Lesson 4: Usage, Assist, and Rebound Rates

If we look at FanDuel scoring, there are only five ways you can gain positive fantasy points (a turnover is -1) in NBA DFS:

Scoring (FT = 1 pt; 2-pt FG = 2 pts; 3-pt FG = 3 pts)
Assists (1.5 pts)
Rebounds (1.2 pts)
Blocks (3 pts)
Steals (3 pts)

To make what could turn into a very long story short, blocks and steals have a much higher variance than the other three stats since they happen less frequently throughout a game. That means that scoring, assists, and rebounds are the easiest things for us to predict when trying to project how a player will perform when factoring in all of these moving parts. And by “moving parts” I mean how Player X (LeBron) being inactive affects Player Y (Kyrie).

We already know from Lesson 3 that Kyrie’s fantasy point-per-minute rate skyrocketed in 2016-2017 when LeBron was not on the floor. But let’s spend a little bit of time digging into why that is, as it will help you with decisions when similar scenarios present themselves with other teams in the future.

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About the Author

meansy53
Andy Means (meansy53)

Andy Means (aka meansy53) was a walk-on with the esteemed Duke University basketball team for 3 years before graduating in 2004. He also has a Master’s in Accounting from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and has been playing DFS since 2014. He has qualified for multiple Live Finals and displays his extensive basketball knowledge as a host of our top show – NBA Crunch Time. In the summer of 2022, Andy took over the role of Premium Content Director for the RotoGrinders Network, overseeing the vast array of content that is created on RotoGrinders, ScoresAndOdds, and FantasyLabs. Follow Andy on Twitter – @ameansy
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