Buy, Sell, or Hold: John Collins and C.J. McCollum

February 13, 2020

Milos Zvekic's buy low, sell high trade advice for Week 17 of fantasy NBA. Milos delivers buy/hold/sell recommendations for John Collins and CJ McCollum in fantasy basketball leagues.

If you make the right move at the right time you can drastically improve your team for the rest of the season. Swapping an in-form player who you don't expect to keep shining for a slumping star who is about to turn it around even though his owner has already given up on him can make a world of difference come fantasy playoffs.

Try and find such players and use this to your advantage in trade talks. In the end, it might win you your league.

Here are our Sell High and Buy Low candidates for Week 17 of the NBA season, right here at RotoBaller.

Buy Low, Sell High Advice for Week 17

Are You for Real, John Collins?

Collins has turned out to be just the stud his owners hoped he would be. He is ranked at #11 on the year (despite missing 25 games due to his suspension) and he's been even better in the past 14 days with averages of 24.9 PTS with 1.1 3PM on 63.3 FG% and 82.4 FT%, 11.5 REB, 1.8 AST, 0.4 STL, 0.9 BLK and 1.6 TO in over 37 minutes a night. This has him up to #7. Even with his stocks taking a dip, this insane efficiency and very decent rebounding are doing wonders for his value.

But why won't it last?

Well, there's no guarantee it won't. But the addition of Clint Capela at the trade deadline could impact him. Capela is currently out with an injury but is hopeful to return after the AllStar game. A healthy top-5 rebounder is pretty certain put at least a small dent into John's rebounding numbers.

It is also questionable how the Hawks will set up with another young stud on their team. Even though Capela doesn't necessarily need touches to play his game and be useful or happy, Atlanta will surely look to utilize him to the best of his abilities. This could take away some shots, or perhaps create a more crowded paint with Capela unable to stretch the defense.

So selling Collins high is more of a "too many ifs" move than a "he is overperforming his qualities" one. But still, could prove to be pretty useful if he really does lose value with Clint on board.

I wouldn't settle for anything less than a top-15 player in return for Collins, as he has really been great this season. But if an owner was to give up his Bradley Beal, Rudy Gobert or Paul George for my Collins I would definitely think twice about it and, depending on team fit, pull the trigger on the deal.

Baller Move: Sell high

Time to Panic on C.J. McCollum?

CJ has been sneaky bad in the past two weeks. You wouldn't have thought it at the first glance of his stats as he has scored in double digits and hit at least two three-pointers in each of his last eight. He also failed to record more than one assist only once, and more than one rebound also just once in the same stretch. That doesn't sound too bad, does it?

But a closer look at his stats from this period reveals a different story. His averages of 19.4 points with 3.0 threes on 39.9 FG% and 64.3 FT%, 3.4 boards, 3.5 dimes, 0.4 steals, 0.4 blocks and 1.8 turnovers in almost 36 minutes a game don't do justice to his top-50 value. Not even close! Actually, he is outside the top-200!

Now, it has happened to McCollum to have a cold streak, and he always turns it around. There is no reason to doubt he will do it again this time.

Furthermore, his teammate and Portlands' #1 star Damien Lillard strained his right groin and is expected to miss time. If this were to really happen, this would put the ball into CJ's hands and give him a nice boost in both usage and shots. With the increased opportunity, if he gets his groove back, CJ could get into the top-25 while Dame is out.

Depending on how serious Lillard's injury turns out to be, I would be looking at different value guys to part with in order to get my hands on McCollum. If it's short term, then someone in the top-60 to 75 would be something I would target to send the other way like Jonas Valanciunas or Kelly Oubre Jr. If it's something a bit more serious, and McCollum is unleashed until the end of our fantasy season, I could see myself parting with top-50 guys like Tobias Harris or LaMarcus Aldridge.

Baller Move: Hold or buy low

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