Waiver Watch: Sunday Edition

There's not much time before championship week in season-long fantasy basketball. For managers lagging behind in the title race, it's time to heave a shot at the buzzer and pray it hits nothing but net. In that spirit, here's a look at three players to target off of the waiver wire:

SG/SF Tony Allen, Grizzlies

In a real-world situation, things should never be so dire that you're asking Allen -- a defensive specialist -- to shoulder a considerable portion of the load on offense. Yet this is exactly the situation that the Memphis Grizzlies currently find themselves in.

The team has lost most of its core to injury, including their two leading scorers in C Marc Gasol (16.6 points per game) and PG Mike Conley (15.3). Throw in PF Zach Randolph, who pops in and out of the lineup like a Whack-a-Mole target, and the team has had to redistribute well-over 30 shot attempts per game.

To Allen's credit, the longtime Grizzly has seen his usage rate jump from 11.4 percent in February to 20.5 percent in March. Having the ball in his hands more has led to a 14.5 points per game average through 11 March games.

Beggars can't be choosers this late in the fantasy season, so teams in need of a boost in scoring should consider picking up Allen, who will also live up to his "Grindfather" nickname by adding a handful of steals as well. He is owned in less than 50 percent of leagues and has four games between March 28 and April 3.

PF/C Ed Davis, Trail Blazers

The pickings are slim for volume rebounders. The public has woken up to the big-game potential of Suns C Alex Len, though he's still available in some leagues. Raptors C Bismack Biyombo had a couple of monster games starting in place of Jonas Valanciunas, but the Congolese big man is back in a limited bench role.

For a rebounder that is still available in the majority of leagues, consider Portland's Ed Davis. Though he has started a grand total of zero games this season for the Blazers, he has become a valued rotation big for the team. With Meyers Leonard shut down for the season with injury, Davis should see more minutes for a team fighting to maintain their playoff seed.

In the past two weeks, Davis has averaged 8.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4 steals and a block in just 20 minutes per game. That's probably not good enough to swing a matchup, but steady production across the board makes him a nice pickup.

PG D.J. Augustin, Nuggets

Assists are even harder to find than rebounds, though Augustin can be a solid fill-in, all things considered. He is 37th in the NBA in assists per game over the past month with 5.1 per game.

Coincidentally, the player that Augustin best resembles in terms of production is teammate Emmanuel Mudiay. Look at how similar these players are over their last 15 games:

Augustin puts up very similar stats per game as the rookie he shares a backcourt with, and he does so in less minutes per game. And yet, Mudiay is owned in nearly twice as many leagues. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and that could mean rostering Augustin for the final week of the fantasy season to be a poor man's Mudiay.