Fantasy Friday: Spencer Hawes and Daily Formats

Here are two thoughts for you to chew on:

• On New Year's Eve, Spencer Hawes cost $3,800 on FanDuel. One other Center cost $3,800: Ian Mahinmi.
• On New Year's Eve, Spencer Hawes played 23 minutes against the Knicks and notched 10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal for a total of 22.4 FanDuel points. Steven Adams ($5,100) is currently averaging 20.1 FanDuel points. Roy Hibbert ($5,300) is averaging 23.4 FanDuel points. Both Adams and Hibbert cost more than $5,000.

Ok, Spencer Hawes doesn't get to play the New York Knitwits every game, so I get that I cherrypicked his best performance. In fact, Hawes has exceeded 20 FanDuel points in just three of his past ten games. But, if you're looking for a value, Hawes may be your man.

The Clipper bench isn't yet a Titanic-level disaster, but there are many of us who can see the iceberg up ahead. Doc Rivers has been shuffling his deck chairs, but with the trade deadline still weeks away and the salve of veteran buyouts likely weeks beyond that, the coach has to rely on his deck chairs just improving their level of play. (Sorry, that analogy fell apart fast...)

Hawes seems like the likeliest non-Crawford bench piece to establish a regular contributing role. Doc invested heavily in him, using the full midlevel exception and trading a first-round draft pick to clear enough salary just to use said midlevel exception. Hawes has all the ability necessary to fit next to Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, and as Doc tightens his rotation to begin preparing for the playoff push, it's not silly to think that Hawes may see 20 minutes per night.

FanDuel doesn't reward Hawes' three-point shooting, one of his major advantages over other big men, but it does recognize his assists. Here are his assist totals over the same past ten games I mentioned earlier: 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 0, 2, 2. That looks good for a NBA Center, especially one who isn't in the starting lineup. It helps Hawes rise above the back-up big men dreck and into the territory of legitimate fantasy usefulness.

I wouldn't play Hawes every night, but if you like his matchup, the extra $1,000 or so he can give you over other Centers can afford you that little bit of extra cap room to stack your lineup with an extra star.

As always, head over to FanDuel to register and play their NBA fantasy games.

Disclaimer: Even though this is a sponsored post with affiliate links, all of the opinions in this post are my own. And as an FYI, FanDuel gave me some cash to play its daily fantasy games.