NBA Starting 5: Wednesday, February 1st
Tonight we have a monster 12-game slate to attack. We have six teams (Toronto, New Orleans, New York, Denver, Oklahoma City, Charlotte) on the second half of a back-to-back, so as usual I will try my best to avoid players on those teams who I feel should be downgraded. There are also plenty of injury situations to monitor, so I envision another mad scramble before lineups lock.
Today, I’m going to continue to discuss how I can quickly glance at two of the Research Tools available to identify good situations for my starting five. First, I always browse the Salary Charts tool to see if I can identify some players that DraftKings has priced lower than FanDuel so I can take advantage of the better pricing — this is especially important with pricing becoming more dynamic on each site. I will then click the Advanced Player Stats tool and focus on their USG%. It’s also nice to glance the peripheral stat percentages available to see if I can expect peripheral points.
Point Guard: Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics, $9,500
The King of The Fourth is back in action tonight in a big eastern conference matchup against the Toronto Raptors in a game with a nice 215.5 total. While I like many point guards tonight, such as Brandon Jennings and Kyle Lowry, I’ll start by plugging in my boy Isaiah Thomas with a nice $1,100 price savings on DK and let you know that we can actually fit all three of them into our lineup. Yes, the price feels high, but he’s been on fire this season while putting up anywhere from 40-to-60 fantasy points in each of his last ten games. He comes into tonight with an insane 33.34% Usage and is shooting 41.8% from three at home, while Toronto really struggles at defending the three vs. opposing point guards. With Avery Bradley still out you can feel very comfortable with locking in a nice game and hopefully the higher price drives others away on such a large slate. I’ll happily take the lower price and three-point bonus on DraftKings tonight.
Shooting Guard: Seth Curry, Dallas Mavericks, $5,400
Deron Williams has already been ruled out for tonight, so I’m comfortable plugging Seth in with a $400 price savings on DK and the opportunity to take advantage of the three-point bonus. Yes, the backcourt now has Yogi Ferrell, but we can still count large minutes for Curry, as he’s played at least 34 minutes in each of his last four games. He gets a great matchup with the 76ers without two of their best defenders in Joel Embiid and Robert Covington. They are not a good defensive team with Embiid off the floor and Curry will have every opportunity to create and score in this one and he’s been approaching a fantasy point per minute over his last five games.
Small Forward: Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz, $6,600
There are many small forwards I like tonight, such as an angry Lebron James or Carmelo Anthony against Brooklyn, but I think LeBron’s price limits his ceiling and Melo being on his thrid game in four nights worries me. Instead, I think it’s time to lock in Hayward’s low price of $6.600 with an $800 discount on DK. Sure, he’s struggled recently with both George Hill and Rodney Hood back, but he gets a small usage increase with Derrick Favors ruled out and a great matchup against the Bucks, currently ranked 29th in DVP vs. the small forward position. Milwaukee allows the second most DK points to small forwards and we can expect an increase in production in threes, rebounds, steals, and blocks in this matchup and is a great play at his bargain price.
Power Forward: Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks, $5,000
Dirk gets a $500 discount and is simply priced too low for tonight’s home matchup against the 76ers without Embiid. He comes into tonight in decent form while averaging over 28 fantasy points over the last 10 days and comes into tonight with 25.1% Usage. He’s shooting well, rebounding, and accumulating defensive stats. He should have plenty of opportunity for production matching up against Jahlil Okafor. Philly currently ranks 29th in DVP vs. the center position, where I envision Dirk playing tonight. He offers a solid floor and 40-point ceiling at $5,000 in a tasty home matchup.
Center: Jonas Valanciunas, Toronto Raptors, $5,400
Centers in general are priced too low on DK and we get a nice $400 discount on DK for JVal tonight. All the stars seem to be aligning for Jonas tonight. DeMar Derozan is out, significantly increasing his usage and point expectation and he gets a great matchup in an important game against the Celtics, currently ranked 27th in DVP vs. the center position and 26th in overall rebounding. Boston is bottom ten in DK points allowed to opposing centers and we can expect a significant boost in points, rebounds, and assists tonight.