NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, March 2nd
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 2nd
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: Elfrid Payton, Phoenix Suns – $6,800
The switch to Phoenix has actually worked wonders for Elfrid Payton. He has added a consistent element to his game that was absolutely lacking in Orlando. It’s amazing how things can change with a different coaching staff and a change of scenery. Payton has always brought upside to the table, which of course is what we are looking for in tournament formats. For a guy that has topped 30 fantasy points in eight straight games, I am surprised that the price tag is still as affordable as it is. This will be a fun matchup between Payton and the great Russell Westbrook, and something makes me think that Payton will be up for the challenge. The price is just too cheap, and I like the safety/upside combination that we get with Payton right now.
Shooting Guard: Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz – $7,500
Utah draws an average matchup with Minnesota tonight, but Mitchell should benefit the most from the absence of Jimmy Butler. Mitchell owns a healthy 31.4% usage rate over the last four weeks, which puts him among the top players in the NBA. He also tends to get over-looked a little bit by the masses on these large slates. Use that potential leverage to your advantage, especially since Mitchell carries a reasonable price tag. Even though there are a lot of studs to pay for on this slate, I like the idea of taking a balanced approach. As such, I am including five “mid-range” picks in this article today. Give this roster construction approach a spin, and I think you’ll like what you can build. Mitchell should have a solid game this evening with Butler not around to follow him on the court.
Small Forward: Aaron Gordon, Orlando Magic – $7,300
Remember when the Slam Dunk contest was good? Aaron Gordon is really the only guy I can remember from the last five or six years of dunk contests. This is neither here nor there for DFS purposes, but I got to thinking about this over the All Star break. Meanwhile, the real current version of Aaron Gordon is back in action in regular season games, and the Magic are starting to get healthy again with Nikola Vucevic also back.
It’s easy to forget about players when they get hit with injuries in the middle of the season, and that appears to be the case with Gordon. He was upwards of 3% owned in some contests on DraftKings the other night, and it wasn’t even a full slate. He posted a double-double in that game with a solid all around line, and the upside is obviously tremendous. His price is also still somewhat discounted because of his injury and the poor play of the Magic as a whole. Gordon won’t be popular again tonight in a matchup against the Pistons, and I love the potential he provides at low ownership in GPP formats.
Power Forward: John Collins, Atlanta Hawks – $5,900
We have seen bursts of upside from Collins all season, and he now has a clear path to big minutes down the stretch with Ersan Ilyasova out of town. Foul trouble is occasionally a concern, and it would scare me away from trusting Collins 100% in cash games. However, the GPP upside is very real. I don’t mind the price tag, and I think Collins can thrive in a game against Golden State that should be an up and down affair. Collins’ athleticism is more fit for this than a guy like Dedmon or any of the other Atlanta bigs. If Atlanta is able to stay close in this game, Collins will have to be part of the reason. If you are locking in some Warriors on your GPP rosters, it’s a decent move to run it back with Collins on the other side.
Center: Dwight Howard, Charlotte Hornets – $7,300
Howard battled an injury scare the other night, but it seems like he is good to go for tonight’s contest. The price tag has also been drastically reduced, so we are getting a discount on a guy who has been in fine form all year. A lot of people are sleeping on just how good he has been this year. He has been consistent all season, and his averages of 15 points and 12 rebounds per game put him among the elite centers in the NBA again. The Hornets were playing well before getting blown out in their last game, but that helped the coaching staff monitor Howard’s minutes a good bit. It will be a fun matchup with Joel Embiid, but there’s also the chance that the Sixers might rest Embiid on the second leg of a back-to-back. If Embiid sits, that’s even more reason to play Howard, as the Sixers would have no prayer of matching up with the big man.
So there’s your balanced lineup approach to GPP contests tonight! Good luck tonight, everyone!