NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, November 17th
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, November 17th
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: Jordan Clarkson, Los Angeles Lakers – $5,100
We get things started with what is shockingly the least intriguing position of the night. I really can’t find a whole lot to love at the point guard position. Thankfully, thanks to multi-position eligibility on DraftKings, we can start an off guard at the point guard position. This might be one of the only times that I will ever say that, as the general goal most nights is to get as many point guards into a roster as possible. There are some solid mid-range to high-end point guard plays tonight, but none that I absolutely love from a GPP perspective. It will be an odd night for GPP lineup building on FanDuel, where you have to log two true point guards into a roster.
Anyhow, I’ll give Clarkson the nod here, as you can play him at PG on DraftKings. He has closed out the games ahead of Lonzo Ball this week, and he has been on fire over the last two games. He has attempted a whopping 40 shots in those two contests, scoring 37 and 39 DraftKings points in the process. The logical argument against him is that those performances came against the Suns and Sixers, so he certainly won’t be able to keep it up against better defensive squads. Well, the good news is… the Lakers play the Suns again tonight! There is some risk of reduced minutes if Lonzo Ball happens to be playing well (and you can throw Ball into the GPP conversation as well), but Clarkson is significantly cheaper and is the better play in my eyes.
Shooting Guard: Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz – $6,500
Utah is going to be a team that I target heavily tonight, and I would likely have listed another player if this article contained more than five selections Without Rudy Gobert, this team simply doesn’t have a lot of offensive options. If we fire up CourtIQ and take Gobert off the floor, we see that Mitchell carries a very healthy 33% usage rate this season. The minutes are going to be there, he seems locked into a starting role, and he’s playing with confidence. He has taken at least 13 shot attempts in eight straight games, which is a healthy amount for any player. Mitchell is also capable of adding plenty of extra stats in addition to his scoring volume. He might also handle the ball a little more with Rubio out this evening.
By the way, the Jazz also get to face the Nets tonight. Brooklyn leads the league in pace and ranks 24th in defensive efficiency, so this game provides a nice boost for the Jazz. This game has a one point spread, and Utah has a healthy team total of 106 points. Fire up Mitchell with confidence in GPP formats here.
Small Forward: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers – $11,200
Nobody else that I have listed here will cost you a hefty chunk of change, so that should leave plenty of salary to fit in Mr. Point Guard LeBron James. He has been taking over the entire offense with Derrick Rose on the shelf, and he has kicked it into overdrive since Cleveland got off to a 5-7 start. The Cavs carry the second highest implied team total on the board today at 114 points, and there isn’t a soul on the Clippers roster that is capable of checking him. Well, there really isn’t anyone in the league that’s capable of checking him. In any case, there’s enough value out there to easily fit James into a lineup, and he is definitely my favorite “spend up” target of the day.
Power Forward: Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz – $5,900
Favors is the second Utah player that gets the nod as a strong GPP play today. He doesn’t necessarily see a ton of increased usage without Rudy Gobert, but he certainly sees more minutes and has the ability to grab a few more rebounds. He has averaged 35 fantasy points per game in the three contests that Gobert has missed, and his price tag has strangely only risen to $5,900. Given tonight’s matchup against the Nets, I would have expected him to be priced about $1,000 higher than this on DraftKings.
Take advantage of the discount while you can still get it. While Favors will certainly be highly owned in this spot, I’ll simply differentiate my lineups with other plays.
Center: Greg Monroe, Phoenix Suns – $4,100
Out of nowhere, Greg Monroe made his Suns debut and started last night against the Rockets. It is no secret that he is not in the long-term plans for the Suns. A potential buyout has been thrown out in the news, but you know the Suns would rather showcase him for a trade. With Tyson Chandler confirmed out again tonight, this is another perfect opportunity for Monroe to get some extended run. He made 10 of 14 shots from the floor last night and logged a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes. While his defense is the major liability, this is an interesting matchup of poor defensive centers in Monroe and Brook Lopez. I could see both guys having decent games as long as the minutes are there.
The other positive is that Monroe remains dirt cheap, as the salaries for tonight were released before yesterday’s games started. You have to love NBA DFS. A guy that was completely irrelevant two days ago and hasn’t even been discussed all year has suddenly become perhaps the top value play on the board.
Good luck tonight, everyone!