Daily Fantasy NBA Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and Draftster 1/28/15

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Point Guards

It’s a great day to spend no money at this position.
D.J. Augustin - FD 6000 DK 5800 DFSTR 4000
Price climbed some in the short term, but not enough. He’s going to get all the run at the point for the Pistons with Jennings down and Philly is Philly. While they aren’t the defensive abomination they were last season, they still are far from good. They are particularly bad in allowing opposing point guards to rebound and assist. Considering his price and his skillset there is still tons of room for this guy. Keep rolling him out there as he was great again last night against the Cavs.

Langston Galloway - FD 4800 DK 4300 DFSTR 4800
Here’s what I wrote on Monday about Galloway before the game was cancelled because of the “snowstorm” and very little/ nothing has changed:
Langsanity cooled off just a tad last game against the Magic. But just a tad. He still saw 32 minutes and his price hasn’t come close to catching up with his opportunity. It doesn’t look like Calderon will be back for this one, though to be honest, I’d probably play Galloway even if Jose was around. It’s really just the difference of him playing the one or the two. He is seeing big minutes at very cheap prices. He’s putting up double digit shots per game whether Melo is there or not (a good sign) and should see plenty of run in this one.

Brian Roberts - FD 4100 DK 4200 DFSTR 3200
Unlike DJ Augustin, whose price corrected in the two day lay off after he was minted the starter, Roberts hasn’t seen his price budge almost at all even though he is now locked in as the Hornet’s starting point guard. Of course he didn’t put up the monster DJ did in his first time out (and he’s had some true disasters) but it’s hard to get away from a minimum priced PG staring down the barrel at 30+ minutes. The Hornets will almost definitely get blitzed by the Spurs, but they have few other ball-handling options at the moment.

Mo Williams - FD 5700 DK 6000 DFSTR 5500
I know. I know. He was a monumental trainwreck against the Thunder the other night. But that was the game point guards went to die (ahem, Russell) and I’m willing to look past it some as just a bad game. Mo isn’t anything close to a cash game play, but his price is still affordable ad he’s matched up against one of the fastest teams in the league in Boston. Won’t be a pretty game to watch, but there should at least be tons of volume. This is a great GPP play in my opinion as he has huge upside at these prices. Update: Mo is out. Lavine will draw the start and is a real nice punt play option. 

Strongly consider Russell Westbrook with Durant sitting again. I know he was bad last game, but that was an outlier. Also, if Evan Turner sits Marcus Smart is intriguing.

 

Shooting Guards

Kyle Korver - FD 4900 DK 4800 DFSTR 5100
Been awhile since I put my man Kyle up in these picks but it’s time to hop back on the wagon. He’s coming in at some really low prices and is getting a solid matchup against the Nets who don’t defend the shooting guard position well at all. Korver should see some open looks in this one as Brooklyn is a very slow team in rotations. Korver’s three point volume needs to be there for him to pay, but I think he sees the shots in this one. The price is dictating we buy as this is as low as I can remember his salary being.

Wesley Matthews - FD 6000 DK 6100 DFSTR 5100
I like using him in cash games because his minutes are totally locked in and he plays for a team that isn’t going to get blown out/ doesn’t blow out a ton of other teams. This is a good matchup for Matthews as the game should be high scoring and close throughout. He’s basically a lock for 35 or so minutes and he can score in bunches.

Joe Johnson - FD 6000 DK 5700 DFSTR 5800
He put up a catastrophe of a game last time out against the Jazz of all teams. And he’s run a little cold in his three point shooting over the short term. That’s kept his price down and I’m a fan of buying him at this salary point. He gets volume in the Nets offense, the minutes are there and not much else about his game has changed except that he’s in a prolonged shooting slump. At times we need to look past some of the game log ickiness and realize when it’s a ripe time to buy. I think that’s the case with Johnson.

Eric Gordon - FD 5600 DK 6000 DFSTR 4700
Where I think Tyreke Evans is finally priced out of consideration, Gordon hasn’t quite gotten there yet. He saw lower minutes last game, which I can’t totally explain, but I’m willing to throw it up there as a blip rather than the new norm.

Strongly consider Demar Derozan who is pulling out of his post-injury tailspin.

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Small Forwards

Wilson Chandler - FD 5900 DK 6000 DFSTR 4800
We loved him the other night going into the matchup with the Clippers and he more than paid the day with an 18/10/2 line. We can go back to the well again in his matchup against the Pelicans who also can’t defend the small forward at all. They are throwing Dante Cunningham out there in heavy minutes and other teams are taking advantage. Chandler can go bust, especially when the three ball isn’t falling. But this should be a closer game and his looks will be there. When he’s chucking in the rebounds as well, then you are all good.

Nicolas Batum - FD 5600 DK 5300 DFSTR 5100
Will be locked up with Lebron in this one which is no easy task. But I’m buying Batum because the price remains insanely low thanks to a prolonged slump coming back from the wrist injury. That is still a little of question mark going into this one, but if he’s suiting up he should see hefty minutes against the Cavs.

Gordon Hayward - FD 7800 DK 8000 DFSTR 6800
Remember what we said for the Clippers and small forwards? Well here comes Gordon. Matt Barnes could sit this one which would leave LA really, really scrambling on the defensive end (and remember they aren’t good against this position to begin with). The Clippers allow about 10% more than league average scoring to the position. If the Jazz can keep it close at home look for Hayward to exploit some matchup issues.

Consider Trevor Ariza and Chandler Parsons matched up against each other in what should be a high-scoring affair

 

Power Forwards

Anthony Davis - FD 11400 DK 11000 DFSTR 8500
There are so many places to save across your lineups today that fitting him in should be almost no issue at all. And it pays to get him into your lineups for sure. To put it mildly, Denver gets annihilated by power forwards. They are allowing 15% more scoring than league average to the position and 7% more rebounds. Blake was everywhere against them the other night and only did totally blow it out of the box because he couldn’t find his shot early. Davis should lay waste here and I think the prices are worth it. He is my top big money play over the other big boys because of the matchup and the solid value at other positions.

Brandon Bass - FD 5100 DK 4900 DFSTR 4200
My biggest concern with Bass is that Brad Stevens does have a tendency to ride hot hands in his lineup (or hot five man rotations) and if you aren’t there for a hot stretch you might not get back into the game. This happened to Bass the other night against the Jazz as Tyler Zeller got in, played well and Bass played six less minutes than normal. The minutes dip is a real thing with the Celtics. That being said, if he’s out there with full run, then this price could look silly at the end of the night.

Jason Smith - FD 4200 DK 3900 DFSTR 3600
Our system loves this guy right now. He is playing big minutes for the Knicks and actually getting up a fair amount of shots in their offense. He can do a little bit of everything on the court (considering how long he is out there). He isn’t particularly good and wouldn’t sniff a rotation for a great many teams in the league. But these are the Knicks and they are running him out there. You can too even even matched up against Ibaka.

In the upper midrange I think you can strongly consider Thad Young and Greg Monroe

 

Center

Andre Drummond - FD 8400 DK 8200 DFSTR 7000
He isn’t the best points/ $ center on our board, but I do think he represents a super high consideration because of the matchup. Now there are times when SVG will yank the minutes rug out from under his dudes. It happens more than I care to mention, but the matchup against Philly really could put Drummond in the winning GPP lineup. Philly is just terrible against opposing centers. They have no answer for the scoring and rebounding of the other team’s big man. And they get blocked at a clip of 40% more than league average by opposing centers. I’m sure that number is a little noisy. But even if it’s way off then Philly is still just getting the ball planted back into their face more than anyone else. Drummond could really go to the moon here.

Marcin Gortat - FD 5700 DK 5500 DFSTR 5900
Phoenix does have trouble with opposing centers though it seems like they might be a bit better with Len and Wright taking minutes away from Plumlee. But they are still below average and play at a high volume leading for more opponent opportunity. Gortat is still priced very low. Some of that is minutes dependent. He has been yanked down the stretch in games. But I like the matchup and think he has a high floor relative to his price.

Enes Kanter - FD 5900 DK 6500 DFSTR 5700
For whatever Deandre Jordan can do from a highlight reel perspective, it doesn’t translate to the defensive of the floor where the Clippers are below average in defending the center. There’s a good chance they destroy the Jazz, but I like the way Kanter is playing and his ability to drift outside the arc should cause some matchup issues for the Clippers. Not a safe play by any means, but worth a look.

Consider Timofey Mozgov. And if I knew Henry Sims was going to get 25 minutes I’d play him a ton.

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