To Fade or Not to Fade: What To Do With All That Injury News?
I’ve been playing DFS for 3 years now. I’m a low level, low volume player who is looking for more consistency. My goal is to use this space to reflect on what I did right and where I can improve. Join me on my journey and learn along with me. Here is my story.:
Sometimes you get a slate where news breaks that makes you reevaluate the information at hand. Such was the case Sunday night. We were hit with the James Harden and Al Horford news on top of the Cavalier news. All created opportunity for certain players that would create interesting roster builds.
Harden Out Means Paul, Gordon, and Ariza
With James Harden out, that opened up a lot of usage on the Houston Rockets.
Chris Paul benefits the most with James Harden out. However, I remember everyone raving about Paul the last time Harden was out earlier this year. I seemed to recall Paul not racking up 50+ fantasy point outings.
Gordon seemed to benefit the most with Harden out. Trevor Ariza would also be in line for a few extra minutes. Most of the day I had talked myself into having a trio of Paul, LeBron, and Embiid. However, the more I thought about earlier this season made me move off of Paul, but kept myself on Gordon. Rather than moving with the crowd on Chris Paul, I went back to Lonzo Ball against the Cavs.
Horford and Brown Out Means Morris, Tatum, and Monroe
While you wouldn’t necessarily think having Horford out would make a huge difference, but there are those who benefit.
The two who benefit the most usage wise are Jayson Tatum and Marcus Morris with Greg Monroe coming in third. As I was building my roster, I didn’t find myself going towards Morris or Monroe. Tatum did interest me because of price point and perhaps more run with Brown out with a concussion. He made my last roster moving me off of Trevor Ariza.
Cleveland’s Injury News
I don’t think you needed to be swayed too much about LeBron James with all the injuries around him and a matchup with the Lakers. Larry Nance with the revenge game and the usage boost was very tempting. However, I never found my construction getting up to him. Perhaps I didn’t explore all options needed to get Nance into my lineup. Instead, I chose to pay down to Jeff Green who would be inserted into the starting lineup at a very low price.
How Did the Rest of the Lineup Shake Out
With LeBron, Green, Gordon, and Tatum in, I went with Hill and Lonzo at point guard. Lonzo has been in good form since returning from injury and I felt they would need him to stay close against the Lakers. Hill was more about price point and what he afforded me to do at other positions. I chose Caris LeVert at my other shooting guard position over “(player-popup #jordan-clarkson)Jordan Clarkson”:/players/jordan-clarkson-18631’s revenge game. Finally, I went with Dario Saric and Embiid against the Nets. I fought with the idea of Hollis-Jefferson in my lineup all day, but kept coming back to Saric. I liked his matchup against the Nets even with Embiid expected to play.
That’s how I attacked Sunday’s slate. Let me know your thoughts. What tough decisions did you have to make? What plays helped you fit Paul, James, and Embiid in? Did you choose other stars to put together? I’m interested in what you were able to do.
Let me know how your process is going. Leave me a comment below or hit me up on Twitter: JMcGrath330.
Comments
Laker stack looks like it was the right way to go. Tatum saved me on FD with Hill and Nance in that lineup. Morris killed me on DK with Hill and Nance in the line up. And Embid looked so set up. It was the Nets. but neglected the fact the Cavs have no bigman and JR went off. So did Lopez who saved me on a DK tourney as a Utility. The slate was sooo Juicy compared to Saturday and I barely made the money in 2 out of 3.
Thanks for walking us through your analysis. I liked the spot for Smart, but had a bad feeling about the Lonzo spot against LBJ, leaving the door open for IT2. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.