Daily NBA: Early Season Bargains
Daily NBA: Early Season Bargains
About the Writer: Allen “Tippy” Tippy operates Fantasy Basketball Daily where he covers the day-to-day fantasy NBA scene for season long and daily league players. He’s been participating in Daily Fantasy Sports since 2007 across all of the major sites; concentrating mostly on the NBA. He’s a huge Alabama Crimson Tide fan, Chicago Cubs fan and an avid poker player. Tippy day-trades the S&P 500 Futures market and foreign currency markets for a living. He lives in West Virginia with his wife and seven year old daughter.
An Early Season Tipp
The secret to winning daily fantasy basketball contests is to find the players who are mispriced due to any number of factors. Over the last couple of seasons, I’ve noticed that the biggest bargains of the year are usually found during the first couple of weeks of the season before sites have a chance to adjust their player pricing system. Basically, sites are using stale stats based on the prior year’s performance to price players who have clearly changed roles. These players are your early season daily bargain targets. I’ve scanned the sites and created a list of 20 players that you should definitely have on your early season play list. I’m sure these players will get adjusted quickly, so enjoy using them while you can.
I’ll be posting an article Wednesday morning with some advice and picks for the Fanduel.com $4,000 NBA Slam Tournament, so make sure you check it out before setting your final rosters!
Point Guard
John Wall – He’s just a rookie, but the guy is going to be an absolute daily fantasy stud. I’ve seen him priced on some sites near minimum salary, which is an incredible bargain. There is no reason that Wall can’t climb into the Top 5 daily fantasy point guards.
Darren Collison – Collison has gone from a backup role to being the man in Indiana, however his price hasn’t quite reflected the change in role yet.
D. J. Augustin – Augustin played backup to Raymond Felton last season, but Felton’s in New York now which leaves the starting PG job in Charlotte for Augustin. He isn’t flashy, but he will easily out produce his current price tag.
Mo Williams – LeBron’s no longer going to be hogging the ball in Cleveland and Mo should be the beneficiary of a lot of extra touches, which should allow him to exceed a stale pricing based on last season’s stats.
Shooting Guard
Marco Belinelli – Belinelli has been a career backup, but he’s landed a starting job in New Orleans. He’s mispriced on just about every site.
Jason Richardson – Phoenix lost Amare Stoudemire in the offseason and someone is going to have to pick up the scoring. Phoenix is going to lean hard on Richardson, so his early season daily value should exceed last season’s per game stats.
Anthony Morrow – Morrow has worked himself into a starting job for the Nets and has a deadly shot. He’ll get good minutes and will easily out produce where most sites have him priced.
Evan Turner – He’s a risky rookie, but most sites are going to start him off priced too low. He’s going to get good minutes for Philly and maybe even land the starting SG spot. The key with Turner is that even when his shot isn’t falling, he’s going to pick up good assists and rebounds, so he will very rarely lay a complete egg on you.
Small Forward
Travis Outlaw – New Jersey has given him the starting SF spot and he is in line for good minutes. He’s currently priced based on his part time performance from last season, so there’s room for him to exceed his current salary.
Marvin Williams – Sometimes a guy’s role changes because a team implements a new offensive system, and that’s what has happened with Williams. He’s been playing great during preseason and he’s getting more looks in Atlanta’s restructured offense.
Dorell Wright – Wright has gone from backup to starter in Golden State. What better fantasy location could a player end up in than that? His price will need to be adjusted upward, so enjoy him now.
Tayshaun Prince – Prince gets no respect. His current price is reflecting some injury problems from last season that limited his minutes per game. He’s healthy and should resume playing bigger minutes, which will allow him to exceed his salary.
Power Forward
J.J. Hickson – Much like Mo Williams, the vacancy left by LeBron has to be filled by someone and it looks like Hickson is going to get his shot this season. He’s currently priced based on his backup role from last season, so now that he’s probably going to start, he should be a nice bargain.
Paul Millsap – Carlos Boozer is no longer in Utah, which should allow Millsap to become a full time player. His current salary still reflects his backup role and he should easily put up bigger numbers this season.
Lamar Odom – Injury is another factor that often produces mispricings and Odom has this factor going for him. Odom is normally a backup and that’s how he’s priced on most sites. Andrew Bynum is going to miss some time to start the season, so Odom is going to have to step up and play starter’s minutes which should make him a bargain.
Blake Griffin – He’s a rookie and he’s going to be a fantasy beast. Sites currently have him priced way too low.
Al Harrington – Another injury fill-in who will get starter’s minutes but has a price tag based on backup minutes. Kenyon Martin’s going to be out until January and Harrington should hold down the PF spot full time until then.
Center
JaVale McGee – He’s got the starting center spot for the Wizards and is still priced as a part time player.
Timofey Mozgov – He’s priced low because nobody really has a clue who he is. Mozgov is going to get some good run at center for the Knicks and could surprise on a daily basis.
Andris Biedrins – Yeah, I know he was terrible last season, but he was also injured. He’s got a rock bottom, bargain basement price, so give him a look when you need a cheap center who can exceed his salary.
Shaq O’Neal – Jermaine O’Neal is still dealing with some injuries and Shaq could get the starting nod for the first week or two of the season. His price tag is low and he could net you a nice return on the investment, at least until J. O’Neal gets healthy.
Good luck this week.