Basketball Picks Daily Fantasy Expert Advice
Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 11/29/14
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Because this is such a huge slate, I'll be giving a few more names with a bit less of a writeup.
Point Guard
Jeff Teague - FD 7300 DK 7400 DFSTR 6400
Goodness me, it's nice to see Teague back to where he was during the early parts of last season. Teague has averaged 43 FanDuel points a game over his last 3, and it seems like his role and rotations are clearly defined. When he's right, Teague is an elite scorer and offers a fine compliment of "extras" that can put him in elite territory. He's still plenty cheap on this price, and Charlotte's 20th in the league against opposing PGs this season.
John Wall - FD 8800 DK 9800 DFSTR 8200
Wall broke a lot of hearts by no-showing against Kyrie and the Cavs in his last time out, but he's still averaging a 19/4/9 with more than 2 steals per game this season. Consistency is the name of the game for Wall right now, and he makes for a terrific cash game play against a New Orleans team that's been the 8th worst team against opposing PGs this year.
Want to shoot the moon? Consider Donald Sloan. While Sloan has had some monumental ups and downs this season, this is the perfect game to fire him up. Erratic guys like Sloan tend to get utterly crushed in bad match-ups while piling it on in good ones. I'd rank him higher if not for the blowout risk, but I think that we see one of Sloan's 30+ fantasy points nights against the league's 2nd worst PG defense.
Shooting Guard
Monta Ellis - FD 7300 DK 8400 DFSTR 7000
That Philly thing again. But there's more to like about Monta than just the match-up. Shooting guards have a heck of a hard time producing on any sort of consistent basis simply due to the fact that they tend to acquire their points by, well, scoring points. Monta's not only been scoring recently, he's been dishing as well. In his last 5 games he's averaging 7.5 assists, and it's caused him to pay 5x on this FanDuel price in 3 of those 5 contests. The fast pace of Philly is icing on the cake.
James Harden - FD 10500 DK 10500 DFSTR 9400
Another way to avoid inconsistency from the shooting guard position is to spend up. To that effect, there's no one that can hold a candle to what Harden's been up to. Harden's a 5 category stud for daily fantasy purposes, and while he's getting an increased workload with Dwight shelved, he's as good a bet for a 50+ fantasy point night as anyone in the game. Milwaukee is also a bottom half of the league team when it comes to defending against opposing shooting guards.
Tyreke Evans - FD 7500 DK 7000 DFSTR 7400
Lance Stephenson - FD 6700 DK 7000 DFSTR 5400
Tyreke and Stephenson show up in a tie for 3rd place on my shooting guard power rankings tonight. They're basically the same player at this point, but are used in two different ways by their teams. Tyreke is far more the cash game play - he's providing far more consistency in terms of minutes and opportunities. But for GPPs? Consider Stephenson. Any guy whose minutes can fluctuate from 23 minutes in a game to 38 minutes in a game is going to necessarily not going to have his upside accounted for in his pricing point. He could disappear on you, but if everything comes together, Stephenson's a guy who can absolutely go off across 3 categories.
Small Forward
Trevor Ariza - FD 6000 DK 6000 DFSTR 5600
Chandler Parsons - FD 6100 DK 6400 DFSTR 5800
There's no doubt about it, Parsons and Ariza are pretty darned unsexy point at this stage in their daily fantasy careers. But this is a pick you're making for consistency, not for sexy. They're both basically the same guy - huge minutes, not spectacular in any one category, and great match-ups. Milwaukee is 26th against the small forward this year, and Philly is dead last. This feels like one of those spots you could "set and forget" in a cash game, and not worry about it.
DeMarre Carroll - FD 5400 DK 5000 DFSTR 4600
It's weird making this write up, because Carroll is basically just a slightly poor man's version of Ariza and Parsons. If it looks like you're getting better value at other positions by spending up, I don't mind dropping down to Carroll one bit. The only reason I'm dinging him slightly here is the match-up as it compares to the top guys. Charlotte's been 10th against the small forward, whereas Milwaukee and Philly are both horrendous.
Also considered: Shawn Marion
Power Forward
Blake Griffin - FD 9100 DK 9400 DFSTR 8900
Derrick Favors - FD 7000 DK 7100 DFSTR 7000
Our projection system is very much a fan of taking both power forwards in the Clips/Jazz game. There's obviously blow-out risk here, but the system likes both of these offense-first guys to trade buckets on either end of the floor. If there's an argument for one over the other, it's that Favors is significantly more prone to foul trouble than Griffin. But either should have nice safety and relatively decent upside if the game stays somewhat close.
Donatas Motiejunas - FD 5400 DK 4800 DFSTR 4600
If home-run plays are your thing, I'm looking squarely at the man from the USSR. In competitive games with Jones out, Motiejunas is playing high 30s minutes while scoring and crashing the boards. Now, it's obviously a matter of debate as to whether this one will be competitive enough for Motiejunas to get his minutes, but I think his minutes are a lot less at risk in a blow out where the Rockets win, as opposed to one they lose.
Also considered: Paul Millsap
Center
Tyson Chandler - FD 6700 DK 6500 DFSTR 5600
I'm going to be real with you - I don't really like the way the Center position is shaking out today. So, when positions are feeling this way, I often try and go for a cheap guy with a good match-up. Chandler is exactly that guy. So much of what he does is possession dependent, and if this game is as fast pace as it could be, the opportunities will be there for Chandler to get his typical array of blocks, boards, and put backs.
Al Jefferson - FD 8800 DK 8400 DFSTR 8000
This one feels a little weird, given Horford's defensive reputation - but the facts are facts: Atlanta has been the 7th worst team in the league against opposing centers this season. And Al-Jeff's game is perfectly suited to squaring up against guys who are a step slow. His back to the basket game should leave Horford scratching his head, and I think he could pile up the rebounds as well.
Marcin Gortat - FD 6600 DK 6600 DFSTR 6200New Orleans' defense against the center position has fallen off a cliff with Asik out, and I'm guessing that the polished Gortat will take full advantage. It can't be a cash game play due the variable nature of Gortat's minutes, but on a points per dollar basis, I think he has as much upside as any center going tonight.
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