NBA Starting 5: Wednesday, November 30th
Tonight presents us with a large 10-game slate to attack. We have three teams (Detroit, San Antonio, and LA Lakers) on the second half of a back-to-back, so I will try my best to avoid players on those teams until we get further into the season when I will have a larger sample size of data to evaluate.
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 and I can therefore take advantage of the better pricing. 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: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers, $8,600
Right off the bat I can see that Dame is priced $800 lower on DK than FD which is great news as he is in a game with the highest total of the night at 215-points. Indiana is far from a scary matchup –currently ranked 29th in total fantasy points allowed and they have been worse at defending point guards as opposed to shooting guards. Lillard is finally starting to heat up and has put up at least 40 DK points in each of his last 3 games, which includes a 68.25 DK point performance at Cleveland. He is sporting a 31.79% USG and his assists have been trending up. I can’t write up Russell Westbrook every time and there is merit to fading him in GPPs tonight, so Lillard makes for a nice pivot.
Shooting Guard: Darren Collison, Sacramento Kings, $5,300
Shooting guard is a tough position to fill tonight so take advantage of DraftKings multi-positional eligibility and plug in Collision. He is priced $500 lower on DK and it’s nice to have someone running the offense and capable of stuffing the stat sheet at SG. His 20% USG is a little low for a PG, but just fine at SG and I look for that to increase as he continues to get in better game shape. He gets a juicy matchup with the 76ers, currently ranked 26th in DVP vs. point guards, and makes for a nice correlation play with my PF below.
Small Forward: Tobias Harris, Detroit Pistons, $5,700
Tobias is priced similarly on both sites, but I love being able to get to play him at the small forward position on DK. With Jae Crowder now back, Boston is weakest at defending the frontcourt where they currently rank 21st in DVP vs. power forwards. Harris has a decent 20.66% USG on the season and this is a pace-up game for the Pistons, who have been playing well winning three of last four, and although on a B2B, I’m not worried about Tobias’ minutes, as he has seen large increases in each situation so far this season. He’s starting to heat up, and coming off a monster 42.25 DK-point performance last night, I’m comfortable firing him up again.
Power Forward: DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings, $10,800
Boogie is priced $100 lower on DK tonight in a marquee matchup with Joel Embiid. He has been phenomenal lately with at least 54 DK points in seven of his last eight games. He currently has an insane 34.75% USG and something tells me he will want to teach the rookie a lesson tonight. We only have to worry about 24 minutes of Embiid, so there is less chance of foul trouble and his matchup improves with whoever else they try to throw at him for all the minutes Embiid is on the bench. This is a great spot to pay up for tonight and makes for a nice pivot off of Westbrook.
Center: Al Horford, Boston Celtics, $6,600
Al is $900 cheaper on DK tonight and usually goes overlooked. He was out last game on paternity leave, so we get the new baby narrative bonus! Plus, there have been some local Boston media criticizing his absence so I can see him really fired up tonight. He draws a great matchup with a tired Detroit team who currently rank 18th in DVP against the Center position and Andre Drummond really struggles with centers who can stretch the floor and shoot. Al’s quickness creates a mismatch, showcased by when he just recently went for 51.25 DK points when they met on Nov. 19th. Drummond also allowed 34-points and four three-pointers to Brook Lopez earlier this month! I think Horford is in store for another big game and offers too much upside to pass up at his bargain price.