NBA Starting Five: Saturday, February 27th
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.
Today we’ll take a closer look at the Defense vs. Position tool. We’ll use FanDuel pricing and will look to see who has the best matchups of the day. I will use the “Last Three Weeks” tab today. With a lot of trades and injuries, I’m going to look at a smaller sample size.
Point Guard – Damian Lillard – $9,400
The Bulls are really struggling with point guards right now, and this game should be a close one. With Rose being banged up, the Bulls don’t have anyone to matchup with Lillard. Looking at the tool above, Lillard is in line for a massive game tonight. I could easily write up Westbrook as the top play here, but it’s no secret to play him in this matchup. With so many people paying up for Curry and Westbrook, I feel like Lillard could be a little under owned tonight. Lillard has at least 35 fantasy points in ten straight games, and has 20 actual points in nine of those ten games. We have three great point guards in great spots tonight, but Lillard comes at a big discount to the other two guys.
Shooting Guard – Eric Gordon – $5,000
Before you say or think anything, I don’t believe in safe plays at this point in the season. We know Gordon will move back into the starting lineup tonight, but we don’t have a lot of details about minutes. Luckily for Gordon, this was a finger injury, and he should play his normal amount of minutes. I don’t expect a lot of people to roster Gordon tonight, and I’m willing to take the risk in GPPs. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Gordon plays with Cole at PG, and he comes back with a really good matchup against Minnesota.
Small Forward – Kawhi Leonard – $7,900
I love picking on Houston, and they continue to struggle to play any defense. I don’t like taking guys from the Spurs, but Kawhi is the one guy that I don’t mind playing. Houston is in the bottom five against small forward for the last three weeks, and they’ve been there all season long.
Leonard looks to be over his injury, and I don’t see the minutes being a problem, unless the game turns into a blowout. With the game being at Houston, I actually like the chances for them to keep this close. I expect a lot of people to pay up for point guards tonight, and Kawhi could actually be a low owned option. I really like the idea of playing him in this matchup. He comes in with at least 40 fantasy points in four of his last five games, which would return you a nice 5x on FD.
Power Forward – Anthony Davis – $10,200
So I like to be different, while everybody writes up guys to target, I like to write up guys I don’t like as well. Ever since Deing moved into the starting lineup, Minnesota has been really tough against power forwards. Davis is likely going to be lower owned tonight, but I don’t see the 6x upside here. In 12 career games against Minnesota, Davis has only gone for 50 fantasy points twice. He does however have at least 40 fantasy points in five straight games against them, but you’ll need more than 5x out of him tonight. He’s not a guy I’ll be picking tonight.
Center – Enes Kanter – $4,900
When taking some of these high priced guys, you’ll need to find some value. Kanter isn’t a cash game option, but I like him a lot as a GPP punt tonight. This is going to be a very high scoring game, and the Warriors have really struggled with centers lately. Bogut is banged up, and they really don’t have a lot of depth at center.
Kanter played 20 mins against the Warriors on February 6th, and finished the game with 32 fantasy points. His minutes have been up and down all season, but this is a great matchup for him tonight. In February, Kanter has averaged over a point per minute in six of nine games. I want a lot of exposure to this game, and I don’t see a lot of people taking the risky route at center.