Starting 5: Using Vegas Odds - Wednesday, February 25th
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 we’ll take a closer look at the Vegas Odds tool. A lot of fantasy players know what Vegas Odds are and know that they are important, but what relevance do they really have when setting lineups? This is definitely not an aspect to overlook, so let’s see what we can gain from looking at today’s odds.
I will focus on DraftKings pricing with today’s article.
POINT GUARD – Chris Paul ($10,200)
There is a whole lot to love in this Clippers/Rockets game tonight. As you can see, there’s a lot of green on the Vegas Odds chart. The over/under is a very high 215, with both teams projected to score 105+ points. When you see those kinds of totals, you need to realize that this is a game to target.
A lot of gamers may be scared off by Paul’s matchup against Patrick Beverley, but Paul’s usage with Blake Griffin out of the equation is simply too good to ignore. He should be locked and loaded as the top overall point guard play of the night, especially when you consider the Vegas Odds.
SHOOTING GUARD – J.J. Redick ($4,600)
Why not have two players from this game? As I said above, the totals are very promising, and there should be a lot of points scored. The loss of Blake Griffin is also helping the fantasy value of J.J. Redick. The Clippers are going small at times, which is allowing Redick and Jamal Crawford to play together for longer stretches.
Redick should fare well in an up-tempo game against Houston, he is still very fairly priced, and James Harden is not known for his defense. Fire up Redick as a nice low cost play here.
SMALL FORWARD – P.J. Tucker ($5,400)
The Suns/Nuggets contest also appears primed to feature a lot of points, and the Suns have the highest projected total of any road team tonight. We can see this by filtering the page by the “Proj. Score (Rd)” column.
Denver has all sorts of issues on defense. Tucker is still available at a very nice $5,400 price point, and he is seeing a lot of minutes since the trades of Isaiah Thomas and Goran Dragic. He will be a popular value play once again this evening.
POWER FORWARD – Brandon Bass ($5,600)
Rather than just using Vegas projected totals, sometimes it’s helpful to check out the spreads, too. Even though a game may have a relatively low total, one team may be favored by 8-12 points. If that team projects to control the game, they could get to 100 points even in a low-scoring overall game. For example, it would not be surprising to see a game end with a 105-93 score. That’s a game that appears disappointing on its face, but it’s not necessarily bad for the team that scores 105 points.
That’s exactly the case with the Boston Celtics tonight. They get a home date with the mediocre Knicks, and the Knicks are a team that has been abused up front as of late. With injuries to Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk, Brandon Bass is playing significant minutes. His price is still too cheap for his recent production, so feel free to continue riding the train in this matchup.
CENTER – Marc Gasol ($7,300)
Marc Gasol makes a great pick as a contrarian play at center this evening. With the masses gravitating toward Nikola Vucevic, DeAndre Jordan, and Rudy Gobert, why not find a way to differentiate your lineup in a tournament?
The Grizzlies are the largest road favorite on the board tonight, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marc Gasol try to get into DeMarcus Cousins’ head in this one. In addition, Gasol’s price is as cheap as it has been all season. There’s a lot of merit to considering him given the projected flow of this game.