@shizz Yo! This one is easy.

Before I get into the review, I'm obligated to tell you that you lose any trade by giving up Durant for any player(s) outside the top-10 in the overall rankings. The Gilgeous-Alexander trade brought Tatum and Williamson back, so it's a nice redeemer.

You're solid across the board. There's no clear drops here and enough injury risks that you may not actually have to make a tough decision, but if you do, it's probably going to have to be either Conley or Washington. 

You're probably not winning FT% with any regularity. With that in mind, you can get a major boost by streaming players like Mason Plumlee and Steven Adams. Had you retained Nic Claxton, that would be another player well-suited to your build. I'm pretty confident the same can be said for TO, considering the amount of play-makers and play-finishers on your roster. Factoring that in with your questionable competitiveness in TO, players like Aaron Gordon, Christian Wood, Jakob Poeltl, Jalen Suggs, Jusuf Nurkic, Kevin Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook gain value on your team.

This seems like a fairly competitive PTS producing squad, despite the underwhelming values of Barnes, Capela, Conley, Simmons, Washington and Williams. If there is a way you can use one or two of those players to generate a bit more of an advantage in PTS, I think you could see some positive results. If possible, I'd be trying to package two of Capela, Conley and Washington to upgrade that category.

Is it fair to say that you've won more than you've lost in REB? It looks like that would be the case. As with PTS, I think investing in upgrading your overall production here could help. With specialists like Ayton and Capela, you have a solid level of production at the top. The out-of-position values of players like Barnes, Giddey, Morant, Simmons, Tatum and Williamson should put you over in most weeks. I've already put Capela's name out there as a trade candidate, so you should be sure to keep at least 6.0 RPG in whatever returns you get for any potential deals. That's half a Capela, so it would still be important to stream in some of the players I recommended for your FT%-TO punt. 

Williams would soften the impact of a Capela trade upon his return. Aside from more comparable REB value, you'll more than make up for the loss in BLK once Time Lord is rolling. I think you can probably find a comparable level of BLK production on the waiver wire of most standard leagues, so it could be worthwhile to cash in on Capela's reputation. Onyeka Okongwu is still lurking in Atlanta and I don't think it would take much to see Capela fall back in the rotation. BLK and REB are winnable categories with or without any future moves.

The Capela-BLK scenario is similar to your situation with Conley and STL. You should be winning that category with some consistency and Conley will be a part of that, but he could be floated in trade offers nonetheless. There's a considerable number of players above him in STL value, so you should be able to replace whatever you might lose in a Conley swap pretty easily with end-of-bench players from the waiver wire. As a rule, I try to aim for 1.3 SPG or more when determining who's really going to put me over in that category. 

I think you can probably throw in the towel on 3PT. There's too many non-contributors here, so players like Conley, McCollum, Murray and Washington lose some value. There may be a way to use some of these players to upgrade stronger categories.

The two remaining categories are AST and FG%, and you have several players that offer a good combination of production in both areas. I think you should lean into the styles of Barnes, Haliburton, Morant, Simmons, Tatum and Williamson. Those guys all give you solid value in both areas and would make it easier to move Conley, McCollum or Murray without feeling too much of a pinch. Doubling down on AST and FG% makes a lot of sense when you are already well set up for a punt in their natural-opposite categories: FT% and TO. Most of the players that fit that punt could also help you improve your competitiveness in AST and FG%.

Some waiver wire or low-end trade recommendations: Aaron Gordon, Brandon Clarke, Charles Bassey, Isaiah Stewart, Ivica Zubac, Jalen Duren, Jalen Suggs, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kyle Anderson, Larry Nance Jr., Markelle Fultz, Mason Plumlee, Santi Aldama, Steven Adams, TJ Warren, Walker Kessler and Zach Collins. At certain points in the season, it would also make sense to use Dennis Smith Jr. or John Wall if you have a hole at point guard and they are rolling. Delon Wright should be a player you watch closely once he returns from injury. 

Overall, I think you're looking at a generally-competitive team in AST, BLK, FG%, PTS, REB and STL. As a result, you can probably take some hits in FT%, TO and 3PT to get an extra edge.

I hope this helps! Cheers.

@dballbball Hey Derek! I’m back lol

So a bit over the quarter mark of the season. I’m middle of the pack (6th out of 12) 31-32-0. I’m looking to make a few moves to really solidify my team and make a push for the top 4. 

Here is my current roster:

Guards: Killian Hayes, De’anthony Melton, Bruce Brown

Forwards: Lebron, AD, Butler, Barnes, Vandey, Kyle Anderson, Avdija, Nance

Centers: Horford (IL), Poeltl (IL), Adams

Again, I am punting 3PM and FT%. According to Hashtag Basketball, here is where my teams rank in each category in comparison to the other teams in my league: FG% (1st), FT% (12th), 3PM (12th), PTS (12th), REBS (1st), AST (8th), STL (1st), BLK (1st), TO (1st)

So I ask, what should I do? Who should I look to add or move or trade? Should I be trading forwards for more centers and/or guards? Should I try going for more assists Or points?

How can I improve my team from here while keep my punt build since my team is built around that?

Thanks in advance! I always appreciate it!

@brandonbourassa Hey Brandon welcome back!

You still have a point guard problem. Continue trying to add players there. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you have at least three players that qualify for every position on your roster. This isn't optional if you want to compete, so I'm going to keep making it my main recommendation until I see a third point guard on your team. 

Anderson, Avdija and Nance are all nice streamers at the moment but you should be prepared to sacrifice one of that group to add a point guard ASAP. I don't care if you lose overall value in the trade-off; it's more important that you can start a player every night than it is for you to have the best possible player on most nights. Based on your build, you should be looking at players like Alex Caruso, Andrew Nembhard, Ayo Dosunmu, Cole Anthony, Delon Wright (when healthy), Dennis Smith Jr. (when healthy), Derrick White, Jalen Suggs, Jevon Carter, Jordan Goodwin, Jose Alvarado, Markelle Fultz and Monte Morris. 

Bumping up AST is going to be essential for your team based on the results you shared. That will bring you back a bit in TO, but it's a necessary sacrifice. Again, you need point guards. Get a good point guard before worrying about whether they're better in AST or PTS, but really, you're going to have to make a push in both areas either way. The fact remains that you're more likely to see positive outcomes in AST.

I don't see any obvious trade candidates on this team anymore. After your trades, your team is streamlined to accentuate all those categories you're leading in. The problem will continue to be positional eligibility for this team, and part of the reason you're so far ahead in big man stats like BLK, FG% and REB is because more than 75% of your roster plays power forward. If at all possible, you should be trying to convert some of those power forward-eligible players into guards that can produce some value in those same areas. This list includes players like Ben Simmons, De'Aaron Fox, Franz Wagner, Herb Jones, Ja Morant, John Konchar, Josh Hart, Jrue Holiday, Russell Westbrook, Royce O'Neale and Tyler Herro. The point guard-eligible players in this group should be the priorities.

In case I haven't underscored this point enough: you shouldn't be trading for centers. Unless I am mistaken, you have six center-eligible players rostered: Adams, Davis, Horford, Nance, Poeltl and Vanderbilt. That's more than enough, even if two of that group are injured. That position is less of a concern than your forward core, but it's not far behind.

I hope this helps! Keep it coming if you have more questions.

Never got around to doing this but better late than never. Clearly guard heavy. I'm struggling in Blocks, Rebounds, & 3's. Any suggestion from moves I can make to help with those cats and be competitive will be appreciated. Thanks! 

@steve1der Hi Steve. Better late than never!

Get Adams and Plumlee out of there ASAP. Their positive value in categories you want to do better in (BLK, FG%, REB) isn't greater than their negative value in areas you should be more competitive in (FT%, PTS, 3PT). I love the neutral value in AST and STL but I don't think that's enough of a tiebreaker. 

In fact, don't even bother with BLK. You don't have a single player rostered that is a true asset in that category. There's no sense in trying to rebuild your team to be competitive there.

You should be more competitive in 3PT than you are. It's important that you're maximizing production from every position, so your bigs are not an exception to this rule. Adams and Plumlee are both players that I recommend often in this forum, but they're really not suited to your needs. It would be better if you could replace them with players like Aleksej Pokusevski, Jalen Smith, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Kevin Love, Marcus Morris or Santi Aldama.

Competing in REB will require you to remodel more than just your center rotation. Players like Dinwiddie, Hardaway and Trent are all pure negatives in that category. As a rule, I want all my players to be good for at least four boards a game if I expect to be strong in REB, no matter what position they play. This also assumes that there are top-tier producers already rostered, and I could only really argue for Jokic in this case. Collins shouldn't be your second-best in this category if you expect to win. Thankfully, you might be able to find extra production from specialists on the waiver wire. If you're looking to remodel your guard rotation to add extra boards, you can consider guys like Bruce Brown, Caris LeVert, Cole Anthony, De'Anthony Melton, Immanuel Quickley, John Konchar, Jordan Goodwin, Josh Hart, Kelly Oubre Jr., Malcolm Brogdon, RJ Barrett, Royce O'Neale and Russell Westbrook. Beware of the members of this group with bad FT%, but they're still better than the Adams-Plumlee duo.

I think your team is going to get more competitive with the addition by subtraction method. For example, your team has a collection of some of my favorite high FG% guards: Booker, Maxey and Wagner. Whatever positive impact they make is negated by some of the worst FG% guards in fantasy basketball: Hardaway and Trent. Finding a way to close that gap should help you to see more positive results in FG% by giving extra support to Collins, Jokic, Porter and your good guards. You could replace those inaccurate shooters with more efficient production from players like Andrew Nembhard, Ayo Dosunmu, Collin Sexton, Jalen Williams, John Konchar, Jordan Goodwin, Jose Alvarado, Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kevin Huerter, Lonnie Walker IV, Malcolm Brogdon, Norman Powell and Quentin Grimes, and you'd probably be more likely to benefit from those moves than suffer.

Keeping with the addition by subtraction theme: you can only be more competitive in TO by taking that off the end of your roster. This category is usually tied to overall value, so it probably won't surprise you to know that Booker, Gilgeous-Alexander, Holiday, Jokic and Wagner are your worst contributors in TO. Among that group, Holiday ranks the lowest relative to his production, with Wagner being the only other candidate who might not always offer the ideal balance of risk and reward. Those are two names to float in trade talks if you want to reduce TO from the top of the pyramid. On the bottom, you have to focus on players like Adams, who actually has a worse impact on TO than an obviously-better player like Maxey. Plumlee is technically above-average right now, so I think he should win any tiebreakers if/when you make decisions about him and Adams.

I see no reason that you shouldn't regularly compete in 3PT with this roster as constructed. It's important that you trim the fat and get as many players producing in this category as possible, but also that you're regularly streaming in extra production from the waiver wire. I've already touched on the non-value of your bigs in this area, but you've probably noticed that I recommended you move on from a couple of your existing 3PT producers as well. The reason for that is simple: players like Hardaway and Trent offer the majority of their value in a small number of categories and, by nature of their position, do not offer the same potential for efficiency that a forward-center might. You can get two treys and a steal from half of the league on any given night; the main reason that these guys separate themselves is that sometimes they produce three treys or two steals. Unlike some of the other players I've recommended as adds above, they will seem to be negative assets unless they can make an impact in their niche categories. Replacing these players with more generalized producers is arguably better for your team, even if those newer players might offer slightly less cumulative production in categories like STL and 3PT.

This is a guard stats team that can't compete in BLK, so you should aim for extra value in STL as a result. As with 3PT, this category is easy to influence from the bottom of your roster and I think you can spare top-tier contributors without much of a drop-off, so long as you hit a certain floor of production. There's almost 100 players in the league with a 1.0 SPG average, so there is a really wide range of potential contributors available to you. The difference between 15th and 75th on that list is about 0.5 SPG, or about 1.5-to-2 per week, so don't hold on to players like Holiday simply because he's good at a category you need. 

There are six above-average producers of AST on this roster, led by Jokic, who is approximately 13 times more valuable than Plumlee, who is the lowest of your six above-average AST producers. You're likely to be competitive in most weekly matchups due to your top-level production. In order to see improvement there, you're probably going to have to come back to Hardaway, Porter or Trent as players that are producing half as many AST as would be needed to reach average levels.

I have no concerns about PTS. You have All-NBA players, All-Stars and several microwave scorers that could give you boosts in production at a moment's notice. I've recommended that you consider moving on from a few of them, but I think this is another case of hitting a benchmark of production instead of trying to maximize it. The category itself is largely-dependent on games played totals, so your competitiveness here will depend on your ability to stream effectively. The players that you stream should be as close to 16.3 PPG as possible -if not above that mark- but I'd be prepared to reduce that number a bit if it meant I kept higher FG%, FT% and TO. As a rule, I will never make PTS a priority unless it comes with a secondary category (ex. PTS+FG%, PTS+TO, etc.) and I think you should do the same with a combination of FT% and TO.

You have too many good guards and a few solid bigs to not be more competitive in FT%. I already touched on the impacts here, so it suffices to say that you should see better results than you currently are and the only way to fix this is removing bad players.

Some targets in trades or free agency that could really help you: Andrew Nembhard, Andrew Wiggins, Bruce Brown, Buddy Hield, Caleb Martin, Cole Anthony, De'Anthony Melton, Draymond Green, Grant Williams, Jarred Vanderbilt, John Konchar, Josh Hart, Kelly Olynyk, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kevin Huerter, Kevon Looney, Marcus Smart, Mike Conley, Royce O'Neale, Santi Aldama, Tre Jones, Trey Murphy III and Wendell Carter Jr.

Good luck! 

@dballbball made some streaming adjustments since the last post...but thought I'd try to get some more feedback. 

12T 9CAT, currently 37-35-0 in the league, but feeling a bit too top heavy at the moment. With Rob Will coming back, I should be pretty solid in the following CATS: FG, FT, Rebounds, Blocks, TO's...but wondering if I should make a trade for more assists to be a bit more competitive there since Harden/Siakam/Lowry are all pretty solid on that front. 

Any players you'd recommend me targeting in a trade to reach the next level? BBM likes me team (projected #4 in the league now), but the whole league is pretty crazy close in standings at the moment. 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!

Full Team:

1. SGA
2. Harden
3. Myles Turner
4. Siakam
5. Lowry
6. Sengun
7. Poku 
8. Jalen Smith (Why do I do this to myself)
9. Avdija (Streamer)
10. Goodwin (Streamer)
11. Grant Williams (Likely ride until Rob Will is back)
12. Kyle Anderson (KAT temporary replacement)
13. Naji Marshall (Streamer)
14. Konchar (Bane temporary replacement)
15. Robert Williams (IL)
16. Rubio (IL Stash for the hell of it)

RIP to Cade who I finally dropped yesterday. 

@dballbball thanks so much, Derek! This was super insightful and way more than I expected. I'm in a 10team Roto League. Currently in 5th place. I'm going to look into the guys you recommended. Yea I was 1st in FT & while Adams & Plumlee have helped in Reb they are FT killers so bonding them is a good idea. I'm getting a lot of trade offers for my guards but they offer less value (even tho it's in cats I need help with). Trying not to get fleeced. At this point I might just have to punt Reb as its the cat Im furthest back in. 3's & Blocks I should be able to gain some ground!

@ctoerge Hey pal. This is an interesting squad. If you've read any of my The Week Ahead articles, then you'll know that I've written about them all before and I am very excited about all of your streamers. Players 9-14 on your list are all great options for the end of your bench. 

You and I are both on the Jalen Smith Struggle Bus. He's fluctuating between streamer and soft hold depending on the day. I play enough dynasty leagues that I've convinced myself he's worth holding on to, but in a very competitive re-draft league, he might not prove to be a worthwhile investment. He's definitely not contributing to your strengths in FG% and FT%.

PTS doesn't look very reliable here. Better to leave it on the side rather than trying to boost that at the probable expense of your efficiency strengths. It looks like you can rely on FG%, FT% and TO with some consistency, so I'd put those categories before PTS when looking at adds.

You're definitely going to want to get consistent 3PT production on the end of your bench. This squad isn't overwhelming any other teams with single-player production, but I think you can compete in this area by committee. Two per night is an achievable goal in just about every league depth, and I think that's a fair target for most of your streaming adds. This is the sort of team that I think your stereotypical snipers would be able to shine. Examples include Cam Johnson, Corey Kispert, Joe Harris and Luke Kennard. I hope that you'll agree with this assessment, because if you do, then I'm happy to tell you that G.Williams is actually providing better efficiency value than any of those guys right now (read: upgrade from streamer to hold).

Do you think it's possible to add a player from your wire with a 2.0+ AST/TO ratio? I'm assuming that you're not going to be able to get anyone with 5.0+ APG, so the only way I'd consider improving AST via waiver wire as actionable is if you can find a player that is an above-average AST producer (read: no less than 3.8 APG) that also has low TO output. To be honest, I don't really see any obvious trades that could increase your AST production without disproportionately hurting you elsewhere. If you can find a way to create 2-for-1 deals around these players, then you might be able to do this by consolidating top-level talent: G.Williams, Konchar, Marshall, Pokusevski and Smith. Your only internal hope is Rubio, who I can't promise will produce as he did last year.

BLK is dependent on Turner and R.Williams at the top, but I think you have enough production from Pokusevski, Sengun, Siakam and Smith to put you past most teams. I don't think this needs extra support, so you can probably reduce BLK as a priority for future moves. I'd say the same of STL, but I'm less convinced about your top-level production. No matter - you can see me saying I don't care much about the elite STL producers throughout this thread. I find that category to be replaceable at the bottom of the roster, and I think you're doing a great job of that. You can get 1.0 SPG on the waiver wire in most leagues, so keep going down that path.

I don't have much to say about REB other than you look solid and should keep streaming extra production there. Typically, REB producers will be assets in some other categories you're also likely to compete in with regularity.

For the record: I think you've misjudged Pokusevski's value by not adding the streamer tag to his spot on this list. I've already published an article this week recommending him as a short-term add, so there's no problem with holding him for now, but I don't think you should commit to keeping him for the entirety of the season just yet.

Overall, I think you can probably lean into the non-counting stats. I'm more convinced that you can find repeatable success by focusing on BLK, FG%, FT%, STL, TO and 3PT. I don't see any punts on this team and I think you can win AST, PTS and REB, but I think you'll find yourself able to survive injuries more effectively without relying too heavily on the production of your top-four players. You're very obviously focusing on a multi-player streaming strategy for the season and you'll reduce your overall risk by not trying to build counting stats through the waiver wire. That seems like a solid path forward, so it's possible to sell high on some of your stars in order to find more security in the non-counting stats.

Here are some players that I think you could find success with: Andrew Nembhard, Brandon Clarke, Bruce Brown, Caleb Martin, Chris Boucher, Dorian Finney-Smith, Grayson Allen, Harrison Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Isaiah Hartenstein, Isaiah Stewart, Jae'Sean Tate (when healthy), Jalen McDaniels, Jalen Williams, Jaylen Nowell, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Jevon Carter, Jose Alvarado, Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kevon Looney, Killian Hayes, Malcolm Brogdon, Malik Monk, Norman Powell, Patrick Williams, Royce O'Neale, Santi Aldama, Tari Eason, Torrey Craig and Tre Jones.

Good luck!

@dballbball Holy crap - this is so much more analysis than I would have expected and deserved...THANK YOU. First of all - I really appreciate your time and effort going into this response. 

I've been punting points/threes just about each week, and totally fine with that decision. I like the idea of adding in 3PT streamers when I'm going against a weaker 3PT team, and letting it go when I'm not. 

For the assists component, I actually was just able to snag Monte Morris off waivers. Not elite by any means, but at least a solid contributor in that CAT. Was thinking about a Tre Jones for a couple low end bigs trade as well to bolster assists...and would feel pretty comfortable there as long as I'm not hurting my rebounds/blocks too much. Rubio is a hail mary - not expecting last year production but he's always been able to contribute even in bench roles, and I'm fine with him being a steals/assists guy if it works out. If not, see ya later. 

Agreed on Poku - I should have labeled him as a soft hold/streamer since he's in a similar spot as Jalen. They are honestly the same player from a production standpoint and equally as irritating. I'd love it if he was able to go off for a couple games and I could trade him...but I don't see that happening with OKC's rotations unfortunately. 

Appreciate the pick up suggestions! Unfortunately the league is quite active and most of those folks are rostered, but a couple good gems in there. I'll keep working the wire and see what else could be available!

Thanks again - you rock! Plenty of feedback here to start working on a second half of season strategy! Appreciate your time and effort. 

Hello @dballbball,

Here is my current roster. 14T, 9Cat, H2H. Would love some thoughts! Now I am first in my league. 2 IL 1 Il+ spot in our league. We have 3 add/drop every week. My team changed a bit after post. I m punting fg and to. And my rebound stats low a bit. Some advice from you will be great for me!

PG Tyrese Haliburton 

SG Spencer Dinwiddie

G Royce O'Neale

SF Kevin Huerter

PF Keldon Johnson

F Joel Embiid

C Myles Turner

C Isiah Stewart

Util Jalen McDaniels (stream)

Util Markelle Fultz

BN Immanuel Quickley (stream)

BN Caris LeVert

BN Damion Lee (stream)

IL Brandon Ingram

IL Tyrese Maxey

IL+ Royce O'Neal

Hey @dballbball I'd love hear your thought about my team,

16 Team 9cat Yahoo

PG-TRAE YOUNG

SG-MARCUS SMART

G-KEVIN PORTER JR

SF-KAWHI LEONARD

PF-JAREN JACKSON JR

F-KRISTAPS PORZINGIS

C-MYLES TURNER

UTIL-LAURI MARKKANEN

UTIL-KELDON JOHNSON

UTIL-TRE JONES

BN-JABARI SMITH JR

BN-KEEGAN MURRAY

BN-JAYLEN WILLIAMS

IL-NORMAN POWELL

12 team 9 categories H2h

G: Luka, SGA, Jalen Green, GTJ, Jamal Murray

F: Hayward, Hart, Cam Johnson, Middleton

C: Zion, Pascal, Olynyk, Jabari Smith Jr, Timelord, Larry Nance JR

I set out to try and punt FT% and then swapped to punting both % and then SGA emerged and basically carries the category, I'm not sure how to improve the team because it comes down to consistency and my team is not consistent week to week. What can I do to improve? Suggestions are welcome! 

Hello! I wanted to get some advice on my team, and see where I could take it. I am in a 12 Team 11 Cat H2H League. 

D-Lo

FVV

Banchero

Jrue Holiday

Bobby Portis

Tre Jones

James Harden

Kevin Huerter

Bol Bol

Jalen McDaniels

Patrick Williams

Daniel Gafford

John Wall

Andrew Wiggins (IR)

Michael Porter Jr (IR)

This is my team as of today after multiple trades, and having listed the players who I am streaming for the 2 IR slots used by Wiggins and MPJ. I would really appreciate knowing what characteristics my team has, and where I could take it to try an make it into the playoffs. I’ve had a lot of tough luck with Cade out, Wiggins, and MPJ as of late.

Thank you! 

Hey y’all what you think of my team? Started the season 8-1 atm, 12 team, 8 cat, (fg%,3pt%,FT%,reb,assist,steal,block,pts)pts count as 2. 

Thoughts on my team? 12 team Category league:

PG Haliburton

SG Shai

G Mitchell

SF Anunoby

PF Tatum

F Lavine

C sengun

C Duren

UTIL Herro

UTIL Marcus smart

Kessler

Thomas Bryant