Last week I discussed the winning mentality for contenders in keeper leagues, and this week I will look at the flip side of that spectrum: the rebuilders. Like I said last week, in keeper leagues there are really only two slots to fall into: contender or rebuilder. You don’t want to be stuck in the middle, happy with mediocrity while not either winning or doing poorly enough to improve your draft pick. I know it is difficult to feel uncompetitive, but be realistic with yourself and aim for what’s best for your team. The sooner you realize a title isn’t going to happen this year, the quicker you can start preparing to win it next season.

How do you get better for next season? By using the teams going all out to win it this season and the ones sitting in the gray area in denial. It’s simple really; you are looking for future pieces and/or injured players who can’t help them now but you think will be strong contributors for you next season. Players like Danilo Gallinari, Al Horford, Eric Bledsoe, etc., are perfect targets for a rebuilder. Obviously you’d be more willing to pay up more for a Bledsoe or Horford whereas you’d be ok with stashing Galli if you could (while keeping in mind that his knee issue is not worth overpaying for). So if you see a contender with one of these players on his or her team, aim to steal them for your next season goal.

A contender has Al Horford and you would love to have him kept for next season, so what is your planned attack? First you attempt to go with a less attractive next season player but who is putting up nice numbers currently, like JJ Hickson or Carlos Boozer. If that is a no go for them, then you go with a player worthy of being kept but long term they’re closer to their career decline than incline, like Tim Duncan or Pau Gasol. It is very important that you stay focused on the objective here, which is to improve next year and beyond while tolerating the fact that you’re “losing” the deal for now. After all, the loss of big man stats the rest of the way in exchange for a player who will not put up another statistic this season still helps your goal. You’d be making your team worse in each matchup, thus hurting your record, thus improving your draft pick in the upcoming loaded NBA Draft. I don’t respect intentional tanking via not setting lineups though. If you “tank” by unloading older and peaking players for guys with upside or are recovering from injury, that’s totally legitimate.

Speaking of this offseason’s NBA draft, it is pretty important to land yourself in the top six picks. This draft is more hyped than any draft the last decade, but in reality it’s not incredibly deep past the extraordinarily strong top six. Obviously a couple more good options could arise between now and then, but I personally have (in no set order) Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Dante Exum, Marcus Smart and Julius Randle as the primo of the class. It will of course have some surprises, but overall this class is quite average beyond that colossal top six. The worse you are this season, the better pick you get, and the better choice you get out of those six.

When I mention “future pieces”, that is my way of referring to young players who are poised to breakout later this season or next, like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Taj Gibson and Jonas Valanciunas. Giannis has shown a lot of traits of a future breakout player. He just looks too similar to Nicolas Batum to shake that kind of upside out of your head, but he hasn’t even come close to his statistical potential yet, making him a great “buy now for later” target. In Chicago, there’s much speculation that Taj Gibson will take on a starting role if and when the Bulls amnesty Carlos Boozer to give themselves more cap space after this season. Taj has started six games this season, posting averages of 18.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 blocks. If you’re able to get him at a fair price now, make the move. Jonas Valanciunas has begun putting up pretty good big man numbers already but it’s only a fraction of his capability in the long run. If an owner is frustrated with his season of ups and downs and you have a player to offer for him that is simply putting up better stats for a contender the rest of this season, I’d pull the trigger. There are a ton of guys like this out there poised for bigger things whether it’s due to becoming a free agent and likely landing a starting gig or becoming a starter because a current starter will leave in free agency. Be ahead of the curve on these. Yes, it is a risky move, but go big or go home. On the other hand, don’t pay too much making the risk not worth it.

Last but not close to least, overpay with depth to get an absolute stud. Make an offer loaded with stats to help a contender big time in exchange for a beastly young keeper. For instance, pay up huge to try and acquire Anthony Davis. Davis is going to be a top five fantasy player (that’s a modest range; I think top two) for the foreseeable future. Even if you have to give a pretty good keeper in the deal, like maybe a Serge Ibaka or something, then add in another valuable win-now guy like Thaddeus Young. If they still say no, offer another decent piece that boosts the end of their bench. Always be willing to overpay a bit to land a top 10 dynasty league player. If you can do this without giving up your best player, even better, but start throwing out starters for all the contenders’ top guns and see where it leads. One in particular that is perfect to go for is Stephen Curry. Hopefully a contender in your league has him, and if so, you need to send them a “rough draft” offer and be sure to point out Curry’s awful playoff schedule. In the standard three playoff weeks, the Warriors play two games, three games, four games. Having your best player only twice in the first week of the playoffs can potentially get you a one-way ticket out of the dance. Sell that, and offer plenty to acquire the keeper league gem that is Steph.

Ok, now on to this week’s waiver wire targets:

Danny Green (Owned in 52% of leagues) – Danny Green had a quietly good season in 2012-13, and he popped up on people’s radars with his terrific playoff performance. Green was ranked top 75 in a lot of places, which I thought was a bit high, but with his couple of treys per game and ability to get over one steal and close to one block a game, it was arguable. Green got off to a really rough start to his 2013-14 campaign and capped his slow start off with an injury that sidelined him for 10 games. Green was putting up close to his normal steals and blocks but his shot just wasn’t falling as well. He went from 45% from the field and 43% from three point land last season to 41% and 39% this season. Now that Green is back though, he has found himself in an ideal situation to boost his numbers with several Spur injuries. In three games since returning Green has averaged 37 minutes, 15.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, one steal, 1.7 blocks and three treys a night. It’s apparent that Green will thrive at least for the short term with the Spur’s injuries piled up, but maybe he’ll keep his confidence and groove going even after players like Kawhi Leonard return and still be productive enough to stay owned. I am giving you all the “Green” light to add him in all formats.

Steve Blake (50%) – Blake is another player who just returned from injury (missed 26 games) and finds himself taking on major minutes due to an abundance of injured players for the Lakers. Nobody knew how the guard situation would shake out with Kendall Marshall and Jodie Meeks playing so well, Steve Nash, Jordan Farmar and Blake all returning from injury at the same time. D’Antoni made a shocking announcement before their first game stating that Nash and Blake would start at the guard spots sending the hot duo of Marshall and Meeks to the pine. Now we know that Nash won’t be playing back-to-backs at least for the time being while Meeks and Nick Young both were injured in this past Tuesday night’s game. With all of that happening, Blake has stepped right into a MAJOR role and has been dynamic in his three games played since returning to the lineup. Although he didn’t score in his first game back, he did still play over 30 minutes and put up five boards, six dimes and two steals. In the two games after that though he 12.5 points, seven rebounds, 11.5 dishes, 2.5 swipes and three treys per. Blake is definitely worth grabbing and using while the Lakers are so dismantled at the guard spots if you’re in the need for assists, steals and threes.

Khris Middleton (19.9%) – Middleton has been really good the past couple of weeks as he’s been starting and racking up over thirty minutes a night, which is an amazing stretch of usage for a youngin’ in Larry Drew‘s madness of lineup tom foolery. With the injury to Caron Butler, it only further cemented Khris’ minutes and his production has been quite impressive and honestly surprising. The past fifteen days he has put up more than 15 points, two treys and over a steal a game while shooting an impressive 50% from the field and 77% from the charity stripe. Middleton should likely be owned in most 12-teamers and especially in anything deeper than that, but be warned as always that with Larry Drew, his minutes could fall off at any moment with no reason or warning.

Kyle Singler (0.3%) – Ugh, I feel like I have to write about a Duke player every week, but what can you do? Singler is creeping his way back into relevancy for standard league owners. He’s not a sure thing just yet but it seems like he’s taken over as the Piston’s starting SG and he’s done well with his chances to earn the gig. Not counting the absolute dud he put up vs. Miami this past week, in his past three games he’s put up 15.5 points with three treys as well as 1.7 steals and a block per game. If you’re in a 12-team league and have a low end guy at the bottom of your roster that’s droppable, take the flyer on Singler. It really appears to be his job to lose at this point as rookie and former starter Kentavious Caldwell-Pope only played eight minutes on Friday night, while Singler has played over 30 minutes in four straight. This is one of those sneaky adds that other owners will turn their noses up to and it could easily come back to haunt them.

Tony Wroten (6.4%) – A name that I am sure at some point this season you’ve all thought about owning on a few occasions as he’s had some pretty good stretches on the year. Well, he’s on a heater right now and deserving of consideration in deep 12-teamers and anything deeper. Wroten has averaged 17.7 points to go along with three assists and just under four boards a night in the 76ers past four games. Tony also has a knack for getting to the FT line and despite his mediocre percentage from the free line on the season, he’s hit 85% the last two weeks. Mostly Wroten is a scoring threat and if you’re in need of points, he’s worth adding while he’s on a roll.

All percentages were gathered from ESPN.com

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