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 T.J. McConnell ($4,200) McConnell has taken over the starting point guard position for the 76ers and has scored over 34 FanDuel points in each of his last two games. McConnell is a pass first PG who won’t score a ton of points, but always looks to dish the ball. He’s accounted for 12 assists in each of his last two games. He’ll get a tough match-up against Cleveland, but at his price and the minutes he’s been playing (35 in his last game) he should easily pay off value.
PG Matthew Dellavedova ($4,200) J.R. Smith will miss this game, so Dellavedova should see his minutes extended tonight. He was in the same situation Wednesday night and he disappointed us with only 16.4 FanDuel points, but in daily fantasy sports it’s important to forget about yesterday and not hold grudges. Cleveland has been installed as a 15 point favorite, so the blow-out potential could actually help Dellavedova, as he heads the second unit and sees his usage rate explode without the starters on the court.
SG Giannis Antetokounmpo ($7000) Since making his return to the line up, the Greek freak has been nearly unstoppable. He’s been AVERAGING 5 times his salary at 35.1 FanDuel points per game and injuries to Jerrod Mayo and Michael Carter-Williams have caused him to log more that 40 minutes in each of his last two games. Tonight, he faces a Knicks team that’s in the bottom ten in defending the small forward position (yeah, I know, he’s listed as a shoot guard, he actually plays small forward.)
PF Thaddeus Young (5,600) After a very slow start to the season, Young has picked it up in his last three games. He’s averaged nearly 30 FanDuel points per game over this span and has seen over 30 minutes of playing time in two of the three contests. He’ll go against a Lakers team that’s brutally bad in checking the power forward position. The Lakers are allowing opposing PFs to score 50.76 FanDuel points per game.
C Kosta Koufos ($4,200) Much of this play hinges on Dwight Howard’s status for the game, so make sure to check Rotoworld to see if Howard is playing. If Howard is out, Koufos is an excellent value. With DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins out, Koufos is again likely to see an uptick in minutes. In his last game with Cousins on the sidelines, he scored 29.4 FanDuel points in 28 minutes on the court, even though he didn’t start.
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