Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 1/27/15

The NBA is in full swing and you’re here to get the best value plays in the industry. Enjoy!

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Point Guards

John Wall - FD 9100 DK 9200 DFSTR 7600
He is the first, second and third option at point guard tonight. I suspect, on a night with very few big money options, you will see Wall as a nearly universal play in cash games. The reasoning is easy. He’s relatively affordable and is playing against the team of turnstiles that are the Lakers. To say they are bad against point guards is an insult to teams that are actually just bad against points guards. No the Lakers are something else entirely. They are allowing close to 24% more scoring from point guards than the league average. That is just insane. Play Wall without hesitation.

D.J. Augustin - FD 6000 DK 5800 DFSTR 4000
He was free money last game out as he took the place of Brandon Jennings at near rock-bottom prices. He, um, paid. His price corrects in the short term, but not enough considering the opportunity. He is going to continue getting major minutes at the point and has enough to more than meet value at these prices. Kyrie’s no defensive maverick and there is still room to buy DJ. He’s not a favorite to do anywhere near the scoring he did in his first game as a starter, but you can roll him in cash games for sure.

Kyle Lowry - FD 8600 DK 8900 DFSTR 7500
Gone are the days of the Pacers being a lock down defensive team across the board. They’ve struggled with point guards this season allowing worse than league average production in a number of areas. Lowry is still logging major minutes and hasn’t seen his fantasy production take too major a hit with Derozan back in the fold. I still like Wall much more at the same price point, but Lowry is in the discussion here.

Consider Derrick Rose and Brandon Knight. Also keep an eye on Mike Conley’s injury status to see if you need to play Beno Udrih

Shooting Guards

Dwyane Wade - FD 7800 DK 8100 DFSTR 7400
He’s really a deal on FD where his price has dropped some. On DK and Draftster you can probably do a little better with some of the guys below. Milwaukee isn’t a stellar defensive team and Wade is a threat to score in bunches as long as he’s on the court. On FD where finding good value at the position is very tough (and finding two guys is near impossible) I like taking the safer route with Wade.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - FD 4700 DK 4100 DFSTR 4000
KCP is a perfect example of a dude who plays a ton of minutes but often has very little (fantasy-wise) to show for it. You essentially need to catch him on a night when the three ball is going down for him because he doesn’t have much else to offer across the box score. Cleveland has allowed worse than average scoring from shooting guards though it’s worth mentioning that those stats are basically before Iman Shumpert came around, who stands to see a minutes increase sooner than later. I’m mostly looking at KCP as a price play here. You can consider Jodie Meeks as the GPP option from Detroit.

Monta Ellis - FD 7800 DK 7100 DFSTR 7800
Our system actually thinks he’s one of the higher points/ $ plays on the evening, though that is most likely more to do with the field than any real upside he has in the matchup. Memphis is of course one of the best defensive teams in the league, but Ellis would have a better matchup if Tony Allen were to sit again. Reminder: with so many good defensive teams going tonight, you are going to have to play some guys with suboptimal matchups simply because almost everyone has a rough go of it tonight.

Consider J.R. Smith

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Small Forwards

Jeff Green - FD 5300 DK 5000 DFSTR 5200
It sure seemed like Green hitting the starting lineup for the Grizz was going to mean an increase in minutes, but that really hasn’t been the case for the guy as he’s yet to hit thirty minutes of run in the last three games. That means a lot needs to go right in a short period of time, something that’s a bit tough for the guy considering how dependent he is on scoring. Not much of a vote of confidence huh? The good news is he should see more volume because of the Maverick’s pace of play. And this should stay a tight game. I can see getting him in as the price won’t kill you at all.

Draymond Green - FD 7300 DK 7500 DFSTR 5900
First off, he needs a close game to even see the light of day with value. He has seen his minutes fluctuate depending on the game and the fact that the Warriors have a tendency to blow other teams off the court. But assuming Chicago hangs here, which they will, Green could create some matchup concerns with either Gasol or Taj. This position, much like shooting guard, is very tough.

Paul Pierce - FD 5100 DK 4700 DFSTR 5200
As always the issue with Pierce isn’t the skill but rather the minutes. Will he see enough court time to consider him safe. The matchup is for sure nice, but there is always the threat of him playing in the low to mid twenties. He’s been out there for more lately (though some of that included OT) which is a positive sign. But buyer beware even with the matchup.

Strongly consider Lebron James as he’s playing his best basketball of the season right now. Also take a look at Khris Middleton

Power Forwards

Chris Bosh - FD 8200 DK 8100 DFSTR 7700
As is the case with most of the positions today, you are probably going to take a hit on some upper tier expectation simply because either the matchups are rough or player prices are high. One reason I like Bosh tonight is that the Bucks have trouble matching up against power forwards in terms of scoring and have big, big problems keeping just about every opposing big off the class. Their last three games have seen the opposing four get into double-digit rebounds. Crashing the boards isn’t necessarily Bosh’s forte but I think he stands to see a bump in overall production tonight which could lead to be a nice cash game play.

Nene Hilario - FD 5700 DK 5400 DFSTR 5300
He’s coming in on the cheaper side and seeing in the higher twenties in terms of minutes per game. He gets a great matchup against the Lakers who get completely torched by opposing power forwards. They are allowing 13% more scoring than league average and 10% more rebounding. Washington can screw around with rotations from time to time (meaning you can all of a sudden see more Kris Humphries) but Nene’s price limits his downside in the event he sees slightly less minutes.

Ersan Ilyasova - FD 4300 DK 4000 DFSTR 4300
If you could lock him into say 26 minutes, he would seem a very safe, lower upside, cash game play. Ersan just hasn’t been seeing the run you’d expect from someone in the starting lineup. But Miami has matchup problems down low and they worse than average scoring against opposing power forwards. The big question with Ersan is the minutes (really a question for all of the Bucks). But when he gets in the mid twenties he is paying these prices.

Consider Kevin Love and Pau Gasol as some higher tag guys with modest expectations.

Center

Hassan Whiteside - FD 6000 DK 5800 DFSTR
If you were alive on Sunday you saw what Hassan did to the Bulls. He triple doubled with blocks which is rarified air (get it?) and will draw the start tonight. His minutes are never huge but it stands to reason we’ve seen the low end of things on that front. He’s been insanely productive in his limited time and there’s no reason the Heat shouldn’t continue running him out there. Milwaukee isn’t huge in the front court and he should get some weak side block opportunities.

Timofey Mozgov - FD 5100 DK 5100 DFSTR 4700
Doesn’t have quite the same feel as Whiteside in this one, but few do coming off of Hassan’s last game. Drummond and company do a nice enough job keeping opposing centers off the glass, but really struggle on the defensive end keeping them from scoring. Mozgov can get into the double digits with points and his price is such that as long as he sees 30+ minutes he should have no problem paying this.

Marcin Gortat - FD 5700 DK 5500 DFSTR 5900
It wasn’t great that he didn’t play crunch time or OT against the Nuggets on Sunday. That doesn’t necessarily bode well. But the Wiz should be able to score on the Lakers. And while LA isn’t exactly terrible against centers this season, there should be plenty of opportunity for Marcin. With enough run he can destroy his lower price tag. Nice matchup has me wanting to buy and honestly, I like how all three of these centers fall within the same price range, making mixing and matching all that much easier.

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