NBA Starting 5 (GPP): Friday, October 20th
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, October 20th
Happy Friday, Grinders! Welcome to the Friday edition of the NBA Starting 5 series! Fridays generally 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. At the conclusion of the article, I will show you a brief sneak peek at a piece of our NBA premium content! For reference, I will be using DraftKings pricing throughout the article.
Point Guard: D’Angelo Russell, Brooklyn Nets – $7,300
We get things kick started with the newest member of the Nets, and Russell checks in as one of my favorite tournament options of the night. He scored 30 points and looked fantastic in the opening game against the Pacers, and now he is looking at a sturdy dose of minutes with Jeremy Lin out for the season. The Nets do not have a reliable point guard outside of Russell, as Lin could have played backup minutes at the position if he would have stayed healthy.
Russell is looking like the leader of this team and should put up gaudy fantasy numbers all year. Lock and load Russell in with massive GPP upside tonight. The temptation is there to pivot to a lower cost option like Caris LeVert, but don’t forget about the leader of the pack. With Lin out and Brook Lopez off to Los Angeles, it would not surprise me to see Russell flirt with 30%+ usage this season.
Shooting Guard: Avery Bradley, Detroit Pistons – $5,400
The easy thing to do is look at Bradley’s game log from Wednesday night and immediately become concerned because he only played 23 minutes. Do not be concerned with that, as Bradley’s playing time was hampered by the fact that he got into big foul trouble in the first half. Bradley profiles as the perfect player for Stan Van Gundy, and it would surprise me if he did not lead the team in average minutes by the time we get a couple months into the season. Van Gundy loves the hard-nosed, defensive-minded players, and you can certainly count on the playing time to be there for Bradley.
With the minutes concern out of the way, it all comes down to opportunity. Bradley should be more of an offensive threat on his new team, and he’s even trying to add a three point shot to his arsenal. The DFS price tag is still very cheap, and I will gladly target him at an affordable $5,400 tag on DraftKings. He shot an efficient 7-for-10 in the opener and has really grown his offensive game over the past couple seasons. While he is still seen as more of a cash game play by many, I am all aboard the Bradley train in all formats this evening. I think he is one of the best point per dollar plays of the entire slate.
Small Forward: Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics – $5,500
The price tag is slowly starting to rise, but Jaylen Brown is still too cheap, especially on DraftKings. He had his left wrist wrapped after Wednesday’s game against the Bucks, but he played through the issue and is not listed on the injury report for tonight’s game. Boston’s depth on the wings as already taken a major hit thanks to the freak injury to Gordon Hayward, and now Marcus Smart is unlikely to play tonight with an ankle injury. They literally have nowhere else to turn other than giving huge minutes to young players like Brown and Jayson Tatum.
There is no doubt that the minutes will be there, and the opportunity should definitely follow. Brown is showing some aggressiveness on the offensive end to start the year, and he has attempted 34 shots through two games. He is going to be used as a secondary playmaker alongside Kyrie Irving, and the Celtics draw a great matchup against a defensively challenged Sixers squad tonight. It might be a little harder to click the button next to Brown now that he isn’t $4,000 anymore, but he is still very much in play despite the bump to $5,500. Hopefully that bump keeps his ownership in check, because I will gladly load up on Brown if he is going to go under-owned.
Power Forward: Thaddeus Young, Indiana Pacers – $5,800
With Paul George off to Oklahoma City, the Pacers are going to need their other big men to step up and carry the load offensively. Myles Turner did just that with a fantastic opening game against the Nets, but he is now injured and does not appear likely to play this evening. That will open up tons of opportunity for Thaddeus Young. He will need to score points if Indiana wants to compete in this game, and the matchup just happens to be another favorable one against the Blazers. Portland does not have a strong interior defense by any stretch. I expect Young to play 32+ minutes if this game is close, and it would surprise me if he didn’t score at least 20 actual points in the game. Yes, he’s burned us all before, but the price is right, and the opportunity will definitely be there if Turner sits.
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Below is a snippet of my “GPP Pool” for tonight’s games, which can be found as a Premium filter within our spectacular new LineupHQ tool. I will mark my favorite GPP players of the day at each position, and we also have filters for cash games, salary savers, and core plays. This is my filter for power forwards on tonight’s slate on DraftKings. Check it out!
Center: Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic – $7,600
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t include at least one player who gets to face off against the Nets! Brooklyn allowed a whopping 140 points to Indiana in their season opener, and Myles Turner absolutely dominated the game 21 points and 14 rebounds in 34 minutes. Timofey Mozgov and Trevor Booker are not going to be able to slow down opposing big men, especially if Brooklyn continues to play at ones of the fastest tempos in the NBA this season. Nikola Vucevic is one of the best offensive centers in the game, and he should be licking his chops at this matchup. There is enough value at the other positions to where you can afford to spend up at center, and Vucevic is definitely near the top of the list this evening.