NBA First Look: Saturday, March 5th

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The NBA First Look, complete with sortable odds, offensive rankings, and DvP rankings, will help you get an early start on the upcoming slate.

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First Look Legend

Term Description
Team Total The implied number of points a team is expected to score based on the Vegas line and total.
PPG The number of points scored per game by each team.
Team +/- The difference between a team’s implied total and their average points scored per game.
Pace The number of possessions a team averages per game.
Projected Pace Formula = (Team 1 Pace – League Average Pace) + (Team 2 Pace – League Average Pace) + League Average Pace
Pace +/- The difference between a team’s pace and the projected pace of that night’s game.
Total FPs The total number of fantasy points allowed by each team.
Usage The percentage of possessions a player uses while on the floor, adjusted for turnovers.
L5 + / – The average MPG and FPPG over the last five games, compared to season averages.

NBA Schedule & Vegas Lines

Road Team Home Team Favorite Spread Total Tip-Off
Boston Celtics (38-25) at Cleveland Cavaliers (43-17) CLE -7.5 211.5 7:00 PM
Detroit Pistons (31-30) at New York Knicks (25-38) DET -5.0 199.5 7:00 PM
Utah Jazz (28-33) at New Orleans Pelicans (23-37) NO -2.0 197.0 7:00 PM
Indiana Pacers (32-30) at Washington Wizards (30-31) WAS -2.5 207.5 7:00 PM
Brooklyn Nets (18-44) at Minnesota Timberwolves (19-43) MIN -5.5 213.5 8:00 PM
Sacramento Kings (25-35) at San Antonio Spurs (52-9) SA -13.0 210.0 8:30 PM
Houston Rockets (30-31) at Chicago Bulls (30-30) CHI 0.0 214.5 8:30 PM
Atlanta Hawks (34-28) at Los Angeles Clippers (40-20) LAC -5.5 200.5 10:30 PM

Team Offense Rankings

Team Offense Opponent Team Total PPG Team +/- Pace Proj. Pace Pace +/-
San Antonio Spurs SAC 111.5 104.7 6.8 96.4 100.6 4.2
Cleveland Cavaliers BOS 109.5 102.9 6.6 95.3 98.6 3.3
Minnesota Timberwolves BKN 109.5 101.0 8.5 97.3 96.1 -1.2
Houston Rockets CHI 107.3 105.6 1.7 100.0 100.8 0.8
Chicago Bulls HOU 107.3 101.5 5.8 98.9 100.8 1.9
Washington Wizards IND 105.0 102.7 2.3 100.3 101.5 1.2
Brooklyn Nets MIN 104.0 97.4 6.6 96.9 96.1 -0.8
Los Angeles Clippers ATL 103.0 104.9 -1.9 98.4 99.2 0.8
Indiana Pacers WAS 102.5 102.3 0.2 99.3 101.5 2.2
Detroit Pistons NY 102.3 101.5 0.8 97.6 95.5 -2.1
Boston Celtics CLE 102.0 106.1 -4.1 101.4 98.6 -2.8
New Orleans Pelicans UTA 99.5 102.4 -2.9 98.8 94.0 -4.8
Sacramento Kings SA 98.5 107.0 -8.5 102.3 100.6 -1.7
Utah Jazz NO 97.5 97.8 -0.3 93.3 94.0 0.7
Atlanta Hawks LAC 97.5 102.3 -4.8 98.9 99.2 0.3
New York Knicks DET 97.3 98.9 -1.7 96.0 95.5 -0.5

Defense vs. Position Rankings

Team Defense vs. PG vs. SG vs. SF vs. PF vs. C Total FPA Opponent
Sacramento Kings 25 29 23 29 19 San Antonio
Boston Celtics 1 7 18 27 26 Cleveland
Brooklyn Nets 27 20 20 18 23 Minnesota
Chicago Bulls 28 15 22 24 27 Houston
Houston Rockets 14 21 30 30 15 Chicago
Indiana Pacers 10 14 5 12 12 Washington
Minnesota Timberwolves 21 23 21 9 7 Brooklyn
Atlanta Hawks 6 19 13 17 25 L.A. Clippers
Washington Wizards 16 22 26 7 13 Indiana
New York Knicks 18 16 11 6 18 Detroit
Cleveland Cavaliers 20 5 7 1 1 Boston
Utah Jazz 9 4 2 2 3 New Orleans
San Antonio Spurs 5 1 1 4 4 Sacramento
New Orleans Pelicans 15 25 15 14 29 Utah
Los Angeles Clippers 4 8 10 8 22 Atlanta
Detroit Pistons 10 11 3 13 8 New York

Point Guard

Projected Starter FD Salary DK Salary MPG L5 + / – Usage FPPG L5 + / – FP/Min Opponent DvP
Tony Parker PG $5,000 PG $5,000 27.1 2.0 19.2 23.4 -1.3 0.86 SAC 25
Kyrie Irving PG $7,000 PG $7,500 29.9 2.6 26.1 29.6 2.4 0.99 BOS 1
Ricky Rubio PG $6,700 PG $6,300 30.6 1.0 16.5 30.2 -3.2 0.99 BKN 27
Patrick Beverley PG $4,900 PG $4,700 27.2 4.6 13.9 19.2 5.2 0.71 CHI 28
Derrick Rose PG $7,000 PG $6,900 31.9 -7.4 23.5 26.8 -1.7 0.84 HOU 14
John Wall PG $9,800 PG $9,300 35.8 -0.6 24.7 42.1 2.8 1.17 IND 10
Donald Sloan PG $4,800 PG $4,900 21.2 3.3 14.7 16.8 6.9 0.79 MIN 21
Chris Paul PG $10,200 PG $9,500 33.3 1.6 24.5 41.2 9.8 1.24 ATL 6
George Hill PG $5,500 PG $4,900 35.2 0.2 14.1 24.2 -0.2 0.69 WAS 16
Reggie Jackson PG $6,600 PG $6,600 30.9 -1.1 25.7 31.5 -2.0 1.02 NY 18
Isaiah Thomas PG $7,800 PG $7,600 32.4 -0.6 25.9 35.2 0.7 1.09 CLE 20
Norris Cole PG $5,200 PG $4,800 26.3 3.1 18.7 19.9 8.3 0.76 UTA 9
Rajon Rondo PG $9,000 PG $7,800 35.3 2.8 17.3 38.3 4.8 1.09 SA 5
Shelvin Mack PG $3,500 PG $4,100 12.0 15.3 22.5 10.2 7.6 0.85 NO 15
Jeff Teague PG $6,000 PG $5,900 28.4 0.6 21.7 27.0 -0.9 0.95 LAC 4
Jose Calderon PG $3,800 PG $3,600 28.0 5.4 11.7 18.1 0.4 0.65 DET 10

Shooting Guard

Projected Starter FD Salary DK Salary MPG L5 + / – Usage FPPG L5 + / – FP/Min Opponent DvP
Danny Green SG $4,300 SG $4,600 26.2 4.9 12.4 17.4 1.4 0.66 SAC 29
J.R. Smith SG $4,600 SG $4,800 30.7 -0.9 16.3 20.1 0.4 0.66 BOS 7
Zach LaVine SG $5,300 SG $5,700 25.7 11.8 21.4 21.6 5.8 0.84 BKN 20
James Harden SG $10,900 SG $10,500 37.7 4.6 27.5 47.1 5.8 1.25 CHI 15
Jimmy Butler SG $8,700 SG $8,300 37.9 #VALUE! 22.1 37.6 #VALUE! 0.99 HOU 21
Garrett Temple SG $3,500 SG $3,200 25.4 -2.3 12.6 14.7 -7.8 0.58 IND 14
Wayne Ellington SG $3,700 SG $3,800 20.8 4.8 15.2 12.4 4.7 0.60 MIN 23
J.J. Redick SG $4,900 SG $5,000 28.6 2.4 19.1 21.3 4.0 0.75 ATL 19
Monta Ellis SG $6,300 SG $5,800 34.3 2.6 18.1 27.2 1.5 0.79 WAS 22
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope SG $5,000 SG $4,700 36.6 -1.9 15.7 23.4 -3.6 0.64 NY 16
Avery Bradley SG $5,400 SG $5,000 33.3 2.0 16.9 23.2 -2.6 0.70 CLE 5
Eric Gordon SG $5,400 SG $5,300 33.4 -0.3 17.4 23.1 8.5 0.69 UTA 4
Ben McLemore SG $3,500 SG $3,000 20.8 -1.5 13.7 12.5 0.1 0.60 SA 1
Rodney Hood SG $5,600 SG $5,500 31.4 -1.4 19.1 23.6 -2.9 0.75 NO 25
Kyle Korver SG $3,900 SG $4,400 30.3 -1.3 11.6 18.1 -2.0 0.60 LAC 8
Arron Afflalo SG $4,800 SG $4,300 34.1 -1.4 16.1 21.4 0.7 0.63 DET 11

Small Forward

Projected Starter FD Salary DK Salary MPG L5 + / – Usage FPPG L5 + / – FP/Min Opponent DvP
Kawhi Leonard SF $8,400 SF $7,900 32.7 2.7 21.6 36.7 7.9 1.12 SAC 23
LeBron James SF $9,800 SF $9,800 35.8 -1.3 27.5 44.4 0.7 1.24 BOS 18
Andrew Wiggins SG $6,200 SG $6,000 34.8 -3.7 23.1 28.3 -5.1 0.81 BKN 20
Trevor Ariza SF $6,400 SF $6,000 35.0 3.8 13.5 24.8 7.3 0.71 CHI 22
Mike Dunleavy SF $3,800 SF $4,200 21.6 4.7 14.7 14.6 5.1 0.68 HOU 30
Otto Porter SF $4,800 SF $4,700 30.2 -4.6 14.4 23.2 -3.7 0.77 IND 5
Bojan Bogdanovic SF $4,000 SG $4,400 26.5 5.8 14.6 15.3 6.7 0.58 MIN 21
Paul Pierce SF $3,500 SF $3,100 17.8 0.3 14.5 11.3 4.3 0.64 ATL 13
Paul George SF $8,500 SF $8,100 35.4 -1.3 25.1 39.0 2.6 1.10 WAS 26
Marcus Morris SF $5,400 SF $5,100 36.1 -0.8 15.9 24.1 2.4 0.67 NY 11
Jae Crowder SF $6,200 SF $6,000 32.1 -1.3 15.9 26.8 3.7 0.83 CLE 7
Dante Cunningham PF $3,500 SF $3,400 21.5 11.3 8.5 10.6 4.5 0.49 UTA 2
Rudy Gay SF $6,800 SF $6,100 33.9 1.1 19.0 30.4 -6.6 0.90 SA 1
Gordon Hayward SF $7,400 SF $6,600 36.2 0.7 22.2 32.0 -1.4 0.88 NO 15
Kent Bazemore SF $4,800 SF $5,300 28.3 -0.3 16.2 23.0 -0.9 0.81 LAC 10
Carmelo Anthony SF $8,900 SF $8,300 35.2 2.2 25.7 37.8 1.4 1.07 DET 3

Power Forward

Projected Starter FD Salary DK Salary MPG L5 + / – Usage FPPG L5 + / – FP/Min Opponent DvP
LaMarcus Aldridge PF $7,400 PF $6,800 30.1 3.5 21.6 30.9 4.8 1.03 SAC 29
Kevin Love PF $7,000 PF $7,000 32.2 -0.9 19.7 33.0 -6.2 1.02 BOS 27
Gorgui Dieng PF $6,300 PF $6,600 26.6 6.3 13.1 23.3 5.8 0.88 BKN 18
Donatas Motiejunas PF $3,500 PF $3,000 14.0 2.8 15.2 9.2 1.2 0.66 CHI 24
Cameron Bairstow PF $3,500 PF $3,000 5.7 -1.1 17.2 4.7 0.7 0.82 HOU 30
Markieff Morris PF $5,200 PF $5,400 24.7 0.9 20.2 21.2 2.8 0.86 IND 12
Thaddeus Young PF $7,100 PF $7,000 33.1 3.5 18.2 30.7 6.1 0.93 MIN 9
Jeff Green SF $5,000 SF $4,500 28.7 -3.1 17.0 21.0 -1.5 0.73 ATL 17
Solomon Hill SG $3,500 SF $3,000 12.0 2.6 11.0 8.0 1.1 0.67 WAS 7
Tobias Harris SF $5,800 SF $6,200 32.8 -0.2 16.4 26.6 1.8 0.81 NY 6
Amir Johnson PF $4,000 PF $4,200 22.6 -4.0 11.5 19.7 0.2 0.87 CLE 1
Anthony Davis PF $9,800 PF $9,600 35.8 1.6 24.1 43.9 -3.6 1.23 UTA 2
Quincy Acy PF $3,500 PF $3,100 12.7 9.0 10.0 9.4 5.2 0.74 SA 4
Derrick Favors PF $7,500 PF $7,100 32.5 1.6 20.3 32.5 -2.4 1.00 NO 14
Paul Millsap PF $7,900 PF $8,000 32.6 0.0 20.2 36.9 -5.4 1.13 LAC 8
Kristaps Porzingis PF $6,400 PF $6,400 27.9 -2.3 20.3 28.3 1.2 1.01 DET 13

Center

Projected Starter FD Salary DK Salary MPG L5 + / – Usage FPPG L5 + / – FP/Min Opponent DvP
Tim Duncan C $5,100 C $4,700 25.1 -3.0 14.7 24.2 -4.4 0.96 SAC 19
Timofey Mozgov C $3,500 C $3,600 17.8 1.0 13.3 13.6 1.6 0.76 BOS 26
Karl-Anthony Towns C $8,900 C $8,200 30.7 1.3 20.1 35.0 1.2 1.14 BKN 23
Dwight Howard C $8,000 C $7,900 32.6 3.5 15.4 34.1 4.7 1.05 CHI 27
Pau Gasol C $8,900 C $8,100 32.0 -0.1 21.2 38.7 1.9 1.21 HOU 15
Marcin Gortat C $7,000 C $6,600 30.8 -2.0 15.5 30.4 0.8 0.99 IND 12
Brook Lopez C $8,500 C $7,300 33.8 0.0 22.8 36.0 -2.0 1.07 MIN 7
DeAndre Jordan C $8,100 C $7,400 34.0 0.0 12.0 35.2 -3.0 1.03 ATL 25
Ian Mahinmi C $5,000 C $4,600 24.9 0.9 12.2 22.2 2.9 0.89 WAS 13
Andre Drummond C $8,500 C $7,700 33.5 -2.9 20.4 40.2 -1.7 1.20 NY 18
Jared Sullinger PF $6,200 C $6,000 23.9 2.9 18.6 26.1 4.0 1.09 CLE 1
Kendrick Perkins C $3,500 C $3,000 12.3 7.6 6.3 6.1 1.8 0.50 UTA 3
DeMarcus Cousins C $10,800 PF $10,100 34.5 1.5 29.3 47.6 1.8 1.38 SA 4
Rudy Gobert C $6,700 C $6,500 33.1 0.3 11.4 30.3 1.3 0.91 NO 29
Al Horford C $7,800 C $7,400 32.1 2.2 18.1 32.1 8.3 1.00 LAC 22
Robin Lopez C $5,700 C $5,600 26.1 2.6 14.0 21.8 3.3 0.84 DET 8

Notable Bench Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary MPG L5 + / – Usage FPPG L5 + / – FP/Min Opponent DvP
Bobby Portis PF $4,600 PF $5,200 17.9 6.9 18.3 16.0 5.9 0.89 HOU 30
Brad Beal SG $5,600 SG $5,800 30.9 -2.6 21.9 26.7 -4.7 0.86 IND 14
Myles Turner PF $5,300 PF $5,400 22.3 4.8 17.4 20.1 -2.7 0.90 WAS 7
Jrue Holiday PG $7,400 PG $7,200 26.8 3.4 24.8 28.6 2.8 1.07 UTA 9
Ryan Anderson PF $5,600 PF $5,600 30.4 -4.6 20.5 26.2 3.92 0.86 UTA 2
Dennis Schroder PG $5,100 PG $4,800 20.9 -2.2 23.4 21.5 0.58 1.03 LAC 4

Notes:

The DvP rankings listed above are on a per-48 minutes basis and are based on FanDuel’s scoring system. The DvP rankings are for that of the entire season. The players in each table are the projected starters and are listed in order of team total, highest to lowest. The tables are sortable, so you can sort by any of the criteria listed.

1) Stats in BLUE represent elite matchups against a bottom 25th percentile defense.
2) Stats in GREEN represent good matchups against a bottom 50th percentile defense.
3) Stats in YELLOW represent mediocre matchups against a top 50th percentile defense.
4) Stats in RED represent poor matchups against a top 25th percentile defense.

About the Author

Notorious
Derek Farnsworth (Notorious)

Derek Farnsworth (aka Notorious) is a lead RotoGrinders Expert and one of the most recognizable names and faces in all of DFS. Before joining the RotoGrinders team, Derek received a Master’s Degree from the University of Utah. When he’s not busy providing content, he’s dominating the DFS industry as evidenced by his consistent top rankings in several sports and multiple Live Final appearances. Noto provides expert NBA, NFL, MLB, and PGA analysis for RotoGrinders Premium members on a daily basis and has also been nominated for five different Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association (FSWA) awards. Follow Noto on Twitter – @RG_Notorious