NBA FanDuel picks for March 15
Welcome to the Tuesday edition of Picks & Pivots, a daily fantasy column focused on providing analysis for the upcoming NBA FanDuel slate. The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big pay day!
Tonight’s smaller slate of six games is a wonderful reminder of why we love fantasy sports as two games with some of the worst teams in the NBA provide some of the best options for fantasy points!
The first game to target is Sacramento at the Lakers. The Kings are projected to score the most points across the league tonight and face the defense that has given up the most fantasy points to opposing teams this year.
On a small slate like tonight, when a truly elite player faces one of the best match-ups available, you have to start any roster in my opinion with C-Demarcus Cousins. At $11,100, Cousins is a pricey investment, but one only needs to look at the last meeting between these two teams where Cousins put up 61.7 points to prove his value. I would expect Cousins will be very highly owned as a result tonight, however without many other truly “elite” options tonight, it will be tough to fade Boogie and be able to keep pace with the rest of the field if he has the kind of night the underlying match-up would lead you to believe he has in store. In a larger field tournament, I could see throwing a few lineups out with C-Brook Lopez facing the Sixers, but moving away from Boogie tonight is something I will have a hard time doing!
Staying in the same game, PG- Rajon Rondo going up against the same “defense” in Los Angeles gives us an ideal building block that we can feel comfortable locking in to provide a very safe floor and a high ceiling. In his last two games against LAL, Rondo has put up 42.75 and 43 points. I have no problem stacking Rondo/Cousins as the basis for my lineups tonight and building from there.
One additional building block that stood out only after stepping back from the slate initially was SF – Paul George. The Celtics defense on the season has been stingy overall to opposing players, however that is buoyed by the dominance shown against the PG/SG positions. The Celtics present favorable match-ups to the SF, PF and Center positions and are also one of the highest paced teams on the board. The Pacers are projected to score more points today and play at a higher pace than their season average and I believe PG’s ownership will be lower than normal as a result of a perceived difficult match-up and Kawhi Leonard being available for just slightly more. Looking at this season, George has averaged 39.5 points per game against the Celtics, again giving your roster a solid foundation but also presenting upside for tournaments.
Unlike yesterday’s slate, my building blocks are a bit more costly, but the beauty of tonight’s slate is that the Brooklyn-Philadelphia game, a game only a fantasy player could love, gives us the ability to roster a variety of budget friendly options to mix and match with the foundation pieces noted above.
The Sixers will be without Jahlil Okafor, Robert Covington and Jerami Grant again tonight which opens up massive minutes for guys like PF – Nerlens Noel, PG – Isaiah Canaan and SF – Hollis Thompson. All three players played over 32 minutes last game under similar circumstances and the Nets present one of the most favorable matchups across the board. Feel free to plug and play the Sixers into your lineup tonight as the extreme costs savings allow you to build a very flexible roster.
Lastly, going back to the Pacers, PF – Myles Turner is an intriguing albeit risky option tonight as the Celtics have struggled to contain opposing front court players, and as noted above, tonight’s game is a pace up contest for the Pacers. Turner put up 30 fantasy points last game and 25 the previous two games, so locking in 5-6x value in a favorable match-up gives you the ability to pivot off of what I believe will be some of the more popular Power Forwards this evening.
Next: Meet The 12-16 Seeds In This Year's Tournament!
Good luck tonight – please feel free to provide feedback on the format as we move forward.