Daily Fantasy NBA Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - 10/27/16

We are two games into the NBA season and already learning a ton. Things like Anthony Davis has 100 fantasy point potential and so does Harden. Some teams are going to be dreadful to watch this year (looking at you Nets) and some have guys who've taken a fantasy leap forward. It's crystalizing folks. We've got an interesting four game set tonight with a few new teams going. Let's get into the picks.

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Point Guard

Ty Lawson FD - $5100 DK - $5600
Opponent - SA
Proj Pts FD - 28.19 DK - 29.93
I'm sorely tempted to simply copy and paste the write up about Lawson from yesterday and stick it in here. Nearly all of the DFS considerations are the same. He's really the only true ballhandler on the Kings with Collison out. Their two guards trend more towards 2/3s than actual offense initiators and Lawson is really needed to run the whole offense. The difference with last night is the matchup against the Spurs is much worse than the lowly Suns. They are dogs (though not as much as I expected but the Kings are at home) but again, that might not effect Lawson's run. Last night Garrett Temple and a blowout ate into some of Lawson's minutes, but even with run in the low-to-mid 30's he's till a deal and helps you get a wealth of minutes on the cheaper end.

Dennis Schroder FD - $6500 DK - $6500
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 32.03 DK - 34.91
The Hawks are a new look squad this season with the exits of both Al Horford and Jeff Teague. That leaves a lot of offense on the tables the starting point guard duties to Schroder. He's long been known as a solid points per minute dude who turned into a punt style play when Teague sat. He can get to the basket and did average an 11/4 in only 20 minutes per game last year. The Hawks will need him quite a bit on offense considering Korver can't create his own shot and they are lacking offense in the bigs outside of Millsap. He isn't exactly a deal but I like the floor if he's the mid 30's minutes starter.

Then there's the three-headed expensive monsters of Damian Lillard, Chris Paul and John Wall. Each are excellent in their own rights and honestly I'd be fine with really any of them in cash. If forced to choose I'd probably go Paul because Lillard is such a liability on defense (Look what George Hill got up to the other night) and Paul doesn't need to just score.

Shooting Guard

Kyle Korver FD - $3800 DK - $3300
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 19.87 DK - 21.78
He needs to play minutes and chuck up threes because he doesn't do a whole lot else. But that latter piece he's exceptional at which still makes him somewhat of a value play at these prices. He's coming damn close to the minimums for a guy who played thirty minutes a game last season. Like I've said for some other guys here, there are shots to go around on the Hawks with Teague and Horford gone. But it will be on the offense as a whole to get him the ball. Korver doesn't create his own shot, but rather runs off screens to get open. Washington allowed more than average scoring to opposing shooting guards and the pace of the game should help Korver here.

J.J. Redick FD - $4600 DK - $4600
Opponent - POR
Proj Pts FD - 21.65 DK - 23.54
If you can't tell, the theme with shooting guards tonight is go cheap my friend, go cheap. This isn't so much an endorsement of JJ as it is a non-endorsement of everyone else. I don't think it's wise to spend up for guys like Wade or even Beal considering the minutes' issues with the former and the matchup for the latter. Redick is just mostly a guy at this point. He shoots threes and doesn't do much else. The Clippers have a fine enough implied team total and usually his value comes from getting cooking early. If not, you aren't overcommitting salary and can spend up in other positions.

Consider CJ McCollum if you want to spend up a little, but I don't love it.

Small Forward

Kawhi Leonard FD - $8200 DK - $8400
Opponent - SAC
Proj Pts FD - 39.73 DK - 41.58
It's never good to take one performance and project it out for the rest of the reason but there were some super encouraging things happening for Kawhi in the first game. And this guy's already a superstar. He took a ton of shots, continuing a year-over-year trend we've seen as he gets more and more comfortable in his offensive role. He also got to the line 15 times as he worked to get in the lane more. This is clearly his team now and if this is the kind of volume we can expect from him then he isn't going to be in this price range for long. Only real concern with Kawhi is the potential blowout but on a short slate I'm fine with it.

Jimmy Butler FD - $8200 DK - $7400
Opponent - BOS
Proj Pts FD - 35.82 DK - 37.38
The Bulls a another example of why projecting early season NBA (or really just first game NBA) is so very difficult. The Bulls have a 40% turnover in their starting lineup, swapping out Rose and Gasol for Rondo and Wade. It's unclear if that's any kind of upgrade (more like a lateral move than anything probably) but Butler remains and will have a chance to continue his swiss army knife approach. My biggest worry with him is that the two new additions to the lineup are ball-first guys who either dribble around forever (Rondo) or work isolation game (Wade). That doesn't look to help Butler's game all that much. He's still a supreme talent and I love the upside. Though I might take more a wait-and-see approach with him though the DK price is enticing.

Kent Bazemore FD - $5100 DK - $5100
Opponent - WAS
Proj Pts FD - 24.82 DK - 26.64
In the same vein on Dennis Schroder, Bazemore will be asked to do more on offense this season. He saw an uptick in his three point shooting last season and was around 36% from downtown. It stands to reason you see a solid uptick in his run this year with Atlanta though that will largely be dependent on how contributes on the offensive end of things. I like his mid-tier salary against a Wizards' team that played at the fifth fastest pace in the league last season.

Power Forward

LaMarcus Aldridge FD - $7800 DK - $7300
Opponent - SAC
Proj Pts FD - 40.05 DK - 41.58
My one hesitation with Aldridge going into game one against the Warriors was how Gasol's presence for the Spurs would cut into LA's usage. That wasn't a problem at all with Gasol barely playing and Aldridge 26/14/3 as one of the plays of the night. He's in another plus matchup here against the Kings tonight and if he and Kawhi are option 1 and 1A on this team (which very much looks like the case) then this is right where we want to spend up in cash games. Power forward is a position lacking in value so going double expensive on FanDuel is totally reasonable and likely correct.

Blake Griffin FD - $8600 DK - $8600
Opponent - POR
Proj Pts FD - 41.24 DK - 42.57
If the preseason is any indication Griffin has added three pointers to his game (long overdue) and that could for sure impact some of his scoring ceiling. He wasn't taking a ton, but 2.5 or so a game is enough. Griffin is still an elite fantasy option (his off court issues and injuries from last year aside). This should be a competitive game against the Blazers and Griffin has as much upside as anyone on the slate if the rebounding and assists are there. His makeup (when healthy) has such a solid floor and I'll be playing him all over cash games today.

Consider Markieff Morris as a tournament flyer especially if the Wiz are forced to play much more small ball without Ian Mahinmi active.

Center

DeAndre Jordan FD - $8000 DK - $7700
Opponent - POR
Proj Pts FD - 38.02 DK - 39.34
Rudy Gobert had no problem handling the Blazer interior the other night putting up a 12/14 performance in around 40 minutes. DeAndre could dominate inside against Mason Plumlee and whoever else Portland uses to body up down low. Much like Gobert, DeAndre won't take a ton of shots, but those he does take are of the "dunking on your head" variety. He averaged a 13/14 last season along with more than two blocks per. He's expensive a little expensive though does represent a savings compared to Boogie who's in a tough matchup. I really like the rebounding upside for Jordan here and the Blazers do like to drive the lane on offense.

Al Horford FD - $7000 DK - $7000
Opponent - CHI
Proj Pts FD - 34.51 DK - 35.7
It's always tough to figure out a team's rotation plans when their first game is a total blowout. (And don't be fooled by the final score as the Nets came storming back in garbage time with threes.) But that's what happened last night with the Celtics and Nets. Horford was solid in his limited run going 11/6/5/4 in just 27 minutes. The game against the Bulls stands to be much closer and the Celtics have the second highest implied total on the board. Horford can do a little bit of everything to fill a fantasy box score and I love how he attempted four threes in under thirty minutes last night. He's a value center in this offense.

Strongly consider Mason Plumlee on the cheap if he can stay out of foul trouble against the Clippers.

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