NBA FanDuel DFS Targets: Wednesday, December 5th

Welcome to this edition of NBA FanDuel DFS Targets from FantasyCPR.com. Here you will find players to target for tonight’s action, geared for cash games and tournament plays on FanDuel. Let us save your DFS life with some FantasyCPR!

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of NBA FanDuel DFS Targets. In this almost daily article, I will go over players to target at each position for tonight’s massive 10-game main slate, starting at 7:00 ET. If you are finding this piece for the first time, here is a quick breakdown of what will happen here.

I will give two targets at each of the guard and forward positions, and one center. Following the picks, will be the ever popular “sample lineup” we like to do here at FantasyCPR.  Some plays will be geared toward cash games, and some for GPP. Some of course will also technically qualify as both. As we break each play down, I will be sure to specify which type of contests I am targeting that player in.

With NBA DFS, I can’t stress enough how important it is to not just plug-and-play these sample lineups. There is so much info that will drop over the course of the day for NBA, and you never truly know what to expect.

If you want to be a consistent winner for NBA, lock starts at 7PM ET on most week nights. Plan on being ready to tinker those lineups last second, accounting for all of that fabulous NBA news that nobody was expecting five minutes before, or even AFTER lock. It happens all of the time, so if you set your lineup now and forget it, it’s probably not going to work out for you in the long run.

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: What to Expect Tonight

Ten games tonight and all of the stars will be out, which is a welcoming sight compared to what we had to sort through yesterday. Man that was ugly, but thankfully we get one nice slate before we return to another boring small slate on Thursday.

There is really a lot of information to sort through today, and as always, injury news will be key, but I will focus in on a huge match-up here that stick out, and then touch on who I think I will be paying up for tonight.

Eastern Conference Heavyweight Showdown:

In a possible Eastern Conference Finals preview, the 17-8 Philadelphia 76ers will travel north of the border to face the 20-5 Toronto Raptors. With a Vegas total of 230, this game has the second highest O/U at the moment, and figures to be a popular path of attack tonight. Both teams are 8-2 in their last ten games, and they did clash once this season already in late October.

The Raptors won that first meeting 129-112, thanks to a huge all around games from their starting five. With 20 teams in action, it is hard to center in on this game for stacking purposes, but I think that is a fine GPP strategy to stack this one up as good as you can.

So Many Studs… Who am I paying up for tonight?:

Once again I am not fading Russ Westbrook so I will start here. Part of me wants him to keep having mediocre games to keep his price down, but we all know that isn’t going to happen. In fact, Westbrook has only broken 50 FDP once in the last four games, and that was his monster 70.1 FDP outing against the hapless Cavaliers. Point guard is loaded at the top tonight, but with the discount on Westbrook compared to AD and Giannis, I think you have to start at least your cash lineup right here.

We will have plenty of value tonight, so my next decision is AD or Antetokounmpo. Both have obviously been on fire as they remain the two top players in the game, and deciding between these two is were I am having my most trouble today. I will likely lean Davis for cash, and Giannis for GPP, but either way I think both are in for another solid night.

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: Point Guard Targets:

Russell Westbrook – Oklahoma City Thunder – $11,000 – (Cash)

It has now been seven games since Westbrook returned from injury, and don’t look now, but the Thunder are 8-2 in their last ten games. With a 15-7 overall record, OKC currently sits in 3rd place in the Western Conference, and this team clearly feeds off of Westbrook’s confidence.

Tonight the Thunder will travel to Brooklyn to face the pesky Nets, but are still fairly big road favorites with a seven point spread. The Nets story all season, is that they are always in the game, but cannot win them. They rarely get blown out. Because of that fact, I really think Westbrook is going to be all out in this one as usual, and I think he has a huge game here.

His next triple-double will give him 108 in his career, and will move him into third place all-time. After missing it by one rebound against the Hawks on Friday, and having a rough night at Detroit on Monday, I think he gets it here tonight on his third try.

Kyle Lowry – Toronto Raptors – $8,000 – (GPP)

If there was just a little more consistency here, I could see pivoting off of Westbrook in cash to maybe pay up elsewhere. Lowry has been fantastic this year, but at this price we need a solid 40+ FDP to make value. While Lowry is certainly capable, and the match-up is good against Ben Simmons, four of his past five games have gone under 40 FDP.

My guess here though is that the Raptors make a statement about who is the best in the East, and we will see multiple good fantasy games from the players you would expect them from. When these teams met the day before Halloween, Lowry managed 39.6 FDP with 20 points and 12 assists. I like a little game stack here for GPP purposes, and Lowry, with Kawhi Leonard and a discounted Serge Ibaka seems like a great source for a good amount of FDP today.

***Value Plays: Jeremy Lin $5,500 – Collin Sexton $4,800***

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: Shooting Guard Targets:

DeMar DeRozan – San Antonio Spurs –  $8,400 – (GPP)

This looks crazy as we have a whole slew of games to choose from, yet I want the one outside shooter in a spot where I never target outside shooters, and that is on the second leg of a back-to-back. The Spurs were no match for the Jazz however last night, as everything they put up went in. Utah made 20 three-pointers, and went on to score 139 points, and if anything good came out of it, it is that DeRozan and the rest of the starters all played less than 25 minutes. On a night where you would normally fade DeRozen and possibly LaMarcus Aldridge due to the back-to-back, I think you can pretty much ignore the fact that they even played last night.

Jeremy Lamb – Charlotte Hornets – $6,500 – (Cash)

I like taking a chance on guys in bounce back spots, and Lamb is coming off his worst game in over two weeks, and it actually wasn’t that bad. At home against the Pelicans on Sunday, Lamb scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 32 minutes of action. He could be asked to take on a bigger role here in the near future, as the Hornets struggle on both sides of the ball. Nicolas Batum has been a massive bust this year, and it is clear that Lamb is the better player.

Batum played only 14 minutes on Sunday, and this team took another blow when it lost Marvin Williams in that game. With some new faces in the starting lineup and a clash with the surging Timberwolves, I look for Kemba Walker and Lamb to continue to be the top fantasy options on the Hornets.

***Value Plays: Avery Bradley $4,400 – Alec Burks $4,100 – Malik Beasley $3,800***

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: Small Forward Targets:

Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks – $12,700 – (GPP)

Yes I know we cannot pay up for all of these stars, but what I am trying to do here is give you reasons for playing them in either format, whether it be tournament play or cash games. Usually, all of the superstars way up here in salary with 80+ FDP ceilings are good for any type of DFS action you choose, but on a huge slate like tonight, you really have to decipher which one or two guys you will pay up for.

In all honesty, you can’t go wrong here with the Greek Alphabet in any format, but this is a case of the positional dilemma we face on FanDuel. We know we need two small forwards and two power forwards. And looking at both positions value wise, they are pretty similar today. However, with power forward way thinner at the top, I think Davis is the move in cash. Now that Antetokounmpo is up here in salary at the same price as AD, it looks nearly impossible to roster both. But you can be sure I will have shares of both guys here, as they are always capable of breaking the slate.

Robert Covington – Minnesota Timberwolves – $7,000 – (Cash)

Consistency is key in cash games, and with this position so loaded at the top with Giannis, Durant, and Kawhi, RoCo is sitting down here still too cheap in my opinion at $7K. We have to hope for over 40 FDP here at this price, but Covington is getting close to averaging 15 FDP per game on steals and blocks alone.

What a move this was for Minnesota, as Covington seems to really be finding his game with his new squad. After back-to-back 40+ FDP games against the Cavs and the Spurs, Covington just missed another with 39 FDP against Boston, and was a bit quieter last time out against the Rockets. It will be interesting to see if he can keep this up and keep the Wolves rolling in the right direction, and I am going to stay on board here and ride this one out.

***Value Plays: Miles Bridges $5,300 – Kelly Oubre Jr. $4,900***

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: Power Forward Targets: 

Anthony Davis – New Orleans Pelicans – $12,800 – (Cash)

I covered the reasoning about writing up all the studs here with Antetokounmpo, but I want to add one more thing here. Unfortunately the reason we pay up for Davis in cash ultimately is that this position overall is terrible compared to small forward today. In fact, what having those three top players at the other position, and just one here does is paint a picture that is pretty easy when you think about it.

With Durant, Giannis and Leonard all basically stealing ownership from each other at SF, you can possibly get one or two of them at a lesser premium than normal, which is ideal for tournament play. In order to win a GPP we need one or two huge plays with little ownership, and the balance and spreading out of this ownership helps that cause. With cash games though, basically everyone below Davis at PF is a question mark.

So to make this rambling long story short, it is really all about the depth of position for me to distinguish these studs as GPP or Cash plays. This is why Davis is always chalk in cash games on these big slates in case you were wondering.

Serge Ibaka – Toronto Raptors – $5,900 – (GPP)

I would much rather play Pascal Siakam here for starters, but the salary compared to Ibaka here for basically the same player makes no sense. What Siakam basically is doing, is cutting into Ibaka’s production. Known for blocking shots and grabbing boards, Ibaka has picked up his scoring a bit as of late, but those rebound numbers are really dipping as Siakam and Leonard grab their fare share.

In fact, Ibaka has averaged less than five rebounds per game over the last four, but the scoring of buckets is slightly making up for it. I like this play as part of my Tor/Phi game stack, and I am hoping Ibaka can match the 42 FDP he put up in the first meeting between these two teams. Ibaka had 15 points and 15 rebounds in that one.

***Value Plays: JaMychal Green $4,900 – Frank Kaminsky $3,900***

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: Center Targets: 

Joel Embiid – Philadelphia 76ers – $10,700 – (Cash/GPP)

If I make any changes to my cash lineup over the course of the day, getting Embiid in there and maybe going down from Westbrook at PG would be my consideration. Both Westbrook and Embiid are in spots that they should exceed value even at their huge price tags and who knows, maybe the AD fade to play both Embiid and Westy is the play. Either way when you break it all down, you throw Giannis in this mix and we have four top plays to try to get some exposure to.

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Embiid has now had consecutive mediocre games, scoring less than 20 actual points in both, well short of his season average of 27 per game. However, he only played 22 minutes in one of those games, as the Sixers smashed the Wizards back on Friday. When these teams met back in late October, Embiid had his “typical” 30 and 10 game, with 31 points and 11 rebounds. I am certainly going to get him involved in a GPP, but the value in Kevon Looney with Draymond Green already ruled out for tonight is the cash play.

***Value Plays: Dewayne Dedmon $5,000 – Kevon Looney $4,800

NBA FanDuel 12/5/18: Sample Lineup:

The line-up below is meant to be illustrative only to further back-up the logic laid out in previous slides. It is not an optimal line-up. It is in fact, just a “Sample Lineup.”

PG – Russell Westbrook $11,000

PG – Jeremy Lin – $5,500

SG – Avery Bradely – $4,400

SG – Alec Burks – $4,100

SF – Robert Covington – $7,000

SF – Kelly Oubre Jr. – $4,900

PF – JaMychal Green – $4,900

PF – Anthony Davis – $12,800

C – Kevon Looney – $4,800

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