Rise & Grind: Monday, January 26th

by Seth Yates (sethayates) Last Updated 2015-01-27 00:38:09

Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we run over the weekend’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.

Editor’s Note: The Knicks/Kings game has been postponed. Do not roster players from either one of these teams.

Editor’s Note #2: The Nets/Trail Blazers game has been postponed due to inclement weather. Do not roster players from either one of these teams.

In Case You Missed it

Baby Got Back to Back – Oh, my, god, Becky. Look at this new tool CruzinToVictory developed. It’s so big. Look, I like back to backs. I cannot lie. But you other players can’t deny, that when the Spurs play two nights in a row, you get Pop’d. My homeboys try to warn me, but I just keep ignoring them. I’m going to start using this tool and I think you should too.

Good Bye, Black Mamba – Star shooting guard Kobe Bryant has been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. This news hit me especially hard. I hate to see Kobe out for the season. Here’s the thing, Kobe: we started out as friends. It was cool, but it was all pretend. Since you’ve been gone, I can breathe for the first time today. I know you dedicated yourself, you took the time, but since you’ve been gone I can breathe today. Plus, I just realized the Lakers still have Kelly, Clarkson. We should be fine.

No Klay, No Qual – Okay, you are probably already tired of the song parodies. If I were going to pick a song for this paragraph, it would be a sad, sad, song. I won’t though. On Friday, the R&G’s favorite award-winning podcaster, Dan Back, had a slight lead in the FantasyAces Q going into the final game. Dan only needed to fade Klay Thompson. Needless to say, the Klay fade did not go well, as he had a record-setting third quarter. Klay dropped 37 points in the third quarter alone, en route to 70 FantasyAces points. If you haven’t seen it, find yourself some place private, shut the door, and click this link. It is pretty much basketball porn, so be careful if you are watching at work.

Notable Wins over the Weekend – Here at the R&G, we like to recognize significant accomplishments by Grinders. Occasionally, we miss a big win, but we try to catch them all. Obviously, over the weekend, there were several notable wins by Grinders. Here is a non-comprehensive list. Bglife1216 took down the Friday Slam, Chitown_frenze took second in the Friday Monster, while samenole took third. On DraftKings, ehafner won the Friday 3-Ball, Ch77gm won the Friday Crossover, and Wakeywakey won the Friday All-Star. On Saturday, mlz29 won the FanDuel Monster as well as the Baller. Over on DraftKings, lpk8787 narrowly edged out Al_Smizzle in the 3-Ball.

Last night, gunz4hire took down the Sunday 3-Ball. As you can see, many Grinders are out there putting in work.

Heaters are Real – I know the last paragraph was filled with significant weekend accomplishments, but one stands out above the rest and therefore deserves its own blurb. The R&G appreciates micro-Grinders just as much as big spenders. On Saturday, neal1483 had the guts to play an injured LaMarcus Aldridge, and he took down the $2 Shot. Just to prove it was no fluke, he followed it up with a third-place finish in the $5 Layup last night. Very nice work, sir.

Feeling Deflated? – Is something missing in your life? Ever since NFL DFS ended, it feels like someone let all the air out of the balls, metaphorically speaking of course. Sure, there was a game last night that remotely resembled football. The team consisting mostly of Dallas Cowboys, drafted by noted Cowboys homer Michael Irvin, bested the team drafted by Cris Carter. In case you are wondering, yes there was Pro Bowl DFS. Ijai currently leads Desert Bowl #1 and bt2014 leads Desert Bowl #2. Both only have a a D/ST left from the S-u-p-e-r-B-o-w-l Big Game, so their leads are unlikely to hold, but for now, they are officially co-degenerates of the week.

Today’s Events

NBA Tonight – The schedule shows a nice seven-game slate for tonight. Don’t let that fool you though. Most of the East Coast, including New York City, is under a severe winter storm warning. The two games being played in NYC are likely to be cancelled. Lucky for us, those are the first two games, so we should know by lock. Make sure to keep an eye on the situation, and if you want, you can even s-p-a-m follow RG Metorologist @KevinRothWx on Twitter for updates.

Editor’s Note: The Knicks/Kings game has been postponed. Do not roster players from either one of these teams.

Editor’s Note #2: The Nets/Trail Blazers game has been postponed due to inclement weather. Do not roster players from either one of these teams.

The man who never sleeps, Notorious, already has his First Look up. If you are snowed in like me, you might as well grab a cup of java and get your research started. If you aren’t going to oblige Notorious and click on that link, here are tonight’s NBA games in a nice little table.

RotoGrinders NBA Offerings – A little snow, or even a lot of snow, won’t deter the dedicated writers here at RotoGrinders. We have a full slate of articles on the menu. Notorious will bring you his detailed thoughts on every NBA game in the Grind Down. The Grind Down is a must read for players of all skill levels. Once you finish the Grind Down, or maybe even before, you might as well learn how to create your own research routine. RotoMonkey83 will continue our Starting Five series, where he picks a tool from the Daily Research tab and recommends five players based on what he finds. Last but certainly not least, SBK will be bringing you an Expert Picks preview, with some actual picks from RotoGrinders premium content. If you haven’t already tried incentives, you can sign up for a free trial by clicking on the Daily Research tab. We can’t just let you have them forever, but we can offer you one week free of charge, no strings attached. Why not try it out?

Tonight’s NBA GPP Offerings – With the NHL still on All-Star Break, DFS offerings will be limited to NBA, or the two-game CBB slate tonight. This is good news if you love huge NBA GPPs. FanDuel is offering a $225K Slam and $125K Monster, with top prizes of $25K and $20K respectively. Not to be outdone, DraftKings is offering a $135K Crossover and $110K 3-Ball, with prizes of $20K each.

A Special Contest for R&G Readers – As I stated above, we at the R&G love recognizing micro-Grinders for their work. We are also big fans of McJester’s work in the $25 Slam on FanDuel. How about we combine the two? Since I’m snowed in today, and some of you are as well, let’s run a fun contest. If you would like to participate, go reserve 20 or so entries in the $1 Swat on FanDuel. Then, either comment below, or follow me on Twitter @sethayatesDFS and let me know how you do. I will recognize the top finisher tomorrow in this space. Let’s see who can become micro-McJester.

GrinderLive

3:30 PM EST: NBA Afternoon Grind – Look, it’s cold outside. By 3:30 PM EST, you are going to be looking for some place warm. Why not cozy up to DraftCheat and his radiator? DC will join BritDevine, as they tip off three straight hours of NBA analysis.

4:30 PM EST: NBA Daily Fantasy Happy Hour – Everyone’s favorite Klay Thompson homer, CrazyGabey, will join RadThad to discuss Klay’s epic performance from last Friday, as well as tonight’s NBA action. Honestly, if I know Gabey, at least the first 10 minutes will be about Klay Thompson. Go ahead and fast forward through that part, but make sure you catch Gabey and Thad’s discussion for tonight’s NBA action, brought to you from FantasyAces.

5:30 PM EST: NBA GrindersLive – dean78904 will join STLCardinals84 to discuss how they came up with the numbers at the end of their names. Obviously, STL was born in 1984, but Dean… I have no idea? Is that a zip code? Was dean01 all the way to dean78903 already taken? No one knows. I guess it isn’t important though. What is important is that Dean and STL will bring you all the late-breaking NBA injuries and weather updates. Besides, what else are you going to do? Build a snowman?