NBA Daily Plays (Tournament Edition): Friday, Feb. 7
What’s up Grinders, welcome to another edition of the NBA Daily Plays. As always, on Friday’s we like to focus on some of the best plays that you can use in tournaments. These are players that have an extremely high ceiling in regards to their salaries across the industry. As far as the big tournaments for tonight, DraftStreet has their $55 Qualifier, FanDuel has their $80,000 NBA Slam, and DraftKings has their $25K Showtime. And that’s only scratching the surface. There is a lot of money to be made out there tonight and hopefully these picks can help you grab your share of it.
Follow me on Twitter: @RG_Notorious
Point Guard
- John Wall – With Rajon Rondo downgraded to doubtful for tonight’s game, John Wall will replace him in the daily plays. Wall has been playing at an extremely high level over the past two weeks and gets to face a Cavaliers team that is ranked dead last at defending the PG position. Wall is a great player to use in GPP’s because he has such a high ceiling. Look for him to dominate all facets of this game and put together another strong fantasy performance.
- Ricky Rubio – Rubio is a very similar player to Rondo. He can dish out assists, grab rebounds, and is consistently at the top of the league in steals per game. His one weakness is that he isn’t a great scorer. His fantasy production is often tied to his steals which can be good or bad. Typically, Rubio is a player that you want to avoid in cash games unless his price is cheap. He makes a great GPP play tonight though. The Pelicans have really struggled to defend opposing PG’s with Jrue Holiday out of the lineup and Rubio should be able to force Brian Roberts into some turnovers.
Shooting Guard
- Gordon Hayward – Hayward has been a boom or bust type of player this year. In January alone, he had fantasy performances ranging from 18 FP’s to 63 FP’s. I don’t love him in cash games, but his price has come down across the industry and he makes a great GPP play thanks to his high ceiling. He has a favorable matchup against the uptempo Mavericks and the Jazz tend to rely on him more on the road. He’s one of those players that could be the difference maker in tonight’s big tournaments.
- Danny Granger – Granger is listed as a SG on some sites and a SF on other sites, but the bottom line is that he makes a great play tonight in both GPP’s and cash games. Lance Stephenson has been ruled out for tonight’s game which means Granger will step in and get the start. He’s played well in limited minutes this season and now we get to see what he can do with starter’s minutes. He is very cheap across the industry and has nice upside against the uptempo Blazers. He will have a nice height advantage over Matthews and I expect the Pacers to exploit that with him in the post.
Small Forward
- Paul George – George is one of my favorite plays across the board tonight. His production in recent weeks has really taken a hit thanks to the breakout of Lance Stephenson. He won’t have to worry about that tonight though as Stephenson will sit out tonight’s game. The Pacers will likely lean more heavily on George offensively and this should be a fast-paced game against the Blazers. Even though Batum is considered a shut down defender, the Blazers are ranked 21st at defending SF’s over the last 15 days.
- Evan Turner – Turner seems to make the tournament plays list often. He has the upside and he has the talent, his biggest problem is consistency. The good news for us is that we don’t need him to play good for a week straight, we just need him to play good for one night. I love the matchup against the Lakers in what could be the highest scoring game in regulation this season. Anytime you combine the two worst defenses in basketball, there are going to be a lot of points scored.
Power Forward
- Serge Ibaka – Ibaka has topped 35 FP’s in 4 of his last 5 games and has really seen a spike in his fantasy production. A lot of that has to do with his shot blocking ability. He has blocked at least 3 shots in 6 of his last 11 games and has a great chance to pad his blocks tonight against Glen Davis who gets his shot blocked often. Ibaka should play well here and he is quite a bit cheaper than the stuf PF’s. It also helps his value that this game will be played in Orlando. If it were in OKC, we may have to worry about a blowout.
- Thaddeus Young – I will be using a lot of Young & Turner tonight in these big GPP’s. Thaddeus not only has a great matchup against the uptempo Lakers, but he will be matched up with Ryan Kelly who will likely have an extremely tough time defending him in the post. Thaddeus doesn’t often reach double-digit rebounds, but I think he could reach that mark tonight. He should be a lock for 20+ points against this defense as well.
Center
- Robert Sacre – The last pick of the night belongs to Mr. Sacre. He is close to minimum salary across the board tonight and he makes a great punt option at Center. He’s played well in his two starts with Pau out and I expect him to play well again tonight. Taking him at Center will allow you to stack the rest of your team with the more expensive high upside players. I could see him getting 6 or 7 times salary on sites like FD & DK and getting 3 times salary on DS & SS.