In-Season Strategy: Week 3 Start/Sit

In-Season Strategy: Week 3 Start/Sit

This article is part of our In-Season Strategy series.

Week 2 offered plenty of opportunities to stream. Multiple teams were on two-game weeks while others were on four-game weeks. Week 3 is a different story. There are no teams with a two-game week. But there happens to be two teams (Portland and Philadelphia) on a five-game week. So, we'll mostly be looking in the margins for some small advantages.

Teams with three games: BOS, CHA, CLE, DAL, DET, GSW, HOU, LAC, MEM, MIA, MIL, OKC, ORL, PHX, UTA, WAS

Teams with four games: ATL, BKN, CHI, DEN, IND, LAL, MIN, NOP, NY, SAC, SAS, TOR

Teams with five games: PHI, POR

GUARDS

Consider Sitting

Reggie Jackson, DET (94% owned)
Opponents: BOS, BKN, PHI
Jackson has been solid in some areas and disappointing in others. He's scoring 19.0 points per game and hitting 3.0 threes but converting just 40.0 percent of his looks overall. He's also dishing out only 4.3 assists per contest. Week 3's games won't be a cakewalk for Jackson. Boston enters Friday with the best defense in the league, while Brooklyn and Philadelphia rank 14th and 15th, respectively.

Lou Williams, LAC (96% owned)
Opponents: OKC, PHI, ORL
As expected, Williams isn't living up to last season's Sixth Man of the Year numbers. He's launching shots at a decent rate (13.3 field-goal attempts per game) but hasn't shot particularly well, hitting just 35.8 percent of his field goals overall and 21.1 percent from deep. Those percentages will rise, and maybe that will happen this week, but

Week 2 offered plenty of opportunities to stream. Multiple teams were on two-game weeks while others were on four-game weeks. Week 3 is a different story. There are no teams with a two-game week. But there happens to be two teams (Portland and Philadelphia) on a five-game week. So, we'll mostly be looking in the margins for some small advantages.

Teams with three games: BOS, CHA, CLE, DAL, DET, GSW, HOU, LAC, MEM, MIA, MIL, OKC, ORL, PHX, UTA, WAS

Teams with four games: ATL, BKN, CHI, DEN, IND, LAL, MIN, NOP, NY, SAC, SAS, TOR

Teams with five games: PHI, POR

GUARDS

Consider Sitting

Reggie Jackson, DET (94% owned)
Opponents: BOS, BKN, PHI
Jackson has been solid in some areas and disappointing in others. He's scoring 19.0 points per game and hitting 3.0 threes but converting just 40.0 percent of his looks overall. He's also dishing out only 4.3 assists per contest. Week 3's games won't be a cakewalk for Jackson. Boston enters Friday with the best defense in the league, while Brooklyn and Philadelphia rank 14th and 15th, respectively.

Lou Williams, LAC (96% owned)
Opponents: OKC, PHI, ORL
As expected, Williams isn't living up to last season's Sixth Man of the Year numbers. He's launching shots at a decent rate (13.3 field-goal attempts per game) but hasn't shot particularly well, hitting just 35.8 percent of his field goals overall and 21.1 percent from deep. Those percentages will rise, and maybe that will happen this week, but I'm more concerned about his minutes and his passing. He's playing only 25.5 minutes and averaging 2.3 assists per game. That gives him little margin for error, from a Fantasy perspective. If he doesn't hit his shots, he won't be giving you supplementary stats.

Consider Starting

Cameron Payne, CHI (19% owned)
Opponents: GS, DEN, IND, HOU
Kris Dunn will be out for about a month due to an MCL sprain, giving Payne an opportunity to step into the starting point guard role for Chicago. His most recent outing was encouraging, as Payne posted 21 points (7-13 FG, 7-11 3Pt), five rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. It would be surprising if Payne drops 20 points again soon -- and even more surprising if he hits seven threes -- but he showed upside last year when seeing 30-plus minutes, averaging 12.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.0 rebounds in those contests.

Nik Stauskas, POR (19% owned)
Opponents: IND, HOU, NOP, LAL, MIN
Stauskas' Fantasy relevance is unexpected. The sheer number of options in the Trail Blazers' backcourt suggested Stauskas wouldn't see enough minutes to make an impact, even if he made strides. But through four games, Stauskas is seeing 23.8 minutes per game and averaging 11.5 points on 46.9 percent shooting, 3.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.3 threes. Considering Portland is on a five game week, Stauskas is worth strong consideration as a streaming option.

FORWARDS

Consider Sitting

Gordon Hayward, BOS (100% owned)
Opponents: DET, MIL, IND
Hayward continues to see his minutes limited. He has yet to play more than 25 minutes in any game this season. As a result, his production has been limited. On a three-game week, it might be best to look elsewhere rather than banking on Hayward to surpass his averages of 10.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals. His percentages have been weak, as well, as Hayward is shooting 39.5 percent from the field and is only 4-of-7 from the charity stripe. Right now, the lack of attempts is more concerning than the conversion rate.

Nicolas Batum, CHA (96% owned)
Opponents: MIA, OKC, CLE
The Heat and Thunder, both slow and defensive-minded, are not ideal opponents for Batum heading into a three-game week. Batum hasn't done anything out of the ordinary thus far, averaging 10.8 points on 39.2 percent shooting, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.0 threes and 1.2 steals. There simply might be other options at forward this week with better situations.

Consider Starting

Marvin Bagley, SAC (97% owned)
Opponents: MIA, ORL, ATL, MIL
Bagley's early workload has been up and down. Through five games, he's played 12, 33, 24, 32, 22 and minutes. Starting the rookie carries some risk due to that fluctuation, but Bagley has impressed over the past four outings. Facing the Pelicans, Thunder, Nuggets and Grizzlies, he's averaged 16.3 points on 59.5 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 steal.

Al-Farouq Aminu, POR (58% owned)
Opponents: IND, HOU, NOP, LAL, MIN
Aminu is often inconsistent. Thus far, he's scored in double-digits twice and single digits twice. He's also grabbed 10-plus boards twice and grabbed fewer than 10 twice. Overall, however, Aminu is doing what we've generally come to expect from him. He's averaging 8.8 points and 10.5 rebounds and hitting 1.3 threes while shooting less than 40 percent from the field. On a three-game week his inconsistency can be brutal. But on a five game week, Aminu should be able to put together enough overall production to be worth a start. He could net 50 points and 50 rebounds.

CENTERS

Consider Sitting

Brook Lopez, MIL (86% owned)
Opponents: TOR, BOS, SAC
Lopez has played well in his new role in Milwaukee, firing off a career-high 7.3 three-point attempts per contest and landing 37.9 percent of them. However, his work on the glass has reached a new low, as Lopez is averaging just 2.8 rebounds. Toronto and Boston are intimidating opponents, and if Lopez happens to have an off week shooting the ball, he may not be able to grab enough rebounds to make up for it.

Marc Gasol, MEM (100% owned)
Opponents: WAS, UTA, PHX
This recommendation is partially based off Gasol dealing with an injury. We don't have much information about his status at the time of writing, but Gasol left Wednesday's game with about six minutes remaining due to what appeared to be a neck injury. If he's limited in any capacity, that could hamper his ability to put up quality numbers when facing Rudy Gobert and Deandre Ayton for the Grizzlies' two latter games. Gasol has also been struggling offensively, hitting only 34.8 percent of his shots.

Consider Starting

Zach Collins, POR (22% owned)
Opponents: IND, HOU, NOP, LAL, MIN
Collins is only seeing 19.8 minutes per contest, but he's impressed in limited action. Against Orlando on Thursday, he posted 17 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in 18 minutes. On the season, Collins is averaging 10.3 points on 72.7 percent shooting, 5.5 boards, 2.3 blocks 1.0 assist and 1.0 three. Even if he comes back down to earth a little, a five-game week presents plenty of opportunity for him to rack up stats. In head-to-head formats, he's especially valuable as a shot-blocker.

Jonas Valanciunas, TOR (91% owned)
Opponents: MIL, PHI, PHX, LAL
Valanciunas is always a risk due to his low workload (18.6 minutes per game, but a four-game week minimizes some of that risk, however. He's also been dominant in his limited time, averaging 11.8 points on 60.5 percent shooting, 8.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists. Valanciunas also has a chance to see extra run against the 76ers and Suns to help deal with the likes of Joel Embiid and Deandre Ayton. A 40-point, 40-rebound week isn't out of the question.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Barutha
Alex is RotoWire's Chief NBA Editor. He writes articles about daily fantasy, year-long fantasy and sports betting. You can hear him on the RotoWire NBA Podcast, Sirius XM, VSiN and other platforms. He firmly believes Robert Covington is the most underrated fantasy player of the past decade.
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