NBA Starting 5: Saturday, March 19th
The Starting Five 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 RotoGrinders Defense vs. Position tool to find some good plays on this Saturday slate, specifically looking at the FanDuel salaries of those players.
Point Guard – Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs ($5,100)
This is the perfect matchup to take a chance on some of the older San Antonio players. Although he won’t admit it, Coach Popovich knows that this is a great pre-playoff test against the Warriors. The Spurs haven’t lost at home all year, and I expect Parker and Tim Duncan to get a few extra minutes of playing time in this one. For all his greatness, Stephen Curry is far from a lock-down defender. Parker is relatively cheap on almost every DFS site and is certainly in play as a fine value at $5,100 on FanDuel.
Shooting Guard – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Detroit Pistons ($5,300)
Are you down with KCP tonight? All jokes aside, he has been on fire of late for Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons. Van Gundy heaped some praise on his starting shooting guard after last night’s game, and the scoring numbers have been on the rise. KCP is a lock-down defender that has found an offensive game, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that he plays almost 40 minutes every night. He is a great mid-range play in a favorable matchup against the Nets this evening, as they rank 23rd in the league at defending the shooting guard spot.
Small Forward – Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks ($8,800)
All right, we have thrown a couple of value plays out there to start the article, so we need to find somewhere to spend some of our salary cap. Perhaps the small forward spot is the place to do it. I have enjoyed taking small forwards against the Wizards all year long, as Otto Porter and company have scuffled on the defensive end. That is not good news with Carmelo coming to town. Who else is going to score on this team? Sasha Vujacic? Jose Calderon? Yeah… it’s on Carmelo this evening.
Power Forward – Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks ($8,100)
In one of the best individual matchups this evening, Paul Millsap and his Hawks take on the Rockets. Houston has struggled all year against both forward spots, and their rotating cast of power forwards have been a spot to attack. That certainly doesn’t change this evening. Millsap is a consistent, high-energy player that should give the Houston front line fits. Take that 30th ranked DvP matchup and run to the bank tonight. Millsap is a fine high-end play at the power forward position.
Center – Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz ($6,200)
It has been an up-and-down month of March for the Utah big man, but tonight’s matchup against the Bulls represents a perfect opportunity to get back on track. The Bulls have struggled all year against opposing bigs, and that is only going to get worse without Pau Gasol around. They have nobody to match up with the size and rebounding ability of Gobert, and hopefully the Stifle Tower can get himself some easy offensive putbacks in this game. Despite his recent struggles, Gobert is a high-upside option on this Saturday slate.