***update. Melo is out tonight. New lineup looks like this.
** Aldridge is going to play tonight. I’m not changing any of my lineups until I see how effective he will be.
Wow. Tonight’s games aren’t even finished as I write this, and I can already tell my lineup isn’t going to do anything. There will be no near miss tonight, I’m going to miss by a lot. I’m officially in a slump.
Nights like tonight make it difficult to write my blog because I’m so disappointed that my lineup was so awful. I went all in with this lineup too, playing it in a few head to heads and a 50/50.
I’ve learned that the only way to pull out of a slump is to do things a little differently. Research from a different angle, look at different stat metrics, and most importantly don’t throw in the towel.
So for today’s blog, I’m going to give you my lineup and my reasons, as I normally do, but I’m also going to give you a few additional players I like as well.
With only 5 games on the Saturday slate, there won’t be as much to choose from, and there will be a ton of similar lineups….. I just spent an hour working on my lineup, and damn is tonight’s slate ugly. When Joe Johnson is the highest priced two guard, you know it’s ugly.
- We’ll start with Galloway as he is one of the few value plays in tonight’s slate. At 4,600 while getting 30+ minutes a night, putting up near 30 FDP in his last 3, and now with the potential that Calderon doesn’t suit up, he is a must start. I expect his ownership percentage to be extremely high.
At the other PG spot, I’m going with Knight here. There is nothing extremely exciting about him from a fantasy standpoint, but he is fairly consistent, and has had a string of 30+ points games. Well, one of them was 29.9.
- As mentioned in my intro, shooting guard is ugly. Pretty much anyone you take has question marks, and tendencies to be streaky. I’ll start with Lee. I don’t expect the 76ers to stay competitive in this one. Lee has moved to the bench, but he still averages the same minutes as he did as a starter. In this case, being moved to the bench could mean more minutes. He’ll get some junk time, rest the starters, type minutes.
Matthews is a scorer, and with Aldridge out and possibly Batum, the Blazers are going to need some scoring versus the Wizards. If he is hitting his shot, he’ll put up some good numbers, but he doesn’t do much else, so hopefully his shot is falling.
- Here is where I get to the part where I tell you my philosophy on small slate nights. Pick the 2 best players that night, and build your roster down. Melo is by far the best player tonight, and has a good matchup to boot. He has to do everything to keep the Knicks competitive, and he’ll try.
Taking Jeff Green here goes against something I normally avoid. I try not to take 2 guys from the same team that complete for the same minutes. That’s exactly what I’m doing though, by going with Courtney Lee and Jeff Green. My thought is, even though Green is technically a starter, he has been with the the team for such a short amount of time, in the event of a blowout, he’ll still get minutes to help him get comfortable in the offense.
- Noel is a good value at a very shallow power forward position tonight. He came back strong in his return to the lineup after a one game absence. My one concern is, will he be able to battle with the big guys for Memphis and not get too fatigued. Dude looks like he weighs 150 pounds soaking wet.
Greg Monroe has been a beast lately. 37, 41, and 42 in his last 3. He should continue that dominance with another high end double double tonight. I expect 15 and 15 from him tonight.
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- And to finish up with the “other” top tier player in my lineup, though you could make an argument there are 3 with Monroe. Drummond had 26 and 17 his last outing versus Orlando, and though I don’t quite expect that from him tonight, he should be somewhere in the high 30’s low 40’s FDP. My only concern is that Monroe and Drummond will battle for the same rebounds, thus limiting their value, but they scored 42 and 56 FDP respectively in their last outing. So they both can thrive.
A few other other guys I like:
John Wall- I mentioned him above, and he was one of the point guards I considered taking. He’d be the number 3 best player in my book tonight behind Drummond and Melo, I just couldn’t afford him.
Marcin Gortat- From that same game, he should have a good game versus a short handed Blazers team. With no Aldridge, the Blazers are going to have a hard time protecting the rim and getting rebounds. You could downgrade Drummond and take Gortat, then upgrade Jennings to John Wall if you prefer.
Jason Smith- He has played well in his last 3, and even though he won’t put up huge numbers, his price tag could allow you to upgrade some other positions. The only issue I had was who to upgrade? There isn’t much to upgrade to.
That’s pretty much all I like on tonight’s slate. There just isn’t much to choose from today, which means a lot of the same lineups will be played. I’d avoid any GPP’s tonight.
Good Luck tonight. I know I need it.
Follow me on Twitter @geofflambert77
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