NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, March 23rd
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, March 23rd
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: Darren Collison, Indiana Pacers, $5,800
The Pacers have finally given Collison the keys to the offense again, and he should be in line for a 30+ minute role as we get close to the playoffs. Even though he was disappointing the other night as a chalky play, I am comfortable going back to the well. He draws a great matchup against a Clippers team that isn’t great defensively and is playing at a surprisingly brisk pace without Blake Griffin. The Clippers now rank sixth in the league in tempo for the year, which is good news for Indiana’s offense in this game. The Pacers have a healthy team total of 111 tonight, and the game has a three point spread. Collison will carry about a fifth of the ownership that he did the other night, too, simply because of one poor game. This is a perfect spot to zig where others zag in GPP formats.
Shooting Guard: Denzel Valentine, Chicago Bulls – $5,900
Part of the reason why late March NBA is so frustrating is because it’s difficult to get a read on the tanking teams. The Grizzlies are the worst at providing quality news, but the Bulls are up there too. The good news is that both Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine have been ruled out for tonight, and now Antonio Blakeney has been ruled out for the rest of the season. That leaves the team with very few options on the wing, especially since the coaching staff doesn’t seem keen on playing Jerian Grant or Justin Holiday for extended minutes.
The natural beneficiaries of all this news are David Nwaba and Denzel Valentine. Nwaba doesn’t have a very appealing DFS ceiling, so Valentine is the guy I want to focus on in tournaments. Remember, it was just earlier this week when he was one of the most popular plays on the board after his huge game last Saturday. Well, he let a lot of people down this week, so now everyone is gravitating in different directions. This could be the perfect time to hop back aboard, as I like his potential if he can grab 30-33 minutes tonight. That’s within the realm of possibility, especially since he seems to be a fixture in the starting five for now. Hopefully the Bulls can keep this game at least somewhat competitive. If that happens, Valentine should be a big part of the game.
Small Forward: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers – $12,100
Nobody else in this article will cost you more than $6,000 on DraftKings today, so there should be plenty of salary relief out there to pay up for a stud or two. For me, the priority play in all formats will be LeBron James. He is simply playing on another level right now. He is essentially averaging a triple-double in the month of March, and here are his averages for the month:
37.5 minutes per game, 31.4 points per game, 10.2 rebounds per game, 9.9 assists per game, 1.5 steals per game, 1.1 blocks per game
Those are video game numbers, my friends. As the Cavaliers get healthy again, they should look to gel with their first unit before the playoffs start. As such, I’m not too worried about a surprise rest day for James. This is a great matchup against a weak Suns team that plays fast and doesn’t offer much in the way of defensive resistance. FanDuel has made you think with a price tag over $13,000 for James, but he’s still a fine buy on DraftKings. Another 70+ fantasy point outing could very well be in the works.
Power Forward: Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks – $5,400
I could have very easily listed Eric Bledsoe or Khris Middleton in this article, and those two guys are definitely worth targeting in all formats, as they both see sizable boosts in production with Giannis Antetokounmpo off the floor. However, I wanted to highlight a different player in this GPP-focused article, and that’s Jabari Parker.
The team is finally starting to loosen the reins on Parker as we get closer to the playoffs, and he played a season-high 30 minutes against the Clippers the other night. He will be needed for more playing time with Giannis likely sidelined, and the potential is there for a 40+ fantasy point game. His price has not really risen all that much yet, so this might be the last chance to get him at a relative discount. Fire him up with confidence in a great matchup against the tanking Bulls.
Center: Jordan Bell, Golden State Warriors – $4,200
Golden State’s backcourt is getting closer to full health, but they still have issues up front. Kevin Durant remains sidelined, and Draymond Green has also been ruled out for tonight’s game. While that doesn’t automatically mean we are going to see a lot of Jordan Bell, it does at least mean that we have a better shot at seeing a lot of Jordan Bell. The rotations are still a bit unpredictable up front with this squad. However, whatever players are in the game should have a field day against a weak Hawks interior — especially since the Hawks are also in full tank mode right now.
If you want to attack upside with this Warriors frontcourt, Bell is clearly the guy to target. The other big men carry very limited ceilings, but Bell is capable of 30+ fantasy points even if he only sees 20 minutes of court time. I likely won’t trust him in cash games tonight, but there’s a very intriguing GPP ceiling here. His per minute production is much better than a lot of the other available bodies in this frontcourt.