NBA Tool Analysis: Player Stats

Hello Grinders!

Welcome to another edition of the NBA Tool Analysis series. Today we are going to take a look at the Player Stats tool.

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The Player Stats tool offers all of the standard statistics that you would expect for NBA, including points, rebounds, assists, etc. There are also tabs for you to sort by last season, this season, last 3 weeks, last week and yesterday. My favorite piece of this tool is the show/hide columns button. I like to hide most of the stats and leave only games played, minutes, all forms of shot attempts and fantasy points.

For this piece, we’ll use the last three weeks as our sample.

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There has been a lot of buzz around the industry about Russell Westbrook and his through-the roof-production. Well, I would just like to point out that James Harden is averaging nearly three full fantasy points more than Westbrook. Harden is a DFS monster!

There are two stats that I really like to focus on when using this tool. The first stat is minutes played.

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As we can see from the image above, there is only one player averaging over 40 minutes per game, and that’s Trevor Ariza. His price is reasonable across the industry, so don’t be afraid to roster him in any format since he is playing a massive amount of minutes.

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For all the fuss over Carmelo Anthony’s knee, it sure doesn’t seem be affecting Derek Fisher’s rotations, as Melo is top three in minutes played over the last three weeks. Carmelo is an elite scorer at a depressed price for his upside, and I’ll be giving him a closer look in the coming weeks.

Lastly, I was surprised to see that Kyrie Irving is leading the Cavs’ big three in minutes played. Coach Blatt is showing confidence in his youngest superstar, and it’s showing up in the box scores.

The other stat that I like to sort through is 3-point attempts. More attempts means more chances for makes. This can be very helpful when you play on sites that award extra points for 3-point makes.

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Trevor Ariza makes another appearance in this breakdown, as he has been chucking up 3-pointers at an alarming clip. At 9.44 3-point attempts per game, Ariza is hoisting up almost two more attempts per game than Stephen Curry. Ariza is a very safe bet just by pure volume to get you a few extra fantasy points off of his 3-point makes.

I feel like Wesley Matthews is sometimes a forgotten man in DFS circles. He’s not flashy, but he gets the job done. He’s just overshadowed by Lillard, Aldridge and even Batum at times. Regardless, Matthews is a solid source of points and 3-point bonus points. If the price is right, don’t forget about Wesley.

There are two players on this list in Gerald Green and Ryan Anderson that can be rostered even though they come off the bench. You should also focus in on them when you know they will be getting a spot start, because those 3-point attempts will most likely go up.

Reviewed above are two stats that you can quickly identify using the Player Stats Tool in your quest to make winning lineups. Hopefully this information will help you find a hidden gem in the coming weeks that will lead you to a profitable night.

Have a great weekend and check back next week as I highlight another free RG research tool. As always, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on twitter, @Socky21.

About the Author

Socky21
Josh Wysocki (Socky21)

Josh Wysocki has been a member of RG since October 2012. Over that time he has been a part time contributing analyst for both MLB and NBA products. He has had several four figure scores and made an NFL live final experience on DRAFT. In November of 2019, Josh dipped his toes back into his childhood hobby of sports cards. He’s been hooked ever since and is ready to share what he has learned about the hobby and it’s new landscape. Feel free to reach out to him on twitter @Socky21.