and increasingly thin New Orleans squad. This year he's up to 20.1 minutes a game, but he's only averaging 1.2 blocks. The good thing is that Andersen looks like he did some serious gym work in the offseason, as his FG is up to .519 (from .443) and his FT is up to .756 (from a devastating .589). In the past five games, Chris is averaging a whopping 25.4 minutes, .568 shooting, .833 from the line, to go along with 11.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and .6 turnovers. If he can keep that up, you could do a lot worse at your second C spot, and if the minutes stay up and the blocks come back, as they should, look out...

DON'T BITE ON...

Carlos Arroyo, PG, Detroit Pistons

It's one thing to back up Chauncey Billups; it's another to back up Lindsey Hunter. It was supposed to be a breakthrough season for Carlos after leading Puerto Rico to an impressive performance in the Olympics. Somewhere along the line, he really must have pissed Jerry Sloan off, and now it looks like his rep has taken enough of a hit to set his career back a few years. Carlos could have been a major player on a Jazz team thin at point guard and thin overall... Now he'll be a third stringer on the World Champion Detroit Pistons. Combine that with the fact that he's a strictly offensive point guard who doesn't hit threes, and it's easy to imagine that he won't be a Larry Brown favorite, either. Don't buy the hype.

-The Dime Dropper