Week 5 Fantasy Basketball Waiver Wire: NBA Rebounds Specialists

November 29, 2014

In his Week 5 NBA Category Specialist column, Trevor Crippen searches the fantasy basketball waiver wire for some sleepers that can help out in rebounds.

The 2014-15 NBA Season has really heated up, and so it's time to dive back into the fantasy basketball waiver wire. Today, the focus is on sleeper options that can help your team out in the rebounds department.

Rebounds Category Specialists

Kevin Garnett (BKN, PF/C) – 20% owned

For as inconsistent as KG has been with his minutes and scoring, he’s been killing it on the boards nearly every game. His 8.3 rebounds per game ties him with Paul Millsap and Marc Gasol for the 23rd in the NBA. Of the players ranked ahead of Garnett in rebounds per game, only Omer Asik (65%) is owned in fewer than 75% of fantasy leagues. For a player who is only owned in 20% of leagues, you won't find more rebounds than you can with KG.

Typically, rebounds on the wire are usually tied up in a big man like Ed Davis or Steven Adams who is going to hurt your FT%. KG, though, has hit well over 80% in the last decade, and he is shooting 94.4% from the stripe this year. As a top-tier rebounding specialist who won’t hurt your percentages and who still has upside for a few flashback KG games, Garnett belongs at the top of your watchlist options for streaming rebounds.

Donatas Motiejunas (HOU, SF/PF) – 15% owned

Motiejunas has been receiving a lot of minutes at forward with Terrence Jones out indefinitely and Dwight Howard also hurt. Motiejunas had a mini hot-streak scoring the ball right before Thanksgiving, scoring 14, 13 and 21 in three straight games, before crashing back to earth on Black Friday with a six-point game on three of nine shooting. All the while, though, he has been rebounding the ball. In the last nine contests, Motiejunas has averaged 6.9 rebounds a game. He has also put up respectable percentages-- .494 FG% and .750 FT%-- with 1.1 steals, 0.8 blocks and 0.7 threes per game.

There is probably an expiration date on this level of performance from Motiejunas as far as the shooting goes, but he can be trusted for some solid rebounds that you can insert at the SF position for as long as Terrence Jones remains out.

P.J. Tucker (PHO – SG/SF) – 23% owned

Sometimes raw rebounds aren't quite enough when you are trying to win a close race in a head-to-head matchup. If you've already got all your center and forward spots filled with useful players but still want to add more rebounds, you need to look for a guard who can come down with some boards. P.J. Tucker of the Suns has been as good as any guard-eligible player in that department this season– especially over the last couple of weeks.

Tucker is averaging 6.4 rebounds a game this season, including 7.6 over the last five games. He averaged 6.5 rebounds a game a season ago, so he has proven that he can attack the boards. Additionally, Tucker has been aggressive on defense and as a shooter, averaging nearly a steal per game this season (down from 1.4 a last year) and taking plenty of three-point shots, hitting 1.3 per game out of 2.8 attempts so far on the season. Tucker makes for a nice streamer for rebounds at the guard spot, especially if you are still worried about steals or threes, too.