Fantasy basketball insight: A scout’s take on four waiver wire options

By Jeff Feld

Dec 6, 2018

Link: https://theathletic.com/700281/2018/12/07/waiver-wire-flyers-bobby-portis-poised-for-bullish-return-to-chicago-lineup/

We​ are​ officially​ past​ the quarter mark​ of the 2018-19 NBA season,​ and​ boy has it lived​ up to​​ expectations thus far.

The re-shaped Eastern Conference, formerly known as “LeBron’s team and everyone else” is now led by a trio of heavyweight, superstar-studded clubs in Toronto, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Meanwhile, a revitalized Pistons team that nobody seems to talk about is waiting in the wings, and we haven’t even mentioned Boston, the preseason conference favorite still trying to find its identity and chemistry.

And then there’s the Western Conference, where literally 14 of 15 teams (sorry Suns) are in contention for playoff spots in a race that will almost certainly come down to April 10th to decide the final eight.

The league-wide parity has been great for the casual fan to League Pass subscribers and, yes, even fantasy owners. In my last column, we looked at the surging Sacramento Kings and why their well-known young core is worth investing in now. But this time around, we’ll go in a different direction and examine four players who are all 50% owned (well, actually, 51%) and under, whom I like as bench boosters as we jump into the second quarter of the season.

Bobby Portis – Chicago Bulls – 30% owned

Portis only appeared in four games this season before suffering a right knee injury that sidelined him on October 25th. According to reports, Portis has been participating in full contact practices in preparation for his imminent return.

This is great news for an injury-laden Bulls squad and new head coach Jim Boylen, who has an affinity for hard-nosed, physical and scrappy players like – you guessed it – Portis.

The circumstances on and off the court have the stars lined up for Portis. His style of play personifies what Boylen will try to instill in the Bulls, featuring physicality and hustle, two of his strongest attributes. After ho-hum rookie and sophomore seasons, Portis’ production almost doubled in 2017-18, jumping to 13.2 PPG and 6.8 RPG while shooting 47% from the field. He averaged just over three 3FGA per game last year and extending his range has been the focal point of his development over the past three seasons.

The opportunity and minutes are there for the taking despite the return of franchise cornerstone Lauri Markkanen, who happens to play the same position as Portis. Markkanen and Portis could see the floor together with the odd man out being Jabari Parker, whose leash is shrinking by the day and is the stylistic antithesis of Portis.

Don’t sleep on the not-so-small detail that Portis and the Bulls failed to reach a contract extension earlier in the year which will most certainly play a factor in BP’s on-court approach. Regardless of statistical output, Portis is one of the most prideful and confident players I have been around and consistently plays with one of the biggest of chips on his shoulder. Proving his worth as he enters free agency this summer will certainly be a motivating factor.

Portis is spark plug with infectious energy that can impact a game immediately. At 5-20, the Bulls won’t be vying for anything but playing experience and ping pong balls for the rest of the year. While he may not be enough to single-handedly turn the team fortunes around, expect Portis to get his share of stat-stuffing games that could prove to be a nice fantasy boost.

Joe Harris – Brooklyn Nets – 45% owned

It’s been a wild five seasons for Brooklyn’s Joe Harris. A second-round draft pick of Cleveland in 2014, Harris impressed early and earned his way into the Cavs’ rotation, seeing action in 51 games his rookie year. But things took a drastic dive the following season as Harris only saw the floor five times for the eventual NBA champs, and found a home with the Brooklyn Nets in 2016-17.

The Nets, who seem to be in perpetual kick-the-tires mode, may have found one to stick in Harris, who has quietly put together a nice year and is poised to keep his production steadily rising. Averaging 13.1 PPG, Harris is shooting the lights out from three at a 45% clip on 5.2 3FGA, by far the highest mark of his young career. He’s started in all 23 games he’s played in this season and had a minor setback with a strained abductor that has kept him out of the past three contests.

Similar to Portis, Harris has the benefit of minutes availability and playing in no-consequence games. Though Harris’ minutes have been consistent, the loss of Caris LeVert will mean more shots in an effort to make up some of the 18.4 PPG now absent from the Nets’ offense.

I had the pleasure of being in Cleveland for Harris’ two seasons and was impressed by his maturity, work ethic and ability to shoot the ball – a combination of factors that led to us drafting him 33rd overall in 2014.It was frustrating for him (and ultimately us as a front office) to play so well in practice and struggle translating those efforts to games. The change of scenery, increased opportunity and having four years of experience under his belt have been a large part of his recent success in Brooklyn, one nobody from his Cleveland days, including me, is surprised to see.

The injury that Harris is returning from is not serious so expect him to be back in uniform sooner than later. It may have taken a couple years and as many stops, but Harris is finally starting to cash in on his potential which is reason to pay attention.

Tyreke Evans – Indiana Pacers – 51% owned

Changing directions here with Evans, who is the only one on this list (barely) above the 50% owned mark coming in at 51%. Still, given his circumstances and kind of player he is capable of being, I think Evans is undervalued and presents an opportunity to buy low.

The 2010 Rookie of the Year has made a nice career over the course of the past decade by doing one thing really well – scoring. Evans has averaged double-figure scoring outputs each of his 10 seasons and hasn’t finished a year shooting worse than 40% from the floor.

Granted, his scoring and shooting averages are down this season at 10.6 PPG and 37% from the field respectively, Evans has a terrific opportunity to break out of his slump with the announcement that Victor Oladipo will remain sidelined with a nagging knee injury. Evans, like most of his teammates, has played better while sharing the floor with Oladipo, which I boldly point out isn’t too surprising given how good Oladipo is. But a vote of confidence from Nate McMillan, who says Evans will stay in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future, may be what Evans needs to shake the rust off.

A general rule of thumb in the NBA is that scorers in slumps will eventually shoot their way out of it. I’d be a little more concerned if we were talking about a second- or even third-year player. But we are talking about a guy who has scored over 8,800 points since 2009. This isn’t the first time Evans has hit a drought and probably won’t be the last. He’s human. We may be too hard on a guy who is in his first year with a new team who he has started just 8 of 23 games with. The Pacers’ coaching staff seems to have confidence in him, which is why you should, too.

Alfonzo McKinnie – Golden State Warriors – 0% owned

Time for the wild-card round for those of you who either have an open roster spot or really want to take a gamble here. So why is it a good idea to pick up a player averaging 6.2 PPG this season and who has played 31 games in his career? Let’s take a look.

McKinnie does not have your typical NBA pedigree. A product of mid-major Wisconsin-Green Bay, he found himself playing post-college basketball in international leagues even he’d never heard of prior to signing there. After a trip through a 3-on-3 circuit where he played in atriums of shopping malls (no, I’m not kidding) Al landed in an open tryout for the Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s G League affiliate, which is where I first saw him since his days at Green Bay.

McKinnie not only made our team in 2016 – he went on to make the G League All-Star game and has since played for the Toronto Raptors and now Golden State Warriors.

McKinnie is a 6-foot-8 wing who fits everything the Warriors are about. He’s a phenomenal athlete with great length and is a stud in the open floor, especially with exceptional passers like Steph Curry and Draymond Green (and even Quinn Cook of the second unit) making life easy for him. With double-digit scoring performances off the bench against Phoenix (10 PTS), Chicago (19) and Memphis (14), McKinnie was cementing his role in the Warriors’ rotation until suffering a minor foot injury that held him out of nine games.

Now healthy, there is no reason to believe this kid couldn’t play a Harrison Barnes-type role for these Warriors. He has the athleticism and versatility on the wing to go with his drastically-improved three-point shooting. Here’s something to keep in mind – in his first season (2016-17) playing for Windy City, he shot 31% from three on 2.66 attempts per game. Two years later, he’s shooting 47% from behind the line on almost two attempts per game for the defending world champions.

This is someone Golden State has been intrigued with for some time, and for good reason. The Warriors are getting healthy, which is terrible news for 29 other teams. Expect to continue hearing about McKinnie’s meteoric rise as the Warriors’ latest wing weapon.