Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks for Draft Street and Fan Duel 12/26/13

 

Anyone else have a Christmas Day NBA hangover? Anyone else wake up among the remnants of wrapping paper and tinsel, surrounded by the ghosts of Lebron fades and Blake Griffin ejections? Anyone else look back on the day of the Christmas NBA marathon and think, “Every day should be  so glorious. Every day should be so holy.”

But alas, time moves on and so does daily fantasy. We’ve got a mini-slate of games on today to digest, hangover style. So grab your coffee, clear away that pair of socks your aunt got you and take a look at some value plays for the day.

 

Guards

 

Jeff Teague DS 13,784 FD $6,700 - JT is my play of the day. I believed in him when he was hitting rock bottom a few weeks ago, and I believe in him now. One of my cardinal rules around these parts is to, almost without a fault, start whatever PG is squaring up against Uncle Drew Kyrie Irving. That’s how bad Irving is on D. Opposing point guards eat him alive. I get it, Irving is tasked with carrying the load in the offensive end, so the D takes a back seat. Teague’s been playing great of late and gets a dream matchup against Cleveland.

 

Kyle Korver DS 9,862 FD $4,900 - I might as well just say that I like starting whole backcourts against the Cavs. They’ve had some injuries at SG and the defense hasn’t been there. Granted, it’s not as bad as on the point guard end, but it ain’t great. Korver is fairly consistent and I like him a bit more in cash games than in GPP’s because his ceiling is lowish. But he strikes me as remarkably safe tonight.

 

Chris Paul DS $20,859  FD $10,200 - There aren’t many big money options I like tonight, but CP3 is one of them. This is on the second night of a back-to-back for him, against another quality opponent, but I think he delivers. Keep an ear out if there’s any mention about his minutes, but I doubt it’s an issue. This game should be high scoring, which plays right into Paul’s skillset. I think you can easily start these three guard on DS and both Teague and Paul at PG on FD.

 

Mike Conley DS $12,884 FD $7,100 I must say that I like his price a little bit more on DS than FD, but Conley is a decent value play today. Though I’ll be hard pressed to get him into my FD lineups unless there is a money crunch, I can definitely envision a scenario in which I’m running out all four of the above guards on Draft Street. And don’t let Tony Parker’s stinker yesterday fool you, Jeremy Lin is not a good defender. Conley should be able to meet this price easily.

 

Avoid: Kyrie Irving DS $16,899  FD $8,400 - Damian Lillard DS 17,655 FD$8,600

Forwards

 

Kawhi Leonard DS $12,105 FD $6,100 - This is my number one option at forward today. He is consistent, gets his minutes and with Spurs coming on the second night of a back-to-back he could see a minutes/ production boost if the Spurs get “Popped” and the veterans sit for long stretches. Leonard does enough in the stat sheet to keep his production safe and I love the matchup.

Demarre Carroll DS $9,903 FD $5,000 - Remember before when I was talking about the Cavs D? Remember I mentioned them a few times and some deficiencies they experienced when “stopping the other team”? Well that kind of goes with the other positions besides guard. And being that there are only so many positions on a basketball court, we can begin assuming something about the Cavs D. Mainly: it blows. Carroll’s price is great on both sites and he isn’t a sexy name.

LaMarcus Aldridge DS $19,107 $10,300 - This is a close one for me. I don’t know if I’ll have the cash to get him in because I like Paul for the money a bit better. But again, if you think Paul is slowed down a bit because of last night’s taxing game, then LaMarcus is your play. I like Aldridge in every format, but especially in larger tournaments because he has 30/15 upside against the right opponent. While the Clips are about average against PF, they are coming off a grinding game last night and could be hungover themselves.

Avoid: Blake Griffin DS $19,388 FD $9,000

 

Center

 

Robin Lopez DS $10,738 FD $5,800 - Big Perm is a dude I like to pick and choose my spots with. Not in like a social way, in a daily fantasy kind of way. Daily fantasy sports kind of way. Take one look at what Andrew Bogut did last night (10/14/2) for evidence of what a quasi-athletic center can do against Deandre Jordan. While Lopez is far from elite, in the right matchup he can do enough in the box score to more than pay this salary. I love Lopez and his counterpart...

 

Deandre Jordan DS $15,122 FD $6,800 - I like Deandre a bit more on Fan Duel than Draft Street, but the price is fine on both sites. Short of him airballing that free throw last night, Jordan played excellent and was a shot-blocking machine. One thing that scares me about Jordan in cash games is he just doesn’t score enough to be a consistent, day in, day out, value play. But in tournaments, he’s a great play because when he’s scoring, he puts up huge numbers.

Site Specific Plays

 

Draft Street

Paul Millsap $15,841 - He is value on FD as well, this is a fantastic price for Millsap’s upside against the Cavs.

Tony Parker $13,375 - I love a bounceback game for Parker after a bit of a stinker against the Rockets.

Fan Duel

 

Dirk Nowitzki $7,500 - This is entering must-start territory at this price for Dirk. Dollar for dollar, I like Dirk better than LaMarcus on FD, though you can’t go wrong with either.

James Johnson $3,500 - This is primarily if Tayshaun Prince doesn’t play. If Prince sits, Johnson is a must play at the minimum.

James Harden $8,500 - There isn’t much to offer at SG today, making Harden more valuable on FD than DS.

Zach Randolph $7,900 - PF is stacked today on FD. Consider Randolph if you’re trying to make money work.