NBA Starting 5: Thursday, January 26th
The Starting 5 Series will provide Grinders a quick look at the day’s top positional plays, analyzed through the lens of our Daily Research Tools.
To begin this article, I would like to provide a moment of silence for my fallen comrade, FantasyAces. You have been with me for years and have been my closest friend. Goodbye… (Grant pours some out for his dead homie)… OK, now that we’ve got that done, it’s time to break down this four-game slate before I go get Taco Bell’s new fried chicken taco.
Today, I’m going to go through my top plays at each position regardless of price. We are going to use some of RG’s wonderful tools to look and find some great spots at just a glance. Mostly what we are going to be looking at is Defense v. Position and Advanced Player Stats. Fade these plays at your own risk.
Point Guard: Pierre Jackson, Dallas Mavericks, $3,000 on DraftKings
Look, in reality this is really a DFS threeway. All the way through the night, Pierre Jackson, Seth Curry and I are going to be cuddling up next to the fire and really taking down some DFS GPPs. We have both of Dallas’ main two PGs out for this game, along with their wily German veteran and their best shooter. There’s not a lot of people left on the floor at this point, so the usage on the team has to go somewhere, and a huge chunk of it is going to go to both Jackson and Curry. When we take the injured players out of the lineup and run RotoGrinders CourtIQ, we see that Curry gets a +.28 FPPM bump in addition to a 6% usage bump, while Jackson puts down a solid 1.08 FPPM. These two are going to receive a heavy load of play at the PG position tonight and are a combined 7.5K. Put them both in your lineup, because even in a blowout they will, most likely, both hit value.
Shooting Guard: Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns, $7,100
It’s been a while since Devin Booker failed to reach 33 DK points. Booker is averaging 37.6 FPPG over his last eight games and draws a beautiful matchup tonight against Gary Harris. Denver ranks 29th in FPPG against the SG position and Gary Harris owns a -2.16 DRPM (for all you who this doesn’t make sense to, that’s worse than James Harden, and that’s all you need to know).
Booker has the upside to put of 50 fantasy points in a game at any given time, and with the pace of this game and Denver favored by seven, PHX could be playing catch up, and Booker is generally the go-to guy in that scenario. There isn’t much depth at the SG position tonight, so I’m going near all in on Booker.
Small Forward: Harrison Barnes, Dallas Mavericks, $6,000
Sorry kids, coming back to the Dallas side of the ball again. Harrison Barnes has been destroying mine and everyone else’s lineups lately. He is averaging around 25 FPPG in his last six, but there are a few drastic differences in tonight’s game. As I mentioned above, Barnes is going it pretty much solo tonight. I do not believe that all the injuries on Dallas will really affect Barnes’ minutes tonight, as he is already in the top 10 in minutes per game in the NBA, but it will give his usage a massive bump. With Deron, JJ, Dirk, and Mathews of the floor, Barnes averages nearly 1 FPPM and owns a beautiful 35.5% usage rate. For a little clarification, that would be high enough to be third in the NBA if he were to have that for the whole season.
There is a little bit of a blowout concern tonight, but I don’t care. At $6,000, he has the potential to hit 5x before the end of the first half. Throw him in your lineups and stack this game if you have the chance.
Power Forward: Wilson Chandler, Denver Nuggets, $5,600
OK, so let me start off by saying that KAT is probably the best play on the board, but he’s probably going to be heavily owned with all the value everywhere, and he’s fairly obvious. Conversely, Powell is min priced and is also an incredible value play, but if I mentioned him I’d pretty much just be listing the Dallas starting lineup in this article. So, I’m going a little bit off the board here with Chandler. Yes, he put up a dud in his last game, but that was against Utah, and as we all know, those games are the opposite of blood sucking pimps hanging out on the corner of Sesame Street. They don’t count (I know that was long and convoluted, but seriously how did they get away with a blood sucking pimp on a kid show?).
In any case, outside of that Utah game, Chandler is averaging over 32 FPPG in his last seven and has upside for 50. He goes up against one of the highest-paced teams in the league in Phoenix and is seventh among all forwards on the slate tonight in usage at 22.75%. Like I said earlier, KAT and Powell are probably better raw plays, but they are going to be highly owned, so you may be better off starting a guy coming off of the bench who will probably not garner a lot of ownership.
Center: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz, $7,500
Nikola Jokic is the best play at C on the board. Nikola Jokic is the best play at C on the board. Nikola Jokic is the best play at C on the board. Now that I have that out of the way and you know who to play at C tonight, I’m going to give you another option. Rudy Gobert has been in a bit of a slump the last three games. After having a double-double for nearly every single game for the last century, he has failed to get there the last two games.
Remember, it wasn’t too long ago when Gobert was a virtual lock for 35 fantasy points and had 60 fantasy point upside. He gets the best matchup tonight that a center can get against the Lakers and could easily put of a 60 burger tonight. The Lakers rank last against the center in DvP, and this should be an up-paced game for the normally slow-paced Jazz. Play Jokic if you wish, but he will most likely be high owned, so I’m pivoting to Gobert since this is a four-game slate and you need a little bit of a differentiator to win a GPP.
Now that I’ve given you some fantasy advice, it’s time for some important talk. Go get the new fried chicken chalupa from Taco Bell now. Don’t wait. Also, add bacon, beef, and nacho cheese to it. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.