Waiver review: Rookies shining

Folks, we’re officially at the midway point of the NBA season. We have some teams more than 41 games in, some a couple less and some that are right on it. That means it’s pretty easy to predict the stats for players over the course of the year, since all I have to do is double the numbers! (You see how I did that?)

Ah yes, I really am a genius sometimes. It’s a gift. For us fantasy owners, though, it’s not all that easy. We aren’t graced with the benefits of being able to use all 82 games more often than not. In head-to-head leagues, which are the only ones I agree to play in, the playoffs will begin in less than two months, or anywhere from seven to eight weeks from now. That means there isn’t much time left to maneuver. You need to do your wheeling and dealing now, because if you’re playing catch up, there may not be a tomorrow.

Quit holding on to those guys you hope will eventually come around. They’ve already killed you for long enough. Cut bait ASAP!! This could be your last chance to grab guys off the wire who can actually help you in the stretch run, even if they aren’t household names …. yet. I just happen to know a few of them. Wanna hear? Yeah, sure ya do. I’m a giver, so here are 10 players I think can give you a leg up in a hurry.

1. Jonny Flynn, PG, Minnesota

The rookie from Syracuse has been up and down all season, but it’s go time now, and the diminutive floor leader is really making his mark on the league at the moment. He’s coming off his best game, a 29-point, nine-assist masterpiece in a win over the Sixers and is putting up 14.3 points, 4.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 steals a night while shooting 86 from the free throw line in nine January games. He’s easily separated himself from Ramon Sessions in the T-Wolves’ rotation and looks to remain a force in this league for a long time to come. He’s also single-handedly making people in Minnesota forget the name Ricky Rubio!

2. DeJuan Blair, PF/C, San Antonio

The big man was supposed to be too slow, too small and knees that were way too far gone to be able to contribute to an NBA roster. Well, he’s blown all that talk out of the water in his rookie season. He dominated in the Summer League, then sat back and waited his turn behind Tim Duncan, but the Spurs are finally coming to grips with the fact that he can’t be left out of the lineup any longer. The 6-foot-7, 265-pound Blair’s putting up 13.8 points and an astounding 14.5 rebounds over his last four outings, which includes 1.0 steals, 0.8 blocks and 56 percent shooting from the floor. This comes after a stretch of eight games where he was pulling down just 4.4 boards a night. He may be way undersized to play center in the NBA, but those numbers aren’t showing it. Amazingly, he’s owned in less than 10 percent of leagues on some sites right now! He’s a beast, so it’s time to treat him like one.

3. Kris Humphries, PF, New Jersey

Who?! Yeah, I know. Humphries isn’t exactly the most well-known player on this list, but I don’t care. He’s playing like a seasoned vet since being traded to the Nets last week. The Mavs couldn’t find a spot for him on the floor, but New Jersey is loving him right now, playing him off the bench three straight games and watching him poor in 45 points, 23 rebounds and three blocks over that time. Just imagine if he was getting more than 24 minutes a game! He knows how to take a good shot (53 percent from the floor), can make a free throw (75 percent from the line) and he looks to get more and more run as the Nets continue to lose games by 20 points seemingly every night. I like where he’s headed the rest of the season and think he can really help out fantasy teams immediately. Don’t fall behind the curb here.

4. Carlos Delfino, SG, Milwaukee

When Delfino returned this season after playing a year overseas, I thought he’d be able to pick up right where he left off with the Raptors in 2008. That wasn’t the case. The Bucks had a slew of mediocre scorers who he’d have to compete with, rookie point guard Brandon Jennings was all the rage from the beginning and Delfino simply wasn’t getting the hang of the offense early on. Michael Redd, Luke Ridnour and even Ersan Ilyasova were all getting to play ahead of him. But Redd’s now done for the season, Ilyasova’s tailed off a bit and Delfino’s finally playing a big role for his new team. In the last three games, he’s scoring big, with 17.0 points a night on the strength of 58 percent shooting, nine three-pointers, 21 boards, six steals and a pair of blocks. Before this stretch of games, he’d scored in double figures just once in his previous 10 appearances, but he’s now locked in the rotation and should continue getting his share of shots, which I think he’s deserved all along.

5. Nate Robinson, G, New York

The only reason he isn’t higher on this list is because he was picked up in every league imaginable after scoring 41 points in his return to the Knicks rotation nine games ago. However, after going for just six and 10 points his next two games, many owners immediately gave up on him, saying that one outing was merely a fluke. He’s still owned in about two thirds of leagues out there, but has been steadily been getting dropped more often than getting picked up. That leads us to Monday, when he dropped in 27 points with four assists and five threes against the Pistons in his most extensive playing time (33 minutes) since his 41-point night. It seems like now’s the best time to grab him once again, as he looks to understand that assists and steals are going to get him more time than just points alone.

6. Andris Biedrins, C, Golden State

The big man in the Warrior lineup is finally back, and he’s also figuring out how to play again. After missing 24 straight games with an injury, he started out really slow in his return after Christmas. He only played more than 23 minutes in a game once in more than two weeks of action, had just one blocked shot in his first four games and didn’t score or rebound in double figures until his ninth game back. However, it looks like things have turned around now, as he just recently put up a nine-point, 19-rebound, eight-block game against Joakim Noah and the Bulls and has recorded 8.3 points, 12.3 boards and a ridiculous 4.7 blocks and 67 percent field goal shooting over the last three nights. Sure, I know the 1-for-9 free throw performance isn’t gonna win anybody over, but that’s always been his thing. He has the worst shooting form the league’s seen since Chris Dudley and Bill Cartwright, but what he does right, he does really right, and those are the things you’re signing up for when picking him up. He’s extremely valuable because of them, too.

7. Ty Lawson, PG, Denver

It seemed like only yesterday when Lawson had scored 20-plus and dished out eight or more assists in three consecutive games. Then he hurt himself, sat out four straight games, and owners everywhere seemingly forget the source of all these great numbers. Oh, that, and the fact that Chauncey Billups returned to the lineup after his own eight-game absence. Well, it doesn’t seem like those two things will matter all that much now. In Lawson’s first game back from the injury, he played 27 minutes, scoring 11 points, getting two steals and hitting a three. The team loves this guy, so there’s no way they’re gonna stick him on the bench, no matter how well Billups is playing (and he’s playing great, by the way). Lawson’s the future of the Nuggets, so you can better believe he’ll continue to see 30 minutes or more pretty much every night. If that happens, you can expect 15 points, 5-7 assists, 1-3 steals and high shooting percentages from here on out.

8. Robin Lopez, C, Phoenix

Talk about a guy coming out of nowhere. Brook’s twin brother is finally getting his turn to shine after a year and a half of virtual unimportance in the desert, and the way he’s looking, you have to wonder why it took so long. Before last week, his high point total for the season was eight, and his best rebounding performance was seven. But over his last three games, he’s gone for 11 and six, 14 and two, 19 and seven, is shooting an incredible 68 percent from the floor and has blocked 12 shots in the process. Where the heck did this come from, you ask?! I can’t offer you the slightest clue, to be honest, but he’s certainly been fun to watch while doing it. Coach Alvin Gentry says it’s an experiment for the moment, as he’s taken the possible Comeback Player of the Year, Channing Frye, out of the starting lineup for the time being and allowed Lopez to take over that spot. But the way things are going, it’s going to be hard to go back to the way things were if the former Stanford Cardinal keeps playing at such a high energy level.

9. Marcus Thornton, SG, New Orleans

He’s once again taken over the scoring duty Devin Brown once owned alongside Chris Paul. Sure, it may swing back and forth all year long, but Thornton’s the hot hand now, having scored in double figures in six straight games (13.0), while hitting 1.8 threes a night, pulling down 4.2 boards, getting 1.0 steals and putting up big shooting percentages as well (48 percent field goals, 88 percent from the line). I’ll take those numbers when I can get them, especially since he isn’t killing me in any category outside of blocks, and I can live with that.

10. Craig Smith, PF, Los Angeles Clippers

How do I possibly put a guy on this list who plays directly behind Chris Kaman and Marcus Camby, you ask? Well, that’s a fine question, and I can’t blame you for asking it. You can make a really good point that Smith puts up a good portion of his numbers when one or both of those guys are sitting down. However, I’ll argue that in the team’s most recent game – one in which Kaman and Camby combined for 39 points, 21 rebounds and six blocks – Smith still managed to score 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, grabbed four rebounds, shot a perfect 2-for-2 from the line and had a steal in just 19 minutes of action. In fact, he hasn’t logged more than 26 minutes in any one game this season, yet he’s still averaging 17.0 points, 5.0 boards over the last three games, while shooting ridiculously high percentages from both the floor and the line. May as well grab him while he’s hot, since he’s hitting six of the eight categories hard for you right now, and that doesn’t happen all that often with waiver wire players, as I’m sure you know all too well.