Deandre Ayton's stock rebounding in fantasy hoops
Yahoo Fantasy basketball analyst Dan Titus offers two risers and two fallers in his Week 7 stock watch
Video Transcript
DAN TITUS: Week six is a wrap. And I have four players whose stock is either rising or falling heading into week seven. I'm Dan Titus, Yahoo Fantasy basketball analyst. Let's get right into the risers. So the first riser is DeAndre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns. Now, you might remember I had Ayton on my fallers list in week five. But since that point, he's gone from 119 in per game value to 57th. That's quite the jump. And it's crazy how two weeks can really change things.
Now, he just dropped his third 20/20 game of his career on Saturday. And I think he's out of his funk. The buy low window could be closing. So if there's a fantasy manager that's interested in selling, I would certainly buy into DeAndre Ayton. The next player on my risers list is Ben Simmons of the Brooklyn Nets. Ben Simmons has an ADP of 82 coming into the season. And he really wasn't performing as such earlier in the year. But he's finally picked it up.
Over the last two weeks, he's provided third round value. In fact, he's been 35th in per game value over that span, averaging nearly 14 points per game with 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2.6 stocks. Now, to me, this scream sell high. Why? Because he's shooting a 70% clip right now. And, frankly, the guy isn't the poster boy for mental and physical stability. So I think you could probably get some significant value in return for Ben Simmons right now, who's playing at a high level, much of the Ben Simmons of old. But his stock is still rising despite wanting to sell right now.
All right. Let's get to the fallers. The first one up is Jonas Valanciunas of the New Orleans Pelicans. The main concern I have around Valanciunas is that his minutes continue to go down. With Zion Williamson back in the lineup, if you compare his numbers to last season, his minutes are down by nearly seven per game. And that's costing him his production. He's down in points, rebounds, and he already doesn't provide that many defensive metrics for the center position.
So I'd be looking to sell Valanciunas as soon as there's an opportunity to. Maybe Zion misses a game or he gets into foul trouble. If he puts up a monster double-double, take that opportunity to get him off your roster because I just don't think he's going to provide that preseason ADP of 54 that you drafted him at.
Next player on my list is Josh Giddey of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now if you look at Josh Giddey's counting stats, you'd think, oh, this guy is solid. 14.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.8 dimes. However, he ranks 203rd overall in per game value right now. And if you look at his numbers compared to last season, they're pretty similar. And he finished 164th last year. So if you can find a way to fit Giddey on your roster, I think this is a great buy low window just looking at the pure number.
But you've got to be putting turnovers and 3-pointers made if you're going to be wanting Josh Giddey on your roster because very high turnover rate and he doesn't hit any 3's. And his free throw percentage, even though he has low volume, is only 67%. So Giddey hurts you in other areas. But if you have the right roster built, he could be an asset for your lineup.