Wroten a must-add on the right team
Here’s a look at the players who stand out this week, with their ownership percentage listed.
Tony Wroten | PG/SG | Philadelphia 76ers
Ownership %: 22.0
As much as Wroten is a detriment to your shooting percentages (41.6 percent career from the field, 65.4 percent career from the free throw line), he is also a stat-stuffer who could very well end up playing big minutes on this terrible 76ers squad. It’s easy to overlook the fact that he averaged 16.9 points, 5.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.2 3-pointers made per game last season.
Ian Mahinmi | C | Indiana Pacers
Ownership %: 21.8
Fouls are a big problem for Mahinmi, which makes him a risky play, but the eight-year NBA veteran has really looked the part as a starter in Indiana this season. Over the past 10 games, he has averaged 8.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals while shooting 52.5 percent from the field. Not bad for someone owned in barely one-fifth of ESPN leagues.
Evan Turner | SG | Boston Celtics
Ownership %: 26.8
The absence of Marcus Smart has allowed Turner to average 27.5 minutes over the past 10 games, and though his inefficient shooting remains a big problem (41.3 percent this season), he is a sneaky source of rebounds, assists and steals and is also someone capable of the occasional big scoring night.
Amir Johnson | PF/C | Boston Celtics
Ownership %: 24.5
Johnson’s relatively low minutes (23.6 per game this season) is often reason enough to bypass him for other big men, but it’s impossible to overlook his production as of late. The veteran has double-doubles in two of the past three games and has recorded at least one blocked shot in seven consecutive games entering Monday. He’s also dishing the ball more than ever before (3.0 assists per 40 minutes) and starting to fire away from beyond the 3-point arc (3-for-6 over the past three games).
Eric Gordon | SG | New Orleans Pelicans
Ownership %: 80.2
It’s a bad time to have Gordon on your team, because his production is very unpredictable on a game-to-game basis thanks to the return of Tyreke Evans and inconsistent nature of Jrue Holiday‘s role. In the three games since Evans’ return, we have seen Gordon come off the bench when Evans and Holiday started.
We’ve also seen Gordon start next to Evans when Holiday sat out to rest his surgically repaired leg. And last game, Gordon started alongside Evans, and Holiday came off the bench. You have to stay on top of this at all times if you have Gordon.
Emmanuel Mudiay | PG | Denver Nuggets
Ownership %: 73.4
Mudiay is shooting 31.1 percent from the field through the first six weeks of the season, and he’s been even worse than that of late, shooting 26.7 percent over the past five games. Though he has continued to play right around 30 minutes a night, one must believe that eventually the terrible shooting is going to force Nuggets coach Michael Malone to cut down his minutes. And this week, Denver plays just two games.
Evan Fournier | SG/SF | Orlando Magic
Ownership %: 79.7
If you look at Fournier’s season averages, the thing that jumps out at you is his minutes per game (33.2). However, that number has actually dropped quite a bit over the past three weeks, as Fournier has seen his time on the court trimmed to just above 28 minutes a game over the past 10 contests. He’s certainly still worth rostering in most leagues, but any time a player has his minutes reduced this much, it’s a blow to his value.