FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots – Tuesday October 31

Welcome to the Tuesday 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!

Monday’s winning tournament lineups put up nearly 380 FanDuel points on the back of a few monster performances – some expected like Anthony Davis (61 FD points) but others not so expected with Rudy Gobert (61.4) and Jeff Teague (59.5) who delivered at single digit ownership!

Over the first thirteen NBA regular season slates it has taken 374.2 FanDuel points on average to take down a GPP which means on a $60,000 salary cap, we need 6.24x 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:

Happy Halloween all – hopefully between trick or treating and answering your front door you have some time to dabble in NBA DFS as we have a solid four game FanDuel NBA slate to play!

Russell Westbrook ($11,100) is the premier point guard option on this slate and considering the lack of options at the position tonight it may make sense to prioritize Beastbrook on tonight’s slate! Westbrook is averaging roughly 20 more FanDuel points than any other PG on the slate and even with a step down from last season, he has a 32% usage rate and will take on a Bucks team tanked 20th in DvP to opposing PG’s.

Westbrook last season faced the Bucks twice and put up 48.1 and 48.4 FanDuel points so the case for a fade based off price per dollar is a fair one but on a short slate like this capturing the top raw point play especially at a weak position make me hesitant to go that route.

Stats aside, if there is one thing we know about Westbrook is that he is one of the few guys who buys into narratives and with this being a nationally televised game and all the love this season pointing towards Giannis on the other side – tell me you don’t see a scenario where we get vintage Westbrook looking to re-claim his throne as the “IT” player in the NBA!

George Hill ($4,400), Mike James ($4,600) and Tyler Ullis ($4,700): The mid-range at point guard is underwhelming tonight so I think saving salary and living in the mid $4k range is the approach I am going to take in my roster builds.

Let’s be clear – none of these guys are GPP winning plays but they all play steady minutes and are plays that I think will likely help you more than they will hurt you.

From a pure match-up point of view, Hill may be in the best spot as he takes on a Pacers team that is ranked 28th in DvP to opposing PG’s and Darren Collison has one of the worst individual defensive ratings of any PG in the NBA! Also Hill has REVENGE narrative on his side as he spent 5 seasons with the Pacers for all you narrative lovers out there!

Ullis/James get a match-up that most DFS players are going to rush towards as the Suns take on the Brooklyn Nets tonight in a game with a massive 230 total and the Suns see the biggest point and pace boost of any teams on this slate. Ullis has flashed 6x upside in his most recent games as he has racked up 6 steals in his last two games while James is the steadier cash game play.

My recommendation – build the rest of your roster first, keeping $4.4-$4.7k left for point guard and simply pick and choose the PG who fits into your roster build before hitting submit!

FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guard Picks:

Devin Booker ($7,200): As I mentioned, the Suns get the biggest point and pace boost of any team on the floor in what Vegas expects will be a shoot-out and with that in mind I think Booker is one of the must have plays on this slate. Over the last two weeks, with Eric Bledsoe off the court, Booker is the clear team leader racking up a 32.2% usage rate (a 3% increase) while putting up 1.1 fantasy points per minute. Booker comes in at a discount relative to players like Victor Oladipo and Khris Middleton so simply take the savings and gigantic DFS ceiling and lock in Booker tonight!

Bogdan Bogdanovic($4,500) The Kings inserted Bogdanovic into the starting line-up last game and we will need to see if that trend continues as he makes for one of the best value plays on this slate if he gets another start. In that outing which was a 30 point blow-out by halftime, the international rookie still managed to put up 30 FanDuel points in 23 minutes which would exceed 6x value at this price point. Over the last two weeks Bogdanovic has been a fantasy point per minute player and considering the point/pace boost in this game I think the Kings starting SF makes an ideal value play!

Tim Hardaway Jr. Just kidding – but I would totally play him again if he was on the slate.

D’Angelo Russell ($7,000) and Caris LeVert ($5,200): The Nets are already the third highest scoring team in the league this season and tonight they actually are projected to see a point and pace boost as the highest implied scoring team on the slate which in theory should make guys like Russell and LeVert no brainer plays right?

The problem as always with Kenny Atkinson’s squad is the minutes as we consistently see him utilize his bench and keep his players below 30 minutes a night. Both Russell and LeVert have only hit the 30 minute mark once a piece so far this season and this minute cap for Brooklyn just makes prioritizing them as plays a risky DFS strategy. With that in mind, Russell seems too pricey considering the minutes but LeVert’s price is a bit more doable if you are looking to get exposure to the Nets guards.

FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forward Plays:

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($12,600): With today being Halloween and me having two small kids, my afternoon/evening will be chock full of school parades and trick or treating but I can tell you this – come 8PM EST, my butt will be in the couch ready to watch Giannis versus Westbrook.

With this being a short slate I simply see no reason for Giannis to be anything less than 100% owned – you just play the man at this point until FanDuel prices him at $20k or we get a slate with legit pivot options. Tonight is not that slate – we have only four games – so I am going to do everything I can to get the correlation with Giannis AND Westbrook in my line-ups and sit back with a well-deserved post trick or treating cold one and enjoy the two most dynamic players in the NBA.

T.J. Warren ($5,100) Over the last week as have seen Warren step into the clear #2 role on the Suns as his 31% usage rate is an 8% increase over his season long numbers. With that increased usage has come a fantasy point per minute of production and these pace up type games tend to be where Warren shines. Last season in his only game versus Brooklyn, Warren put up 31.6 FanDuel points in 33 minutes of action and we have already seen Warren hit 7x value twice in six games this season so locking him in at SF is my preferred approach tonight.

Allen Crabbe ($4,500) could grab another start tonight for the injured DeMarre Carroll which would put him in play for those looking for a punt play at SF as the Suns rank 16th in DvP to opposing SF’s this season but as with the rest of the Nets, there is simply too low of a floor due to the inconsistent minutes to make this a priority play for me!

FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forward and Center Plays:

Power Forward is a spot I think you can live in the mid range today as similar to the second PG spot, we have a bunch of similar options all bunched together.

John Henson ($4,800) was someone I pivoted to on Sunday’s Early Slate with the news that Greg Monroe would be out and boy was I glad I did! Henson was the clear beneficiary of the Monroe abscence as he racked up 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 39.3 FanDuel points in 27 minutes of action. This is not a point chasing scenario but rather a player who is under-priced relative to his situation as the 20 minutes a night of Greg Monroe will now fall to Henson and Thon Maker to split and with a match-up against Steven Adams tonight, I will opt to roll with the blocks/steals upside Henson provides.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($5,900): If there is one player on the Nets I feel most confident in rosterng it is RHJ who seems to get the most consistent minutes and will be leaned on a bit more tonight with Quiny Acy out for the Nets. Last season, this spot against the Suns was one RHJ thrived in as he put up 31 and 43 FanDuel points over their two meetings and considering the Suns are ranked 27th in DvP to opposing PF’s and Marquesse Chriss has the worst individual defensive rating on the slate, getting your Nets exposure here might be the way to go.

With Myles Turner already ruled out and Domanatas Sabonis questionable with an upper respiratory infection (an injury that kept Jimmy Butler out earlier this year), T.J. Leaf ($3,500) may end up as the last man standing in the Pacers front court. Sure, Al Jefferson is the depth chart back-up center but we all know he is not seeing more than 20 minutes of action which could mean Leaf gets a significant amount of run for the Pacers tonight. Leaf has played at least 19 minutes in three of the five games that Turner has missed and now with Sabonis potentially out, we could have our diamond in the rough punt play that opens up a clear path to a Westbrook-Giannis- Booker lineup!

Andre Drummond ($9,200) is the one high-priced player tonight I expect to go completely over-looked as most will opt to spend up on the aforementioned studs so going this route in GPP’s is an interesting strategy. I will look to the other side of this game with Brook Lopez ($5,400) who has had significant success against Drummond in his career putting up games of 28, 38 and 53 FanDuel points against him last season! Bro-Lo’s ability to draw Drummond away from the basket should not only open him up for ample three-point opportunities but it will likely draw away from Drummond’s rebounding upside which is where his DFS bread is buttered.

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: Russell Westbrook ($11,100)

PG: Tyler Ullis ($4,700)

SG: Devin Booker ($7,200)

SG: Bogdan Bogdanovic ($4,500)

SF: Giannis Antetokounmpo ($12,600)

SF: T.J. Warren ($5,100)

PF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($5,900)

PF: T.J. Leaf ($3,500)

C: Brook Lopez ($5,400)

Slate Overview: My take on this slate is simple – lock in Giannis, Westbrook and Booker and then move on! The reality is, you have $4.9k per player remaining and a ton of decent value plays you can utilize in Phoenix, Brooklyn and Sacramento. On a four game slate I try not to get cute and look to spend my research on the secondary plays while keeping an eye out for value that may surface today. Happy Halloween all and Best of Luck tonight!

Next: DraftKings NBA Plays

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