Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks for DraftStreet 1/3/14

Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks for Draft Street 1/3/14

Typically I combine DraftStreet and FanDuel picks into one article, but today, on this gorgeous, snowy Friday I think there are just too many differences between the sites’ pricing to give one blanket recommendation list. Frankly, if other sites are doing such a thing today, they are missing some major strategic differences in pricing. Of course you will see a few overlaps, but by and large, the considerations are much different. Also, head on over to see our FanDuel basketball picks for today.

Guards

Fair warning: I don’t love too many of the guard options out there today.

Jordan Crawford $10,862 - Loved this price before last night’s performance, and his 22/7/3 against the Bulls only has me more encouraged. Crawford’s price was easily in the 13k range earlier in the season and will climb back there at some point. Tonight he gets the Pelicans who are about league average against point guards. One key to DraftStreet is grabbing players who’ve prices have dipped considerably over a stretch of time (as opposed to FanDuel, where grabbing players whose prices haven’t adjusted up yet is the key). This is a fantastic price for the Celtics PG and is one of my top plays on the site tonight.

Kendall Marshall $7,960 - Because playing PG for the Lakers is kind of like being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, don’t expect this to last too long for Marshall. He’ll probably walk out of the arena tonight and get hit by a bus or something. But until that happens, he’s starting for LA at super low costs. Because it took him this long and crazy circumstance to crack a rotation on a bad team, don’t expect him to go Jeremy Lin all over the Staples Center. But he’ll meet this price on volume alone.

Klay Thompson $12,295 - One thing people keep bringing up is how you shouldn’t start Klay on the road because most of his value comes when he’s playing (shooting) in Oracle Arena. This year, that idea has some legs with his FG% at 51% at home and 41% on the road). But his career marks are more like 44% at home and 43% on the road. Expect to see both of his season stats regress a bit to the mean. I like his matchup against the Hawks and he’s the kind of guy I use in double up formats for his consistency.

Trey Burke $12,550 - The Lakers really don’t defend any position well and point guard is a position on the basketball court. Trey Burke plays point guard. You see the connections I’m making here? I’m not completely blown away by the price, but I could talk myself into it.

Big Money Targets: Chris Paul $20,983, Stephen Curry $18,338 and James Harden $17,818 all have nice matchups for their dollars. I’m not necessarily blown away by any of them, but the first two at least are relatively safe plays. Harden has nice GPP appeal but that game against the Knicks could be a blowout.

Big Money Fades: John Wall $18,130 and Kyle Lowry $17,760 are complete stayaways today as they are matched up against each other.

Forwards

Jared Sullinger $8,790 - A must start as long as he’s not out of the lineup with his hand injury. He played last night, so I’m not particularly concerned, but check closer to game time. If he’s going, he’s going in your lineup. Sullinger has 30 FPP upside and does enough across the box score to provide relative safety at this dollar value. He’s matched up against the Pelicans interior which, other than Anthony Davis’ shot-blocking prowess, isn’t particularly strong. I love this price.

Andre Iguodala $10,350 - At the right price, Iggy is a great dude for double up formats because he keeps his basement relatively high by being able to spread value across the box score. Don’t expect this price to stay this low for long. Buy him on his way back up as he gets acclimated to the Warrior offense.

Derrick Favors $13,819 - Favors tends to be feast or famine but I like to target him in specific situations. He must be playing against teams with weaker inside defenses in games that aren’t likely to turn into blowouts. Enter the matchup against the Lakers. Last time they played a few weeks ago, Favors turned in an 18/14 line. Expect to see something similar tonight.

Big Money options: Anthony Davis $18,952 Dirk Nowitzki $15,180 and Zach Randolph $16,178 are all great prices. If you punt enough in our lineup I’d advocate getting two of these guys in with Davis getting a bit more GPP favoritism for me and Dirk a bit more double up.

Big Money Stayaway: Paul Millsap $18,886 - This one might come back to bite me, but I’m not totally willing to buy in on his fantasy superstardom with Horford out of the picture. Price is a bit too steep.

Center

A few great options tonight with the big men.

Andrew Bogut $11,501 - Have you seen what opposing centers have done to the Hawks since Big Al exited stage left? They’ve shredded Atlanta. Bogut has a fantastic opportunity here and I will be running him out there a bunch.

Pau Gasol $13,886 - It’s simple: when Gasol plays he meets this price almost automatically. The problem in the “plays” part of that statement. He has been banged up, but if he he’s playing you can get a little risky at this sub 14K salary.

Kris Humphries $8,674 - Been getting a ton of minutes the last two games and if that continues, this price won’t stay this low for long. A bit risky with him coming off the bench, but if you expect him to keep getting run over Brandon Bass, then start him without hesitation.

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