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 Dennis Schroder ($4,800) Starting point guard Jeff Teague has already been ruled out for this game (isn’t it nice when you don’t have to wait until warm-ups to find this out). Making Schroder even more appealing is that Kent Bazemore has also been ruled out, so the Hawks are going to awfully thin at the small positions, so he should get all the minutes he can handle Tuesday night. Schroder even gets a plus match up against a Nets team ranked 20th against the position in FanDuel points.
PG Garrett Temple ($3,500) Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal has missed the last two games due to a shoulder injury and missed practice Monday as well. In the first game Beal missed, Washington started Gary Neal and in the second, to match up with Minnesota’s size, they started Temple. Washington’s opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks boast a 6’7″ shooting guard in Khris Middleton, so the Wizards will probably turn to the 6’6″ Temple as opposed to Neal, who is three inches shorter. In his last start, Temple scored 26.6 FanDuel points in 31 minutes on the floor.
SG Zach LaVine ($5,900) Ricky Rubio, who started off the year so well, has missed the last four games and is listed as questionable for this contest. 2014 dunk contest champion Zach LaVine will again get the start if Rubio sits, so check news about Rubio’s status. LaVine, if he gets the start, may also be low owned as he only played 17 minutes in his last start. This was as a result of foul trouble, not poor play as he garnered 32.1 FanDuel points in those few minutes, but that might be enough to move some people off of him.
PF J.J. Hickson ($4,400) Starting center Joffrey Lauvergne has already been ruled out and starting power forward Kenneth Faried is currently listed as questionable, due to back spasms. If Faried is forced to sit the game out, Hickson should have all the minutes he can handle against New Orleans team that is bleeding FanDuel points against opposing centers to the tune of 52.36 per game, currently 28th in the league.
C Andrew Bogut ($5,200) Bogut is back after a rather serious concussion issue and is getting some good minutes. Starting power forward Draymond Green is currently questionable with an illness, so should he and shooting guard Klay Thompson (back) sit, Bogut’s usage rate, and minutes would certainly spike. As Bogut played 31 minutes in his last game, this is a situation that should certainly be closely monitored.
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