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NBA Grind Down: Monday, April 17th

by Bryan Pauquette (bryanpauquette) Last Updated 2017-04-18 02:35:45

Welcome to the RotoGrinders NBA Grind Down. In this all-encompassing preview of today’s NBA action, every game will be broken down statistically, with several key elements highlighted in our charts.

Vegas lines are broken down to show projected team totals, to give you an idea of who is favored to win, and often more importantly, how many points they’re expected to score. We also provide pace numbers, so you can spot a game that might have a few extra possessions and more opportunities for fantasy points.

We also provide position-by-position matchup rankings for every team, to give you an idea of the players who will be in better situations to succeed. Using Defense versus Position data, every projected starter is listed along with his opponent’s rank in points allowed to players of his position. These color-coded charts will help you spot the best matchups of the night at a glance.

If you want to try a new DFS site, be sure to click through a RotoGrinders link and use promo code “GRINDERS” to receive the best perks in the industry.

Legend & FAQ

Indiana Pacers at Cleveland Cavaliers – 7:00 PM ET

Indiana Pacers Cleveland Cavaliers
indiananba Vegas Total 210.0 clevelandnba Vegas Total 210.0
Vegas Spread 7.5 Vegas Spread -7.5
Team Total 101.3 Team Total 108.8
Pace +/- -0.3 Pace +/- -0.6
Proj. Starter Jeff Teague Monta Ellis Paul George Thaddeus Young Myles Turner Proj. Starter Kyrie Irving J.R. Smith LeBron James Kevin Love Tristan Thompson
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 23 29 26 9 17 Adj. DvP 12 9 27 13 22
DRPM -2.16 -0.77 1.57 1.93 0.95 DRPM -0.24 -1.68 0.13 1.69 2.43

Indiana Pacers

This is going to be fun to type: it’s Lance Stephenson chalk day. What a beautiful thing.

There are not many things more enjoyable than watching Stephenson’s unwavering confidence inspire him to repeatedly play one-on-one against the defending world champs and have it work – he was 4-for-4 from within five feet of the basket and 8-of-13 overall, giving him 16 points on the night. He played 27 minutes on Saturday and he’ll continue to get 26-30 mpg in this series so the Pacers have a chance to defend LeBron James, who was too much for their other guards to handle. Indiana was better with him in the lineup against Cleveland as he posted a plus-minus of plus seven, which was a game-high. Monta Ellis is trash at defense and his minutes may not be secure in this series, he had a plus-minus of -9. Although it’s up to coach Nate McMillan, it seems like if he wants to win, he should keep Stephenson in. This may be a good thing for Paul George’s fantasy value, despite what happened in Game 1. In the limited sample we have (89.6 minutes), George’s per-36 fantasy production increased 2.98 FD points with Stephenson on the court. It didn’t quite pan out that way in the first game as George didn’t score at all in the fourth quarter until the final minute, in part due to Stephenson. It’s highly doubtful that style of play continues, which means we need to temper expectations for Stephenson and be confident George will be more involved in the fourth quarter. That said, have you seen the selection of shooting guards on FanDuel? On the season, Lance has produced 0.83 FD ppm with the Pacers. Since he can rebound, assist, and always finds a shot he likes, he’s been consistent about it. He’s looking like the best of the bunch, so for at least one brief, glorious moment, he is chalk and he is…elite.

George is, of course, an elite option on both sites, he scored 43.5 FD points last game, but he could’ve easily crossed 50 if he kept the scoring pace he set in the first three-quarters. He’s been on fire from deep, he was 6-of-8 in Game 1 and he’s made 46.1% of his attempts over his last 12 games. Considering Cleveland was 18th in opponent three-point percentage this season (36.1%), he has a good matchup to stay hot. Another thing working in his favor is Cleveland’s poor rebounding – they were 21st in rebounding percentage after the break (48.9%) – he elevated that part of his game down the stretch, averaging 8.3 rebounds over his final seven games, which is 1.7 above his average. He also posted seven double-doubles after March 1st, despite having four total prior to that. Rebounding accounted for a decent chunk of his improved fantasy production. Although he only grabbed five boards on Saturday, as a team, Indiana out-rebound Cleveland 41-34. He should be able to pick up the pace there, continue to score, and he’ll play 40 minutes a night.

After George, Jeff Teague should get the most minutes. He played 36 on a night where he really struggled on both ends of the floor. He scored 22 FD points and only contributed four assists. We should see both numbers rise this series. Cleveland allowed the fourth-most assists per game after the break, 25.4, and Indiana produced 21 as a team Saturday. We should see some regression in Teague’s favor, considering he assisted on 36.4% of his teammates’ field goals during the regular season, but only 15.0% in Game 1. Prior to this past game, he had at least 11 assists on the Cavs in three consecutive meetings. Teague had tweaked his ankle in their last regular season game, which may have been bothering him Saturday, but he should be fine.

Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner played 33 and 32 minutes, respectively, and that seems to be what we can expect for the series. Indiana will continue to give Kevin Seraphin some minutes – he played 15 Saturday. They both have a good matchup for rebounding, as mentioned, and both were above their season averages in the stat; Young had nine (6.1 rpg), Turner had eight (7.2 rpg). After scoring in double-digits for eight consecutive games, Young scored nine and eight points over his last two. He only had four field goal attempts in Game 1, a number that should rise with the minutes he’s playing. He’s very cheap on FanDuel at $4.8k, but he’s $800 more on DraftKings. Zach Randolph is $500 less than him on DK and $500 more than him on FD. Expect Young to be very popular on FD while his ownership may be a little lower on DK. While Turner should continue to get boards, his ceiling games come when he blocks a bunch of shots. Cleveland’s players have been excellent at avoiding blocks, allowing just 3.3 blocked shots per game after the break. Turner had Indiana’s lone block in Game 1, and it’s going to be a challenge for him to accumulate them in any game this series. Ten of his 12 shots came from within eight feet and he only made four of them. On the season, Cleveland allowed the tenth-highest field goal percentage from that area (57.2%) and the 11th-most attempts per game (35.9). We should see his scoring tick up.

We’re going to have to look at shooting guards not named Stephenson here, even though there isn’t a whole lot to like. As mentioned, Ellis may see fewer minutes in Game 2 due to his poor defending, but he’s still expected to start ahead of C.J. Miles (who has SG eligibility on FanDuel). He was 4-for-8 in Game 1 and the question is how much he’ll shoot with his allotted minutes. We’ve seen him take double digit shots in 24 minutes and five attempts in 32. Considering he’ll still get more minutes than most other shooting guards on the slate he’s a viable option, but he’ll also be relatively popular, so he may be a guy worth fading to differentiate lineups. Miles is a boom-or-bust guy, but he’s been more bust lately coming off the bench, and with Stephenson in the mix, he may be stuck around 15 minutes. He also got lectured by Paul George for taking the final shot in Game 1 instead of passing it back, which may hint at the level of trust the team has in Miles. Still, he’s a GPP flier on this particular slate given his ability to get really hot from three at random times, and, as mentioned, this is a favorable opponent for three-pointers, but he’s very risky.

NOTE: Glenn Robinson is available, but he should have minimal fantasy impact tonight.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FDRFT Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Jeff Teague $6,700 $7,300 $13,700 1.00 32.4 -0.1 32.4 -2.3 26.1% -1.1% 23 -2.16
Monta Ellis $4,000 $4,300 $8,500 0.66 27.0 -2.6 17.9 -3.8 18.1% -2.4% 29 -0.77
Paul George $9,900 $10,400 $18,600 1.05 35.9 2.1 37.7 10.3 28.4% 0.0% 26 1.57
Thaddeus Young $4,800 $5,600 $11,200 0.77 30.2 3.5 23.2 6.2 16.2% 0.6% 9 1.93
Myles Turner $6,700 $6,400 $12,600 0.95 31.4 -0.8 29.9 1.9 18.5% 0.7% 17 0.95
Lance Stephenson $4,700 $4,000 $7,800 0.74 20.1 2.6 14.8 4.6 21.9% -0.3% 29 N/A

Elite Plays – Lance Stephenson (FD), Paul George, Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young (FD), Myles Turner

Secondary Plays – Lance Stephenson (DK; due to SF designation), Monta Ellis, C.J. Miles (GPP)

Cleveland Cavaliers

King James reigns. He scored 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting and made it a double-double by adding 13 assists – he assisted on 51.2% of his teammates’ shots while he was on the floor. He was beating up on Indiana’s guards in Game 1 and he should continue to roll for the rest of the series. He’s always a triple-double threat, but Indiana has been rebounding well lately. They grabbed 54.7% of the rebounds in Game 1 and they closed out the season with a 51.1% rebounding rate in their final 12 games. Indiana has been effective in forcing opposing players to make their own shots all season, particularly after the break, when they ranked 6th in the league in opponent assists per game (21.1). However, in James’ case, he’s going to account for such a high percentage of his team’s assists they aren’t as much a concern as rebounding. His points and assists should still come.

Kyrie Irving should continue to assist his teammates as well, he averaged 5.8 on the season over 35.1 minutes and he’ll be pushing 40 every night. Indiana’s defense could affect him in this stat more than LeBron, but his usage rate was 36.0%, 3.7% above his average. When he has the ball in his hands that much with extra playing time, he should continue to do work. In terms of scoring, we should see him improve. He was 1-of-9 from three and he’s facing a mediocre three-point defense – the Pacers were 13th in opponent field goal percentage from deep this season (35.5%). He’s going to put up a monster game or two before this series is done.

With Irving’s usage going up, Love’s went down 3.8% to 23.5%. He put together a really nice first quarter but wasn’t as effective the rest of the way. He only grabbed four rebounds all game, but Love averaged 11.1 per game this season, we’re bound to see that number go back up. On top of that, he only took nine shots after averaging 14.5 attempts per game. This stat will take a dip in the playoffs, as it did last year (-0.7 FGA per game) due to Irving and James taking over, but we should still be able to depend on him to shoot more. The problem with Love is time (note to self: you just came up with a billion-dollar movie) because he probably isn’t going to see added minutes like other players in the postseason. Last year, he averaged 30.7 mpg after receiving 31.5 mpg during the regular season. This isn’t what we want to see when we’re paying up for a guy in the playoffs. When Thaddeus Young is sitting at $3,100 less on FanDuel, it’s hard to not think about saving at PF and spending up for LeBron and Kyrie. Love is a great three-point shooter, and he has a favorable matchup for it, but his opportunities are capped without an increase in workload and with the other two stars shooting so much.

Cleveland is pretty content to roll in Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye at the power forward and center positions. They combined for 34 minutes, whereas the two reserve guards in the rotation, Kyle Korver and Deron Williams, combined for 24. Frye has a been an awesome per-minute guy recently; he picked up 16 FD points in as many minutes Saturday and over the past two weeks, he’s turned in 1.06 FD ppm, a whopping 0.21 FD points above his average. Keep him on your radar as a GPP guy on a slate where differentiating is super hard. Look at it this way, if Cleveland is having trouble rebounding against the Pacers, it would make sense to put in the best rebounder available off the bench. Frye’s rebounding percentage is way better than Jefferson’s, 11.5% to 6.9%. This is purely speculative, but we could perhaps see Frye’s minutes go up a bit.

A safer prediction: Kyle Korver will shoot more threes than last time. Considering he shot exactly zero last game, that seems like a lock. He roughly averaged one three-ball for every four minutes he was on the floor with the Cavs this season. He only played 15 minutes Saturday as J.R. Smith received over 36. We may see a similar pattern throughout the playoffs, but Korver will likely steal an extra few minutes in some games, especially if he gets hot. He’s an interesting GPP flier at shooting guard because it’s a wasteland tonight. Same goes for J.R. Smith, although Smith will surely come with higher ownership. His 8.9% usage rate in Game 1 is nothing to smile about. For a guy who’s fantasy performances hinge on his scoring, he has to take more than four field goals to be effective. The problem is he runs with the first unit, there isn’t much left for him. Over the past two weeks, he’s returned 0.52 FD ppm on a usage rate of 13.0%. With a declining usage, he’ll experience decreasing per-minute production. Korver has produced 0.66 FD ppm the past two weeks, but his usage was a mind-boggling 3.2% in the first game playoffs. Neither player is a safe bet, both players need to get hot to be of use yet they each have the potential to be on winning GPP lineups tonight. J.R. will come with a higher projection, Korver will come with lower ownership.

A more reliable cheap fantasy asset is Tristan Thompson, who was a beast on the glass last game, racking up 13 rebounds. He didn’t score much (eight points) and he won’t shoot much more than he did last game – he was 4-for 5. He averaged 5.6 field goals a game this season in 29.9 minutes. Last season, he shot 5.1 games in 27.7 mpg; in the postseason, his time increased to 29.6 mpg, but his FGA rate fell to 4.4. Again, that’s a result of Irving’s and James’ styles of play. This year, he’ll get up around 31/32 mpg, but will probably face a similar reduction in shot attempts per game. That means he’ll have a limited ceiling and need to continue rebounding a ton to be a great value. Given his price under $5k on both major sites, he’s still a viable way to differentiate in GPPs, but getting up to Marc Gasol may be the best cash-game strategy.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FDRFT Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Kyrie Irving $8,700 $8,000 $14,700 1.09 35.1 1.7 38.2 2.0 32.0% -2.3% 12 -0.24
J.R. Smith $3,600 $3,800 $7,400 0.56 29.0 3.5 16.2 -0.7 14.4% -1.6% 9 -1.68
LeBron James $11,500 $11,300 $20,100 1.30 37.8 4.5 49.3 7.8 32.9% -2.6% 27 0.13
Kevin Love $7,900 $8,200 $15,100 1.14 31.4 5.0 35.8 0.4 25.2% -2.5% 13 1.69
Tristan Thompson $4,700 $4,500 $8,800 0.77 30.0 -11.5 23.0 -7.2 11.0% 7.5% 22 2.43
Richard Jefferson $2,900 $3,100 $6,000 0.51 20.4 -2.2 10.4 -1.2 12.2% -2.1% 27 N/A
Channing Frye $3,700 $3,700 $7,300 0.83 18.9 2.6 15.8 7.3 18.1% -0.1% 13 N/A

Elite Plays – LeBron James, Kyrie Irving

Secondary Plays – Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Kyle Korver (GPP), Channing Frye (GPP)

Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs – 9:30 PM ET

Memphis Grizzlies San Antonio Spurs
memphisnba Vegas Total 188.5 sanantonionba Vegas Total 188.5
Vegas Spread 11.0 Vegas Spread -11.0
Team Total 88.8 Team Total 99.8
Pace +/- -2.3 Pace +/- -4.0
Proj. Starter Mike Conley Vince Carter James Ennis JaMychal Green Marc Gasol Proj. Starter Tony Parker Danny Green Kawhi Leonard LaMarcus Aldridge Dewayne Dedmon
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 8 12 2 2 2 Adj. DvP 6 10 6 3 1
DRPM -0.79 2.10 0.85 1.25 4.86 DRPM -0.50 0.23 0.59 0.84

Memphis Grizzlies

Memphis got blown out by the Spurs last game and Vegas seems to think it could happen again; the Grizzlies are 11-point underdogs tonight. This game has an unappealing total of 189, which is 20.5-points below the other Cavs-Pacers game. Memphis was held under 20 points for three straight quarters after scoring 30 in the first. As a team, they shot 39.2% from the floor, a number that will improve.

Marc Gasol was the only guy shooting well, he went 11-for-18 on his way to 32 points. He tried to carry the team, his usage went up 4.9% above his average to 33.4%, and he had team-highs in field goals and rebounds – although he only managed to grab five boards. He ended up only playing 34 minutes due to the blowout, but we should see him get more if the game stays close. He averaged 37.8 mpg last postseason. While we can’t expect him to keep up this scoring pace on a per-minute basis, if he keeps his usage up, and he probably will to some extent, we could see him continue to take plenty of shots. Fortunately, he shoots from all over the floor, which is imperative in this matchup. During the regular season, his favorite area was near the basket, within eight feet. However, the Spurs were the very best team defending that zone this season, holding opponents to 52.5% shooting. They’re mediocre between 8-16 feet away, ranking 14th (41.3%), and Gasol adjusted, taking 50% of his shots from that range and connecting on 55.6% of them. While he should still be able to put up points, he’ll likely continue having trouble on the glass. San Antonio allowed the fifth-fewest rebounds to opponents this season (41.5%) – in part because they’re a good rebounding team with the sixth-best rebounding rate (51.4%), and also due to their offense’s seventh-best field goal percentage, which limits the available rebounds per game, and their fourth-slowest pace. Of course, Memphis is playing slow as well, so there will be a relatively low number of rebounds available in this series and Gasol has a lackluster 10.4% rebounding rate. We can’t expect too much of him in the category. He should pick up his assists up though, he only had two in Game 1. On the season, he assisted on 24.8% of his team’s field goals. The Spurs don’t allow many assists, 21.4 per game (sixth in the NBA), but Gasol should still do better than two.

Point guard Mike Conley assisted on 34.5% of his team’s field goals during the season and 48.7% of them while he was on the floor in Game 1. He finished with seven total, but only played 30 minutes. As with Gasol, he should see more time on the court if the game stays close. He finished the game with 13 points while shooting 35.7% from the floor. We can safely expect him to continue taking shots and that percentage should rise. If breaking up the floor by eight-foot increments from the basket, his best zone outside of 0-8 feet is 16-24 feet away, where he makes 43.2% of his attempts. He only shoots there 16.7% of the time, but we may see him launch from there more frequently as it’s the Spurs’ weakest spot. They actually allowed the highest field goal percentage from that distance this season (43.3%). Conley didn’t take a single shot from there in Game 1, but the team has to make adjustments to compete, if he finds his way there, he could do some damage.

Zach Randolph also struggled to make buckets in his 26 minutes on the court, he was 3-of-13. While he’ll normally do better, he may rely too much on close shots. 65.8% of his made baskets came from within eight feet, which doesn’t mesh well with the Spurs top-notch interior defending. Roughly 88.4% of his DK fantasy points are derived from points and rebounds. As mentioned, the Spurs are a terrible matchup for rebounders. All in all, Randolph’s upside doesn’t look great, which makes Thaddeus Young look like a better play.

Those three guys were the only ones to shoot more than eight times on Saturday. Wayne Selden, who started for Tony Allen went 2-for-8, which isn’t terribly surprising since all of his shots were either within eight feet or from three. That’s how he’s played all season. In addition to the defending the basket well, the Spurs allowed the fifth-lowest shooting percentage from three this season (34.4%). He doesn’t offer much in peripherals; his rebounding rate is 3.3% and he assists on 9.9% of his team’s field goals. Although it may be tempting to roster him at $2.5k on FanDuel and $2k on DraftKings, he just doesn’t have much upside. If anything, he’s a high-risk way to differentiate lineups and allow stronger players elsewhere. On this particular slate, the opportunity cost of rostering him may not be too many fantasy points, as none of the shooting guards have very high projections or ceilings. Vince Carter is another guy whose scoring relies on going the basket or pulling up from three. His usage rate was just 12.6% in Game 1 as Conley and Gasol took over the game. He offers a bigger ceiling than Selden, but it’s nothing crazy. He’s a potential GPP value option given the lack of choices, but he’s a risk for sure, and it’s probably better to pay up at the position. Lastly, Andrew Harrison played 20 minutes, primarily serving as the backup point guard. Since he Conley was off the floor for the majority of his minutes, his usage rate was 22.7% and he assisted on 20.7% of Memphis’ field goals while he was on the floor. Coach David Fizzdale specifically called Harrison out, saying the team needed him to step up with Tony Allen out. He added that he had been replacing him with Conley as fast as possible in Game 1 as Harrison struggled, which means he could earn more time if he plays well. Harrison scored 15.50 DK points. In the 49 minutes he’s played the Spurs this season, he’s posted a usage rate of 24.9% and 0.85 DK ppm, improvements of 7.2% and 0.16 DK ppm. Memphis will primarily run the team through Conley and Gasol and they may be the only Grizzlies that are reliable in this series, but there are a few GPP options available.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FDRFT Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Mike Conley $7,200 $7,200 $13,600 1.06 33.2 -6.4 35.1 -5.7 29.7% 2.7% 8 -0.79
Vince Carter $3,000 $3,400 $6,700 0.66 24.7 0.2 16.3 -2.2 15.5% -2.1% 12 2.10
James Ennis $3,200 $2,800 $6,000 0.60 23.4 -5.2 14.1 -3.5 13.0% -3.0% 2 0.85
JaMychal Green $3,500 $4,000 $7,800 0.73 27.3 -5.9 19.9 -8.2 14.4% -0.2% 2 1.25
Marc Gasol $7,600 $7,000 $13,300 1.06 34.2 -5.0 36.2 -2.9 27.9% -0.4% 2 4.86
Zach Randolph $5,300 $5,100 $10,200 1.07 24.5 -0.5 26.3 0.1 28.7% 3.3% 2 N/A
James Ennis $3,200 $2,800 $6,000 0.60 23.4 -5.2 14.1 -3.5 13.0% -3.0% 2 N/A

Elite Plays – Marc Gasol, Mike Conley

Secondary Plays – Zach Randolph, Vince Carter, Wayne Selden, Andrew Harrison

, James Harrison

San Antonio Spurs

Similar to Memphis, San Antonio runs their offense two guys, but not to the same extreme. Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge each had usage rates above 30% on Saturday and Tony Parker was right there with them at 29.3%. That’s a sharp 6.7% rise from his normal rate. He managed to score 24.5 DK points in 22 minutes as he scored 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Going forward, he should play a few more minutes, but he normally won’t shoot as much and he won’t be as effective with his opportunities. Even so, he’s in play at his price. He has a nice assist percentage of 27.8% and he’s been consistent lately, producing at least 19.25 DK points in six of his last seven games.

The primary targets on this team will continue to be Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, both of whom are too cheap. Leonard scored 32 points and added five assists. He was 11-of-14 from the field, which is more than we can expect percentage-wise, but he should be able to get off more shots total. He only played 32 minutes due to game flow. He was dominant and it highlighted a trend with Memphis, a team often synonymous with great defense, they’ve been getting worse. Their 108.8 defensive rating after the break was 20th and they were 16th in both rebounding (49.9%) and opponent field goal percentage (46.0%). Plus, Tony Allen, a great defender, is out again for Game 2. Leonard has been excellent when playing Memphis without Allen this season, he should continue to roll tonight and he offers a points-per-dollar projection that’s higher than George and James. His partner, Aldridge, delivered 30.5 DK points in 30 minutes. He should also see a bump in time in close games. During the course of the season, his per-36 pace barely budged against Memphis; it went from 35.9 DK points to 35.23. He took 18 shots last game, which was 3.4 attempts above his average this season, but he may be able to maintain that. Last year, he added an extra 2.8 shots per game in the playoffs and averaged 21.9 points per game, 3.9 points above his average. He’s just too cheap tonight.

San Antonio’s other guys don’t normally have much fantasy appeal, but on a two-game slate, it’s worth taking a look at Danny Green and Pau Gasol. With a weak shooting guard selection, Green is in play, but he’s not that exciting. Last postseason, he averaged 6.5 total field goals and 4.8 threes per game on his way to 8.6 ppg. On the positive side, that was an extra 1.4 points above his regular season average. He’s put up very similar numbers this year, so we can expect a comparable postseason. If there’s a night to go for him, it may be tonight due to the other options available. It’s worth noting that Memphis struggled to defend three-pointers during the second half of the season; they were 26th in opponent three-point percentage (37.8%). Gasol is cheap, but he’s struggled against the Grizzlies this season. His DK ppm dropped 0.32 DK ppm to 0.79. However, the last time they met up in the regular season, he scored 12 and grabbed 11 rebounds. He received 31 minutes that game though, and he’ll likely play in the mid-20s tonight. He was very consistent to end the season too, scoring at least 23.5 DK points in each of the final eight games and crossing 30 four times. He’ll certainly come with lower ownership than his brother, Myles Turner, and possibly Tristan Thompson. His normal rate of return is solid, it just isn’t a great matchup for him. Patty Mills has also experienced a dip in production against the Grizzlies, he took a hit of 0.10 DK ppm to 0.76 during the regular season. He only played 17 minutes last game, but he could potentially see that number go up tonight, but it’s far from a guarantee – he averaged 16.7 mpg last postseason. He’s a deep tournament flier.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FDRFT Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Tony Parker $4,400 $4,200 $8,300 0.74 25.2 -5.1 18.6 -2.4 23.1% 2.5% 6 -0.50
Danny Green $3,800 $3,300 $6,400 0.62 26.6 -6.7 16.5 -1.7 13.8% 0.7% 10 0.23
Kawhi Leonard $8,700 $8,800 $16,300 1.22 33.4 -8.6 40.6 -13.7 30.9% -1.6% 6
LaMarcus Aldridge $6,500 $6,400 $12,700 0.96 32.4 -6.3 31.1 -7.3 24.0% -0.7% 3 0.59
Dewayne Dedmon $3,500 $3,000 $6,000 0.89 17.5 1.3 15.6 1.1 12.0% 3.1% 1 0.84
Pau Gasol $5,000 $4,900 $9,800 1.06 25.4 -3.9 26.9 -2.4 21.5% 4.2% 1 N/A
Patty Mills $3,600 $3,500 $7,000 0.79 21.9 -3.0 17.2 -6.4 21.8% -0.8% 6 N/A
Manu Ginobili $3,700 $3,600 $7,000 0.84 18.7 -0.5 15.7 -6.6 22.0% -1.2% 10 N/A

Elite Plays – Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge

Secondary Plays – Tony Parker, Danny Green, Pau Gasol, Patty Mills (GPP)

About the Author

bryanpauquette
Bryan Pauquette (bryanpauquette)

Bryan Pauquette’s peak in life came in 2002 when he struck out live on the YES network in the New York State Little League championship. Unfortunately, his team lost to a squad that cheated their way to the U.S. Semi-Finals, so he feels forever robbed of a chance to go down swinging on ESPN. As it turns out, he’s much better at fantasy sports than actual ones and he’s been an avid cash game and small-field tournament player since 2015. He joined RotoGrinders in Summer Sixteen as part of their alerts and projections team. Outside of RG, Bryan is a television writer and producer based in the City of Angels (he does not root for any of their teams, but he’s thinking about the Chargers because he’s giving up on the Jets).