FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots – Sunday October 29 Early

Welcome to the Sunday EARLY 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!

Saturday’s winning GPP line-ups put up 363 FanDuel points as we got another big outing from DeMarcus Cousins (66 FD points) while Damian Lillard (47.9) and Devin Booker(46.2) went head to head in Portland and carried their teams offensively!

Today we get a multi-slate Sunday with two interesting early games between the Bucks and Hawks and Spurs and Pacers that allow us some mid-day NBA DFS action! If you are looking for the MAIN SLATE, you can find that breakdown here.

Over the first eleven NBA regular season slates it has taken 372 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!

FanDuel NBA – Top Point Guard Picks:

Looking over this two game slate, point guard is the position with the most “depth” as we have four realistic options to build around which frankly is more than I can say for the other positions on this slate. Getting point guard right is where I think tournaments will be won/lost today so spend some time here breaking down all the options.

Dennis Schroder ($8,200) is the clear top dog on this slate with a dominant 35.6% usage percentage which is tops amongst all point guards in action across both slates on Sunday. What I love about Schroder in this spot is that we know there is a solid floor as a result of his 31-34 minutes in each game and he has not yet put up a game with less than 35 FanDuel points on the season. The price is a bit high for his ceiling (would need 50 FD points to hit 6x) but on short slates like this I am building around raw points and I think that locking in Schroder is the best bet at the point guard position.

Locking in Schroder is the easy part today – deciding between Darren Collison ($6,400), Malcolm Brogdon ($6,300) and Dejounte Murray ($5,400) is the hardest decision and the one where I think you need to hit on in order to take down FanDuel NBA contests.

Dejounte Murray ($5,400) may have the bets pure match-up on the board considering that Indiana is ranked 26th in DvP to opposing PG’s and the Pacers have one of the worst defensive real plus/minus ratings at the PG position. The issue for me with Murray is the minutes – he has not played more than 28 in any game this season and his 20% usage rate is one of the lowest on the slate! Murray is putting up over a fantasy point per minute of production this season so if you need the savings, than Murray makes sense as the lowest cost pivot at PG.

Malcolm Brodgon ($6,300) is basically a more expensive Murray who gets the minutes that Murray does not. Brogdon has a miniscule 18% usage rate but makes up for it with over 30 minutes of court time in each and every game he has played. Brogdon gets to face off with Dennis Schroder who has the worst defensive rating of any PG on this early slate so the match-up is perfect and the Bucks PG has 30+ FD points in back to back games.

Darren Collison ($6,400) has the highest ceiling of any PG on this slate, going for 46+ in two of his five games this season which on a short slate like this could be the difference between you taking down a GPP or not! The issue today is the match-up against the Spurs who are ranked 2nd in DvP at the PG position and have not given up 30 or more FanDuel points to any PG this season so the ceiling is likely capped here.

For my money – I would utilize Brogdon/Murray today and make the decision based off the rest of your roster build as Brodgon gives you the safer floor while Murray gives you the better point per dollar production!

FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guards

Victor Oladipo ($7,900): Oladipo takes the mantle as the clear top play at SG today and considering he has put up 43 or more FD points in three of his five games this season, this feels like a dangerous fade on a three game slate. With Myles Turner still out, the offense is running through Oladipo and although the match-up against the Spurs is a tough one, the raw points here are something I am not willing to pass on.

Tony Snell ($3,800) is not a sexy DFS name but the reality is he has hit 5x value in three straight games when playing over 30 minutes and considering the Bucks see the biggest pace boost of any team on the slate, I think locking in Snell is a great way to save salary while still locking in a safe minutes floor with clear 5x productivity!

FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forwards:

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($12,400) is a must play on any slate – on a two game slate – yeah, do not get cute – play the man. #Analysis.

The man has put up 60 FanDuel points in every single game and now gets a pace boost against an up-tempo Hawks team – people this is the first player that should be in your line-ups and if he is not 100% owned that just means you have an advantage over those who try to get cute. There is not a single other player on this slate with his upside so the game theory fade doesn’t come into play for me when there are no realistic pivots.

Bojan Bogdonavic ($3,800) was not a name that jumped out at me initially but the reality is, the Pacers SF has seen one of the biggest production increases with Myles Turner off the floor with a 5% usage bump while putting up .7 FD points/minute over the last week. As with all the Pacers players, the match-up is a tough one as the Spurs are ranked first in DvP to opposing SF’s but the fact he has played 29+ minutes in each of his last two games gives me confidence in rostering him at a near minimum price.

FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forward and Center Plays:

LaMarcus Aldridge ($8,900): The last of my “core four” on this early slate, LMA is the top play at the Power Forward position and looks to be one of the top raw point performers on the slate along with Giannis, Schroder and Oladipo. My recommendation is to lock in these top four today to give you the top raw point upside and mix and match at the other positions with some bargain plays! Aldridge is the Spurs offense with Kawhi Leonard injured and his 28% usage rate and 47 FanDuel points per game make him an easy plug and play at a weak power forward position!

More from FanSided

John Collins ($5,100)/Domanatas Sabonis ($4,900): I am lumping these two guys together because this is the price point/player pool I will be targeting in on at my second PF spot. With injuries to Myles Turner/Ersan Illyasova these two should continue to get major run for their respective teams.

Sabonis has three straight games with double-digit rebounds but the tough task of facing the Spurs while Collins gets a slightly better match-up against the Bucks and his fantasy point per minute production (1.23) makes him one of the most efficient fantasy producers on the slate.

Mike Muscala ($3,500) could end up getting the start again for the Hawks with Ghostface Ilya on the shelf today and in his last start he put up 14 points, 10 rebounds and 37 FanDuel points which will make game log watchers swoon at the thought of another start!

My one concern today is we could be looking at Mike Muscala chalk day which if that is the case then I think we can make a tournament pivot to someone like Greg Monroe ($3,700) or Al Jefferson ($3,700). Listen, neither of these guys is going to play more than 20 minutes and Muscala seems like the safer option as he has played 25 minutes or more in three of his last four games but if Muscala busts, pivoting to one of these guys who could get you a handful of extra fantasy points could be the difference in your cash line position!

Next: FanDuel NFL Picks Week 8

Best of luck in your FanDuel NBA contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all the latest DFS news and analysis!