Nothing But Net My top play of the night at his position.
Dunk A Dunk is a second or third tier player with the highest upside.
Half-Court Shot Otherwise known as a “punt play”.
Blocked Shot A player I’ll be avoiding. Otherwise known as “Fading.”
**Main Slate
Point Guard
Nothing But Net | Damian Lillard vs GS $9,900
Lillard is playing out his mind so far this season. His “worst” game was a 41.5 FanDuel point effort he put up against probably the best defender in the league at the point guard position, Chris Paul. Couple that with the fact that Lillard has owned the Warriors in recent years, and you have my top play of the night. Lillard averaged over 50 FanDuel points in nine games against the Warriors last year (including playoffs) and put up a monster 73.5 game in February.
Dunk |Â Kyrie Irving vs HOU $7,800
Statistically speaking, the Rockets aren’t bad defending the point guard position in terms of fantasy points allowed. But don’t be fooled. That stat is very misleading as they have yet to face a top-tier point guard like Irving. James Harden is playing the point now, and his ineptitude on the defensive end is quite legendary. This will be a fun battle to watch if you love offense, as neither of them plays defense. I’d also like to point out, it looks like FanDuel is pricing players based on matchups more so than have done in the past. Irving had two straight sub-par games and his price went up. So even FanDuel themselves thinks Irving will go off tonight.
Half-Court Shot | Sergio Rodriquez vs ORL $5,100
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I don’t love Rodriquez in this game, but there just isn’t a ton of value at the point guard spot tonight. H doese check a few of my “value” boxes, though. He plays right around 30 minutes per game. Check. He contributes in more than one category (he has had double-digit points in two games and is averaging seven assists per game.) Check. And he is playing at home. Check.
Blocked Shot | Steph Curry @ POR $8,700
I keep expecting Curry to break out and be the guy he was last year, but we have yet to see it. Going into the season I thought Curry would be the least affected by the Kevin Durant signing, and while I still think Klay Thompson has been affected the most, Curry isn’t too far behind him. Until I start seeing the Curry from last year or until his price drops below 8k, I’ll be fading Curry.
Shooting Guard
Nothing But Net | James Harden vs CLE $11,200
This one is an easy one. Harden’s price hasn’t moved over the first three games of the season and I think his upside is worth paying the 11.2K for him tonight. He struggled somewhat in his two games against the Cavs last year, but this is a different Rockets team with better weapons — not mention his assist totals this year give him an even higher floor than he had last year.
Dunk | Evan Fournier @ PHI $6,000
Fournier hasn’t quite broken out like I expected him to do now that Victor Oladipo is in OKC, but he is still a fairly cheap SG that can get you 30-plus FanDuel points on a consistent basis. He has scored 20-plus real life points in two of his three games this year and I’m expecting him to do it again tonight.
Half-Court Shot | Allen Crabbe vs GS $4,300
Coming into the season, we weren’t sure who would be the odd-man out between Evan Turner, Moe Harkless and Crabbe. After three games, it looks like its Turner after not breaking the 30-minute mark in any of the first three games — even with one going into to overtime. Crabbe, however, has got a shade under 30-minutes and has been over five-times value in two of his three games. Harkless (listed at SF on FanDuel) has the higher upside, but if you’re looking for value at the SG spot, Crabbe could be your guy.
Blocked Shot | C.J. McCollum vs GS $7,300
McCollum will draw the defense of Klay Thompson, a plus-defender, and has historically struggled against the Warriors. Other than one 45 FanDuel point effort in the playoffs last year, his .6 points per minute against the Warriors is very undesirable.
Small Forward
Nothing But Net | Kevin Durant @ POR $9,800
Three games into the season is this already Durant’s team? After three straight dominating performances I’m inclined to say yes, even if logic tells me it’s still Curry’s team. He has been nothing short of amazing so far this season and I see no reason that will change in this matchup with the Blazers. If you are looking for any knock on Durant in this game it’s that he struggled against them last year, averaging less than 38 FanDuel points in three games.
Dunk | Aaron Gordon @ PHI $5,900
To be completely honest, there isn’t much I like in the mid-tier of tonight’s slate, but the best of the group has to be Gordon. The only game he struggled in so far this year was in his last outing against the defending champion Cavaliers. The Cavs are a very good defensive team. Tonight’s opponent, the Sixers, are not.
Half-Court Shot | James Ennis @ MIN $4,400
I’ve used Ennis a lot so far this year, and as long as Chandler Parsons is out, I’ll continue to use him. He has reached at least five-times value in every game this season, and tonight he gets the Timberwolves who give up the most FanDuel points to opposing small forwards.
Blocked Shot | Carmelo Anthony @ DET $7,500
I don’t think this Knicks team has quite figured out how to play together yet and Melo hasn’t been able to hit value in his first two games. For me to feel comfortable rostering him, either his price will need to drop a little more or he needs to start putting bigger numbers. Until then, fade!
Power Forward
Nothing But Net | Anthony Davis vs MIL $11,000
The Bucks are bottom ten in FanDuel points allowed to power forwards and dead last in points allowed to centers — both of which Davis will play during the course of a game. Look for him to bounce back from that poor shooting night in San Antonio.
Dunk | Tobias Harris vs NY $6,200
Harris is Mr. Consistent. Plug him in and he’ll give you 28-to-32 FanDuel points a night. Lock it in.
Half-Court Shot | JaMychal Green @ MIN $4,700
Let me preface this by saying I don’t really like any of the value at power forward tonight, but if I’m forced to choose I’ll take Green. The ironic, and somewhat troubling, thing about Green is he has received an increasing amount of minutes in the first three games but has seen a decreasing amount of production in those games. That’s not a trend that can continue, so I’m expecting him to get minutes and production tonight.
Blocked Shot | LaMarcus Aldridge vs UTA $7,200
Aldridge missed the last game for a planned rest day most likely because of how hard he is going to have to work against a pretty good defensive frontcourt for the Jazz. I just think with his price-tag, the tough matchup and the slow pace this game will be played at, there are better options.
Center
Nothing But Net | Hassan Whiteside vs SAC $8,600
Whiteside has taken a huge step forward and is now the centerpiece of the Miami Heat both offensively and defensively and should have his way with the defensively challenged DeMarcus Cousins. Foul trouble is the only thing you have to worry about with Whiteside, but $8,600 is a great price for him.
Dunk | Myles Turner vs LAL $7,100
His 60-plus FanDuel point on opening night was an aberration. The 30-plus he has put up in the two games since is more in the line of what we can expect from him going forward. He gets a great matchup tonight against the Lakers and could flirt with 40 FanDuel points tonight.
Half-Court Shot | Mason Plumlee vs GS $4,900
The Warriors have struggled this year on the glass. They have no interior presence to clean up the glass nor a shot blocker to guard the paint. If the Blazers can keep Plumlee on the floor when the Warriors go small (which is pretty much all the time) he should grab a ton of rebounds and get a few offensive put-backs.
Blocked Shot | Karl-Anthony Towns vs MEM $8,800
I’m not sure what is wrong with KAT so far this year, but in the one game I’ve watched of his this, he was all but invisible. He did not assert himself as a dominant force in the paint nor did he attack the boards. A tough matchup with the Grizzlies doesn’t help.
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