Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings and DraftStreet 2/28/14

Welcome to the all terrible puns edition of our daily picks! When you make these picks every day, you sometimes have to spice it up for yourself. So you can deal bad jokes in exchange for picks worth literally millions (billions) of dollars on the open market. You have been warned.

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Point Guards

Isaiah Thomas - FanDuel $8,200 DraftKings $8,000 DraftStreet $16,251
The Lakers won’t see the Boogie Man in their closet tonight. This doesn’t necessarily translate directly to IT3’s productivity as he is fairly steady regardless of those around him. But it certainly doesn’t hurt because it makes it more likely the game stays close. The big factor here is the Lakers. They suck. And though they’ve calmed down a bit in allowing opposing PGs to score at will, every other stat is off the charts above league average. It’s gross. Thomas makes a great play and will be a heavy start.

Kemba Walker - FanDuel $8,600 DraftKings $8,300 DraftStreet $15,029
This is one of those situations that I don’t need to “walk”er you through. He’s playing humongous minutes in the Bobcat offense. Kind of insane minutes really. In daily fantasy, especially basketball, one of the biggest determinants of success is opportunity. Getting 40+ minutes a games is one of the ways to increase your chances at hitting value. Combine this with facing a Spur defense that can’t control the opposing point guard and you’ve got a recipe for success.

Brian Roberts - FanDuel $5,000 DraftKings $4,300 DraftStreet $9,292
Man the poor Pelicans. Talk about an injury disaster. Anthony Davis. Jrue Holiday. Ryan Anderson. Just a revolving door to the trainer’s room. But Roberts has been steadily there, getting his minutes, grabbing some value and just generally hanging around. Sometimes in the DFS world that is good enough. Not a ton of upside, though he might see more shots with the Brow sidelined. But I like his price relative to the field.

Kyrie Irving - FanDuel $8,400 DraftKings $8,800 DraftStreet $16,711
Uncle Drew’s be S”irving” up his share of highlights. But also, at times, playing like the old man at the beginning of those commercials. One reason I’m going with Kyrie tonight is that I think there is a renewed sense of obligation on his part. The Cavs have made trades to make them “better”. He played well in the All-Star game and he’s come back from the break with some huge games. The matchup against Utah is about league average, but I think Kyrie is turning a corner this season.

Trey Burke - FanDuel $5,600 DraftKings $6,000 DraftStreet $11,264
Trey it on for size. See how it feels. I know his last game will turn you off a bit as he should have been significantly better against Ish Smith and company. But I like him for a bounceback and a bit of a contrarian play. Cleveland is just terrible against opposing point guards. They let up like 20% more rebounds and assists to opposing point guards.

Kirk Hinrich - FanDuel $3,900
Beam me up Scottie. Captain Kirk has me intrigued for a couple of reasons. The first is statistical: over the last couple of weeks he’s averaging an 11/3/3. For his salary, this is a fantastic line. The second is more a DFS psychological thing. People will look at Kirk Hinrich and then immediately look away. But if Hinrich were a spot start guy at this price, with a similar expectation, he would be like a 50% start. His price on FD is less than 4K and he pays 5x like every time out. Play him. It’d be an “enterprising” decision.

Shooting Guards

Kent Bazemore - FanDuel $3,900 DraftKings $3,800 DraftStreet $8,166
Bazemore pays more when he stays more in the lineup. Okay, pretty terrible puns. But for real - the guy is playing 39 minutes per game and he's still dirt cheap across the board. He's a starting tweener guard for less than $4,000 at the SG position... not sure what else you need here.

Marco Belinelli - FanDuel $4,600 DraftKings $4,900 DraftStreet $10,279
Smellinelli has been incredibly reliable since Ginobili went down, and even in ManU's return, he played a solid 27 minutes with a nice return. Charlotte's been throttling SGs recently, so I'm not exactly feeling Belinelli as a double-up option (also because there are just so many decent SG options tonight), but I definitely don't mind him as an upside play at this price.

Vince Carter - FanDuel $5,400 DraftKings $5,500 DraftStreet $11,229
Vince continues to go out and do his thing, and even in an off game his last time out he didn't kill you. The playing time is up and down, and again, he is a little risky for my taste in a double up, but the minutes variability actually means his upside is greater than his price betrays. Minutes variability means there is a lot more room for a random huge game. You are pleased to hear this if you are considering Vince-meat for your GPP games.

Jimmy Butler - FanDuel $6,400 DraftKings $5,400 DraftStreet $12,163
Hopefully you played Butler after we recommended him against Golden State, because the Butler DID IT! Oh God, that was an incredible pun. And he didn't exactly kill, but he was very solid on these prices, and played almost his full allotment of minutes. Butler lines up against Monta Ellis and Vince - quite a nice matchup for his game. I'm liking him for a lot of safety, with some upside built in if he gets hot.

Marshon Brooks - FanDuel $3,600 DraftKings $3,200 DraftStreet $6,868
Brooks will be running against the Lakers' poor defense and fast pace, and he's been terrific in part time minutes in his return from injury. This is one of those "safe upside" plays that only come along every so often, and I'll very likely have Brooks in almost everywhere.

Gordon Hayward - FanDuel $6,800 DraftKings $7,100 DraftStreet $13,626
Hayward's price on FD is simply inappropriate. With Cleveland starting 2 PGs, they are going to have a tough time reeling in Hayward's perimeter game. Loving him for a ton of volume, and if the shots are falling, he could kill this price. He doesn't look like a safety guy with some off games recently, but I will play him in double ups and GPPs.

Small Forwards

Kawhi Leonard - FanDuel $6,000 DraftKings $5,200 DraftStreet $11,955
Leonard is the big cat (king of like Leopard, get it?) of this group, as he came back from injury with a phenomenal game in limited minutes against the Pistons. Price hasn't caught back up to where it was pre-injury, but it looks like the production is there. Thank you, Spurs, for waiting until a player is actually recovered from injury before slotting him back in, unlike basically every team.

Mike Dunleavy - FanDuel $5,300 DraftKings $5,300 DraftStreet $10,582
Dunsqueezy has paid 5x this price in 5 of his last 7, and 6x in 2 of those. Dallas is much worse against Small Forwards with Marion playing fewer minutes, so I'm liking Dunleavy's opportunity here. Picturing 30 FPPs if the long ball is going down.

Rudy Gay - FanDuel $8,100 DraftKings $8,300 DraftStreet $17,172
Damn, I can't think of any puns for Gay. If you can think of any, please contact us. Anyway, Gay is back to balling again, and he has killed it when Boogie has gone out. I haven't even mentioned Gay's opposition yet. While they are probably really, really nice guys - the Lakers are an opposing player's wildest fantasy. Combine Lakers with no Boogie and I think Gay will be happy(!!!) to be out on the court tonight. 40+ FPs feels like a lock.

Richard Jefferson - FanDuel $4,000 DraftKings $3,900 DraftStreet $7,820 and Jeremy Evans - FanDuel $4,200 DraftKings $3,600 DraftStreet $8,456
The Jazz SFs continue to be under-priced. They're both consistent, and their playing time is reliable. They're largely ignored because they are rather unsexy names... but you can win in DFS without sexy. I like Jefferson slightly better, but would be fine with either of them in the lineup against a Cleveland team that has given up 9% more points to opposing SFs than league average this year.

Wesley Johnson - FanDuel $5,100 DraftKings $4,700 DraftStreet $9,730
World wide Wes seems to have regained the trust of Jekyll D'Antoni, especially with Swaggy P Nick Young out of the mix with a knee injury. Johnson showed great defensive versatility last game, guarding 3 different positions, and for some reason I think this will increase his minutes this time out as well. But seriously - 4 3s last game, AND 4 blocks? Loving what I'm seeing right now. Someone has to go out there and score for the Lakers, and they are still playing a fast pace... I like Johnson for all formats tonight.

Kevin Durant - FanDuel $12,000 DraftKings $11,500 DraftStreet $22,889
If you must pay, pay for Durant. The Slim Reaper. Iceberg Slim. The Durantula. Oh - analysis time, my bad. Durant is simply not a GPP play - almost no player can have upside on salaries like these. I'd prefer to spend big on Melo, but he isn't going to flex the same lock for points that KD will. So I'm totally fine with taking a lot of the cheap options elsewhere for double ups tonight, and locking KD in for 50+ FPs.

Power Forwards

Tristan Thompson - FanDuel $6,000 DraftKings $6,200 DraftStreet $12,219
Do you Trist-an this guy? I do. There is a clear line of success with Thompson and it involves Varejao being out of the lineup. With Anderson sidelined, Thompson has taken as much as he can handle. Scoring and rebounding both increasing. If Varejao happens to come back tonight I probably downgrade Thompson, but the addition of Spencer Hawes has no bearing on Tristan’s effectiveness. Utah is about league average against power forwards and Thompson stil has some nice prices.

Carmelo Anthony - FanDuel $10,800 DraftKings $11,000 DraftStreet $21,937
Well this will be an interesting game won’t it? Nothing Melo about it. There are two conflicting styles at work here. First you have Golden State’s high octane form of basketball with a certain amount creativity and brash excitement. And then you have the Knicks who pass to Melo, iso him and stand around for a bunch of seconds. But the latter point is actually the case for Melo, especially on non-efficiency sites. He gets his looks over and over and over again. The Warriors will offer him plenty of chances to score.

Carlos Boozer - FanDuel $6,100 DraftKings $6,500 DraftStreet $12,400
I feel like a drunk, a boozer if you will, for my decision making on this guy. Our system loves much of the time but I shy away because of the Bulls and the name and whatever other cognitive dissonance I have going on. And yet he walks out and pays 5x much of the time. He falls into that Hinrich mold of negative association. I’m going to get over it. Maybe tonight will be the night.

Josh McRoberts - FanDuel $5,000 DraftKings $5,000 DraftStreet $10,719
One thing I won’t Josh about is this: when our system likes him, you should too. McRoberts is one guy who our system seems to get right, a lot. And this is one of the nights I don’t think I’m going to avoid him. At a reduced price, against a team in the Spurs that struggles with opposing power forwards, he falls right into that salary zone that is a bit weird. It’s higher than a punt but lower than many of the “names” you feel comfortable playing. I like it tonight.

Serge Ibaka - DraftKings $7,300
Prepare for a power-Serge of value here. This pick is more on price than matchup. It is pretty low for a high end guy.

Centers

A cheap, mid-range, and expensive option for whatevr your dining pleasures. After these guys, though, things get pretty slim quickly.. unless you can find another punt as the day's news breaks.

Alexis Ajinca - FanDuel $4,200 DraftKings $4,000 DraftStreet $8,402
Ajinca has been no stinka with Davis banged up, and I suspect he will go out and get another 27 minutes tonight. His active game has him around the rim for boards and put backs, and on a $4,200 salary, I'd consider you crazy if you didn't take him. He's basically a lock for 9/9, and a 20 FPs floor for a $4,200 salary should be pretty hard to pass up.

Tiago Splitter - FanDuel $4,500 DraftKings $4,300 DraftStreet $8,685
Tiago has had 2 great games split by 1 lousy game since returning from injury. Al Jefferson is a terrific offensive talent, but defense has never been his strong suit. I am really feeling Splitter's upside tonight, even if I am a little wary of his safety, both due to his injury concerns and small sample size on the performance since he's come back. But on this price tag, 6-8x on his FanDuel price is totally in play.

Tyson Chandler - FanDuel $6,000 DraftKings $6,200 DraftStreet $13,845
Tyson is no chicken (ugh), which is great against the stout Bogut. Keep in mind that Bogut typically bottles up guys with his great post defense, and Chandler's offensive game involves basically dunking rebounds and easy dunks from the pick and roll. As much as it's possible, he actually is kind of match up proof against good defenders. And Bogut has been considerably lower energy recently, both fouling out and nursing a bad shoulder. I'm penciling Chandler in for 30 FPs, and won't be surprised to see 36+.

Joakim Noah - FanDuel $9,300 DraftKings $8,500 DraftStreet $18,501
Noah's arc was off in the first quarter against the Warriors (saved my best pun for last), but he recovered and turned his game into a non-disaster after that. Noah isn't a GPP play for me tonight - but he's been around that 40-45 FPPs threshold for several games in a row, and I'm figuring on him settling in to that range tonight as well. He's my least favorite of the "big 3" centers tonight, but I can tolerate him if I like cheaper options elsewhere.