Daily Fantasy NBA Picks -DraftKings Rising Stars Challenge  2/16/18

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...