Daily Fantasy NBA Picks -DraftKings All-Star Game  2/18/18 The NBA All-Star game goes down this Sunday with the over/ under set at a whopping 342. It figures to be much like previous iterations: a no-defense, up and down game. The curse of Team Lebron is very real with Demarcus Cousins, Kevin Love, Kristaps Porzingis and John Wall all injured after James drafted them for his All-Star squad. Can they recover to beat Team Curry? We only care because DraftKings is hosting contests with six players and a $50,000 salary cap. Let's take a look back at some numbers from previous All-Star games and how we might construct lineups for Sunday's affair. Top performers from previous games Anthony Davis West 2017 68 DraftKings Points Davis took so many shots in last year's game it was easy for him to put up the highest fantasy scoring All-Star performance of the last three years. He put up 39 shots in 32 minutes and finished with 52 points and 10 rebounds. No other player in the game took more than 26 shots (Westbrook). The 32 minutes are well above the ASG average for starters and were eight more than anyone on the East squad. Russell Westbrook West - 2016 60.5 DraftKings Points Westbrook went nuts as a starter in this game, going 12 for 23 from the field and jacked up 17 three pointers (not his game at all). He also chipped in five assists and eight rebounds. He actually played the fewest minutes of any of the West starters, but it didn't matter even in the slightest. James Harden West - 2015 56.5 DraftKings Points Harden played the most minutes for the West squad and finished with 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Three pointers told the story where he shot 7-12 from downtown. Westbrook was right on his heels off the bench. Other numbers from previous seasons: Of the top 20 overall fantasy performances over the last three seasons, 65% of them have been from point guards (Westbrook - 3, Harden - 2, Curry - 3, Paul - 2, Irving - 1, Lowry - 1, Wall - 1) Westbrook had the second-most points in 2017 (coming off the bench), most in 2016 and second most in 2015. He has three of the top five most fantasy points scored in the game over the last three seasons. In 2017, four of the five highest bench scorers were guards (Westbrook, Wall, Lowry, Thomas, with Marc Gasol being the lone big man) Lebron James has only one top 30 finish in the last three years. Overview of Rosters Team Lebron Starters (Projected) Lebron James Anthony Davis Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving TBD - Bet...

Daily Fantasy NBA Picks -DraftKings Rising Stars Challenge  2/16/18 The Rising Stars Challenge goes down at 9PM EST on Friday with plenty of starpower even in this game between first and second year players. These games are nothing more than exhibitions with defense essentially thrown out the window, but we can still look at some roster construction and past trends to find value on the one game slate. Top performers from previous games Jamal Murray Team World - 2017 62.75 DraftKings Points Murray came off the bench, played 20 minutes and shot the lights out of the building going 13-16 from the field (9-14 from three) while also chipping in 11 assists. He played the most bench minutes of Team World and actually played more than the starter Dante Exum. Emmanuel Mudiay Team World - 2016 59.25 DraftKings Points The assist numbers piled up for Mudiay with the first unit in 2016 when he dished out 10 dimes and also shot 5-10 from three (way out kicking his coverage there). Team World was very thin at PG in this game with only Raul Neto behind Mudiay. There are basically one of two types of players who scores well in these games. Guards who shoot threes (Murray, Mudiay in that case) and big men who run the court and rebound. Other top performers in recent years were Mario Hezonja (2016, 49.5 DK Points), Kristaps Porzingis (2016, 46.75 DK points) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2017, 46.25 DK Points) Other numbers from previous seasons: Over the last three seasons, starters averaged 23.5 minutes with players rarely cresting over the 30 minute mark. The last two seasons, when defense went completely out the window, the average final score was 154-148. Obviously minutes are key and of course the starters will, on average, play more minutes. 11 of the top 15 performances over the last three years came from the starting unit. Overview of Rosters Team USA Starters (Projected) Donovan Mitchell Kyle Kuzma Brandon Ingram Dennis Smith Jr. Jaylen Brown Bench (Projected) Kris Dunn De'Aaron Fox Jayson Tatum Taurean Prince John Collins Quick Thoughts: Team USA is very guard-dominant with almost no true interior size. I expect more minutes out of Tatum, Collins, Ingram, Collins and possibly Kuzma. The guard/ point guard minutes are a little tougher to parse out simply because Mitchell, Dunn, Smith and Fox will share those duties. Of course, Mitchell is easy to love in this format because he’s a pure scorer, and a volume three-point shooter who’s hitting 35% from beyond the arc.   Team World Starters (Projected) Joel Embiid Ben Simmons Dario Saric Jamal Murray Lauri Markkanen Bench (Projected) Buddy Hield Frank Ntilikina Bogdan Bogdanovic Domantas Sabonis Dillon Brooks...