FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots - Friday October 27

NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 01: Kristaps Porzingis /

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 line-up put up 360.5 FanDuel points which was just below our season average and anchored by the two “must plays” on the slate as DeMarcus Cousins (79.6) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (59.5) delivered as advertised! Outside of the two big names it was the value plays that delivered the big multiplier value as plays like Jameer Nelson (32.8) and Denzel Valentine (33.3) dropped big night at roughly $4k per player!

Over the first ten NBA regular season slates it has taken 373.1 FanDuel points on average to take down a GPP which means on a $60,000 salary cap, we need 6.2x per player to take down a big time tournament in FanDuel NBA!

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!

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 20: Spencer Dinwiddie /

FanDuel NBA – Top Point Guard Picks:

Spencer Dinwiddie ($5,000): Living in New Jersey, the default NBA options for TV are watching the Nets and Knicks, two franchises that at least recently have left many scrambling for the remote so they can order NBA League Pass and watch some real basketball. However this season, Kenny Atkinson’s Brooklyn crew has been a revelation, leading the league in points scored per game (121) while playing at the highest pace in the league and is coming off one of their best wins as they took down LeBron James and the Cavaliers in Brooklyn!

This Nets-Knicks game is going to be one I target heavily tonight as the price points are reasonable for a game with a 220 total in what should be a fast-paced affair. With D’Angelo Russell out, I expected the Nets to get throttled by Cleveland but Spencer Dinwiddie stepped in to the starting PG role, logged 31 minutes, scoring 22 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds for 38 FD points which would return 7.6x value at this price points.

The Nets have been a team I have been hesitant to go all in on due to Kenny Atkinson’s rotations that give everyone 25-28 minutes but the last game against Cleveland without Russell on the floor, he went with a much tighter rotation as we saw 4 of the 5 Nets starters play 30 or more minutes! In what Vegas expects to be a close game (-2.5 spread), this is a spot I think you go right back to the well with Dinwiddie and build some Nets/Knicks stacks for GPP’s!

Jamal Murray ($4,900): Even if you intend to use Dinwiddie as a one-off, the reality is he will be insanely popular at this price point so finding a pivot at the same price point is a great GPP strategy. Jamal Murray was named the starting PG for the Nuggets and through the first two games of the year it looked like we had a DFS stay away spot with Murray and Emmanuel Mudiay in a complete time-share.

The last two games however we have seen a significant shift as Murray has played 29 and 33 minutes while Mudiay has yet to crack the 20 minute mark! What has been so impressive for Murray in these two games in that his usage in the offense has taken a significant step forward and he put up 12 and 20 shot attempts over those contests! Last season as a starter, Murray averaged 25 FD points per game (5x value) and we saw last game (29.1 FD points) that he has clear 6x upside.

The match-up tonight with Malcolm Delaney and the Hawks is one we can exploit as Atlanta is ranked 20th in DvP to opposing PG’s and we saw last night, Jerian Grant drop just under 30 FD points against Delaney as the starting PG for the injured Dennis Schroder!

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – OCTOBER 19: Tim Hardaway Jr. /

FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guard Plays:

Let me ask you a question and it is ok to be honest. Have you ever had that someone in your life that you know is bad for you but after a few cold ones, you are like – hey, you know what, I should totally give them a call and see what they are up to? Yeah you know it is a bad idea but you think – hey maybe this time it will be different?

I see you nodding your head, thinking about that ex you just couldn’t quit – well reader’s, I will let you in on a secret, I have that person in my life too and his name is Tim Hardaway Jr. ($4,600). So far this season I have really enjoyed rostering him time and time again and watching him slowly deplete my bankroll as he puts up dud after dud after dud. But tonight against the Nets, the fastest paced team in the league – tonight it has to be different right?

The Nets are ranked 27th in DvP to opposing SF’s this season and despite his struggles, THJ continues to be a lock for double-digit shot attempts each and every game. The reality is, Hardaway is shooting only 24.3% this season from the floor which would be 21% lower than his numbers last year in Atlanta so there simply HAS to be some positive regression here. Maybe he is pressing with the big contract or maybe there is an injury we don’t know about but I have had a few cold ones and he is sitting at $4.6k tonight, staring back at me and just begging me to put him into my line-up. This time it will be different Timmy right?

On the other side of this game, I love the idea of running it back with Caris LeVert ($5,800) who has been one of the key facilitator’s for the Nets in the wake of injuries to Jeremy Lin and D’Angelo Russell. With those two off the floor, LeVert has a 26% usage rate while putting up a fantasy point per minute. If you want a pivot off this game, you can go back to Kent Bazemore ($5,500) who has been the key beneficiary of the extra usage with Dennis Schroder off the court and has put up back to back games with 33-34 FD points which puts him right at 6x value!

OAKLAND, CA – OCTOBER 17: Kevin Durant /

FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forwards:

One of the reasons I like the Brooklyn/Knicks stack is that the price points allow us to build a core around a high scoring/fast-paced game while still saving salary for some big name players. Kevin Durant ($10,100) and the Warriors have the highest implied team total (120) on the slate and with injuries/question marks at the other SF spots, I think paying up for the best player at the position is a great strategy in all formats.

If you are looking for a mid-tier play at the SF position, I think going back to the Nets/Knicks and DeMarre Carroll ($6,500) is a great play in both cash and tournaments rosters. With the injury to Lin/Russell, Carroll has seen a 6% usage increase racking up a 26.6% usage rate with a massive 1.5 fantasy points oer minute of production. Carroll is a great core play within your roster build as he has the ability to contribute across categories including racking up 2 steals per game which is a massive boost considering the new FanDuel scoring.

The one injury to keep an eye on here is the status of Jimmy Butler ($8,300) who remains questionable with an upper respiratory infection which could vault Shabazz Muhammed ($3,500) back into the starting line-up on this slate. Shabazz was underwhelming in his last game but this is a player logging 30+ minutes a night at near minimum price and I am willing to chalk up his 1-9 shooting last game as an aberration and would be willing to roll him out again tonight in all formats!

OAKLAND, CA – OCTOBER 17: Draymond Green /

FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forward and Center Plays:

Power Forward is a spot on this slate I think it makes sense to pay up for considering the value we have across the guard positions tonight. Draymond Green ($8,200) continues to be one of the best DFS plays under FanDuel’s new scoring rules which emphasize blocks/steals as Green has put up 37+ FanDuel points in three of his first five games this season. Tonight the Warriors wil take on a Wizards team that Green dominated last year, putting up 48.6 and 43.7 FanDuel points and without Markieff Morris in the line-up, the Wizards will continue to play small ball with Kelly Oubre/Otto Porter which should set up nicely for Draymond tonight!

Kristaps Porzingis ($8,900) burned the world in his last game so I expect the ownership to drop significantly tonight which is the perfect time to jump back on in GPP’s! Porzingis started the year with 46 and 48 FanDuel point outing before looking completely out of whack against the Celtics but this match-up against an undersized Nets team at a fast paced should be one that KP bounces back and I will be overweight compared to the field tonight! The Knicks see the biggest pace boost and Vegas has them projected for a near TWENTY POINT increase in points tonight over their season average so the bounce back potential is VERY real!

Enes Kanter ($6,000) looked like a man amongst boys against the Celtics last time out, pulling 19 rebounds and racking up 16 points and if you are building a Nets/Knicks stack tonight, I love the idea of going back to him against Timofey Mozgov and the Nets. If you are looking to spend up tonight, Nikola Jokic ($8,400) feels incredibly underpriced for an elite match-up against the Hawks who have one of the lowest DvP rankings against Centers this season. Jokic has had some brutal match-ups early in the year, including going against Rudy Gobert and Dwight Howard but we saw in a match-up against the Wizards he was back to dropping 40+ FD points and with a weak Hawks interior, I think we see him bounce back with a big score tonight!

FanDuel NBA /

FanDuel NBA – Sample GPP 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

PG: Spencer Dinwiddie ($5,000)

PG: Jamal Murray ($4,900)

SG: Tim Hardaway Jr. ($4,600)

SG. Caris LeVert ($5,800)

SF: Kevin Durant ($10,100)

SF: DeMarree Carroll ($6,500)

PF: Draymond Green ($8,200)

PF: Kristaps Porzingis ($8,900)

C: Enes Kanter ($6,000)

Slate Overview: Tonight’s slate in my opinion lacks any MUST HAVE plays like we had last night so I expect ownership to be largely spread out. The Nets/Knicks game is my favorite spot to build around tonight as it allows me to get exposure to a high scoring, fast-paced game while still leaving salary so that I can get exposure to the Warriors and their slate high total! Good Luck tonight all!

Next: DraftKings NBA Plays

Best of luck in your FanDuel NBA contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all your DFS news and analysis across the NBA, NFL, NHL and EPL!

FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots – Friday October 27

By Brian Tulloch | Oct 27, 2017