Starting 5: Team Stats - Thursday, January 15th
The Starting 5 Series will provide Grinders with 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 Team Stats tool with a focus on FanDuel numbers. We can use this tool to see how teams rank versus different positions per 48 minutes. I’ll be sorting stats by the last three weeks of the season.
Let’s take a look and see what players the tool points out as optimal plays on this short Thursday slate.
Point Guard: Kyrie Irving
As you can see, the Lakers are still horrendous versus point guards, even with Ronnie Price in the starting lineup. Kyrie had a rough outing against the Suns on Tuesday, but he still played 44 minutes in LeBron’s return.
The Cavs are now sitting below .500 and will need to start piling up the wins, so I expect big minutes from the Cavs big three for the rest of the season. Kyrie should be in line for a nice bounce back game tonight, and he is reasonably priced at $8,500 on FanDuel.
Shooting Guard: Giannis Antetokounmpo
While the chart suggests that Kobe should be the play against Cleveland, I don’t think paying $8,500 for him is justified, especially knowing that he is on a 32-minute hard cap. He could still reach value in 32 minutes, but the Lakers are terrible and Kobe hasn’t looked right in the last few games.
With that in mind, I’ll be looking at The Greek Freak going up against the Knicks in the game across the pond. Giannis hasn’t played over 29 minutes in the last three, but that has been partly due to rest and foul trouble. I fully expect him to get a full complement of minutes tonight. It also helps that he posted a nice 16 and 12 double-double versus the Knicks less than two weeks ago.
Small Forward: Trevor Ariza
Ariza is probably the safest value play on the board tonight against Oklahoma City. He plays major minutes and jacks up a bunch of 3-pointers. Based on his current price, Ariza has reached value in four of his last six games, so if you decide not to pay up for either Durant or LeBron, the Houston small forward is your guy.
Power Forward: Donatas Motiejunas
It was expected that Motiejunas would be the guy taking the biggest hit after the Josh Smith trade, but that hasn’t come to fruition. Motiejunas has played at least 35 minutes in the last four games and has scored in double figures in nine straight. The Thunder’s Serge Ibaka is a solid help defender, but his on-ball defense leaves something to be desired. This game is on national television and should be a high-paced, back-and-forth contest. Look for Motiejunas to play over 30 minutes again with the potential to exceed value on his $5,500 price tag.
Center: Timofey Mozgov
Mozgov was a huge disappointment against the Suns, but foul trouble will do that to a player. The Lakers aren’t the worst team against centers, but they are pretty darn close, giving up over 50 fantasy points per 48 minutes. Look for Mozgov to post a healthy stat line tonight in hopefully 30 to 35 minutes of action. He has already faced the Lakers twice this season while with Denver and posted solid averages of 12 points and 10 rebounds in only 25 minutes of play. I could certainly see him ending the night with an 18-point, 12-rebound type of line here.
Hopefully this information helps you tonight in what should be an exciting night of must-see TV. As always. feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me on twitter, @Socky21.