FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots - Monday November 13

SAN ANTONIO,TX – NOVEMBER 2: Kevin Durant /

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!

Saturday’s winning GPP scores easily topped 420 FanDuel points with a monster night from Lonzo Ball (69.9 FanDuel points) while Sunday’s odd four game slate (split into two), saw winning All Day GPP line-ups hover near 350 FanDuel points with 57 FanDuel points from James Harden and Paul George.

Over the first 26 NBA regular season slates it has taken 378.7 FanDuel points on average to take down a GPP which means on a $60,000 salary cap, we need 6.3x 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!

PHOENIX, AZ – OCTOBER 20: Lonzo Ball /

FanDuel NBA – Top Point Guard Picks:

Lonzo Ball ($7,600): After a massive triple double on Saturday night where Lonzo Ball racked up 19 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals for 69.9 FanDuel points, I expect the Lakers rookie will be massively popular on this slate especially considering the match-up with the Suns.

The Lakers and Suns game has the second highest game total at 227 with only a 2 point spread, while the Lakers see the largest projected point boost and pace increase of any team on this slate. Add in the fact that Lonzo has already faced this Phoenix team, dropping 29/11/9 and 54.7 FanDuel points and you have the making of a player priced about $1k too low that should be massively owned and for good reason!

On the other side of this game, Tyler Ulis ($4,000) could end up being one of the best value plays on the slate if he lands another start for the Suns in this game at Point Guard. This game pairing should be a popular stack as the Suns and Lakers rank 30th and 28th in DvP versus opposing PG’s on the season and with the breakneck pace expected, we can get exposure to the best game environment at a reasonable cost!

The one big piece of injury news to watch today is the status of Stephen Curry, who is questionable due to a leg injury he sustained in Saturday’s game. Curry left that game briefly but returned to play 30 minutes so on the face of it we would likely expect to have Curry on the court tonight but at home against Orlando, is this a spot where the Warriors rest Steph and throw a massive wrench into this Monday slate?

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 13: J.R. Smith /

FanDuel NBA – Top Shooting Guard Picks:

J.R. Smith ($4,100) and Iman Shumpert ($3,200): If you guys read Picks and Pivots or follow me on Twitter, you know I love myself some revenge narrative in DFS and as soon as I saw the Cavaliers AT Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, my eyes lit up. Now most will look towards King James here and remember that he “loves to play at MSG” but it is worth noting that he has only topped 50 FanDuel points one time in his last six trips to NYC!

The reality is the Cavaliers are a mess right now and while all the focus is on LeBron at the moment, it is worth nothing that this is a team playing a very tight rotation and giving their starters major minutes as all five starters played 35 or more minutes on Saturday against Dallas while only three bench players logged minutes (between 15-20).

Minutes equal opportunity in DFS so I have no issue targeting two former Knicks at punt prices who were unceremoniously booted out of the Garden! In their careers, Smith has averaged over 21 FD points playing against the Knicks at the Garden while Shumpert has averaged over 17 which would return over 5x in both cases. I have no issue stacking both in this spot which would allow you to load up elsewhere in your line-up.

Although I normally love Devin Booker, ($7,400), I am also very fearful of the impact KCP’s defense can have on a player like Booker and I think the high game total will inflate the ownership of Booker while they look at his previous match-up with the Lakers and see a 50 burger but it is important to note that KCP misses that first meeting earlier this year. In fact, since KCP returned and the calendar flipped to November, KCP and the Lakers have yet to give up over 40 FanDuel points to any starting shooting guard which is an important milestone as Booker would need to get into the mid-40’s to pay off this price in GPP’s!

If you are looking to pivot off the cheap options tonight, then allow me to present you a player we have yet to cover in Picks and Pivots this season – Tim Hardaway Jr. ($6,000). Yes, I know – he is my DFS kryptonite but how can we not attack a Cavaliers squad that has been awful defensively all season and saw THJ drop 55.8 FD points when these teams met earlier this season! Fire him up again baby – you can yell at me later!

SHENZHEN, CHINA – OCTOBER 05: Kevin Durant /

FanDuel NBA – Top Small Forward Picks:

Kevin Durant ($10,200): It is important to remember that Picks and Pivots is a First Look kind of article, written and published before most readers are even awake so I am writing this under the assumption that Steph Curry misses this game tonight for the Warriors. One of the reasons I am going into today with that position is that I want to construct my line-ups initially with KD in it and then adjust if I have to later – as opposed to the rest of the world that will have line-ups without him then try to force him in if Curry is ruled out.

I find it interesting that this game already has a total and a line which is quite fascinating considering that one of the games biggest stars is questionable to play in it – so what does Vegas know?

Rather than try to read the tea leaves, I am going to start my day with Durant in my build as the Warriors have the highest team total on the board and we all know that anytime one of the Big Four in Golden State sits, the rest of the crew gets a big time bump. Over the last two seasons, with Curry off the floor, KD sees a 5% usage increase, logging a 35% team high usage rate and 1.5 fantasy points per minute. Start your day with KD in your build and then simply adjust later if needed, it will make a potential late day roster crunch that much easier!

Thabo Sefolosha ($4,100): With Rudy Gobert out for the next 4-6 weeks, the Jazz are going to be a great source of value in DFS until a site like FanDuel adjusts the pricing and even though the Jazz are never a team we rush to roster, it is tough to overlook the value they provide on this slate.

Sefolosha was inserted into the starting line-up on Saturday against the Nets at PF, moving Derrick Favors to the 5 spot which is a rotation we could see Utah use a lot, especially against smaller teams like Brooklyn.

The one issue tonight is that Utah faces Minnesota so there is no guarantee that the Jazz stick with this alignment but it is worth noting that Utah essentially ran a six man rotation on Saturday with the starting five plus Rodney Hood logging 26-36 minutes while no other bench player logged more than 14 minutes of action!

NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 03: Kristaps Porzingis /

FanDuel NBA – Top Power Forward and Center Picks:

Derrick Favors ($5,400): For the same reasons we outlined with Thabo Sefolosha, we have to simply lock in Favors until he price is adjusted after he logged 35 minutes against Brooklyn with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 46 FanDuel points!

Kristaps Porzingis ($9,600): I opened up the slate, looked to see who played the Cavaliers and then clicked the lock button when I saw KP priced below 10k! If you haven’t been paying attention – the Cavaliers are a MESS defensively ranking 27th as a team in DvP this season and KP is playing at an elite level right now putting up 49 or more FD points in six of his last eight games.

Porzingis and the Knicks took on the Cavs earlier this season and KP put up 32 points, 12 boards and 52.4 FanDuel points so this is a spot we know we can exploit. The Knicks/Cavs game has the third highest game total and a 4 point Vegas spread so I love this spot as a core stack in all formats tonight!

Center is LOADED on this slate and as much as I want to lock in DeMarcus Cousins ($11,700) against the Hawks, I think I need to prioritize Kevin Durant initially. However, if Curry does play, Cousins becomes the stud I am going to pivot too on this slate as I simply see now way he does not crush against the Hawks undersized interior!

With my KD based line-up, I can pivot down at Center and lock in Joel Embiid ($8,800) who will take on an undermanned Clippers squad ranked 25th in DvP versus opposing centers. With the Clippers rolling out Blake Griffin/DeAndre Jordan, we should see The Process on the floor for a heavy dose of minutes and if he approaches 32 minutes like he did versus the Kings he has as much upside as any center on this slate!

PHILADELPHIA, PA – OCTOBER 20: Joel Embiid /

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: Lonzo Ball ($7,600)

PG: Tyler Ulis ($4,000)

SG: Tim Hardaway Jr. ($6,000)

SG: J.R. Smith ($4,100)

SF: Kevin Durant ($10,200)

SF: Thabo Sefolosha ($4,100)

PF: Kristaps Porzingis ($9,600)

PF: Derrick Favors ($5,400)

C: Joel Embiid ($8,800)

Slate Overview: This is an AWESOME slate with a ton of roster builds possible and I think it makes for a great slate to go a littler heavier on your bankroll with the options available to us today. The Suns/Lakers game is going to be the popular stack and although I want exposure to it (mostly Lonzo Ball), I will likely look to mix and match players from the Cavs/Knicks while using the underpriced Jazz players sans Gobert to build a balanced roster tonight.

Next: Have you Tried the Newest DFS Game?

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

FanDuel NBA Picks and Pivots – Monday November 13

By Brian Tulloch | Nov 13, 2017