Back in October I wrote a blog about methods to use to pick sleeper candidates before your fantasy draft. The main methods were to look for either 1) young players with upside, 2) former stars that could bounce back from down years, or 3) players that have moved to new teams and could have new opportunities. Looking back on it now, I actually didn't do too bad with my list of players that I generated as examples.
Fast-forward two months, and now everyone wants to pick up the next hot free agent before their league-mates beat them to it. So, I figured I'd adapt my preseason sleeper methods and see if I can apply it in-season. Here are a few names that I came up with:
1)Louis Williams, G, PHI (Young talent). Williams was drafted out of high school in 2005, and is starting to grow into his potential. He has had a few stretches of positive play already this season, but he hasn't yet been given the keys to the team completely. But the 76ers seem extremely high on him, and once they are out of playoff contention he should get his chance to really see what he can do. I expect good things from him in the second half of the season.
2)Chucky Atkins, G, DEN (Former productive player). Atkins was never a star so he doesn't fit exactly into my second category, but he has been a roto starter at times in his career and apparently my fellow bloggers like him as well this season. The Nuggets have struggled at point guard this season, and they have needed more outside shooting. Atkins could fill both of those needs when he gets healthy, and should take advantage of the open treys created by the opposing defense paying so much attention to Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony.
3)Nazr Mohammed, C, CHA (Follow the trade). I'm not fully convinced that Mohammed will be a roto starter in Charlotte, but he is a veteran player that has been productive in the past and he performed well in his first start with the Bobcats Wednesday night. Sometimes, with players that you thought were done as a fantasy producer, all it takes is a new situation to give their career a jump-start. We'll see if that's the case with Mohammed.