FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots – Preseason October 4

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots, a fantasy basketball column focused on helping you find the best core lineup for this slate of DFS action!

For those of you finding us for the first time, the concept behind FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots 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!

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Tuesday night’s slate was the first slate we have had so far that felt like the regular season with winning GPP scores well over 325-330 FanDuel points, in fact the cash line in many contests was 300! Over the first four preseason slates, it has taken 258 FanDuel points to take down a GPP which means we are roughly shooting for 4x value at this point in the season which once the regular season kicks off will ratchet up to 5-6x value!

Picks and Pivots is not a simple “best plays” column but rather it focuses on slate strategy and roster construction to help give you insight into how I will look to play this slate! The goal of this article is to dig through the slate, highlight our top plays and give you a sample line-up as an example of what our core roster build could look like using the analysis we lay out in the coming pages!

As always, we will look to update our picks and final lineup thought  prior to lock on our twitter account @FantasyCPR so make sure to give us a follow for all the late breaking lineup news.

Without further ado, let’s get into this week’s slate!

FanDuel NBA – Top Guards to Target:

As we have preached each and every day in Picks and Pivots, there is simply no reason to get too cute with your preseason DFS rosters – simply find the starters with the most projected minutes and ride those guys. Look back at last night’s winning rosters – there is nothing sneaky about them – they are littered with the chalk plays like Chris Paul, James Harden, Paul George, Anthony Davis, Kristaps Porzingis and DeMarcus Cousins. Why do I bring that up? I get countless questions asking me about obscure bench players to roster when all you really need to do in this shortened preseason is play the stars getting minutes and count your money!

Tonight’s six game slate is LOADED with injury news and players already “resting” (ahem LeBron) so pay attention to the news throughout the day as I will update on twitter @2LockSports any line-up or minutes news I can find!

Markelle Fultz ($1,600) will make his preseason debut tonight for the Sixers and with Joel Embiid and Dario Saric already ruled out you are going to need to find a way to account for the 63% usage they leave behind and the Philly point guard seems like the perfect place to start!

Dennis Schroder ($3,700) played a team high 22 minutes for the Hawks in their opening game and took a whopping 17 shot attempts when no other player took more than 8! It is clear that this Hawks team is going to run through the point guard so if we can get confirmation of 20+ minutes again he is a lock and load play for me as his usage should remain sky-high!

Victor Oladipo ($2,900) is now a member of the Indiana Pacers, a team looking to solve for the 31% usage that walked out with Paul George on his way to OKC! Per IndianaSportsCoverage.Com, the Pacers will start Oladipo alongside Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner.

McMillan Said: “My plan is to play the first 10 and kind of see where we go. The first 10 guys, will put them in (the) rotation and play them, get them minutes. I may play 12 guys, but really for these first two games, I’ll look to play the first 10, 12 guys.”

As the Pacers only have three preseason games, this is a prime team to look for minutes from the starters and with the rotation tonight looking like a regular season game this is an ideal spot to take a shot on the best offensive threat the Pacers have.

Jordan Clarkson ($1,800) It feels like the Lakers have been on every slate so far doesn’t it? Tonight the Lakers will likely be without a TON of their core players as Brook Lopez, Lonzo Ball, Larry Nance Jr. and Brandon Ingram are all questionable for tonight’s game which could open up massive usage for those left behind. If Ball sits (and why would the Lakers push him on a gimpy ankle) then Clarkson could re-enter the starting line-up and soak up all that usage for an undermanned Laker team!

FanDuel NBA – Top Forward and Center Plays

Ben Simmons ($1,600): Tonight is the night we FINALLY get to see Ben Simmons play for the Sixers and with Embiid and Saric on the sidelines, I cannot wait to see how Philadelphia features the future superstar! Watch for minutes news here but any semblance of 20+ minutes here and I am going to be all over Simmons tonight in my DFS rosters!

Khris Middleton ($3,000) We touched on this Monday but without the Greek Freak and Jabari Parker in the line-up, Middleton becomes a usage monster for the Bucks – seeing an 8% usage increase, leading the team with 32.2% usage and over a fantasy point per minute of production. With Giannis and Parker both out again tonight, it sets up perfectly for Middleton but we said the same thing on Monday before Jason Kidd told us he would only play minutes in the teens. With only three more preseason games for Milwaukee this would seem like the opportune time to push Middleton a bit and if we get the minutes clarified he will be a must play for me at SF!

If you are new to DFS or need a refresher, there is a simple rule in Cleveland – when one of the Big Three sits, you play the remaining guy(s) and do not over think it. LeBron James has already been ruled out, IT4 will be on the sidelines and Kyrie Irving is doing his thing in Boston which leaves Kevin Love ($4,200) as the last man standing and when he had the “Big Two” off the court last season, he simply dominated the offensive touches for the Cavs. Last season, Love had a 41.3% usage rate as the lone wolf, a 15% increase over his normal numbers and he put up 1.5 fantasy points per minute!

Julius Randle ($2,800) and Kyle Kuzma ($1,000) have been wildly impressive so far this preseason and with so many Lakers expected to be on the bench tonight, rolling out both/either of these guys is a preferred strategy. Randle is coming off a double-double in 22 minutes of action while Kuzma is averaging 27 minutes per game, 21 PPG and a team high 14.5 shots per game. I have no issue stacking both Lakers forwards here if you need a pivot off Love!

Nikola Jokic ($5,300): With Paul Millsap ruled out, I see no reason to over think this – lock in Jokic as the clear lead dog in the offense and be reminded of how dominant he was last season as the key cog in the Nuggets lineup.

UPDATE: With Jokic now ruled out, in addition to Wilson Chandler, Millsap and Gary Harris, this will be an undermanned Nuggets squad against a potentially undermanned Lakers team so keep an eye on line-up news here. Last season with all those players off the court Mason Plumlee saw one of the biggest usage bumps (4%) and put up 1.33 fantasy points per minute!

FanDuel NBA– Sample Line-Up and Slate Overview

Please Note: This is NOT an optimized line-up, it is simply illustrative to show the type of roster build we can have using the logic previously laid out in Picks and Pivots. My actual line-up may differ from the line-up shown here. 

More from FanSided

• MLB Rumors: Justin Verlander has a clear suitor, but it comes with a catch
• MLB Rumors: Braves trade grade, Cardinals trade bait, Red Sox selling
• USMNT news: Turner to Forest, Trusty to Sheffield, Reynolds to Westerlo
• Inside the Clubhouse: What I’m hearing as the MLB Trade Deadline nears
• Yankees: Luis Severino has blunt assessment of another miserable outing

PG: Markelle Fultz ($1,600)

PG: Dennis Schroder ($3,700)

SG: Victor Oladipo ($2,900)

SG: Jordan Clarkson ($1,800)

SF: Ben Simmons ($1,600)

SF: Khris Middleton ($3,000)

PF: Kevin Love ($4,200)

PF: Kyle Kuzma ($1,000)

C: Nikola Jokic ($5,300) (NOT PLAYING)

Slate Overview: Let me break this down for you one more time – do not get cute – play the starters who are getting minutes as 20-25 minutes of a top-tier talent is more than enough to carry you in FanDuel NBA preseason. Do not worry about salary, please the best plays, keep an eye on my twitter for minutes updates as I find them and lock and load. If you have followed these simple steps you have likely profited already and we still have more preseason to go!

Next: FanDuel NHL Picks - Wednesday October 4

Best of luck in your FanDuel NBA contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR as we get you set for all the NBA, NFL, NHL and EPL DFS action each and every day!