Starting 5: Trending Stats Watch - Saturday, February 7th
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, I will take a look at the Trending Stats Watch Tool, and focus on players who have seen a recent uptick in fantasy production. If you have taken a few days off from NBA, or want to see who is outperforming their season averages recently, the Trending Stats Tool can give you the information you need very quickly. Today’s article will look at the players who are outperforming their season averages on FanDuel.
POINT GUARD – Marcus Smart
Smart is averaging 9.73 FPTS a game more than his season average over the past week on FanDuel. The Celtics have gone with a new rotation recently that has Smart starting at PG and playing huge minutes (37+ minutes in three straight games). His price remains low at $4,900, and even in a tough matchup against the Bucks tonight, he should be a top value play based on the sheer number of minutes he is playing.
You also see Avery Bradley on this list, who is typically a SG. He has increased production as well, as this new rotation has allowed him to put up more shots on a consistent basis, making him another beneficiary of the shuffled rotations and lineups in Boston.
SHOOTING GUARD – Hollis Thompson
I could have highlighted Giannis here, but let’s take a look at Thompson, who is much cheaper today. Thompson is a small forward on FD, but shows up as a shooting guard in our tool here, nonetheless, the information is still very relevant. His recent success correlates directly with MCW being injured, and if you look at his game log, he has played 38 and 31 minutes in the past two games. He is averaging 11.31 FPTS more than his season average in his past four games, which has catapulted him into top tier value play status should MCW sit out tonight.
SMALL FORWARD – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
MKG has been playing better recently, putting up 8.96 FPTS/game more than his season average over his past three games. A game today against the poor shooting and turnover-prone Sixers should help him continue that streak. MKG has benefited from the loss of Kemba Walker, scoring above his season average in his last four games as he is tasked with a few more shots per game, and should have ample opportunity for rebounds tonight as both teams are not that great at shooting the ball.
POWER FORWARD – Khris Middleton
Middleton is a SF on FD but is labeled as a PF by our stats provider, so the position is off, but like Hollis Thompson above, the information is still relevant. Middleton is averaging 11.63 FPTS a game more than his season average over his last four games, which coincides nicely with recent injuries with Ersan Ilyasova and Zaza Pachulia.
Ersan came back last night in a limited 16 minutes, but seemed to directly take away Middleton’s minutes as he dropped to just 27 minutes played last night after playing 40 per game in his three previous games. This has me concerned slightly on using Middleton tonight, and is included here as a reminder that no one stat is an absolute when evaluating a player, as there are many variables that need looked at before selecting a player.
CENTER- Tyson Chandler
Chandler is playing some great ball again, as he is outproducing his season averages by 7.94 FPTS a game over his past four games. Two of those games were against DMC (who is a monster) and the Warriors (who play very good defense), so you know Chandler is playing very well right now.
A matchup tonight at home against the Blazers is a fairly neutral matchup, so I like Chandler to keep his hot streak going again tonight as an under the radar lower cost alternative to guys like DMC and Al Jefferson tonight (both guys I also like).