Fantasy Stock Watch: 3 Players On Their Way Down
As I noted last Friday, the first few weeks of the fantasy basketball season are of the utmost importance. I promise when you look back at the end of the season at the roster of the championship team you will see that many of their big contributors are players they scooped up off the waiver wire early.
With that in mind, last week I pointed out five players that were readily available in standard leagues that I believed were going to be key contributors for the foreseeable future. It is just as important, though, to identify players that are not likely to perform at a high level over the long haul that may have found their way on to your roster. We are specifically looking to identify two types of players:
1) A player that has started off better than expected and is unlikely to keep up that production.
2) A player that was drafted with potential that doesn’t look like he will live up to it.
Identifying these players is important because it will allow you to make better trades and avoid picking up flash-in-the-pan players after single-game breakouts. For instance, if you own a player that is playing above expectations but for whatever reason cannot be reasonably expected to continue to do so, you can trade him at his peak value for a player you believe will help your team more for the rest of the year.
Now that you have a better understanding of what we are looking for, here are a few players that you should either sell high on or avoid picking up on the waiver wire.

G Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings (Drafted in 45.8 percent of ESPN leagues): Evans was drafted by a lot of people (including myself in one league) as a rookie point guard with a lot of potential to play big minutes on a team that lacks a lot of talent. How foolish we all were. While Evans may have a bright future ahead of him, he is a rookie playing the most difficult position to learn in the NBA and, as a result, will struggle at times. From a fantasy perspective, owners can look forward to a lot of turnovers, nights of poor shooting, and fewer assists than you would like because the Kings are by far the worst team in the still brutal Western Conference.
F Channing Frye, Phoenix Suns (Drafted in 5.9 percent of ESPN leagues): Frye had back-to-back games in which he hit an impressive six 3-pointers and saw his ownership rise all the way up to 50.1 percent. While those two outings were indeed great from a fantasy perspective, there is absolutely no reason to think he can have that type of production from here on out. Frye has shot 35 percent from behind the arc for his career and offers little else in terms of fantasy production. I would not drop a more reliable big to pick him up unless you feel you can parlay him in a trade for a better talent.
C Brad Miller, Chicago Bulls (Drafted in 78.9 percent of ESPN leagues): His ownership has already dropped to 68.1 percent, so the window of opportunity for savvy owners to trade him for another big man is closing fast. There are many reasons to not like him from a fantasy perspective — he plays under 25 minutes a game, doesn’t get enough rebounds or blocks for his position, and isn’t on the floor enough for his solid field goal and free throw percentage to make an impact on your team. My advice is to trade him while it is still possible or consider dropping him for a less heralded center like Roy Hibbert.
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