This article is part of our Category Strategy series.
CATEGORY STRATEGY
Each week, this article highlights players who are widely available in standard leagues that can help in specific roto categories. While each player highlighted can help in a specific category, there's no guarantee for production in other areas.
POINTS and ASSISTS
Jarrett Jack, PG, Cavs
Jack has always been more effective and comfortable as a scorer, which is why I'm mentioning him here instead of in the assists section. At this point, it's probably safer to assume that Kyrie Irving won't be back this week, and in April, each week is important. So, considering Jack is averaging 16-plus points in 37-plus minutes over his last five games, even if that dips slightly, he should be owned in more than the 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues he's currently owned in.
REBOUNDS
Jordan Hill, PF, Lakers
Predictably, Hill's minutes and production have been all over the map lately. He's always been one of coach Mike D'Antoni's five most efficient and productive per-minute players, but for some reason, he's never seen consistent run. He doesn't shoot three-pointers, so that may have something to do with it, but Hill's injuries this season also didn't help. Now that he's healthy, he still might struggle to get consistent playing time, given the history of the coach and the player, but Hill's per-game upside trumps that of any player on the waiver wire, as he displayed Thursday with a 28-point/16-rebound game, which was then followed up by a mediocre performance due to seeing just 28 minutes. He's not available in most deep, competitive leagues, but Hill should still be out there in plenty of standard leagues due to his volatility.
ASSISTS
Tony Wroten, PG, Sixers
He's not going to be a stud going forward in the category, but he had nine dimes in his first game back from injury, and due to the brief period of inaction, Wroten is available in over 85 percent of leagues. You already know that he'll be helpful in points and steals when he's playing, but if you're looking for assists, I'd trust him more going forward than guys like Will Bynum and Aaron Brooks.
STEALS
Kent Bazemore, SG, Lakers
He's been a moderate steals guy (1.2 per game) ever since he started getting legitimate run with the Lakers, and, like Hill, Bazemore is a little unpredictable in terms of playing time. He played 33 minutes, 18 minutes and 36 minutes, respectively, over his last three games. Bazemore has been getting disrespected recently on waiver wires, and is available in more leagues than he should be.
BLOCKS
Samuel Dalembert, C, Mavs
Dalembert has led the league in blocks per game (2.4) over the past two weeks, and while we've all owned and dropped Dalembert at some point over the past five seasons, it's hard to deny his viability in this category. It's also hard to find a league where he's not owned, so if blocks are what you desire, and you're willing to be the guy who picks up Dalembert in your league, he might be your guy. Omer Asik and Kyle O'Quinn are other options here, but playing time is a serious issue with them.
THREE-POINTERS
Terrence Ross, SF, Raptors
I haven't done a count, but I feel like I've listed Ross here at least two times already this season. At this point, you should be aware that he's a great option for three-pointers, yet he's available in 65 percent of leagues. The Raptors drafted him to be a long-range shooter, and he's delivered, shooting 38 percent from behind the arc for his career, thanks to a better than 40 percent rate this season.
