Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and DraftStreet 3/9/14

I'm not a religious man, though I do do find myself saying a decent amount of prayers each night asking a higher power to grant me the gift of reduced foul trouble or high volume shooting. You know, the important things in life. So Sundays for me, aren't necessarily times of great reverence. Instead, they are packed with NBA quadruple-headers. That's my idea of church. Let's get to it.

 

Point Guards

Ty Lawson - FanDuel $8,700 DraftKings $8,000 DraftStreet $19,061
Looks like he's been feeling ok. Lawson has been doing some next level shit lately. Part of that is coming back just in time to play teams like the T-Wolves and the Lakers who sprint up and down the court, causing inflated numbers for point guards. New Orleans doen't play at the same breakneck pace but they aren't good against point guards either. Price is getting crazy steep on DraftStreet, but is a complete joke on DraftKings. He's the top point guard play.

Russell Westbrook - FanDuel $8,700 DraftKings $9,400 DraftStreet $18,996
Such a close second, but getting the Lakers means a solid chance Russ never sees the fourth quarter. Of course that hasn't mattered too much for him lately as he's been making up for lost time since coming back from injury. He had a ho-hum 36/9/9 against the Suns the other night. Is that good? Tonight it's the Lakers and though his price has jumped, on FanDuel it's still way low. I'd play him there even with the blowout on the table.

Rajon Rondo - FanDuel $7,500 DraftKings $7,700 DraftStreet $14,998
Solid prices. Solid matchup against a weak Detroit team. Solid dude I'm assuming though I've never hung out with the guy. Rondo is just so solid. Point guard has some tough choices today.

Kyle Lowry - DraftStreet $14,971
Really cheap on him. He's coming off a couple of down games but that should change today against the uptempo Wolves.

Isaiah Thomas - DraftKings $7,200
So cheap. Point guard is awesome today so you might not be able to do it, but he is a great value.

 

Shooting Guards

Tyreke Evans - FanDuel $7,200 DraftKings $7,000 DraftStreet $15,711
Do the Pelicans feel like morons for how they've played Tyreke this year? Or are they too stupid to understand the mistake they made? I'm gambling on the latter. Even with the crazy price jump, he's still in the value zone against a Denver team that's below league average defending the small forward (which is sort of what Evans is playing now).

Joe Johnson - FanDuel $5,200 DraftKings $5,300 DraftStreet $11,128
Woof. But he's been better of late getting his shot to fall and just generally looking a little bit more like the All-Star he was mistakenly selected as. He gets a decent bump because the Kings suck against shooting guards. But buyer beware, it's Joe Johnson we're talking about.

Terrence Ross - FanDuel $4,400 DraftKings $4,000 DraftStreet $8,816
Would have been even better against the Kings had he not gotten into a little bit of foul trouble. Love these prices on Ross who plays around 30 minutes a night and gets Minnesota who allow about 5% more scoring and rebounding to opposing shooting guards.

Ben McLemore - DraftStreet $5,480
Nice punt price for DraftStreet considering he gets major minutes for the Kings. He's not good, but doesn't have to do much at this price.

Randy Foye - DraftKings $4,900
Seems like a mistake especially with the extra bonus for three pointers.

 

Small Forwards

Kevin Durant - FanDuel $12,000 DraftKings $11,200 DraftStreet $22,993
The play of the day. The question just becomes how much you think he'll play. It's a testament to how bad the Lakers are that a guy at these prices would still garner such a great $/ expectation ratio. But LA is just that bad against small forwards. I don't even want to print how bad they've been lately. Rest assured, its abysmal. One other thing to consider is that it is unlikely he AND Westbrook hit value unless the Lakers can hang in a high scoring game (unlikely) so I think you are left choosing one.

Paul George - FanDuel $8,500 DraftKings $8,700 DraftStreet $16,815
Personally, I haven't played Paul George correctly yet this year. And he's coming off of a subpar game and a travesty right before that. It doesn't feel great running a guy out he's been such a letdown but this isn't some punt play. George can put up huge numbers and Dallas lets up about 10% more scoring than league average to opposing small forwards. He won't be a high percentage start but I'll consider it.

Josh Smith - DraftKings $7,900 DraftStreet $14,326
Was a big disappointment against Minnesota the other night. I've had success with Smoove this year and I don't mind him today as a tournament play, especially on DraftStreet. He is anything but safe, but has it in him to put up monsters.

Kyle Singler - DraftKings $3,900 DraftStreet $7,841
His minutes are still there and his price dropped. This is a nice time to buy low on a guy who can do enough to provide value at these salaries.

P.J. Tucker - DraftKings $4,500
So super low.

 

Power Forwards

Anthony Davis - FanDuel $9,200 DraftKings $9,500 DraftStreet $18,821
Another big money guy with a great matchup. It's going to be tough deciding how to allocate dollars across the superstars today. There are a bunch of solid options. Davis is coming off two huge games and gets a Denver team that's struggled with power forwards this year. Plus this game should be at a swift pace and Davis will see a bit more action. I especially like him on DraftStreet.

Serge Ibaka - FanDuel $7,900 DraftKings $7,300 DraftStreet $14,659
Gets the old Laker bump. Though they've been okay at allowing opposing power forwards to score since Pau's been back, the Lakers still get crushed in every other aspect of the game. While I like Ibaka, he's really the kind of guy who needs to play the whole game, which means it needs to stay close.

David West - FanDuel $7,000 DraftKings $6,900 DraftStreet $13,258
The Pacers have been terrible the last two games which has allowed West's and George's price to drop into a nice little zone of value. Indiana is too good to keep getting killed and I'm looking for a bounce back tonight. Getting a guy like West into your lineup tonight is one of those contrarian moves that could look super savvy Monday morning.

LaMarcus Aldridge - DraftKings $8,800 DraftStreet $18,025
Last time he played Houston he put up a 27/20. If you are new to basketball this is considered pretty fucking good.* He has a big advantage against Houston because he either gets Dwight (too slow) or Terrence Jones (too small and bad at defense). That's a nice defensive expectation for LA.
*deep analysis

Kenneth Faried - FanDuel $5,900
Price has climbed everywhere but here. Is still well in play.

Reggie Evans - FanDuel $3,800 DraftKings $3,600
Take a look at what he's been doing in limited minuted since getting traded to the Kings. Not your traditional punt play but man he's making a strong case to be a safe guy.

 

Centers

Shit show at center tonight. I only have a few plays and one of them gets eliminated after the early slate.

Joakim Noah - FanDuel $9,100 DraftKings $8,200 DraftStreet $17,431
One area Miami really struggles with is opposing centers. They don't have anyone who can handle a premier big man and Noah could really put up some solid numbers today. The problem with Noah is that you need to pay to get him and he's well below the value threshold, especially against other guys at other positions with similar prices. This is a tough choice. I won't be playing him, but I didn want to say his is the best big money value at center today.

Timofey Mozgov - FanDuel $4,000 DraftKings $3,800 DraftStreet $9,074
I will probably just be going this route and hoping for the best. He's been just fine at these prices, but they are so low that the downside is limited especially considering we can get such better money in in other places.

Jonas Valanciunas - DraftStreet $8,711
Actually a decent deal today if he can just swing 25 or so minutes.