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!
Thursday’s Winning GPP scores were roughly 230 FanDuel points which considering it was only a two game slate shouldn’t surprise us. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan were the chalk top high dolar plays with 32 and 34 FD points each but it was the off-the wall bench plays like Gian Clavell who starred off the bench for an undermanned Mavericks team and out up 34.5 FanDuel points at less than 5% ownership on the night!
Over the fourteen preseason slates, it has taken 283.6 FanDuel points to take down a GPP which means we are roughly shooting for 4.7x value
Over the fourteen preseason slates, it has taken 283.6 FanDuel points to take down a GPP which means we are roughly shooting for 4.7x 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:
Well kids, we have made it – the final preseason NBA slate before the real deal kicks off! I hope you have gained some valuable NBA DFS experience through this point, enjoyed Picks and Pivots and are ready to crush it when the regular season tips off next week! We have a big slate tonight and a TON of question marks – with so many teams in action, I will make sure to track roster/minute news all day on Twitter (@2LockSports) and pass on any information I come across!
With George Hill leaving Thursday Night’s game and prized rookie De’Aaron Fox nursing an injury, it is possible that both sit out the final game tonight which means Frank Mason ($3,000) should see all the run he can handle at PG for the Kings. Mason has played 27 minutes per game over the last two contests, putting up 13 ppg with 4-5 assists/rebounds per outing which at this price point not only should crush value but allow you the ability to spend up elsewhere.
The reason we want to spend up tonight is that James Harden ($11,000) and the Rockets are on this slate and they are the one team that seemingly we can count on for regular season minutes as Mike D’Antoni is using the preseason to run his starters heavy minutes, even being quoted as saying he will play his guys heavy in preseason games this week and letting them rest on their off days. Harden has played no less than 29 minutes in any preseason game this season, playing 37 and 32 minutes in his last two games while leading the preseason across the NBA in shot attempts. With Chris Paul likely out tonight, all the usage will flow Harden’s way and we saw what that could mean in his outing two games against the Knicks when he dropped 36 points and 11 assists as the clear point man in the Rockets up-tempo offense.
With Goran Dragic already ruled out, we should continue to see Josh Richardson ($5,100) man the point tonight for the Heat. Over the last three games as the top PG for Miami, Richardson has put up 12 or more FGA in each game, averaging over 16 ppg while racking up 5 steals and 4 blocks over those contests. Richardson is an elite talent who gets a major usage boost with Dragic out of the line-up and with the Heat now also down Rodney McGruder due to injury, the Heat have no choice but to run their healthy guards/wings a little extra tonight!
FanDuel NBA – Top Forwards and Center Plays:
Each night when I look over a slate in the preseason, I look for teams that maybe have not yet played a ton of minutes together and try to find the spot where their starter’s may get extended run. The team that has my eye initially today is the Milwaukee Bucks, who have only played three preseason games but more importantly only have one contest with their star Giannis Antetokounmpo ($10,200) on the floor thus far. In that game, Giannis reminded us of the crazy talent level he has as he registered 24 points in only 23 minutes of action in their last game one week ago today. That one week ago today thing matters to me, as the Bucks have had very little preseason action, minimal time on the court with their most important player and now only one game left before the regular season – is tonight the night we see the Bucks give their starters a little extra run?
It is never fun trusting Jason Kidd from a DFS perspective but I love the idea of a stack here with Giannis – Khris Middleton ($7,000) and Malcolm Brogdon ($5,200) as that trio led the team in minutes with 23-25 in their last game and if we can get some confirmation ( I will try) of expanded minutes, this is going to be a stack I have heavy exposure to tonight.
As I mentioned with James Harden, the Rockets are not afraid to give their starters some serious run so building a stack around Harden with Trevor Ariza ($5,600) and Clint Capela ($6,000) is an intriguing GPP strategy tonight. With CP3 off the court, Ariza becomes the #2 scoring threat behind the Beard and we saw that manifest itself the last game with Paul out when Ariza dropped 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists against the Knicks in 30 minutes of action. Capela had one of his best games of the preseason last time out with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots and can be used as a mid-range value play at the Center position!
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: Malcolm Brigdon ($5,200)
PG: Frank Mason ($3,000)
SG: James Harden ($11,000)
SG: Josh Richardson ($5,100)
SF: Khris Middleton ($7,000)
SF: Trevor Ariza ($5,600)
PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo ($10,200)
PF: Julius Randle ($6,500)
C: Clint Capela ($6,000)
Slate Overview: The news today is going to be key as we have the final preseason games on tap and we may see starters get limited run (already have confirmation for example the Pelicans starters will see MAX First Half minutes only) so keep an eye on my Twitter account for updates. If we get any news of teams playing starters regular season minutes (like the Rockets have been) then you simply can stack those spots up and maximize your exposure. Good luck tonight all – hope you have enjoyed the preseason and I will see you back here next week for Regular Season Picks and Pivots NBA DFS – in the words of Bart Scott – CAN’T WAIT!
Next: FanDuel Week 6 NFL Picks and Plays
Best of luck in your FanDuel NBA contests tonight and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your NBA, NFL, EPL and NHL DFS news and analysis!