Sign In Get the App $ $

NBA Grind Down: Sunday, April 30th

by Bryan Pauquette (bryanpauquette) Last Updated 2017-05-02 02:53:14

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

Washington Wizards at Boston Celtics – 1:00 PM ET

Washington Wizards Boston Celtics
Article Image Vegas Total 214.5 Article Image Vegas Total 214.5
Vegas Spread 4.5 Vegas Spread -4.5
Team Total 105.0 Team Total 109.5
Pace +/- 0.6 Pace +/- 1.0
Proj. Starter John Wall Bradley Beal Otto Porter Markieff Morris Marcin Gortat Proj. Starter Isaiah Thomas Avery Bradley Gerald Green Jae Crowder Al Horford
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 18 11 13 24 21 Adj. DvP 9 16 17 22 20
DRPM -4.21 -1.13 -1.56 1.37 1.59 DRPM -0.83 -0.94 0.03 1.54 1.33

Washington Wizards

This series is going to be fun. These two teams legitimately dislike each other and it’s personal. It may have all started with Marcus Smart inadvertently breaking Bradley Beal’s nose last season or when Jae Crowder got in a verbal spat with Washington’s old coach Randy Wittman. Either way, it culminated in an ejection, fines, and Boston PD standing guard between locker rooms this season. The Wizards even sported all-black ahead of a meeting in January. Unlike the weak beef with the Hawks, this one is real.

Over the course of four matchups with the Celtics this season, Beal and Wall essentially switched places in terms of usage – Beal had a team-high rate of 32.8% while Wall dropped to 28.9%. The shooting guard also picked up his per-36 fantasy production by 2.49 FD points to 36.50. He was helped by some great three-point shooting as he converted 47.8% of his attempts. He averaged 16.8 FGAs in these games, but he only played ten minutes in one game before suffering an injury; he launched 19.7 field goals in the three full games, 7.3 of them coming from distance. During the postseason, Beal has taken 8.8 threes per game and he’s been cold, only completing 26.4% of them. His upcoming opponent has been solid defending guys beyond the arc; Boston held Chicago to a 3P% of 29.8% and they boasted the second-lowest 3P% in the league this season (33.2%). Beal has been more effective from within 15 feet of the basket, where he’s completed 69.8% of his 43 attempts this postseason. He could find success there against the Celtics, as they allowed the sixth-highest field goal percentage from 5-9 feet this season (43.4%) and weren’t too imposing from within five feet and from 10-14 feet, where they ranked 14th (59.4%) and 12th (40.2%), respectively. In addition to scoring, a big part of Beal’s fantasy production against the Hawks came from his 2.3 steals per game. While Atlanta allowed opponents the second-most steals per game this season (9.0), the Celtics were a bit better, ranking 17th (7.6).

Wall can certainly take advantage of Boston’s mediocre interior defense as he was dominant against a stout Hawks team that ranked fifth from within five feet – Wall made 67.4% of his 46 attempts in the area during their series. Unlike the Hawks, who allowed the seventh-most assists to opponents after the break (25.0), Boston allowed the 11th-fewest (22.2). They limited the Bulls to 20.0 per game in the first round, but the Hawks only allowed 21.2 to the Wizards and Wall still managed to average 10.3 per game as he increased his already-elite assist rate 1.5% to 48.4%. The pace of the series could also affect his output in the category, as Boston’s opening series ran much slower than the Wizards’ – 101.28 vs. 94.49 – however, the Celtics ran at a similar speed as the Hawks this season, with both teams going at paces of 99 and change. In fact, Atlanta, Washington, and Boston finished 10th, 11th, and 12th in the metric this season. Vegas set Game 1’s total at 215, which is a positive sign. Wall also has an individual matchup with Isaiah Thomas, the worst defender in the league according to DRPM.

When we look at Washington’s leading rebounders this season, Marcin Gortat (10.4 rpg), Markieff Morris (6.5), and Otto Porter (6.4), we see an appealing matchup on the glass. Boston just got worked by Chicago and posted a rebounding rate of just 45.5% against them. They were the fourth-worst rebounding team this season with a rate of 48.5% while Washington was 17th at 49.9%. The Wizards were great in their opening round series as they managed to pull down 48.2% of the available boards, but they could certainly end up on the other end this time around. Over their four meetings this season, Washington won the battle with a 52.8% rebounding rate. In the two games Morris played more than 30 minutes, he averaged 7.5 rebounds per game. They clearly want to give him a ton of minutes as he played 38 and 40 in those two outings, so if he can avoid foul trouble he could be in for a solid series. Against Boston this year, Morris had a usage rate of 25.8% and a per-36 pace of 32.41 FD points. Porter was even better in the matchup, setting a pace of 37.94 FD points across 128.0 minutes. This sample may be overly influenced by his 34-point, 14-rebound game on them back in November when he finished with 68.8 FD points. Several factors worked in his favor that night. In addition to Beal’s injury limiting him to ten minutes, Jae Crowder and Al Horford were out for the Celtics and they started Amir Johnson, Tyler Zeller, and Jaylen Brown in that contest. Even against better Boston lineups, he shot extremely well though, he made 67.4% of his 43 attempts against them this season. Of course, that’s an unsustainable rate and Porter has to worry about his minutes. After earning 39 in Game 3, his playing time declined to 31 and 28. At the same time, Kelly Oubre and Bojan Bogdanovic saw their combined minutes rise from 27 to 37 to 47 in Game 6. Part of the reason for the distribution in the series finale was Porter picked up four fouls in an 11-minute stretch over the second and third quarters. He seems like a good bet for 30-32 nightly. Bojan will be ahead of Oubre off the bench, but his workload is a little harder to predict. Late in the series, coach Scott Brooks showed an interest in running small lineups with Bojan and Porter in together, moving Morris to center. In the series finale, Gortat picked up his fourth foul in the third, Bogdanovic came in and stayed in for the remainder of the game while Gortat never reentered. Boston has been starting Gerald Green and playing smaller, offensive-minded lineups, which means we could see Brooks counter with this Wall/Beal/Bogdanovic/Porter/Morris group. Although Ian Mahinmi is out, Gortat could potentially be limited to around 30 minutes per game if that pans out. The center’s usage has dropped 3.7% to 11.8% this postseason but his per-minute production only dropped a touch, 0.02 FD ppm to 0.82.

Oubre, Brandon Jennings, and Jason Smith will all earn some time off the bench. None of them are particularly appealing, but they have low prices on a two-game slate. Oubre’s minutes seem to vary based on his teammate’s foul trouble while Jennings appears to have a secure workload of 15-17 minutes. Jennings showed some upside early on against the Hawks, scoring 10 and 13 points in Games 2 and 3, but his floor is very low. Smith’s minutes can also fluctuate based on the starters’ fouls. He averaged just 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 16.6 minutes per game against the Hawks.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
John Wall $10,400 $10,800 1.24 36.4 1.2 45.3 2.6 34.8% 0.0% 18 -4.21
Bradley Beal $7,900 $8,000 0.94 34.9 4.4 32.9 3.7 26.4% 2.1% 11 -1.13
Otto Porter $4,900 $5,500 0.82 32.6 -2.8 26.7 -5.8 14.8% -2.1% 13 -1.56
Markieff Morris $5,900 $5,300 0.83 31.2 -4.9 26.1 -4.9 19.8% 0.9% 24 1.37
Marcin Gortat $6,000 $5,400 0.85 31.2 2.7 26.4 2.0 14.7% -4.0% 21 1.59
Kelly Oubre $3,000 $3,200 0.61 20.3 -4.8 12.4 -0.5 13.9% 3.2% 13 N/A
Bojan Bogdanovic $4,000 $4,000 0.75 25.7 -4.8 19.3 -2.1 22.0% -2.2% 13 N/A

Elite Plays – Bradley Beal, John Wall, Markieff Morris, Otto Porter

Secondary Plays – Marcin Gortat, Bojan Bogdanovic, Brandon Jennings, Kelly Oubre

Boston Celtics

Washington is looking like a much better matchup for Boston. In the second half of the season, the Wizards were 27th in defensive rating (110.7) while the Bulls were third (102.2), they were 29th in opponent field goal percentage (48.4%) while the Bulls were fourth (44.4%), and they were 29th in opponent three-point percentage (38.8%) while the Bulls ranked first (30.7%). Not all of the Hawks could capitalize, but Paul Millsap shot 50.5% from the field and Dennis Schroder converted 42.5% of his threes. That’s welcome news for Boston’s point guard, Isaiah Thomas, as he was a woeful 20% from deep against the tougher Chicago defense. Although Thomas struggled from the field over the four matchups with Washington during the regular season, shooting 40.0% overall and 27.3% from three, he managed to pick up plenty of fantasy points. He had eclipsed ten assists twice and he got hot on January 11th, making 5-of-11 from deep on his way to 38 points. Overall, he turned in 1.22 FD ppm over 143.1 minutes while commanding a 36.7% usage rate, both numbers a touch over his average, and he topped 42.2 FD points three times.

Marcus Smart has been heavily involved in fostering this rivalry; he accidentally broke Bradley Beal’s nose last season, got thrown to the ground by John Wall this year, and tried to check himself into a fourth-quarter blowout without permission from the coaching staff – that turned into a heated argument on the bench and Smart ended up walking to the locker room before the game was over. Perhaps based on some added motivation, Smart was second on the team in usage against Washington, with a rate of 24.9%, a 5.4% increase above his average. He didn’t manage to raise his fantasy production though, as it declined from 0.79 FD ppm to 0.68. This postseason, his usage has dropped to 16.0%, but he’s returned 0.83 FD ppm. His scoring was down due to a poor shooting percentage of 38.5%, but he brought up his peripherals, grabbing 5.3 rebounds and contributing 4.8 assists. Smart is the first one off the bench, when he enters depends on how Gerald Green is playing. He played 33 and 34 minutes in Games 3 and 4 (he only played 25 in the finale due to the blowout), and coach Brad Stevens has been enjoyed running him at the point guard position. It looks like he could receive a pretty healthy workload and he has a nice matchup to turn his shooting around.

Apparently, Avery Bradley’s superb finish in the opening series was due to some disrespectful words from Jimmy Butler, who essentially said guys like Bradley shouldn’t be able to score on them. Welp. He made 62.5% of his shots in the final two meetings, scoring 24 and 23 points. It’ll be interesting to see if he can bring the same energy to their matchup with the Wizards, but as mentioned plenty, we got a pre-cooked beef here. Over the past two games, Bradley has had a usage rate of 24.0% and produced 0.97 FD ppm; in addition to some solid scoring, he averaged 5.5 rebounds. On the series, he led the team in minutes with 36.6 per game and he hit the 40-minute mark twice. He also bumped his assist rate 2.1% to 13.0%. That pales in comparison to Al Horford, who boasted a 31.5% assist rate and led the team in the stat with 6.5 per game. Talk about a guy who can deliver some peripherals, as he also was first in rebounds, grabbing 8.5 on average. Horford was third in points, scoring 15.3 a night, with 64.9% of his baskets made within five feet of the hoop. He was terrific down low, converting 75.0% of his attempts. He should continue to be effective in the area as Washington allowed a 62.5% field goal percentage within five feet after the break, which was 21st in the league.

All of the Celtics’ starters are in play, which includes Jae Crowder and Gerald Green. Crowder was third on the team in FGAs in the first round (13.2) but fourth in scoring primary due to a cold 27.3% three-point shooting percentage as exactly half of his shots were from deep. Washington’s lackluster defense should help alleviate his shooting woes, but Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart still appear to have more upside – Crowder is priced between them on both FanDuel and DraftKings. As for Green, we have a good idea of what he offers at this point. If he starts hot, he’ll earn minutes in the low-20s and can deliver a huge return on his low salary. If he isn’t satisfying coach Stevens, he’ll get the hook early and may only get 12 minutes as he did in Game 5 when he finished with two points and one rebound. It would almost be better if this wildly inconsistent player was priced at $5,000 and we could forget about him. Instead, he’s $2,100 on FD and $3,500 on DK, so he has to be considered. He popped off 13 shots in two games – although he was aided by garbage time minutes in the second one – and he has a favorable opponent. He’s also maintained a 23.3% usage rate in the opening series.

Off the bench, we’ll see Kelly Olynyk, Terry Rozier, and Jonas Jerebko. Olynyk has played well this postseason, producing 1.01 FD ppm, which is second on the team. He’s earned some extra playing time and should get around 20 minutes per game. He’s overpriced on FD at $5,000, but he’s a viable option on DK where he’s $4,200 and has power forward eligibility. Rozier produced 0.70 FD ppm and Stevens seems to be keen to run him 18 minutes. He doesn’t have the upside that Gerald Green does, and may not have enough to be worth the risk, but he’s someone to keep an eye on in case he begins getting more time on the court. With several options at PF on DraftKings, Jerebko isn’t really worth considering. Over at FanDuel, the position is a wasteland and Jerebko is $1,600. He’s getting around 10 minutes a night and returning 0.80 FD ppm; while he can get you some points, he won’t offer any upside in his current role. There isn’t a huge opportunity cost at PF to take Jerebko considering the top options between him and Morris (the only good option) are Derrick Favors ($5,800), Marreese Speights ($4,000), and Jason Smith ($3,300), so it may be worth completely punting the second PF spot to free up cap space for stronger positions.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Isaiah Thomas $9,000 $8,600 1.19 33.8 2.8 40.4 -4.0 34.9% -2.3% 9 -0.83
Avery Bradley $6,400 $6,100 0.84 33.4 3.7 28.1 -2.9 21.5% -3.1% 16 -0.94
Gerald Green $2,100 $3,500 0.78 11.4 3.9 8.9 1.3 21.6% -2.3% 17 0.03
Jae Crowder $6,200 $5,600 0.79 32.4 2.5 25.7 -2.2 16.9% -0.4% 22 1.54
Al Horford $8,300 $7,500 1.00 32.3 2.8 32.2 6.8 21.6% -2.4% 20 1.33
Marcus Smart $6,000 $5,200 0.80 30.4 0.5 24.2 1.6 20.7% -4.0% 16 N/A
Kelly Olynyk $5,000 $4,200 0.90 20.5 -1.2 18.5 1.6 19.5% 0.6% 20 N/A

Elite Plays – Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, Avery Bradley

Secondary Plays – Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, Gerald Green, Kelly Olynyk (DK), Jonas Jerebko (FD)

Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Clippers – 3:30 PM ET

Utah Jazz Los Angeles Clippers
Article Image Vegas Total 190.5 Article Image Vegas Total 190.5
Vegas Spread 3.5 Vegas Spread -3.5
Team Total 93.5 Team Total 97.0
Pace +/- -0.5 Pace +/- -5.1
Proj. Starter George Hill Joe Ingles Gordon Hayward Boris Diaw Rudy Gobert Proj. Starter Chris Paul Austin Rivers J.J. Redick Luc Richard Mbah a Moute DeAndre Jordan
Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C Opponent Rank PG SG SF PF C
Adj. DvP 7 5 22 20 9 Adj. DvP 1 2 1 1 3
DRPM 2.71 -1.78 -1.80 2.19 3.57 DRPM 0.60 0.04 0.13 -1.03 6.03

Utah Jazz

Although this game is expected to be much slower and has a total of 190.5, it’s Game 7 and the spread is just 3.5 points. That means we can expect the top fantasy targets to play a ton of minutes on both sides. Gordon Hayward has played 39+ minutes in all five games he didn’t play with food poisoning and he pushed it to 42 on Friday. He’s stepped up in this series and he’s averaging 32.7 points, eight rebounds, and four assists over his past three full games. He’s been shooting really well during that span, going 54.4% from the field and 44.0% from three. While those numbers are above his season average, we can be confident he’ll get plenty of looks today; he’s averaged 19 FGAs over the past three and taken at least eight threes in each of those contests. Hayward has been consistently effective on the glass, particularly on the defensive end where he’s increased his defensive rebounding rate 8.1% to 23.5%, the third-highest rate in the series. He’s pulled down between 6-10 boards in his five full games. Over the last two games, he’s produced 1.19 DK ppm, an increase of 0.13 above his normal return.

Following Hayward in per-minute production is Utah’s center, Rudy Gobert. After missing some time due to a hyperextended knee, the big man is now dealing with a tweaked ankle (technically a mild left ankle sprain) that kept him sidelined for all but 2.5 minutes of the fourth quarter in Game 6. He’s fully expected to play today, but there is some added risk as he’s only had one day off to rehab. Over the past two games, he’s turned in 1.13 DK ppm, a slight 0.03 bump, and his usage has jumped 4.0% to 21.0%. On FanDuel, he’s pretty expensive at $9,600, but on DraftKings, he seems like a nice deal at $7,800. That’s just $300 more expensive than Al Horford, who is $1,300 cheaper on FD. Since returning, Gobert has averaged 13.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game and he only played 24 minutes in one of those. He’ll have to keep battling DeAndre Jordan down low, but it helps the Clippers are rolling with smaller lineups.

Iso Joe Johnson has been one of the cooler stories of the playoffs. After receiving 23.6 minutes and taking 8.0 shots per game in the regular season, he’s been getting on the floor for 32.2 in the playoffs and taking 13.7 shots per game. Plus, he’s third on the team in points (16.7 ppg) and usage (24.2%). However, over the past two nights with Gobert and Hayward healthy, and Rodney Hood picking up some extra minutes, Johnson’s usage has declined to his normal rate of 19.5%, as has his per-minute production, which has been 0.73 DK ppm. After taking 13+ shots in the first five games, he only took nine in Game 6. He should take more today, but we may need to temper expectations with a fully healthy squad. Same goes for the Joe Ingles, who hasn’t scored a point in the last two games. He’s just low on the totem pole of scorers in this offense and his peripherals have been down as well. Overall, he’s had a usage rate of 7.1% across the past two outings and produced 0.37 DK ppm.

Rodney Hood has led the team in usage with a rate of 28.6% over Games 5 and 6, but his poor shooting has caused his fantasy production to drop 0.14 DK ppm to 0.66. He’s converted just 29.6% of his attempts in that stretch and he’ll turn it around sometime soon. That could be today as he’s still expected to play 24-28 minutes, but his playing time may depend on how well he’s shooting. He’ll probably come with relatively low ownership following his dud in Game 6, but he averaged 17.0 points in the two preceding it and can be a strong asset at his current salary if he starts getting the ball in the hoop again.

Outside of Hood and Johnson, there isn’t too much to like off the Jazz bench. Derrick Favors only earned 15 minutes in Game 6 as Utah prefers to run Johnson at power forward to counter LA’s small lineups. He’s in play on FanDuel since there aren’t many options, and he’s produced 1.08 FD ppm over the last two outings, but he’s a very risky target as he may not get much action. Even starter Boris Diaw will likely play 15 or fewer minutes and he’s produced 0.75 FD ppm in the last two.

Their point guard, George Hill, has been a little up and down this postseason. He’s had two games with 22 or more points and three with 13 or fewer. With other players stepping up, his assist rate is down 5.3% to 17.3%, but he’s averaging 4.2 rebounds per game, 0.8 above his average. Over the past two games, he’s maintained a usage rate of 25.0% and he’s produced 0.94 DK ppm, both numbers in line with his normal production. With the current group and the way they’re playing, his ceiling appears to be capped, as it seems unlikely he’ll put together a complete game with scoring and peripherals. Plus, his upside could be impacted by Rodney Hood’s minutes, as Hood could soak up usage and take some scoring opportunities from Hill if he’s playing well. That said, his price is reasonable and he’s the only player priced between $4,000 and $8,600 on DraftKings, so he could come with low ownership and lead to some unique roster construction in tournaments.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
George Hill $6,000 $6,000 0.89 31.5 5.9 28.0 -3.2 24.7% -3.5% 7 2.71
Joe Ingles $4,900 $4,500 0.68 24.1 9.3 16.3 5.6 15.4% -3.0% 5 -1.78
Gordon Hayward $8,500 $8,500 1.00 34.5 -0.3 34.3 -0.8 27.6% -0.5% 22 -1.80
Boris Diaw $3,300 $2,800 0.57 17.6 1.8 10.1 1.4 17.6% -0.7% 20 2.19
Rudy Gobert $9,600 $7,800 1.05 33.9 -13.9 35.8 -12.3 16.2% 1.5% 9 3.57
Joe Johnson $5,700 $5,500 0.68 23.6 8.3 16.1 12.1 18.7% 4.4% 22 N/A
Derrick Favors $5,800 $4,600 0.87 23.7 4.3 20.7 -0.5 19.8% -5.4% 20 N/A

Elite Plays – Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert

Secondary Plays – George Hill, Rodney Hood, Joe Johnson, Derrick Favors (FD)

Los Angeles Clippers

I really can’t tell if I enjoy or hate Steve Ballmer’s insane antics on the sidelines, but we can all be confident we’ll see him approximately 1,000,000 times today. Now that I’m typing it out, I realize I dislike that quite a bit. But I digress, we have a Game 7 in LA and it’s time for Chris Paul to shine. He’s taken on his new role as their primary scorer in stride, scoring 29.5 points per game over the past four contests. He’s been really effective when weaving through traffic and attacking the basket, which seems to be his initial approach on a ton of possessions – he’s completed 70.0% of his attempts within eight feet of the basket and 81.8% inside of five feet. He’s bumped his usage up 10.0% to 35.7% and he’s returned an extra 0.11 DK ppm, bringing his average pace to 1.45. Surprisingly, he’s done better when Rudy Gobert was on the floor, pushing his usage even further, to 44.0%, and his per-minute production shoot through the roof to 1.67. That’s been over a small sample of 52.7 minutes, but it seems like the point guard really takes things into his own hands when the Jazz center is on the court. Paul received 38 minutes in Game 6 and he could push towards the 40-minute mark today with the season on the line. Although the matchup isn’t ideal, he’s been playing well and he absorbs a huge chunk of the team’s overall fantasy production, so he’s an interesting pivot or pair with John Wall. They’re the same price on FanDuel, but Paul will offer a savings of $600 on DraftKings today.

Unlike Paul, who has appeared matchup-proof in this series, DeAndre Jordan has struggled. Even without Blake Griffin over the past four games (well three and a half games), his fantasy production has tumbled 0.29 DK ppm to 0.83. When Gobert is on the floor, he’s turned in 0.90 DK ppm, which is better, but it’s not great as his average pace comes out to 32.33 DK ppm over 36 minutes. He’s posted an excellent rebounding rate of 24.0%, right in line with his regular season numbers, but he hasn’t managed to become more involved in the offense as he’s taking 8.2 FGAs in this series, just 1.1 above average. Although his price has dropped, Al Horford and Rudy Gobert are still in the same ballpark on DraftKings and both seem like more appealing targets. On FanDuel, he could potentially offer a better points-per-dollar return since he’s $1,100 cheaper than Horford and $2,400 less than a semi-hobbled up Gobert.

Their other three starters are in play. Austin Rivers joined the group last game, picked up 35 minutes, and turned them into 22.5 DK points. His price jumped to $4,000 DraftKings, but that’s still a pretty nice deal considering his average per-36 pace during the season across 210.3 minutes with Paul and without Griffin on the court came out to 28.21 DK points. He’s only $3,300 on FanDuel where he posted a per-36 pace of 26.21 in that scenario. He could push towards 40 minutes as well today. When Luc Mbah a Moute plays alongside Paul and Rivers without Griffin, his usage bumps up 5.2% to 17.1% and he averaged 18.74 DK points every 36 minutes. He’s been playing pretty well in this series and he’s getting 36+ minutes a night. Over the past four games, he’s averaged 23.1 DK points and hasn’t been below 18.25. He could be a sneaky option today. J.J. Redick finally had a big game in the fifth meeting, scoring 26 points on his way to 32.25 DK points – which was his first game above 13.0 DK points – but he was silent in the follow-up, only making one basket after attempting just four. For the most part, he’s been unable to overcome this Jazz defense. Backup Jamal Crawford hasn’t been much better, but he’s managed to take at least 12 FGAs in four of the six games. Although he’s shooting 40.3% from the field and 23.8% from deep, he may be a better target than Redick and he’s cheaper.

With Rivers moving into the starting lineup, Marreese Speights returned to the bench and only got on the court for ten minutes. He managed to turn them into 14.0 DK points and 13.4 FD points though. It seems unlikely he’ll get much more time than that so he’s probably not worth consideration on DK. Over at FanDuel, he’s the third-most expensive power forward available as there isn’t much to choose from. As mentioned above, it may be worth punting the PF2 spot to Jerebko, but if interested Speights is another high-risk low-reward option that should at least offer more raw points than most PFs on FD today. Raymond Felton earned 20 minutes and Game 6 off the bench and could continue to see a similar workload. He’s turned in 0.60 DK ppm over the past four games on a usage rate of 14.9% and he doesn’t offer much upside in this spot when he’s only getting 20 per game at best.

Notable Fantasy Players

Player FD Salary DK Salary FP/Min Minutes L5 +/- FP/Game L5 +/- True Usage L5 +/- DvP DRPM
Chris Paul $10,400 $10,200 1.26 31.5 4.9 39.7 11.6 28.9% 3.3% 1 0.60
Austin Rivers $3,300 $4,000 0.67 27.8 -10.0 18.6 -14.7 20.8% -1.3% 2 0.04
J.J. Redick $3,900 $4,100 0.72 28.2 4.4 20.2 -6.6 21.0% -5.0% 1 0.13
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute $4,300 $4,300 0.52 22.3 13.8 11.6 7.3 11.0% -1.2% 1 -1.03
DeAndre Jordan $7,200 $7,400 1.08 31.7 5.6 34.3 -1.6 14.6% -0.4% 3 6.03
Jamal Crawford $3,100 $3,900 0.70 26.3 0.6 18.3 -3.6 22.8% -0.9% 2 N/A
Raymond Felton $2,600 $2,500 0.70 21.2 -4.5 14.7 -3.8 17.8% -0.8% 1 N/A

Elite Plays – Chris Paul

Secondary Plays – DeAndre Jordan, Austin Rivers, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick, Marreese Speights (FD)

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).