NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, March 17th
What is up, everyone? Welcome back to another edition of the NBA GPP Starting 5. Last Friday I did not have an article and had a nice relaxing week off, but now I am back and ready to rock. First I want to break down my season of NBA DFS and explain one of my biggest faults. As usual, my tournament plays have been doing well but this year for some reason I can not tie it all together. One of my main faults is how biased I can be towards NBA. Other sports I do not have that issue, but I am so stubborn with NBA that it hurts my lineups. That is a lesson I wanted to preach to all, so I will work on that for the last stretch of the season.
Hopefully I can start right where I left off and continue my stretch of getting at least four out of five, but I would much rather get that perfect score. As usual, I will be picking plays that I will be targeting in my lineups and if a chalky play stands out to me I will play him regardless the ownership. These picks are mostly reserved for tournaments unless stated otherwise. Enough talk, let’s get into this solid eight-game slate.
Point Guard: Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics – $4,900 on DraftKings
I wanted to pick the Greek Freak here, but I like to keep my plays cheaper than that! Very easy to pick the top guys. Instead, I will go with a play that I do believe will become chalky with no IT in this game. Regardless of popularity, at his price I will have a lot of exposure. He is the exact type of DFS player that I love to target and the reason why is he can get it done in every category on the stat sheet. He will more than likely play over 30 minutes in the golden matchup, which I will get to in a second. Even with IT in the lineup he hasn’t played less than 25 minutes in his last 10 games.
The Celtics will head to Brooklyn to take on the dreadful Nets. I will make this easy here: “play everyone” against the Nets, as they are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. I believe this game will stay close with the game being played in Brooklyn. Smart and Bradley are my top plays on the Celtics and their prices could not get any better. I was going to write up Bradley for my favorite shooting guard, but I’m not a fan of picking players from the same team in my article if I can help it.
Shooting Guard: Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls – $8,800
Well, well, well, we have quite the interesting situation with the Bulls now that Wade has been ruled out for the season. One thing I know is Jimmy will get a huge usage bump with Wade out of the lineup. One of the main concerns though is whether or not the Bulls will start to pack it in. Personally, I don’t think they will, and now with Rondo back in the starting lineup they have really gone up in pace as a team, so this should be a high-scoring game.
The Bulls head to Washington to take on the Wizards which is a good matchup for Jimmy. Wings have torched the Wizards in the past and hopefully that can continue here. As usual, the blowout concern is always a factor, but they have been playing better ball as of late. Not sure what his ownership will be, but all I know is I will buy low on him while I can.
Small Forward: Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves – $6,700
Here is a play that I believe we can get at lower ownership, especially with the way Wiggins has been shooting the ball this season. Not certain on why, but Wiggins seems to shoot more on the road. For some season the Timberwolves rely on him more often away from home. His shooting in his last eight games has been atrocious, but he is finally at a price that I am comfortable playing him at. If he knocks down over 50% of his shots, he will pay off at his low price tag.
The Timberwolves will head to Miami to take on the Heat. On paper this is not the greatest matchup for Wiggins, but Paul George did just have a very solid game against this Miami Heat team. Not saying this play is not risky, but with his minute security, upside, and price makes him stand out as an interesting and great tournament play. Also, Bjelica is done for the season, which really won’t have to much effect on Wiggins with him already averaging 37 minutes a game.
Power Forward: Ryan Anderson, Houston Rockets – $4,500
This plays stands out to me for a few reasons. First is obviously he is facing his old team, the New Orleans Pelicans, which I always take with a grain of salt. Second he is on the road in a gym he has shot very well in during his career. Not sure if you have all heard about this, but he is shooting way better on the road than he is at home. Supposedly what I heard from Tracey McGrady is Houston’s court is not shooter friendly due to the backdrop of the arena, which can make sense. I see it as if you shoot in a gym and then go shoot outside it feels really strange without the wall behind the hoop because it messes with your depth perception.
Anderson is having a good season overall though, averaging a bit over 40% from deep. I am willing to throw his last game out against the Lakers in which they almost won by 40 points. In his previous two games before that, he had about 30 fantasy points in each. The matchup will be interesting to see against the Pelicans, but I do think he will see over 30 minutes here, depending on how the Rockets approach the “Twin Towers.”
Center: Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons – $7,100
Drummond has been all over this season and I have been very selective on the nights that I play him. He has had a string of tough matchups, which really shows in his recent games. Before that, though, he was playing very solid basketball and I think he gets back on track here against Toronto. One of Jonas’ biggest downfalls is his defense and Drummond should be able to dominate on the boards. In his previous two games against the Raptors he had one where he had 10 points and 18 rebounds, in the other game he got into foul trouble and had a subpar game. If The Pistons want to make the playoffs they need to win these type of games, which also will help their momentum and that starts with the heart and soul of the big man. He is averaging a hearty double-double on the season, and at $7,100 makes him my favorite tournament play at center. Look for Drummond to get back on track here, so enjoy him at this price while you can.