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It's a super-short slate tonight with only two games on the docket. That's probably a good thing after the clusterf@#% that occurred last night with Waiters, and to a lesser extent J.R. Smith. Both were traded after lineups locked and Waiters especially had an impact. He was a high ownership play (your humble writer included who had him on 100% of his FanDuel lineups). But this is the thing with DFS. You play long enough and these things will happen. Sometimes for you, sometimes against. It's an operative lesson in bankroll managements, eggs and baskets and whatnot.
With so few games going, I'm just going to highlight some interesting plays rather than go position-by-position.
Tim Duncan - FD 8700 DK 9100 DFSTR 8300
He's probably the safest guy on a dicey short slate. There are a lot of question marks going into this one. Will Parker play? What will the Piston rotations look like? Or the Bucks for that matter? The Spurs, after a couple of days off should be able to give Duncan a full run of his minutes. Granted, they could destroy the Pistons, but I'm not sure you can sweat that too much with so few games going. I'll have him in all of my cash games because he should be able to do work on Monroe and company down low. The tag doesn't completely break the bank though I should mention that he probably doesn't have oodles of upside either.
Greg Monroe - FD 6300 DK 7100 DFSTR 6400
The minutes seem anything but secure, and yet the matchup against the Spurs is fine enough considering the price. It if he can creep to thirty minutes (nothing close to a guarantee) then he is by far the best points/$ play on the board today in his price range (and maybe overall). The FanDuel price hasn't corrected enough for life with Smoove, but SVG just doesn't play favorites here. Monroe can sit for long stretches and that scares the hell out of me. I'll still take the risk though.
Zaza Pachulia - FD 5400 DK 6000 DFSTR 3900
With news that Larry Sanders maybe kind of sort of doesn't want to play basketball anymore, Pachulia is in play for at least another night. The Bucks rotations can be confounding from a DFS perspective because really no one's minutes are secure. That includes Zaza. He played 31 minutes last game, but 25 and 23 the two games before that. Still, with so few options he'll be a near universal start all things considered.
Eric Bledsoe - FD 8900 DK 9300 DFSTR 7600
I suspect he will be the highest (or second highest) owned players on this slate. It's for a good reason. His floor is always so damn high because he can score for you in a number of different ways. Bledsoe will go through stretches where it seems like he is everywhere on the court and doing everything for the Suns. He doesn't even need a full run of minutes to hit value tonight against a Bucks team that's well below average defending opposing shooting guards.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo - FD 6300 DK 6800 DFSTR 4800
If you think he goes out there and gives you 30+ minutes then he makes a fantastic play against a super fast Suns squad. Again, and I can't say this enough, Jason Kidd is fickle with his minutes and changes his mind seemingly every game. Giannis' value is strictly tied up in that run. But over the last ten games or so the minutes have, for the most part, been there. On a short slate, I'm rolling him as he (much like Bledsoe) can score for you in so many ways.
Cory Joseph - FD 5500 DK 6000 DFSTR 3500
Is really only in play if Parker sits again tonight (currently questionable) but if that's the case then you'd be getting a starting point guard who pretty consistently crushes this price. Again, take a wait and see approach with him as it pertains to Parker's availability.
Consider PJ Tucker, Manu Ginobili and Tiago Splitter
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