Welcome to the FanDuel NBA edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy basketball column focused on helping you find the best FanDuel NBA lineup!
The purpose of this FanDuel NBA 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 payday!
For those of you that are new to Picks and Pivots, we will go through the season tracking trends in this space by looking at the winning GPP lineups each day.
One of the most basic questions when starting out the NBA season is how many points should I be targeting for tournament entries? A good rule of thumb is that you want your players to exceed 6x their salary so on a $60k team salary you are looking for 360+ points. If you spread that out over a roster of 9 players, that is an average of 40 points per player.
A good rule of thumb is that you want your players to exceed 6x their salary so on a $60k team salary you are looking for 360+ points. If you spread that out over a roster of 9 players, that is an average of 40 points per player.
Now it is unreasonable to expect every player to hit that target, especially when you are utilizing value plays but remember that is the average you need over the course of your roster!
To start the year, I would simply build your roster with the simple 6x rule in mine and do the math quickly. Can I see player X hitting 6x their salary? For example, LeBron James is priced at $9,600 so in order to return value he would need to exceed 57 points.
This is not a hard and fast rule, but as we go through the season I will track the trends each night to understand the target multiplier we should use as our baseline.
Over the first 7 slates, we have seen the average winning GPP score at just over 367 a night which means we have needed 6.1x value to win big!
Wednesday’s Main NBA action kicks off at 7:00PM EST with ten games on the main slate and no shortage of superstars to choose from. Without further ado – let’s get into our top picks for the day!
FanDuel NBA – Top Point Guards
Russell Westbrook ($12,000) The critical question when building your roster on this slate is whether or not you will lock in Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook is averaging an absurd 69 FanDuel points so far this season which even at this price point would be 5.75x value. To get that kind of “value” from a player priced this high is usually not something we expect but Westbrook is putting up numbers we are not used to seeing and frankly the price is “reasonable” enough to make him the cornerstone of your lineups.
Think about it this way, even if you lock in Westbrook, you have $6,000 remaining per player for the remainder of your lineup which allows you to build a solid roster of mid-tier players around him.
Westbrook is averaging 38.7 points, 12.3 rebounds and 11.7 assists per game and his lowest FD point total has been 57.9. The match-up against the Clippers may scare away some, but Westbrook put up 25-19-11 against this same team last year with Chris Paul guarding him so there is no reason to fade here!
Tim Frazier ($5,500) The good ole’ chalk value point guard is back for another night and I will continue to roster Frazier at this price every opportunity I can. On Tuesday night, Frazier was up to 40% owned in tournaments on FanDuel so this is going to be a popular play but one we should still consider.
Frazier is locked into 30+ minutes a night and is averaging the 7th most FD points of any PG on the slate at 34.3. In cash games I see no reason to move away from Frazier as the match-up against Memphis is a neutral one in terms of DvP. From a GPP perspective, Derrick Rose ($5,700) gets a spot against the Houston Rockets in a pace up game with the highest projected total and is an interesting GPP pivot at the same price point.
FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guards
Rodney Hood ($5,700) If you are not paying up for James Harden on this slate, shooting guard as usual becomes a great spot to save salary cap and drop down on FanDuel. Hood sits at a great price point relative to his upside and his match-up against the Mavericks on Wednesday.
So far this season, the Mavericks have surrendered 43.75 FD points to opposing SG which is the 5th most in the entire NBA. With Gordon Hayward still out, Hood is putting up double-digit shots in every game and had put up 30 FD points per game over his first two starts before a dud his last game out.
Hood is more of a GPP option as his game is volatile and with Derrick Favors returning to the Jazz lineup he may see his usage rate drop. However, Hood is locked into guaranteed minutes and remains one of the primary scoring options for the Jazz and should be a great source of value at this mid-tier price point.
Allen Crabbe ($4,300) The Portland-Phoenix game comes into the night with the highest combined team total at 215 and is a great spot to find ancillary value plays when filling out your roster.
Crabbe checks all the boxes for me as a value play as he is locked into major minutes, having played no fewer than 29 in any game this season and is averaging 5x value at his current price point. If I can get guaranteed minutes and steady production from a near punt player, that will allow me to build my lineup around Westbrook and other top end talent on the slate!
FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forwards
Carmelo Anthony ($7,500) As I am writing this column the night before I do not yet have an idea of how the rest of the industry is thinking but I would expect as the day progresses that this play will be highlighted as the chalk SF target.
On Tuesday night, Melo at $7,500 seemed like a nice contrarian play if you were fading Kevin Durant, but on Wednesday night Melo at this price against the Rockets in the second highest team total game feels like a LOCK.
Anthony at only $7,500 is a must play in cash games and I will utilize him in GPP’s as well as he has immense scoring upside and can be easily paired with Westbrook in this roster construction.
James Ennis ($4,300) You will notice a recurring theme here, but in a stars/scrubs lineup, I am looking for value plays with secured playing time and steady production and Ennis continues to be a mainstay in those lineups for me this season.
With Chandler Parson still a week away, Ennis has stepped into the starting SF role for Memphis and has put up between 21-24 points in each game this year while playing no fewer than 27 minutes at any point. Ennis would need 25.8 points to hit 6x which is certainly doable based off his performance and considering he has averaged 5.3x value he makes for a solid cash game play as well!
FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forwards and Center
Anthony Davis ($10,700) With Westbrook already firmly in place in my roster and locking in Carmelo Anthony at SF I toyed around with filling out a more balanced roster or going for a stars/scrubs approach.
With James Harden on the slate as well, I love the idea of paying up for 2 of the 3 mega-stars and will look to utilize The Brow due to the cost savings compared to The Beard.
Davis has averaged 65.5 FD points so far this season and is the clear top PF on the board and makes for an incredible 1-2 punch with Westbrook as the foundation of your roster!
Patrick Patterson ($3,600) Patty Pat may not be the sexiest name to roster but you are talking about a starting player who is averaging 31 minutes a game at only $100 over the minimum price.
Patterson has averaged 19.3 FD points per game which is over 5.3x value at this price point and in his last game he was able to put up 27.9 FD points against Denver.
Jonas Valanciunas ($6,300) The other member of the starting Raptors front court makes for an interesting mini-stack with Patterson against the Wizards who have given up the 7th most FD points to opposing centers so far this season.
Jonas has been in top form so far this season, averaging 33.1 points per game which is the second most of any center on this slate. Valanciunas has been averaging 18 points and 12.3 rebounds per game and has played no fewer than 31 minutes a game this season and makes for a great play at center on this slate!