Contests Dashboard: NBA DFS Review - 1/30/22
Most of the world was tuned into Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford on Sunday.
But in the NBA DFS streets, users across the industry were more interested in Tre Jones and Devin Vassell. However, only Jones ($3,000) was in the winning lineup of the DraftKings NBA $150K Fadeaway, which featured 11,764 entries.
Let’s break down the slate using Contests Dashboard (powered by FantasyLabs) to see where DFS players went right and where they wrong.
aanderson13 takes down $50K
User aanderson13, who threw in 150 lineups (133 unique), scored 371.75 and won by a fraction of a point to take down the first-place prize of $50,000. It’s never easy to figure out coach Gregg Charles Popovich, but aanderson did a superb job on Sunday to navigate through the messy value.
Jones and Doug McDermott ($3,500) were the Spurs’ value that absolutely crushed and were necessary for GPP takedowns. A look at aanderson13’s exposures using the Contests Dashboard tool, shows that the winning user generally played the field on Jones (60% owned, 60% exposure) and Vassell (47% owned, 50% exposure). The San Antonio “stands” that aanderson took were on McDermott (13% owned, 29% exposure), which he was over twice the field, while also 10% overweight on Drew Eubanks, which the field held 30%. aanderson was underweight on other popular Spurs Keldon Johnson and Lonnie Walker.
The San Antonio value came through thanks to the game being competitive. However, Suns’ “bring-backs” for game stacks were not necessary. The only Sun in any of aanderson’s best 13 lineups was one lonely share of Cameron Johnson, who he was almost 20% overweight on.
Pistons pair made a pretty penny
Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey smashed their salaries in a brutal matchup against the Cavs and proved to be GPP winners.
Anderson, who played 20% Cade (field 14%), paired the rookie with teammate Saddiq Bey ($6,100, 41.75 DKP) on the winning team, who came in at single-digit ownership in what appeared to be an underwhelming game environment. The Pistons’ duo were a part of three 2-0 stacks on the winning lineup, which also popped as a popular winning stack in Sunday’s Slate IQ article.
Another fantastic GPP call by Anderson was going 10% overweight on good ol’ min-price Marquese Chriss, while just playing the field on popular punt Maxi Kleber.
Anderson played the field on Karl-Anthony Towns and was slightly overweight Luka Doncic. Towns became a very appealing play with late news of D’Angelo Russell and Patrick Beverley being ruled out against a Rudy Gobert-less Utah team, which is statistically (and unsurprisingly) worse defensively without him.
Arguably, Anderson’s biggest stand was being super aggressive on Jaden McDaniels, who he was about 25% overweight on. The field had McDaniels at just 4.8%, who crushed his $3,400 tag for 31 DKP. Surprisingly, McDaniels was not in the winning lineup, but was on Anderson’s 21st ranked team, which scored 351.50. Anderson logged four teams in the top 1% and 19 in the top 10%.
A look at the top overall player
Top overall RotoGrinders ranked player moklovin was most aggressive on Tre Jones in the contest, who he had 90% exposure to. Moklovin was roughly 18% overweight on Eubanks, and was about 8-11% over on McDermott, Walker and Vassell. He was overweight on both studs who appeared on anderson’s winning team and also owned 10% of Chriss.
Moklovin, who also 150-max’d the tournament, had 40 players in his pool to anderson’s 49. Moklovin was strong on Hassan Whiteside (28% overweight) who underperformed against Minnesota.
Pool, salary and uniques
User garnes222, who also played 150 lineups in the Fadeaway, had the most players in his pool of anyone in the tournament with 73. Garnes and user Dr.Karl both had 149 unique lineups — most in the field.
User hixx, who played 150 lineups, with 144 unique, had the second highest ROI in the tournament ($9,270). Hixx had a pool of 60 players, which featured 89% of Tre Jones, 20% of both Bey and Cunningham and 13% Chriss. Hixx played about the field on Doncic.
Over 50% of lineups in the top 1% of the Fadeaway used all of its $50,000 salary.
The top-5 lineups in the Fadeaway had total lineup ownership ranging between 166-200%.
mbhabes wins $10K in DK’s Alley Oop
In the DK $555, $50K Alley Oop, with 100 total entries, user mbhabes scored 345 with his single bullet to take down $10,000.
In the higher stakes tournament, he was able to get away with a dud from Vassell and a sub-par output from Whiteside. Another spur, Keldon Johnson, didn’t appear in the Fadeaway’s winning lineup, but more than served his purpose in the Alley Oop.
“Weekend NBA is usually softer during NFL season,” mbhabes said in an interview. “Winning the $555 against fewer entries and a distracted focus only requires hitting one or two low-owned plays. Cade Cunningham was 0/11 at the half and went ballistic in the fourth quarter — 61 fantasy points at 10% pOWN was more than enough leverage to complement an otherwise chalky build.”
According to our Contests Dashboard tool, the sharper, smaller field in the Alley Oop had Jones at 83% ownership, Vassell at 68% and Doncic at 64% — each were 15-20% higher in the Oop, compared to the Fadeaway.
In the Oop, user oxenduck had the best ROI of anyone who played the maximum of three entries. Duck locked in Jones on all of his three teams and rounded out his core with Vassell, Eubanks and Giannis Antetokounmpo on two teams each.