NBA Waiver Wire: What's Wrong with LeBron?

I have a totally generic team in a totally generic Yahoo! League, with a roster auto-picked using the default player rankings. I didn't even give it a name - it's called "Charlie's Team."

Obviously, I don't have a whole lot invested in this squad. It exists for one reason: it is the source for the "percent owned" stats I post in this column each week.

That said, for an auto-drafted team, it isn't half bad. I landed LeBron James, Paul George and Hassan Whiteside in the first three rounds, and that's the foundation of a pretty decent team. Trevor Ariza, Jonas Valanciunas and George Hill came next - not necessarily the way I would have gone, but can't complain. But I wouldn't have touched my seventh, eighth or ninth-round selections, Deron Williams (since dropped), Derrick Rose (he might be next) or Amir Johnson (long gone). And I've made my feelings on Emmanuel Mudiay (also gone) abundantly clear in this space.

The computers last three selections were better - Andre Iguodala, Marcus Morris and Jeremy Lin to close things out.

Why am I sharing this with you, gentle reader? I thought it would make an interesting case study… I'm going to play the league for the rest of the season, using as many of my waiver wire recommendations as I can, to see how things go.

I started right after the rosters were finalized. My first move was to put in a claim on Kristaps Porzingis, who went undrafted. Alas, my plan was foiled by an owner with a higher waiver priority. Undaunted, I replaced Lin with Dennis Schroder, D-Will with Markieff Morris (reuniting the Morris twins) and Johnson with Willie Cauley-Stein. When it became clear that Mudiay was a disaster in the turnover department, I cut my losses and brought back Lin, who had been thriving as Charlotte's sixth man.

This week, I replaced Cauley-Stein with Ty Lawson as a high-upside, "he can't really be THIS bad, can he?" play. I like that move even more now after Kevin McHale's surprising ouster; Houston might actually start pretending to care about basketball now. And after looking at Marcus Morris' horrible shooting percentages, I dropped him for DeMarre Carroll, who was probably cut loose by an owner worried about the lingering effects of his plantar fasciitis.

My worst categories are FT% and turnovers, so that's where I'm looking to improve. LeBron is part of the problem there - going into Thursday's game, LBJ is shooting just 61.6 percent from the line - well below his career average. When a player who shoots as many freebies as LeBron isn't hitting, the effect is pronounced. That said, there's no reason to think James won't improve in that category, no underlying reason why he'd suddenly lose the ability to hit free throws at this stage of his career. I'm not worried.

I am worried about Hassan Whiteside, though. Whiteside is well-established as a horrible free-throw shooter… he's under 50 percent from the line for his career. But he's never had enough attempts that his percentage would really hurt you - just 3.3 per game last season and 2.6 per for his career. But that was before "Hack Hassan" became a thing. Opposing coaches have been sending Whiteside to the line with alarming regularity; he had nine attempts (hitting just two) in Miami's loss to Minnesota on Tuesday.

There are two ways this can play out, and neither of them are good for Whiteside's fantasy prospects. Either the increased attempts turn him into a real drag on my overall FT%, or Miami coach Erik Spoelstra will combat the "Hack Hassan" strategy by pulling his center from close games.

(Option three is "start hitting your free throws, Hassan." That's also the least-likely scenario.)

Picks for the Week
As always, we're shooting for a cross-section of players who will be available for the taking in both shallow and deep talent pools. Percent-owned stats are based on a default Yahoo League with roto scoring; your mileage may vary. If you have a question about a specific player feel free to hit me up in the comments or on Twitter @charliezegers.

DeMarre Carroll (90 percent) - Ordinarily I wouldn't recommend a player that's 90 percent owned - but I was able to get him off the wire, and you may have the same opportunity. I understand why he might have been dropped. Plantar fasciitis is a nasty injury and one that has a tendency to linger for extended periods. That said, Carroll has been able to play 30-plus minutes in four straight games; I'm taking that as an indication that he's feeling pretty good.

Ty Lawson (77 percent) - I simply don't believe that Lawson is as bad as he's looked in his first month as a Houston Rocket. He might be a terrible fit next to James Harden, and he might be dealing with personal demons. But he was also a consistent 16 point/nine assist guy in his last two seasons in Denver, and he's just 28 years old. New coach J.B. Bickerstaff is shifting Lawson to an off-the-bench role, which could be just the thing to jump-start the ex-Nugget. Maybe he settles into an instant-offense sixth man role? I'm willing to risk my last roster spot to find out.

T.J. McConnell (36 percent) - Rookie guard has been one of the bright spots in Philly's increasingly dismal season, and has emerged as a pretty decent assist man while scoring in double figures in three of four games.

Jerryd Bayless (31 percent) - Owners might be scared off by the potential log jam at guard, but to this point, Bayless has out-played Michael Carter-Williams and Greivis Vasquez by a pretty substantial margin and should continue to log significant playing time for Jason Kidd's Bucks.

Kris Humphries (7 percent) - Hump has added a new weapon to his offensive arsenal this season, a surprisingly effective three-point shot. He was 2-for-26 from three in his entire eleven-year career; this season he's 14-for-30. That new wrinkle should earn him additional playing time, especially given Nene's well-documented injury history.

Jameer Nelson (2 percent) - Getting a consistent 25-ish minutes per game as Emmanuel Mudiay's backup. That number could increase if (when?) Mudiay hits the inevitable "rookie wall."

Noah Vonleh (1 percent) - Terry Stotts has grown disenchanted with Chris Kaman and will be giving Vonleh a look in the starting lineup. Early returns were meager; foul trouble limited Vonleh to just 13 minutes in Wednesday's game. But Vonleh could have some more chances, as Meyers Leonard is still recuperating from a dislocated shoulder.