After months of tirelessly watching MLB game casts and crying in the fetal position, it is finally here! The 2015-2016 NBA season! More importantly NBA fantasy sports are back! The start of the season is where all the growing pains show and the kinks need to be worked out. Teams are trying to find their identity and players are trying to find their roles, especially on new teams, which means there is an opportunity to exploit certain knowledge and team info for your gain to make some money playing daily fantasy. For instance, maybe you know that Evan Turner is playing his former team that salary dumped him & that he has a nice revenge game, or maybe you know the Bulls plan on starting Mirotic at center and you know his value may never get this high for his price.

The blazers had probably the most despairing summer of any team in the NBA a few months ago. The 2015 playoff team was gutted this summer and lost every starter, except for Damian Lillard, including all-star LaMarcus Aldridge. Their new starting five looks abysmal, and it is just Lillard and a bunch of bench and role players. That being said Lillard will be taking a bunch of shots and will be hogging the ball quite a bit without all his former friends by his side(think back to Westbrook in the 2nd half of last season). Look to him to definitely exceed his value of 8700 tonight. He will be in all of my lineups tonight.

With Gerald Henderson gone and Al Jefferson’s aging, the Hornets are Kemba’s team now. He is the one bringing the ball up, and he is the one making the decisions; he controls that offense now. The man can get to the rack, pass, and get steals. Mario Chalmers will be guarding him in this matchup, which doesn’t scare me since he has played the heat many times in the playoffs and regular season and he has had career success against them, so look for Kemba to have a nice night.

Here we go again…I have been so ambivalent about Ricky Rubio’s game in the past. When he isn’t missing wide open, mid-range jump shots, he is missing games because of an injury, but when healthy, Rubio can be a double-double, sometimes triple-double threat at the PG spot. Last year, he averaged 10.3 PPG, 8.8 APG, and probably most impressively 5.7 RPG, along with 1.7 steals, which, on paper, looks great. He is taking on the soul-crushing Lakers offense who lost their best defensive player last year in Wes Johnson. Rubio is healthy now and will be playing a full game on Wednesday. I like him to have a nice game against a not-so-intimidating defense in LA.

Surprisingly no back issues after CARRYING this injury-ridden Rockets team to the 2nd seed in the west last year. The beard will be the focal point in the Rocket’s offense again in 2015, and he is gonna light it up again this year. Last year, Harden took it to the next level against the Nuggets. Denver had no clue how to guard him, and this year will be no different. Looking at the Nugget’s depth chart, I can’t see anyone who could be a threat to stop him. He will be guarded by some combination of Gary Harris, Randy Foye, and Will Barton, so nothing too scary. If you put Lillard and Harden into your 1 and 2 spots, you are already in the top-tier.

Evan Turner $5,500  

Many consider Evan Turner a bust(being the 2nd overall pick and all), but Evan Turner had some awesome games last year when the Celtics got hot in the 2nd half of last year. This is also a revenge game for Turner who was drafted and salary dumped by the 76ers in 2014. My favorite part of this play is his price. Turner is a starter on a team that is favored and he can play multiple positions to get minutes. Sounds like easy money to me.

After a freaky injury in the 2014 summer Olympic scrimmage, PG13 is back, and I cannot wait to use him in fantasy again. He is a stat sheet stuffer, & he is the #1 option in that Pacers offense by a long shot. George Hill should get a few shots and assists, but other than that, there is no real threat to PG’s fantasy value. He hits 3s, gets rebounds and steals, and I’m not too worried about Demarre Carroll’s guarding him in this match up. I think he is just too crucial in that starting 5 to not get points, his fantasy points should be comparable to LBJ tonight.

Gallinari has always had injury problems in the past, but last year, he almost made it to 60 games. Which seems like something we shouldn’t be celebrating, but here we are. Gallinari is going to be the only viable scoring option in a pretty depressing Nuggets starting 5 on Wednesday. Gallinari is always a threat on DK because of the 3 ball and because he gets a healthy amount of rebounds for a small forward. I can’t imagine a universe where he doesn’t have at least 25 points and 8 rebounds. Someone has to get the team to 95 points a night…right??

Before his career is over, Noel will have a quadruple- double, I can feel it! The Kentucky product showed last year that he is an absolute stat-sheet stuffer in multiple categories. He gets double-doubles, blocks, steals, and a few assists along the way. Like you would imagine, as a rebuilding team, the 76ers are still trying to find out who they are, and in the process they have to see what they have in Noel and, in all honesty, Jahlil Okafor too. Noel is playing a very, very weak defensive front of the Celtics in David Lee and Tyler Zeller, so I can see Noel bullying his way into getting a double-double and a handful of blocks too.

Averaging 16 and 8 at age 23 is something to shake a stick at, and that’s exactly what Favors did just last year. For some reason I think Favors has been a “project” in the league forever, but somehow, he is still just 24, and he is poised to break out in Utah in 2015. He reminds me a lot of Greg Monroe, and he seems to be a much better fantasy player than actual basketball player, which is good for DFS players! Favors will be taking on Detroit, who is pretty slim at the PF position. Favors matches up nicely against Anthony Tolliver and Marcus Morris of the Pistons. I hope his minutes go up a lot this year. Only played about 30/MPG last year.

I cannot see any reason not to have Andre Drummond in your lineup on Wednesday. Drummond is everything you want in a 22-year-old center. He does 3 things that all great centers do:

1Have a high FG %

2Get many rebounds

3Get ~2 blocks/game

Greg Monroe is now gone in Detroit, and this is Drummond’s team now. Monroe isn’t gonna be there to take away his boards, and Drummond will get more looks down low on offense too. He is always a consistent 13 and 13 guy, and this year(and this game), I can see his putting up 17 and 15. All the pieces are there for Drummond to have a breakout 2015.

Robin looked great in the preseason(despite resembling  a 7-foot tall Sideshow Bob). Last year, the Knicks had probably the worst frontcourt in the entire NBA(Cole Aldrich, Jason Smith, Andrea Bargnani… alright this is bumming me out). So they signed the poor man’s Lopez twin to try to anchor their defense. The main justification I have for this pick is that Greg Monroe is going to be on Lopez, and Monroe is normally pretty lazy at defending power forwards. I think Lopez is the perfect punt at the center position for Wednesday.

Gortat has always found a way to stay on the radar in the NBA as the token “big scary Polish guy” who can get rebounds and play big in the post. He is creeping up there in age at 31, but I think he has a few good years left in the tank, and John Wall loves finding him down low for easy buckets. Gortat may not be the “sexiest” option, but could be a very sneaky one, as Vucevic(better fantasy player than real basketball player) seems to struggle on defense and gets bullied rather easily.