Speights and Bass

After being traded to Memphis, Marreese Speights was pushed into the starting lineup as an emergency replacement for Zach Randolph. Being given time to play is one of the all important factors in becoming a relevant fantasy player, and so let’s go over the stats. He is currently averaging 8.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, shooting 88% from the free throw line and 41% from the field. First off, his career free throw percentage is only 76%. Due to the small sample size (17 taken, 15 made), we know he will probably regress back down in this category. The interesting fact though is that he is under his career field goal percent, 48.6%, by over 7%. A lot of this is probably due to being in a new system. Once he finds his place, his field goal percentage should jump back up. But even then 9-10 points and 6 rebounds a game is good, but I’m still not convinced. He is only getting 22 minutes a game, which really limits his upside. What he is doing in those 22 minutes is pretty impressive but, the biggest reason I would stay away from him is because he is only a SHORT TERM fix for any fantasy team. Zach Randolph is out until March and when March comes around, Speights gets pushed back to the bench and loses a good chunk of his minutes. So unless you are in need of a short term fix, stay away from Speights

Brandon Bass on the other hand has shown he can play and is not a short term fix. The nice thing to see with Bass is that he is consistently getting playing time. This season he hasn’t play less than 22 minutes in a game, and is currently averaging 12 points, 6.5 rebounds on 49% shooting from the field and 75% from the free throw line. The fact that he is playing a career high in minutes, and has responded with career highs in points and rebounds, while keeping his turnovers down and still playing with efficiency, is a great indicator for potential (fantasy) success. His free throw shooting should go back up to his career average of 82%. Even if it doesn’t, 75% shouldn’t hurt your team enough to deter you from picking him up.  In 16 games this season he has only failed to score in double digits 4 times and has failed to get more than 4 rebounds only twice. This shows a great consistency which means you can rely on him for 10 points and 4 rebounds EVERY game, which means that you will never be disappointed with him as a waiver wire pickup.