NBA Grind Down: Wednesday, October 30th - Page 3
Oklahoma City at Utah
| Oklahoma City | Utah | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 195.5 |  | Vegas | 195.5 | |||||||
| Spread | -6.5 | Spread | 6.5 | |||||||||
| Pace | 95.89 | Pace | 93.40 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 24 | 7 | 6 | 27 | 3 | Season | 5 | 19 | 9 | 7 | 9 | |
| Last10 | 22 | 7 | 4 | 24 | 3 | Last10 | 8 | 28 | 3 | 8 | 13 | |
| Jackson-Sefolosha-Durant-Ibaka-Perkins | Lucas III-Hayward-Jefferson-Favors-Kanter | |||||||||||
Oklahoma City
The Thunder are going to have to keep things together while Russell Westbrook works his way back from injury. If they are going to have any shot of getting the one seed in the West, they need to start the season out well enough that they are still within striking distance once he comes back. The Thunder didn’t make any big offseason acquisitions, but they did lose Kevin Martin who was a great scorer off the bench. This puts even more pressure on Kevin Durant to carry the load offensively.
The matchup is a favorable one for the Thunder, but I don’t expect the production to come from either of the bigs. Both Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter are very good defenders and I expect them to keep Ibaka and Perkins quiet.
Players to Target
- *Kevin Durant – Durant is my favorite play tonight if we take out all salaries. I think he will be the highest scoring player as he is going to have to carry the load offensively for the Thunder. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Durant put up 25 shots in this one.
- *Reggie Jackson – Jackson is close to a must play on a few different sites tonight. He is dirt cheap and his salary is going to rise very quickly after tonight’s game. He is one of the best backup PG’s in the NBA and he should fill the void left by Westbrook nicely. Look for him to post something in the range of 15, 8, and 5 tonight.
Utah
The Jazz have a new look after losing both Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. Yet, they still have one of the better frontcourts in the NBA. Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors are both talented young bigs that are really going to surprise some people this season. Trey Burke is also going to be a nice piece for the Jazz, but he will be out for a while with an injury. The one weak link that the Jazz have is at SF as Richard Jefferson will get the start.
Players to Target
- *Enes Kanter – The sample size is very small, but in two games as the starting Center last season, Kanter averaged 20 points and 15 rebounds. He is at the top of the league in rebounds per minutes and really knows how to use his body down low to create separation from his opponents. Don’t be surprised to see him end up with an easy double-double, maybe even by the end of the 3rd quarter.
- *Derrick Favors – Expectations for Favors have always been high and this is the season that he can finally live up to them. With no other bigs taking his minutes, I expect him to be a 15 point 10 rebound a night type of player. His biggest weakness is getting into foul trouble though so when taking him, always know that it’s a possibility.
Portland at Phoenix
| Portland | Phoenix | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 198.5 |  | Vegas | 198.5 | |||||||
| Spread | -6.0 | Spread | 6.0 | |||||||||
| Pace | 93.72 | Pace | 95.95 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 17 | 12 | 14 | 29 | 28 | Season | 18 | 24 | 19 | 23 | 20 | |
| Last10 | 29 | 20 | 8 | 18 | 29 | Last10 | 9 | 30 | 16 | 23 | 24 | |
| Lillard-Matthews-Batum-Aldridge-Lopez | Dragic-Bledsoe-Tucker-Morris-Plumlee | |||||||||||
Portland
The Blazers biggest acquisitions in the offseason were backup PG Mo Williams and starting Center Robin Lopez. I don’t see either of these players making a huge impact early on in the season, but they do give the Blazers some much needed depth. Over the last few seasons the Blazers have been a very talented, very underachieving bunch. Let’s see if they can finally take that leap forward this season.
Players to Target
- *Nicolas Batum – The walking stat machine will look to start his season off on a high note. On good nights, Batum can fill up every stat on the page and make it look easy, but his biggest problem is that he often stops being aggressive and ends up sitting in the corner too much offensively. When he gets easy buckets, his motor gets going and he starts making plays on both ends of the floor.
- *Damian Lillard – Really like the matchup for Lillard tonight. Dragic is not a great defender and Lillard showed last season that he can take over games when needed. This is expected to be one of the higher scoring games of the night and players in this game will likely be underowned just because there aren’t many big names on either team.
Phoenix
My favorite addition to the Suns this offseason was Eric Bledsoe. He is a dynamic young guard that can change the game in an instant. He is a great defender and can really attack the basket. It will be interesting to see how he and Dragic play together as they are both used to having the ball in their hands the majority of the time they are in. I also like the prospects for young Miles Plumlee, with Gortat traded to the Wizards, he will start right out of the gate.
Players to Target
- *Goran Dragic – I think Dragic will be less than 5% owned in leagues across the board tonight. Part of that is because there are so many other options and part of that is because not many people trust Dragic after his fairly disappointing season last year. I think that this new Suns roster fits his style of play much better and I like Dragic as a GPP play tonight. He could put up a sneaky 20 point 10 assist game.
Denver at Sacramento
| Denver | Sacramento | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 205.5 |  | Vegas | 205.5 | |||||||
| Spread | 3.0 | Spread | -3.0 | |||||||||
| Pace | 97.76 | Pace | 96.34 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 29 | 28 | 27 | 28 | 26 | Season | 23 | 9 | 28 | 10 | 29 | |
| Last10 | 20 | 25 | 29 | 16 | 27 | Last10 | 17 | 19 | 24 | 15 | 23 | |
| Lawson-Foye-Hamilton-Faried-McGee | Vasquez-Thornton-Salmons-Patterson-Cousins | |||||||||||
Denver
Denver is really going to miss Andre Iguodala this season. He took their defense from worst in the league to one that was ranked in the middle of the pack. Nothing against Randy Foye, but he is not going to be able to fill the shoes of Iggy. The Nuggets start the season very hobbled, they will be without Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari tonight which means Anthony Randolph will get the start at SF and Randy Foye at SG.
The Nuggets are one of the fastest paced teams in the league and are followed closely by the Kings. All indications say that this game should be a shootout without much defense being played at all. It is a great game to target players from.
Players to Target
- *Ty Lawson – Lawson is going to have to carry the load offensively with so many pieces missing to open the season. Last year the Kings were one of the worst teams against opposing PG’s and even though the Kings now have Vasquez, the uptempo nature of the Kings won’t change. Look for Lawson to be the leading scorer on the Nuggets tonight.
- *Anthony Randolph – While I don’t trust Randolph much, he is going to get the start and he’s going to get the minutes. And minutes in the NBA equal production. He is dirt cheap across the board and makes a nice value play.
Sacramento
Will this season finally be the year that DeMarcus Cousins grows up and plays hard every single night? I highly doubt it, but luckily for us, we don’t care what he does in the 82 games this season, we only care what he does tonight because we get to draft a new team tomorrow night. The Kings added Greivis Vasquez this season who I think will be a huge upgrade over Thomas.
Players to Target
- *DeMarcus Cousins – Cousins looks like he could be the top scoring Center tonight. The Nuggets were the second worst team against opposing Centers last season and Cousins should be able to run cirlces around Mozgov and McGee. He’s always a risk, but he has the highest upside of any center tonight.
- *Greivis Vasquez – It’s always a bit scary to take players in their first game on their new team, but I think Vasquez will fit right in with this group. He’s the type of player that likes to make plays for his teammates first and then look to score as the game goes on. The matchup against the Nuggets is just too good.
L.A.Lakers at Golden State
| L.A.Lakers | Golden State | |||||||||||
 | Vegas Pts | 202.5 |  | Vegas | 202.5 | |||||||
| Spread | 12.5 | Spread | -12.5 | |||||||||
| Pace | 96.78 | Pace | 96.81 | |||||||||
| Opponent Defense vs. Position | Opponent Defense vs. Position | |||||||||||
| DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | DvP Rks | PG | SG | SF | PF | C | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 25 | 18 | 29 | 20 | 11 | Season | 30 | 27 | 18 | 17 | 12 | |
| Last10 | 24 | 16 | 23 | 4 | 25 | Last10 | 30 | 27 | 7 | 25 | 1 | |
| Nash-Blake-Young-Williams-Gasol | Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Lee-Bogut | |||||||||||
L.A.Lakers
Last game of the night! Can you believe how well the Lakers bench played last night? I had to check my eyes after watching that clinic that they put on in the 4th quarter. A few things that we learned from last night’s game:
- Pau Gasol is the focal point of this offense
- Chris Kaman will get more minutes than Shawne Williams
- Steve Nash looks old, very old
- The Lakers bench actually has some nice pieces
Tonight’s matchup against Golden State is another one to target. Both of these teams like to push the ball and take quick shots.
Players to Target
- *Pau Gasol – Gasol had a monster game brewing before the bench took over and left the starters riding the pine. But the thing that I took away from this game is that everything is going to run through Pau. While Bogut is a good defender, Pau is a crafty veteran that finds ways to produce even if he is not scoring.
- *Steve Blake – I know that he was quiet last night, but you can’t expect the bench of the Lakers to play like that again anytime soon, especially not on the road. I expect Blake to have a nice bounce back game. Take him in a GPP and thank me tomorrow.
Golden State
Andre Iguodala may have been the biggest offseason acquisition. I think that single acquisition took the Warriors into a top 4 seed in the West. Obviously, there is still a lot of things that could happen, but they are that good on paper. Their starting five can compete with any starting five in basketball and they are going to be one tough team to beat at home.
I love the matchup against the Lakers, but I am a little scared that this one will turn into a blowout quickly. The Lakers are coming off of a huge win in which they expended a ton of energy. Now they have to go into one of the toughest arena’s in the league on a back to back.
Players to Target
- *Stephen Curry – Curry could have one of his legendary 8-3 pointer nights tonight against this awful Lakers defense. Not only that, but he gets the best matchup on the floor. Nash has given up on trying to play defense and Curry should get plenty of open looks.
- *David Lee – Really like the matchup for Lee. He will be going up against Williams and Kaman, neither of which scare me in the slightest defensively. Having Bogut in the lineup may take a few of Lee’s boards away, but that doesn’t concern me enough to want to fade him.