FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots – Monday November 6
Welcome to the Monday 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!
Sunday’s winning tournament lineups put up just shy of 380 FanDuel points with the biggest story of the night being James Harden‘s 77 FanDuel points at 10% ownership against the Utah Jazz! Kristaps Porzingis (68) and Damian Lillard (62) were not far behind The Beard on this night as some of the games biggest stars were the key to landing above the cash line on this slate!
Over the first 19 NBA regular season slates it has taken 376.7 FanDuel points on average to take down a GPP which means on a $60,000 salary cap, we need 6.28x per player to take down a big time tournament in FanDuel NBA!
Over the first 19 NBA regular season slates it has taken 376.7 FanDuel points on average to take down a GPP which means on a $60,000 salary cap, we need 6.28x 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:
Even though tonight is only a three game slate, the game environments in all three spots are fascinating and we have multiple legit paths to consider in our roster build.
Dennis Schroder ($7,800) and the Hawks are coming off a thrilling win against the Cavaliers on Sunday and are playing their third game in four days against the Celtics tonight so there is a bit of concern about fatigue but Schroder’s match-up and price point tonight make him a tough pass at a surprisingly weak PG position.
Stephen Curry ($10,000) and Kyrie Irving ($9,500) are the two top dogs at their respective position but the price points are getting to the point where asking for 5x/6x seems unlikely and we may be better off utilizing the salary for a more balanced roster approach. Schroder feels like the best bang for your buck play as he has hit at least 34 FanDuel points in every game he has logged 30 or more minutes and as the clear usage leader on this rebuilding Hawks squad, he seems like an easy plug and play option in the mid-tier tonight.
Mike James ($5,800) is an intriguing mid-range option on this slate as the Nets/Suns games has a massive 236 total between the two fastest pace teams in the NBA and only a one point Vegas spread so – stack this game up! We get the added benefit of having just seen this game play out and James was electric in that spot with 24 points, 4 steals and 46 FanDuel points!
Tyler Johnson ($3,900) is not someone cash game players are going to want to use tonight as his volatility puts him in the GPP only category but this is a player who has hit 7x value in three of his last six outings, putting up 12 or more shot attempts in each of those games. With Miami coming off a game on Sunday against the Clippers and Friday in Denver, they will now be tasked with playing game 3 in 4 nights against the Warriors IN Golden State!
There is a reason Vegas has this game as a 16 point spread as we could see it get out of hand quickly (and that spread makes investing in the Dubs Big Four a risky proposition), but I think we can find some sneaky value on the Heat side.
Veteran Goran Dragic has played 30+ minutes in every single game this season and has logged 33 minutes a night so far on this West Coast swing so it would not surprise me to see someone like Johnson get a little extra run tonight. In the only meeting where TJ took the court last year against Golden State, he played 30 minutes and logged 31.9 FanDuel points which would exceed 8x value at this price point! WIth Dion Waiters away from the team due to the birth of his child, Johnson could see similar 30+ minutes as he did on Sunday making him an exceptional value at this price point!
FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guard Picks:
Devin Booker ($8,200) and D’Angelo Russell ($8,000): When I opened up this slate and saw Brooklyn versus Phoenix, I clicked over to the SG tab, locked in Booker and Russell and went about digging into the rest of my roster build.
Guys and gals, this is THE game to build around tonight and you simply need to max out your exposure in this game if you want to stay above the cash line. Russell and Booker are the clear usage monsters for their respective fast paced squads and we saw both of these guys eclipse 40 FanDuel points when these teams met up a few days ago. I simply see no reason to go any other route on this slate and I will be using these guys as the core SG’s across tonight’s line-ups.
FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forwards:
DeMarre Carroll ($6,200) and T.J. Warren ($6,200): Sticking with the theme of Brooklyn/Phoenix, you can apply the same logic at Small Forward and look to stack up the two starters for these team at mid-range price points. Both Carroll and Warren put up 35+ FanDuel points in the previous meeting between these two and amazingly Carroll has hit the 30 FanDuel point mark in all but two games he has played this season, making him a great cash game/foundation play tonight!
Josh Richardson ($4,800): As I mentioned, without Dion Waiters in the line-up the Heat may be forced to run their remaining guards/wings a bit more tonight against the Warriors and although he has been rather disappointing so far this season, I cannot overlook the upside someone like Richardson has in a massive pace up spot where he will get 30+ minutes!
FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forward and Center Plays:
Hassan Whiteside ($8,700): When you first look over this slate, your inclination is to load up on Suns/Nets and then you have a decision to make on which stars from the other games you want to prioritize. As much as I love the guys in Golden State or Kyrie Irving against Schroder defense, the incredibly weak talent pool at Center makes paying up for Mr. Whiteside a priority for me tonight.
We finally saw Whiteside play over 30 minutes last night so I think it is safe to assume he is fully back from his injury and he has now put up 55 FanDuel points in both games he has played 30+ minutes this season which would exceed 6.3x value at this price point. I understand the blowout risk here but I think Whiteside is the best point per dollar star on this slate and you could conceivably get a 20-30 point advantage over the field who opts to “save” at the position instead of locking him in!
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($6,700): In this Brooklyn/Phoenix game, I am going to prioritize the players from Brooklyn as they have only played two games since Tuesday of last week while the Suns have played four times so the rested legs of the Nets become the top stacking spot for me tonight! RHJ has played 30+ minutes in each of his last two games and put up 37 FD points in each contest including a spot against the Suns who are ranked 26th in DvP to opposing PF’s this season.
Luke Babbitt ($3,800): With injuries to Ersan Illyasova and Mike Muscala, Babbitt entered the starting line-up on Sunday and responded with 30 FanDuel points across 42 minutes of action! Part of me is terrified for Luke Babbitt chalk night but this value is simply too good to pass up and opens up so much salary for the rest of your roster!
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.
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PG: Dennis Schroder ($7,800)
PG: Mike James ($5,800)
SG: Devin Booker ($8,200)
SG: D’Angelo Russell ($8,000)
SF: DeMarre Carroll ($6,200)
SF: Josh Richardson ($4,800)
PF: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ($6,700)
PF: Luke Babbitt ($3,800)
C: Hassan Whiteside ($8,700)
Slate Overview: On a short three game slate it is mildly terrifying to fade the Warriors offense but I think building your core around the Suns/Nets and Hassan Whiteside is the right roster approach tonight. The Suns/Nets game has the highest total, the two fastest paced teams and a close spread so I want to get as much exposure as I can and I think Whiteside is the one star who is underpriced and has legit 6-7x upside while not breaking the bank!
Best of luck in your FanDuel NBA contests and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all the latest DFS news and analysis across the NBA, NFL, NHL and EPL!