If you’ve read any of my NFL articles, you know I treasure value in daily fantasy sports. “Value” is represented in those players that are likely to produce well over their salaries and send your line-up rocketing to the top of a tournament contest. Value can come in several forms. It can be the back-up subbing for an injured or resting starter or it can be a player who’s been in a slump or who’s been facing tough competition suddenly faced with an easy match-up. Whatever form value comes in, I’ll try to identify it for you, so you can incorporate it into your line-ups.
I won’t be writing this column daily (I have a bar to run and an NFL article to post), nor will I be offering complete line-ups as I do for NFL. I’ll simply be pointing out those players you should probably double-check when you’re filling out your FanDuel NBA line-ups.
PG Isaiah Thomas ($7,300) As value picks so often do, this pick hinges on the health and playing status of another player, in this case Marcus Smart. With Smart injured, Thomas has joined the starting line up and is averaging over 30 minutes a game and 35 minutes if you subtract a blowout game. He’ll face the same Pacers team he dropped 37.7 FanDuel points on a week ago.
PG Jerryd Bayless ($3,700) Yep, you guessed it, another injury situation to monitor, this time to Michael Carter-Williams. Williams injured his ankle a week ago and in his absence, Bayless has been averaging 30 minutes a game. A note of caution here, his production has been all over the map with a high of 41.2 to a low of 13.3 FanDuel points, so he’s a tournament only option. It helps though that he’ll face a Nuggets team that’s been a dumpster fire defensively, giving up an average of 49.66 fantasy points per game to the point guard position.
SF Khris Middleton ($5,800) Since OJ Mayo went down with a hamstring injury in the preseason (and he’s not been cleared for contact yet, so there’s nothing to monitor here) Middleton has been forced into heavy minutes. In fact he’s logged over 35 minutes in six of his team’s eight games this season. Middleton has struggled to find his shot early, but seems to be coming out of his slump. He’ll take on a Nuggets team ranked 29th against opposing shooting guards (yeah, he’s listed as a small forward, but he really plays the two.)
C Dewayne Dedmon ($4,100) Now we’re back to monitoring injury statuses. This time we’re going to be waiting for news if Nikola Vucevic, who’s missed the last three games with a knee injury, will play. If he sits, Dewayne Dedmon makes a nice salary saving option against one of the league’s worst defenses. The Lakers are allowing 49.57 FanDuel points a game to opposing centers. A word of caution here, Magic coach Scott Skyles’ rotations have been all over the map this season, so I’d only consider Dedmon for tournament play.
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