Daniel Theis (PF/C, BOS): Week 15 Waiver Wire Pickups

Boston Celtics center Daniel Theis is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 15 of the NBA season.

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ANALYSIS: Remember when Joel Anthony was the unsuspected starting center of The Heatles back in the day? Well, that is Daniel Theis, only in Boston and much better. Theis has started in all games he's played except one (the first of the season), and his usage rate has slowly but surely gone up through the year going from near 14% to 16% now. Nothing substantial, but his numbers merit it.

Theis' last week-and-change going back to Jan. 16 has been his best of the season so far. In a six-game stretch going back to that day, Theis is averaging 12 points, 4+ rebounds, 2+ assists, 2 blocks, and a steal per game. Only four players (Andre Drummond, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, and Giannis Antetokounmpo) are keeping up those numbers on the year (actually, only AD is over 2 blocks per). The sample is really small for Theis, sure, but it shows what he's capable of.

On the season, Theis is playing 22.1 mpg although he often gets extended runs of 26+ minutes on certain games. His averages read 8.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 apg, and 1.5 (!) bpg, something that in this case is only being done four other players (Drummond, Davis, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Rudy Gobert). The difference here is that all of those four are logging at least 33 minutes per game while Theis is getting there on just 22 minutes of daily run. Obviously, the marks those are reaching are quite higher than those at the threshold, but even with that Theis is a pretty valuable asset going completely under the radar. Take advantage and pick him up while you still can, given that Boston won't probably make any move prior to the trade deadline and Theis will keep his role.