NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, February 9th
The Starting 5 series will provide Grinders a quick look at the day’s top positional plays, as analyzed by one of our daily fantasy sports experts.
Friday, February 9th
Happy Friday, Grinders! Welcome to the Friday edition of the NBA Starting 5 series! Fridays offer us solid slate sizes and large DFS tournaments, so it is a great day to analyze the NBA from a GPP perspective.
Let’s take a look at five of my favorite tournament plays of the day. For reference, I will be using DraftKings pricing throughout the article.
Point Guard: Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets – $6,300
I’m not sure how much traction this pick will get throughout the day, but I really like Jamal Murray in tournaments tonight. His production has quietly ramped up since the calendar turned to 2018, but yet Murray seems to go under-appreciated in DFS circles. Perhaps some of that is because you just can’t trust Coach Malone with his rotations, but Murray’s playing time has largely been steady of late. He is averaging 22.1 actual points per game over his last nine contests, and that is almost a five point improvement over his season average. A lot of his other metrics are also trending in the right direction.
Murray benefits from a pace up matchup against Houston here, too, and this game carries a massive total. Expect a run and gun kind of game, and Murray should thrive in that atmosphere. What could possibly go wrong, you ask? Well, Murray does draw a relatively difficult individual matchup against Chris Paul, so there is some risk of a below average game here. In any case, I am more than willing to take that risk in tournaments, as the upside is there, the price is fair, and the ownership will likely be low. Fire away.
Shooting Guard: J.R. Smith, Cleveland Cavaliers – $4,800
This is a really interesting night to analyze from a GPP perspective, and the Cavaliers are definitely a team that we need to look at. They made a bunch of trades prior to the deadline on Thursday, and the new players are not expected to be available for this game. Therefore, with George Hill and Jordan Clarkson likely not available and both Dwyane Wade and Isaiah Thomas gone to other teams, there aren’t going to be a lot of guards available for Cleveland. As such, J.R. Smith will likely see as many minutes as he can handle. We know that Smith doesn’t mind chucking, and he could be looking at around 40 minutes of court time.
Smith is also coming off a game against Minnesota where he knocked down six three point shots, so he should be brimming with confidence heading into this one. The efficiency is always a question mark, but I’m willing to invest given his reasonable price point and likely healthy minutes. Keep an eye on the news to make sure that Hill and Clarkson won’t be debuting here. If they are out, fire up Smith with confidence in all formats, and don’t be afraid to target a more expensive player from the Cavaliers like James or Calderon or Green, too.
Small Forward: Jimmy Butler, Minnesota Timberwolves – $9,600
Revenge can be a narrative that we look at tonight, so here is “Revenge Game, Part I.” Tom Thibodeau is happily letting Butler run the show in Minnesota, especially since Jeff Teague has largely been a disaster over the last month. While Teague has been struggling, Butler has been surging. He has put up back-to-back 55 fantasy point outings on DraftKings, and the minutes remain sturdy. Butler is now tied with LeBron James for the league lead in minutes per game, so Butler’s floor will always be safe. The ceiling is appealing as well, and Butler will always be motivated to play against his former squad — not to mention the fact that Thibodeau is also coaching against his former team. That will likely lead him to play every starter 48 minutes (I’m kidding, of course). In any case, Butler is a very strong option to pay up for in tournament formats given his current strong form and stable minutes.
Power Forward: Jeff Green, Cleveland Cavaliers – $4,500
I originally had Bobby Portis listed here, but I over-looked Lauri Markkanen returning in the frenzy of all the trade deadline news over the last two days.
In any case, let’s replace Portis with Jeff Green. The Cavs are going to be barren on bodies tonight, with only seven active players who have seen court time this season. Green is still going to come off the bench, so some players might be reluctant to pull the trigger. I actually don’t mind him coming off the bench, as he will likely see a lot more usage with the second unit. The Cavs also get a date with an Atlanta squad that is playing on the tail end of a back-to-back and doesn’t play much defense to begin with. Some of my lineups will likely have three or four Cleveland players tonight, as they provide some nice value and should all play plenty of minutes.
Center: Blake Griffin, Detroit Pistons – $9,100
Revenge can be a narrative we look at tonight, so here is “Revenge Game, Part II.” This one carries some special appeal, as you know Blake Griffin will be motivated to go up against the team he spent several years playing for. The trade is also fresh in everyone’s minds, so the revenge should be served on a silver platter. Griffin has taken a back seat to Andre Drummond in the last couple of games, but Griffin still carries a lot of all-around appeal. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him put up a monster double-double in this game, and the price tag isn’t all that outrageous at $9,100 on DraftKings. If Griffin comes out determined to put on a show for his new home fans, there’s big time upside here. Griffin is averaging a line of 22/8/6 in his four games with Detroit, and those are very similar to the numbers he put up with the Clippers prior to the trade. The Pistons have also won all four games. Don’t sleep on Griffin’s revenge tonight.
Good luck tonight, everyone!