Welcome to the Friday 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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Thursday Night’s three game preseason slate saw winning GPP scores at only 240-250 FanDuel points which in large part was due to a post lock scratch of a 30% DeMar Derozan that wiped out many rosters! FanDuel expects to have late swap back for the regular season but it would be nice if we had it for pre-season considering the lack of available news for many of these teams!
Over the first six preseason slates, it has taken 261 FanDuel points to take down a GPP which means we are roughly shooting for 4.3x 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 today’s slate!
FanDuel NBA – Top Guard Plays
Even though yesterday’s three game slate was our first preseason opportunity to play with regular season pricing, we still were able to roster essentially any combination of stars we wanted but with an eight game slate tonight the pricing sets up to look and feel way more like a regular season slate as we have six players priced over $10k tonight!
Dennis Schroder ($7,500) is the perfect DFS player in many ways as he is the lone wolf on a bad team that will play at one of the fastest paces in the NBA this season! Through two games this preseason, Schroder is putting up 16 shot attempts per game which is DOUBLE the next closest Hawk all while dominating the usage for Atlanta. The Hawks and Nets seem to be very similar teams from a DFS perspective this year as they will rely on their young guards to control the ball and they will push the pace every chance they get which is pure gold from a fantasy perspective. The price point on Schroder is incredibly reasonable considering his role in the offense and the 25+ minutes he should see on the court tonight!
Rajon Rondo ($5,800) and the Pelicans “Big Four” are going to be at the core of my roster build initially on this slate after they ran together for 30+ minutes of court time in their preseason opener. As we all know, preseason minutes are what drives DFS profit and any semblance of regular season minutes for starters makes these guys a lock and load play in all formats.
The interesting comments from the Pelicans starters after the first game was that they were fatigued and it caused them to play poorly in the second half of the game which can be interpreted in a few ways. It is possible they get less run tonight to allow them to recover OR with only three more preseason games left it is likely that they are pushed to play regular minutes to get their bodies in game shape!
Rondo is one of the cheaper PG options on this slate but his involvement as the floor general in this offense makes him a great stacking play with the Pelicans big men as evidenced by his 8 assists in game one!
Tim Hardaway Jr. ($5,000) With the departure of Carmelo Anthony and his 30+% usage it was expected that Kristaps Porzingis would take a huge step forward but perhaps the newest Knick will be the biggest beneficiary of Melo’s departure. In the first preseason game, THJ put up a team high 15 shot attempts in 25 minutes of action including a whopping ELEVEN three-point attempts which proves the kind of offensive usage and scoring upside the free agent prize for NY has in DFS!
Bradley Beal ($7,300) The Wizards have yet to play a preseason game against NBA competition and with only four preseason games before the real deal tips off, I am excited to see how much run the Wizards starters will get in this contest. The Knicks defense allowed a staggering 32 three-point attempts in their first game against the Nets, struggling to contain SG D’Angelo Russell, so if Beal gets 20+ minutes in this one he should have ample opportunity to light up the scoreboard! Otto Porter ($5,800) at the Small Forward position (I know that’s the next page but give me a break) has the same favorable match-up and the same logic applies so I have no issue rostering him at this mid-level price point which allows you to spend up elsewhere!
FanDuel NBA – Top Forwards and Center
Anthony Davis ($10,800) and DeMarcus Cousins ($10,200) are both priced up in this spot but as I mentioned with Rajon Rondo, the Pelicans core four all saw 30+ minutes of run in their first game of the preseason and if we get a similar output here you are fading these guys are your own risk. Both Boogie and Brow notched double-doubles and put up 46.5 and 47.5 FanDuel points respectively showing the kind of must play upside that the big men posses.
Although the match-up against Steven Adams on paper is a tough one, Boogie dominated this spot last year with 30 points and 10 boards in each of his three outings against the Thunder while putting up 50+ FanDuel points in two of those three games. The Brow on the other hand will be guarded by Carmelo Anthony at the four which is a massive mismatch for Melo and I expect Brow to dominate once again here!
Taurean Prince ($3,400) and Skal Labissiere ($4,100) are two guys we have highlighted already in preseason Picks and Pivots and with their punt price plays, they allow you to roster two young starters while saving salary to pay up for the rest of your roster. Prince scuffled in his first game of the season but rebounded in a big way in game 2 with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in 23 minutes as a clear focal point of an up-tempo Hawks offense. Labissiere meanwhile picked up right where he left off last season for the Kings as the unquestioned lead dog at PF, logging 33 minutes and racking up 15 points (7-10 shooting), 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a block/steal for 23.8 FanDuel points which would exceed 5.8x value at this bargain price point!
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.
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PG: Dennis Schroder ($7,500)
PG: Rajon Rondo ($5,800)
SG: Tim Hardaway Jr. ($5,000)
SG: Bradley Beal ($7,300)
SF: Taurean Prince ($3,400)
SF: Otto Porter ($5,800)
PF: Anthony Davis ($10,800)
PF: Skal Labissiere ($4,100)
C: DeMarcus Cousins ($10,200)
Slate Overview: This is the first real pricing slate for FanDuel where we have tough salary driven choices to make but there is still enough value across the board where you can load up on at least two studs in your FanDuel NBA rosters. As we say each and every slate – DON’T GET CUTE – play the starters with the solid minute projections and sit back and let others make mistakes while you count your money!
Next: FanDuel NFL Picks and Pivots for Week 5
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