FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots November 18
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 Picks 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 21 slates, we have seen the average winning GPP score at 370.8 a night which means we have needed 6.18x value to win big!
Friday’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 Picks – Top Point Guards
Russell Westbrook ($11,400) Looking over the initial totals on this slate, the OKC-Brooklyn game has one of the highest combined team totals at 218 but also comes with an 11 point spread so we have to account for the blow-out risk here. The match-up for Westbrook could not be much better as the Nets are allowing the second most fantasy points to opposing PG’s on the season and Westbrook should get absolutely whatever he wants in this game.
With Anthony Davis questionable with an injury, Westbrook is the clear top dollar play to pay up for and with 5 straight 50+ FD point games (ok he had 49.9 last time out) he makes for an elite play in all formats in a high scoring match-up!
Stephen Curry ($9,100) The Warriors and Celtics come into Friday with the highest combined team total (221.5) and with a 7 point spread this will be a game we want to maximize our exposure to as we should get four quarters of run from the starters in a high scoring affair!
Curry comes into Friday’s game with three straight 47+ FD point outings and has scored at least 30 real life points in 4 of his last 5 games. If you need the salary savings you can easily pivot down to Isaiah Thomas ($8,300) in the same match-up as he gets to face a Warriors team that is allowing the 7th most fantasy points to opposing PG’s this season.
FanDuel NBA Picks – Top Shooting Guards
Avery Bradley ($7,000) Heading back to the Golden State-Boston match-up we can look to lock in Avery Bradley who has double-doubles in 5 of his last 7 outings and gets to take on a Golden State team that is allowing the 8th most fantasy points to opposing shooting guards this season.
Bradley has eclipsed 30 FD points in 7 straight games and makes for one of the best cash game plays on the board and gives us exposure to an elite game at a reasonable price point!
Victor Oladipo ($5,500) The price point has gotten to a point with Oladipo that we actually need to talk about him as a value play and with a match-up against a Nets team that is giving up the 6th most fantasy points to opposing SG’s he makes a great salary saving play to pair with the big time stars on this slate.
Oladipo is coming off his best game of the season on Wednesday against Houston when he put up 29 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals for a massive 49.5 FD points and we should look to roll him back out on Friday in one of the highest scoring games on the slate!
FanDuel NBA Picks – Top Small Forwards
Kevin Durant ($9,700) Perhaps the best place to attack the Celtics is at small forward as they have surrendered the 5th most fantasy points to opposing SF’s this season. Durant comes into this game having eclipsed 40 FD points in six of his last seven games and allows us the ability to build a mini-game stack with Curry/Bradley in what should be one of the highest scoring contests on the night!
Evan Turner ($3,900) Turner is nothing more than a GPP flier as his role off the bench and inconsistent game log proves he is best reserved for large field tournaments! New Orleans has struggled all year containing opposing wings and has given up the 3rd most fantasy points to opposing SF’s on the season. If Turner can get his usual 20-25 minutes off the bench, this is a spot where can easily hit 6x value at his depressed price point and makes for an intriguing punt play to pair with the top end stars on this slate!
FanDuel NBA Picks – Top Power Forwards and Center
Terrence Jones ($5,000) The Power Forward spot is going to be a potential double-stack value position pending some big time injury news with two key spots we will need to keep our eye on. Anthony Davis missed Wednesday’s game and is questionable for Friday which puts Terrence Jones front and center as a top value play. Starting for Davis on Wednesday, Jones responded with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 40.8 FD points and would make for a great play if he gets the start against Portland who is giving up the 6th most fantasy points to opposing PF’s.
UPDATE: With Anthony Davis likely to play, pivot to Alex Len at $4,800 on FanDuel as he will start for Phoenix at center with Tyson Chandler out!
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Mike Muscala ($4,300) The other big injury news to keep an eye on is the status of Dwight Howard as he missed Wednesday night’s game and is questionable for Friday night’s contest. Muscala stepped in as the starting center on Wednesday with Howard out and played 33 minutes while racking up 25.5 FD points (5.9x) and would be a great punt play on this slate allowing you to pay up for the Warriors stars and Westbrook!
Kelly Olynyk ($4,000) With Al Horford continuing to miss games with a concussion, Olynyk remains as the starting center and gives us cheap exposure to the highest scoring game on the slate. Olynyk has played at least 28 minutes in each of his last four games and has averaged 21.5 FD points which would exceed 5.3x value at this price point. If Horford misses another game, fire up Olynyk as a top end punt option if you are looking for a stars/scrubs approach on this slate!
Best of luck on Friday night with your NBA lineups and stay locked into our Twitter account as we will keep you up to date on all the late breaking NBA lineup news!