Dean Wade (PG/PF/C, CLE): Week 15 Waiver Wire Pickups

Cavaliers guard/forward/center Dean Wade is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup heading into Week 15 of the NBA season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14-Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 4% of leagues

ANALYSIS: If you're new, welcome to Dean Wade's world, the one where players are eligible at the PG and C position! That's Wade for you, and that already speaks of what Wade can do on a basketball court. Wade, just in case, is a true 6-9 PF averaging a low 5-3-1 on the season with 43/37/63 shooting splits. That's nothing to love a lot. Or is it? Wade only played more than 15 minutes in one of his first 23 games this season, which obviously cut his opportunities and made him a rather mediocre play. These days, though, things have completely flipped.

Wade started at the PF position for the first time back on Feb. 23, strung five starts in a row, and then came back to the pine after the break till March 27, when he got another start at PF that he followed with his first one at the C spot on April 1. In the past seven games through Friday, Wade is logging 27 MPG, producing an above-average 0.95 FP/min (only down a bit because of his large playing time), and putting up nightly 11-5-3-1 lines. Not bad, indeed.

It is still unclear which role Dean Wade will play ROS for these Cavs (remember, they acquired Jarrett Allen earlier this season and still have Larry Nance Jr. and Kevin Love around), but so far so good for Wade coming off the bench as part of the second unit, and starting as a backup for the injured Allen/Nance of late. Wade is a virtual lock to drop 10-to-15 points nightly (he's doing so without large usage rates, which bodes well for him), has upside on the rebounds and dimes departments, and best of all he's hitting three-pointers with gusto. The sophomore is shooting 4+ 3PA per game in March, hitting 1.8+ of them, and putting up a nice 39 shooting percentage from beyond the arc and 45 percent from the floor. In the past seven games he's hit a total of 13 3PM, and only in one match did he finished without at least one of them.

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