Fantasy NBA: Underperformers and the hot free-agent pickups with which to replace them

Photo credit: Game Face

With increased playing time, Philadelphia 76ers guard Louis Williams could reward your confidence as a free-agent pickup. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

By Kyle Stack

Special to amNewYork

The NBA regular season is barely six weeks old, so fantasy owners have plenty of time to take advantage of their league’s free-agent wire over the remaining 127 days.

No matter what league you’re in, there are rostered players who have no business being owned and diamonds in the rough waiting for some pickup polish. Here are three over- and under-owned players, along with their overall ownership percentages in Yahoo and ESPN leagues through yesterday.

Over-owned

Lamar Odom, SF/PF

Los Angeles Lakers

87% Yahoo, 92% ESPN

Typically a stat-filler, Odom and his production have are victims of the first reserve role in his 10-year career. Compare his anemic averages — 8.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists — to his career averages of 15.4, 8.8 and 4.4.

Most disturbing is Odom’s Shaq-like 58.5 free-throw percentage. Even worse for fantasy owners, his role likely won’t change given the Lakers’ 17-3 start. Odom’s reputation as a do-everything fantasy player doesn’t apply this season. He’s trade bait.

Jamario Moon, SF/PF

Toronto Raptors

44% Yahoo, 66% ESPN

Moon is a tantalizing athlete, but athleticism doesn’t score fantasy points. After a promising rookie season, Moon is playing 20.8 minutes per game, down nearly seven minutes from last season.

Moon’s scoring average is also down, from 8.5 points to 6.0; his blocks from 1.6 to 0.8; and, most drastically, his rebounding, from 6.2 to 2.8. With Andrea Bargnani and Joey Graham playing more minutes for Toronto at small forward this season, Moon looks fantasy-irrelevant.

Ricky Davis, SG/SF

Los Angeles Clippers

23% Yahoo, 67% ESPN

Davis is living off a reputation forged by his career 14.1-point scoring average. As recently as 2005-06, the 29-year-old Davis averaged 19.4 points, but this season has been disastrous.

Before he went out on Nov. 24 with inflamed tendons in his left knee, Davis was playing only 21.3 minutes per night, with a meager 4.3-point average on 27.2 percent field goal shooting. Owners should immediately dump him for a player who can do what Davis once did: score.

Under-owned

Carl Landry, SF/PF

Houston Rockets

11% Yahoo, 1% ESPN

To the 99 percent of ESPN fantasy owners shunning Landry: the forward is averaging 11.1 points on 60.8 percent field goal shooting and 5.5 rebounds in his past nine contests. But Landry’s 81.4 free throw percentage truly enhances his fantasy value as a big man.

Only nine players who qualify at power forward in either Yahoo or ESPN leagues have a higher free-throw percentage.

Louis Williams, PG/SG

Philadelphia 76ers

15% Yahoo, 3% ESPN

A preseason sleeper pick, Williams’ popularity took a 180-degree turn because of his 36.7 percent field-goal shooting this season.

But Williams has begun to break out of his slump, hitting 15 of 28 shots in his past three games, and his 8.2-point average on Nov. 23 has risen to 9.5 as the shifty guard scored in double figures in six of his past eight contests. With increased minutes, Williams will be a fine pickup.

Russell Westbrook, PG

Oklahoma City Thunder

52% Yahoo, 34% ESPN

Westbrook needs to be on more fantasy radars.

Thanks in part to the Thunder’s high pace of play (97.2 possessions per game), Westbrook is averaging 13.1 points despite a lowly 36.7 field-goal percentage. If owners can swallow that percentage, they’ll be rewarded in other ways. The rookie shoots well from the charity stripe (79.2) and his assist (4.2) and rebound (3.9) averages are solid. He also logs 1.8 steals per game.

Larry Hughes, SG

Chicago Bulls

28% Yahoo, 8% ESPN

A traditionally subpar shooter, Hughes is making a career-high percentage of his free throws (86.2) and three-pointers (46.9).

His 44.6 field-goal percentage has led to a 13.2 scoring average, slightly lower than his 14.8 career average. But when you consider that Hughes is firing only 10.7 shots in 27 minutes per game off the Chicago bench — his lowest averages in nearly a decade — it’s sensible for fantasy owners to take advantage of Hughes’ efficiency.

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