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NBA Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks for March 18

By Brian Tulloch

Mar 10, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors center Bismack Biyombo (8) wags his finger after blocking a shot by Atlanta Hawks player Paul Millsap (not pictured) at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Hawks 104-96. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors center Bismack Biyombo (8) wags his finger after blocking a shot by Atlanta Hawks player Paul Millsap (not pictured) at Air Canada Centre. The Raptors beat the Hawks 104-96. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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NBA Picks and Pivots – FanDuel Picks for March 18

Welcome to the Friday 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!

Friday night slates are always loaded and looking at this evening’s matchups of eight games there are some terrific projected high scoring and high paced matchups to exploit.

Before we get into any specific team matchups, the purpose of the article is to first identify key building blocks and the one player that I expect to be chalk across the board is C-Bismack Biyombo but it is certainly warranted.

Biyombo comes into tonight after posting 50 and 33 fantasy points the last two games all while at a $4,200 salary. If Jonas Valanciunas is ruled out again tonight, Biyombo will have another terrific matchup going up against Boston which is 26th in the league against PF/C this season. In large field tournaments, I can certainly see merit in fading Biyombo, however on a night with so many stars (OKC/Golden State in action); rostering a player at near minimum price who has put up nearly 10x value in the last two games gives you incredible flexibility to build a team with big time potential.

Looking at some of the highest projected matchups, Golden State and Dallas have one of the highest totals on the board and with the game being on the road it softens(as much as you can against the Warriors) the potential blowout risk.

PF – Draymond Green gets a solid matchup going up against one of the worst teams on the season against opposing PF however he has underwhelmed against the Mavericks in their previous two matchups. SG – Klay Thompson however put up 45 real life points against the Mavericks in their last meeting in January and finds himself at an interesting price point with Devin Booker and CJ McCollum priced similarly in exploitable matchups so Klay may get overlooked tonight. In the same game, I will also look towards SF – Chandler Parsons who put up 23 points and 7 rebounds in the last matchup with Golden State and has the ability to flash 40+ point upside in the right matchup.

Minnesota and Houston clocks in with one of the highest projected point totals and this is a game I plan to target heavily this evening. I find myself utilizing the Timberwolves often recently as their starting five gets consistent major minutes and other than Karl Anthony Towns are all priced in the 5-6k range which is a great spot to build a roster off of and target high upside guys with the potential to crush value. PG- Ricky Rubio has put up 35+ FPPG in his past 3 games and sitting $100 more than D’Angelo Russell, I expect he may get overlooked tonight as I expect Russell to be wildly popular against the matador defense of the Phoenix backcourt. SG – Zach Lavine and SF – Andrew Wiggins both sit at very reasonable prices and offer both solid floors and significant upside against the Rockets who have struggled all year at defending the SG/SF positions. Assuming PF – Gorgui Dieng suits up tonight, all four Minnesota players are in play for me as they are at very easily playable price points and can be mixed and matched with some of the higher priced superstars as you build your lineups.

Lastly, the Trailblazers and Pelicans present another high scoring matchup with a very closer spread and with some of the other more high-profile matchups available, my hope is some of the players from this game go over looked. Specifically, I will look to target the backcourt players – PG – Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and PG – Jrue Holiday. McCollum specifically gets an ideal matchup as the Pelicans have struggled all year at defending the SG position and he put up 40 fantasy points last night against San Antonio. I am hopeful that game goes overlooked as many gamers I would have expected faded the Blazers entirely and CJ’s performance may have gone under the radar.

Enjoy the night of hoops and we will see you again next week. Thanks all for reading this first week, it has been an absolute blast and I look forward to continuing to build off this format.