The Playlist: Streaming Knicks, Pacers and fantasy basketball pickups for week 15
Yahoo Fantasy basketball analyst Dan Titus offers pickups and breaks down the fantasy schedule ahead of week 15.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
DAN TITUS: What's up, y'all? Welcome back to "The Playlist." It's week 15. So let's get right to the pickups. Josh Hart, you have to pick him up everywhere, points leagues, category leagues, doesn't matter. Julius Randle is going to be missing multiple weeks with a dislocated shoulder. That means that Josh Hart is going to be getting 30-plus minutes. And we already know what he can do rebounding, scoring, and on the defensive end. Pick him up everywhere.
The next person I'm picking up is Aaron Nesmith of the Indiana Pacers. They play four games this week. And since the Siakam trade, Nesmith's been averaging 14 points with 6 boards and 3 assists. Get him in your lineups because he can also get those stocks as well. Nick Richards, he's still under 50% rostered. And Mark Williams is nowhere near returning to the court. Pick him up. He's just coming off a monster double-double where he had 26 points with 13 boards and 4 blocks.
Lastly, you've got to pick up Harrison Barnes. He's on a heater right now, three straight games of 20-plus points and just had a 39-point career high against the Warriors in rivalry week. So make sure you pick him up while he's being aggressive.
[AUDIO LOGO]
All right, let's get to the scheduled things you need to know for this week and fantasy basketball. So the main streaming days that I will be targeting players to pick up are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Why? Because those are the lightest slates this week. And you're going to probably be able to get some games in on your opponents by trying to target players that play on these respective days. So Tuesday, there's going to be five games. Thursday there's four games. And Saturday, there's six games. Of the teams that play on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, you're going to want to look for the Lakers, the Knicks, and the Sixers.
If I'm looking for someone on the Lakers, I would pick up Jared Vanderbilt. He's been a top 75 player over the last two weeks. He's averaging over 3 steals per game over the last four games. So he's been playing extremely well. And he definitely warrants your attention if you're trying to stream on that Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday days. Also, if you're looking for the Sixers, I would look at Kelly Oubre in shallow leagues. He's still under 50% rostered for some reason. Pick him up because De'Anthony Melton is still not back. And he's going to continue to get minutes at both shooting guard and small forward.
And the last player I would pick up is Quentin Grimes. I know I already talked about Josh Hart of the Knicks. But Quentin Grimes is a guy that is on the trade block, but also now is in a pretty good position that he's going to have to help the Knicks, who are really down bad right now with all the injuries that are going on. So I would expect Quentin Grimes to step up here. He's had two good games in a row. I expect that to continue.
The other teams that you could target are the Celtics, the Jazz, and the Pacers because they play on Tuesday and Thursday this week. So you could pick up-- I already mentioned Aaron Nesmith on the Pacers. You could also probably give a look to Andrew Nembhard, even though Tyrese Haliburton is coming back. He looks like the backup point guard. He's been playing well in Haliburton's absence. I think he's going to stick in that rotation over TJ McConnell. On the Celtics side, Al Horford is probably available in shallow leagues. Kristaps Porzingis continues to get nicked up, no surprise there. So give a look to Al Horford if you need some assistance in shallow leagues.
And then lastly, with the Utah Jazz, I would take a look at Kelly Olynyk. He's been a top 150 guy over the last week. But I think he's going to continue to get these minutes in that rotation, playing a little bit of power forward, a little bit of center. And he can stuff the stat sheet. So I would take a look at those guys and those teams specifically, if you're trying to stream effectively in week 15. All right, so that'll do it for "The Playlist" this week. Make sure you tap in next week. Get all the schedule things you need to know as well as the pickups ahead of your fantasy week. Good luck.
[AUDIO LOGO]