Rise & Grind: Thursday, March 5th
Welcome to the RotoGrinders cup o’morning joe. Start your day off right here, as we sort through the yesterday’s happenings and take a peek at the upcoming DFS day.
In Case You Missed It
Who was that Masked Man? – At some point, the question needs to be asked, “What percent of the salary cap would Russell Westbrook need to be for you not to play him with Durant out?” Last night, only 8% of us in the Million Slam felt the need to play Westbrook coming off a broken face. Yes, you read that right, a broken face! Westbrook shook off the injury like a hockey player would. He then dropped a 49/16/10 line, good enough for his fourth straight triple-double. Fading Westbrook in any contest is equivalent to playing with fire right now. You will get burned if you try it.
Don’t Fade the Chalk – It is often said that NBA DFS is the most predictable sport. NFL DFS is touchdown dependant. In MLB DFS, even the best hitters only bat .300, meaning they fail 70% of the time. This article is two months old, but Jonathan Bales explained it best here. We can benefit from randomness in MLB and NFL. With NBA, it’s hard to avoid the “chalk”. Last night strongly affirmed that logic. Chalk picks such as Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Louis Williams, and J.J. Redick all had strong showings. Fading chalk is rarely the route to go in NBA. Instead, mix chalk picks together in varying combinations and hope you hit the optimal combo. File last night away for the next time you try to convince yourself to go overly contrarian.
One More Month – If NBA DFS has you frustrated, just hang tight. MLB starts April 5th, which is exactly one month from today. If you are looking forward to playing B.J. Upton this year, I hate to break it to you, but that will not be possible. There is no longer a B.J. Upton on the Braves. Instead, there is a Melvin Upton Jr. who just happens to wear the same number as that B.J. guy. Don’t get the two confused. That B.J. guy was terrible, but this Melvin guy seems playable. In case you are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, the full story is here. Upton’s name has always been Melvin, he just went by B.J. which is short for “Bossman Junior.” Now you know.
Big Winners – The Rise and Grind wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging last night’s big winners. I’m pretty sure anyone who won a large GPP last night now holds the record for most points scored on that site. Grinder doctorphelps won $100K in the FanDuel Slam with a 410.5. This seems like a big win for him, since based on his profile he only plays $1 and $2 games. Other notable names in the top ten include RotoGrinders experts ehafner and stlcardinals84. Meanwhile, over on DraftKings, Grinder twopercent took down the $5 Micro Millions tourney. For the rest of the links, visit yesterday’s links thread in the forums.
On the Menu
NBA Tonight – If you faded Westbrook last night, I have good news for you. Tonight, you can atone for your sins. The Thunder face off with the Bulls, and it’s a two-game slate. You don’t even have to read Notorious’ First Look to know Westbrook is a good play. You should probably read it anyway, though. You should also check back later today for Notorious detailed breakdown of every game in the NBA Grind Down. Socky will also be bringing you an NBA Starting Five article, but there will not be any NBA GrindersLive shows because you can only say so much about two games.
NHL Tonight – It’s Thursday! Due to depressed NBA prize pools, tonight is the one day per week where you should play NHL or CBB. If the NHL GPPs have your attention, be sure to check back throughout the day for content from our NHL experts. TheTonyM has NHL Daily Plays covered, while Pepsi7 will bring you GPP Plays and The Frozen Five. I don’t want to give away all the secrets, but you will be feeling “blue” if you don’t target the St. Louis versus Philadelphia game.
CBB Tonight – With only two weeks remaining until March Madness, tonight offers one of your last chances to qualify for DraftKings’ March Mania or win a ticket to FanDuel’s Survive the Madness. If you have your sights set on one or both of those tournaments, you will want to give Varncass’ CBB Grind Down a read. It’s a premium piece, but you can always sign up for a one-week free trial and see how you like it. If you don’t feel like going the paid route, you can always lurk the CBB thread in our forums. Many of the game’s best are there every day bouncing ideas off each other.
Podcast Awards – Last, but certainly not least, RotoGrinders needs a favor from you. Most of the content on this site is completely free to read or listen to. If you enjoy the content, why not give something back? It’s really simple. Go to www.podcastawards.com and vote for GrindersLive in the category of “Best Video Podcast.” You can vote once per day, per IP address. That means you can vote once from work, once from your phone, and once from home. If you want, you can even go next door and vote from your neighbor’s house. I’m not necessarily suggesting you do this, but I’m also not telling you not to. We do appreciate any and all votes you can provide, though, even if you only vote once.