NBA Starting 5: Saturday, January 21st
The Starting 5 Series will provide Grinders with a quick look at the day’s top positional plays, analyzed through the lens of our Daily Research Tools.
Today, we’ll take a closer look at the Ceiling and Consistency tool. I’ll sort by the last three weeks to see what players are performing well in relation to their FanDuel salary.
The Ceiling and Consistency tool shows you how often each player has hit their value based on that day’s salary. The percentage columns (%3x, %4x, etc) show the percentage of the time that particular player has hit that value multiplier. For example, if a player has a salary of $5,000, the %3x column will show the percentage of games in which he has scored at least 15 fantasy points ($5,000 divided by 1000, then multiplied by 3).
Point Guard: Raymond Felton, Los Angeles Clippers
I’m not sure what happened with Felton’s price drop, but it’s certainly good for us. He was $5,500 against the Wolves, went for 30 FanDuel points, and now, he’s only $4,600. He should be around $6k, so this is certainly a great spot to profit on him tonight. He will be mega-chalk, but the only scenario where he doesn’t pay of his salary is if he gets injured.
Shooting Guard: Jamal Crawford, Los Angeles Clippers
Crawford has really been struggling with his shot, but with Chris Paul out, he is now locked into 25+ minutes. He shot a putrid 3-for-14 versus the Wolves and was still able to go for 6.3x. I fully expect double-digit shots for him again tonight in a dream matchup against the Nuggets. This could be the game where Crawford gets right and goes for over 30 FanDuel points.
Small Forward: Robert Covington, Philadelphia 76ers
Big Shot Bob is in play today, as Joel Embiid has been ruled out. By using our CourtIQ tool, you will see Covington’s usage goes up by two percentage points with Embiid out. Look for him to be in the 14-16 range for shot attempts, which is more than enough volume for him to pay of his salary. It can’t hurt that his confidence level should be sky high too after the big threes that he hit last night to beat the Blazers.
Power Forward: Zach Randolph, Memphis Grizzlies
Who has two thumbs and rostered ZBo over Kanter two weeks ago to cost himself FanDuel Q? This guy!!! I’ll still be taking a long look at him tonight regardless of my recent bias against him. Even though Randolph comes off the bench, he still leads the team in usage at 30 percent. That number jumps up even higher when Conley and/or Gasol are getting a break on the bench. Ryan Anderson is out tonight, so Randolph won’t be chasing him around on the perimeter either. He will be matching up with Capela and Harrell instead, which should lead to more rebounds on the defensive end, as he will be closer to the basket.
Center: Robin Lopez, Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are going to need Lopez tonight to match up with Cousins. If the Bulls can keep the game close, I fully expect Lopez to get close to the 30-minute mark. This is the first meeting of the season between the Bulls and Kings, but Lopez has certainly held his own against Cousins in the past; just last season while with the Knicks, Lopez went for 23 points and 20 rebounds while matching up with Cousins. While I don’t necessarily see a repeat of that performance happening tonight, I can easily see Lopez going for a smaller double-double, maybe something like 12 points and 10 boards, which would be more than enough to pay off his modest $4.5k price tag.
Starting your FanDuel lineup with these five guys will leave you with an average of $8,975 left per player.
Hopefully this information helps you with your roster construction today and leads you to a nice score. As always, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter, @Socky21.