By this point of the season, fantasy owners should be able to identify their teams’ statistical shortcomings and be looking to address specific categories. Rather than “punt” a category, it’s best to sell from your strengths now and address your weaknesses. Here is a look at some potential trade targets that will provide significant boosts to individual categories. These are the specialists.

Blocks 

Top Target – DeAndre Jordan

The 23-year-old out of Houston is currently blocking 3.1 shots per game. Since the 2001-02 season, Marcus Camby is the only player to finish a season averaging more than three blocks per game (which he has done four times in his career). Jordan continues to improve and is learning more how to stay out of foul trouble. He’s a big part of the Clippers’ expectations and adding him to your fantasy team could take you from the bottom of the league in blocks to near the top.

Low-Cost Upgrade – Serge Ibaka

Expectations were high for Ibaka entering the season and he went among the top 50 picks in many fantasy drafts. However, he’s averaging just 24 minutes per game and his 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds likely have his current owners frustrated. He is still blocking 2.4 shots per game and there’s a very good chance his value goes nowhere but up from here out.

Waiver Target – Ekpe Udoh

The second-year player out of Baylor was drafted for his defense and has yet proven incapable of providing much else. With Kwame Brown out and Andris Biedrins struggling, Udoh will get his share of minutes. He has 11 blocks in his last five games.

Steals 

Top Target – Jason Kidd

Kidd has fashioned a hall-of-fame career by specializing in the specialists categories – primarily assists, threes, and steals. He has eight steals in his first two games since returning from a first-time back injury and should finish among the top 10 in the league for the 13^th time in his career. His 2500 career steals rank third all-time.

Low-Cost Upgrade – Mario Chalmers

Chalmers has produced some very good lines in January and it’s possible his owners have taken notice, lessening the likelihood that they’d be willing to part with him. He has 10 steals over his last four games and despite just three seasons of inconsistent playing time, he has proven to be effective in this category. Perhaps more importantly is that he’s averaging 32 minutes per game this month. That’s 10 more minutes than he averaged last season.

Waiver Target – George Hill

Hill has gotten off to an inconsistent start with his new team, but one could still debate that he is the best of Indiana’s top-three guards (Darren Collison and Paul George are the current starters). Hill has picked up 10 steals over his last three games and has been earning more minutes by excelling on both ends of the court.

Three-pointers 

Top Target – Chauncey Billups

As expected, Billups is developing into a primetime shooting guard quickly. He’s hoisting a career-best 5.9 three-pointers per game and hitting over 40% of them. Don’t expect much to change. He will make a run to lead the league in this category.

Low-Cost Upgrade – Anthony Morrow

A-Mo came off the bench last game as Avery Johnson made the ill-advised decision to start DeShawn Stevenson against the Clippers. Alas, Stevenson ended up (-26) for the game. Morrow should be back in the starting five very soon and he should be good to average at least 2.0 made threes per game from here on out. One of the most accurate long-distance shooters in the game, he’s hit 25-of-46 (54%) three-pointers over his last eight games.

Waiver Target – Daniel Gibson

Gibson has consistently garnered 25 minutes per game for the surprising 6-6 Cavaliers. He’s using that time to do what he does best; shoot a lot of treys. He’s averaging 4.0 attempts per game off of the bench and converting 45.8% of them. There’s no reason that could change and on any given week he could net your team 10 additional three-pointers.

Note: Keep an eye on Mike Miller as he is due to return this week.

Rebounds 

Top Target – David Lee

Prior to last season, Lee finished among the top three rebounders in the NBA in two-straight campaigns. His first season with the Warriors saw him fall to tenth in the league. But it’s clear he’s trending upwards and should finish the year averaging well over 11 rebounds per game as the Warriors need him desperately to work the glass.

Low-Cost Upgrade – Anderson Varejao

Varejao may be an even better rebounder than Lee and the Brazilian looks healthy after missing most all of last season after undergoing ankle surgery. His defense and work on the glass may be the biggest reasons why the Cavaliers are catching teams off guard. He could do the same for your fantasy team and shouldn’t cost much in a trade.

Waiver Target – Udonis Haslem

Haslem is actually owned in just over 50% of leagues, but he deserves mention in this report as he’s among the best examples of a specialist. While his numbers across the board scream mediocrity, the 10.2 rebounds per game is a large enough exception to make him worth owning.

Assists 

Top Target – Raymond Felton

Felton’s gotten off to a very disappointing start in Portland as he’s hit only 34.7% of his shots and is averaging just 10.4 points. He is still dishing out 7.2 assists. Expect all his numbers to climb as he will hit his very productive stride sooner or later.

Low-Cost Upgrade – Jarrett Jack

Jack is averaging 7.3 assists and that number should climb upon Eric Gordon’s return. The Hornets don’t have much depth at the position, so his production should remain consistently good throughout the season.

Waiver Target – Earl Watson

Simply put, Watson has been a much better option for the Jazz than Devin Harris for most of the season. It’s hard to imagine this continues, but Watson’s as averaged 5.6 assists in eight January games.

Tags: NBA, Rankings, Rotoinfo

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Fantasy Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.