DraftKings NBA Picks December 12: Choose your favorite big!

DraftKings NBA Picks December 12: Choose your favorite big! Center is going to decide this slate.

We have another big 11 game DraftKings NBA slate tonight. Is it going to be nuts like Friday where the scores are over 400, or is it going to be nuts like Monday where most of my article was irrelevant three hours after I finished it? There are only five players price in five figures, but there are nine more in the $9,000 range. Who should we pay up for?

DraftKings NBA Point Guards:

Best Bets:

Russell Westbrook ($10,900): This should be a big spot for Westbrook, but he only played 25 minutes before spraining his ankle in the first meeting with the Pelicans this year. The good news is that Russ racked up 38.25 DraftKings points in those 25 minutes. With an extra 10-12 minutes, Westbrook should clear 50 easily, making him a compelling top play.

Damian Lillard ($9,200): I don’t really see a reason to fade Lillard here unless Portland rests him some in the second game of a back to back with Memphis. Lillard has at least 5x value in five of his last six games. The only team to hold him back was Denver, and this stretch included games with the Magic and Timberwolves, who are in the top ten in the league in fantasy points allowed to point guards. I have a feeling that Lillard could go under the radar tonight, and this price seems low, even against Memphis.

Honorable Mention:

Ben Simmons ($8,900): Simmons has been such a beast with either Embiid or Butler off the court. Tonight it’s Butler, who is out with a groin strain. Simmons has at least 47 DraftKings points in three of the last four games. Now he gets a great matchup with Brooklyn without Butler on the court. The only thing I’m worried about here is a blowout. Otherwise it’s all systems go on Simmons.

Kyrie Irving ($8,500): There is a whole list of reasons why I hate this play. It’s probably about the same as yours. First off, Kyrie has only hit value at this price three times in the last ten games and not once in December. Boston is too healthy. However, this could be a good spot. Wall is a poor defender and is expected to play. Maybe the day off did Irving well. Maybe it got his head right. Of course, they can’t just cite “mental health day” on the injury report, but it is a thing. Don’t be surprised if Kyrie returns with a bang here.

De’Aaron Fox ($7,300): Fox has dropped a pair of 50’s in the last three games and he put up 44 in the first meeting with Minnesota. However, Teague was out that game. The Timberwolves have played better defense with Covington out there, but they have still been getting gouged by point guards lately. With the way Fox is playing, I have no issue paying this price.

Dark Horses:

Dennis Schroder ($5,300): Schroder has been a terror off the bench on both ends of the court for the Thunder this year. In a paced up game, he should get plenty of run and plenty of chances. Schroder put up 30.25 DraftKings points in 23 minutes in the first meeting. Fast forward to now, and Schroder has only played that few minutes once in the last ten games. He has also been over 5x value at this price seven times in that span. Schroder looks far too cheap here.

Jalen Brunson ($3,800): I really hate the whole Cleveland guard situation right now. Fortunately for us, we don’t have to settle. Dennis Smith is still out, and Brunson put up a strong 28.75 DraftKings points in is first career start. This is also a good spot for him against the Hawks. Brunson is going to be a chalky value play, but at this price, fading him seems foolish.

My pick: Schroder(PG), Brunson(G); Westbrook(PG), Schroder(SG), Brunson(G)

DraftKings NBA Shooting Guards:

Best Bets:

Stephen Curry ($9,800): You thought I forgot about him, didn’t you? He is here because SG is a weak position again. With PG being fairly deep and loaded with value, that leaves us free to pay up for a SG eligible player, and it should probably be Curry. Steph has topped 60 DraftKings points twice in the last three games. I don’t think he does that to Toronto, but I see him in the mid 50’s, which leaves him with a good shot at 6x value.

Jrue Holiday ($7,900): Holiday put up 49 DraftKings points on the Thunder in the first meeting. The only thing that might move me off of this is if Holiday plays most of the game at the two. The Thunder defend the off guard well, and honestly, with the way this whole defense is playing and with all of the other options on the slate, I’m probably leaving this one alone. Holiday’s upside is very good though.

Honorable Mention:

D’Angelo Russell ($7,500): Russell has abused Philly this year. He has 97 DraftKings points in just two games. Not only that, but Russell has only played a combined 59 minutes in those two games! This looks like a spot to fill up on Russell, and provides us a great fade option for Holiday. Russell always has more risk, but this is a night where I can see this working out.

Jeremy Lamb ($5,900): Detroit’s backcourt is still a little beaten up, so this looks like a place for Lamb to feast. He was a disaster against the Nuggets on Friday, but had a good game against the Knicks on Sunday and could go even better against Detroit. I would rather use Lamb than Hardaway, who feels overpriced at $1,000 more.

Dark Horses:

Derrick Rose ($5,800): Rose has racked up 80.5 DraftKings points in the last two games. The Kings have been assaulted by guards all season long. This wont be anything different. Rose turning back the clock should continue in this one too.

Kent Bazemore ($5,500): Bazemore destroyed Dallas in the first meeting putting up 53.75 DraftKings points in his 33 minutes of court time. Bazemore is back in the starting lineup and back to posting big numbers with 78.5 DraftKings points over the last two games. So long as Bazemore starts, he is very hard to fade here with all of the great plays up front.

Kevin Huerter ($3,600): Huerter is one of the few value plays at this price that you can use in any type of game. He is constantly at or over 20 DraftKings points, so you can use him in cash games. Huerter routinely hits 6x value or more, so he is a strong value play in GPP formats as well. Use him if you need to go really cheap. The minutes and production are both there.

My pick: N/A; N/A

DraftKings NBA Small Forwards:

Best Bets:

Kawhi Leonard ($9,400): Kawhi rested last night, so he should be good to go tonight. Both he and Durant had monster games in the first meeting, but Curry missed that game when Durant went wild for 76.75 DraftKings points. Curry and Draymond are going to cut way into that production. No one is cutting into Kawhi’s 56.5 DraftKings points. That gives him a shot at 6x value here.

Paul George ($9,000): PG put up 52 DraftKings points on the Pelicans in the first meeting, and should be somewhere around that total again tonight. He is the one Thunder player that is still safe with Russ on the court. He doesn’t have the upside that he did with Westbrook out, but George still has over 40 DraftKings points in four straight games, and had a 13 game streak snapped right before this one began. He still has a pretty high floor.

Honorable Mention:

Andrew Wiggins ($6,300): Wiggins missed out on the Kings the first time this year, but in 14 career games against them, Wiggy has 24 points, 5 rebounds, and two assists per game. That comes out to roughly 35 DraftKings points per game when you add in the steals, blocks, and turnovers. There is decent upside with Wiggins here.

Marcus Morris ($5,900): Keep a close eye on the Boston injuries that piled up on Monday. If Hayward or Horford are out again, Morris is a strong value play. There are other better options available with Boston at full strength, but Morris is capable of doing more at this price than anyone else if he starts again.

Choose a Bogdanovic! ($5,600/$5,700): Both are in good matchups, and both are producing at a high level. Even their DraftKings point output has been almost identical lately. You really can’t go wrong with either Bogdanovic here, but as per usual, I prefer Bogdan just a little bit more. If I can’t decide, I’m just using them both.

Dark Horses:

Al-Farouq Aminu ($4,600): Aminu put up his fifth 30+ point DraftKings game last night out of his last six. The one that he missed was in just 25 minutes against the Suns. Memphis could give him some problems here, but if he can clear 30 against Houston, the Blazers don’t really scare me. The Rockets are one of the best teams in the league against power forwards, and that is where Aminu usually plays.

Kevin Knox ($4,500): We’ve seen this before. Hezonja pisses in Fizdale’s Cheerios, is yanked a couple of minutes into the game. Knox plays 41 minutes and lights it up for 50.25 DraftKings points. Or something similar to that. The last time Hezonja got the quick hook was on December 1st. The next game Knox played just 25 minutes. I understand the flocking to him here, but you simply can’t trust the Knicks rotations.

Deandre’ Bembry ($4,300): Bembry doesn’t often play more than 20 minutes, but he routinely puts up 5x value. The upside is capped, but when you only need 25.8 DraftKings points for 6x value, Bembry hits that more often than not. He tipped the scales with 45.5 DraftKings points in 29 minutes against Dallas the first time around. He has been great off the bench lately with Prince out. That should continue tonight.

My pick: Bembry(G); Bembry(SF)

DraftKings NBA Power Forwards:

Best Bets:

Giannis Antetokounmpo ($11,100): Giannis is the most expensive player on the slate, and I do get it. However, there are at least two other plays that I would pay up for before him. Giannis is still big in cash games, and this is a good matchup with the Pacers. I really think we need to spend the bulk of our money at C tonight, but if you can find a way to wiggle Giannis in there, I’m not arguing.

Blake Griffin ($9,300): Blake didn’t have a real strong game against Charlotte in the first outing, but this is not a team that is all that strong up front. They are better defensively than offensively though, and there is a chance that Drummond dominates this game like he did the first meeting. There are other good options, but given that the Thunder were the last team to hold Brow under 50 DraftKings (or 40 for that matter) over a month ago, it’s a hard fade on Davis.

Honorable Mention:

John Collins ($7,800): Collins has been ridiculous over the last three games. He has 145.25 DraftKings points in that span. Yeah, the price looks high, but Collins’ numbers are better than anyone at the position besides Giannis and Davis. I’ve already touched on why I wont play Davis. We could make a realistic argument as to why Collins is as good as Giannis for the price. I have no doubt he’s better than Blake here.

Julius Randle ($7,400): Randle was becoming a must play anyway due to his evolution in the offense, but now with Mirotic out, he is in a huge bargain spot here. Randle mauled the Thunder for 44 DraftKings points in the first meeting in just 28 minutes. They will likely concentrate on shutting down Davis again, which means Randle is in for a monster night. He is criminally underpriced here.

Domantas Sabonis ($6,700): A couple of lackluster games have dropped Sabonis down to here. However, I still like him at this price. Sabonis put up 33.25 DraftKings points in just 22 minutes against Milwaukee the first time around. There is no guarantee that he will get many more minutes than that, but even at his customary 25-27 minutes, Sabonis should hit value.

Dark Horses:

Noah Vonleh ($5,600): The Cavs lose one of the best interior defenders in the league in Thompson, so that menacing red number next to Vonleh doesn’t mean as much. Cleveland is still going to be decent on the inside, but Vonleh routinely thumps decent. The only thing that can stop Vonleh is the asinine rotations of Fizdale.

Kelly Olynyk ($5,000): Olynyk put up 32.5 DraftKings points in the first meeting with Utah. Bam and Olynyk have split the minutes, and both are performing far above their price range. Combined, their numbers are even better than Whiteside’s. Enjoy this value while it lasts, though Whiteside has missed a week for the birth of his child. That seems a bit odd.

Jaron Blossomgame ($3,400): Out is Sam Dekker, in is the more athletic and younger Clemson product. He has already paid dividends for the Cavs. Blossomgame put up a strong 31.5 DraftKings points in 26 minutes against the Bucks on Monday. He is going to be chalk after that double double performance, but I don’t know that we can fade at this price.

My pick: Randle(PF), Blossomgame(SF), Olynyk(F); Randle(PF), Blossomgame(SF)

DraftKings NBA Center

Best Bets:

Joel Embiid ($10,500): Mother of God…..HE’S PLAYING THE NETS!! Okay, so Embiid hasn’t blasted the Nets like some other teams, but he still has 98.25 DraftKings points in 68 minutes against them this year. I’ll take my chances that he goes for 70 with Butler out.

Karl-Anthony Towns ($10,000): Towns provides a very interesting pivot to Embiid here. Embiid has the better matchup on paper, but he hasn’t exactly destroyed the Nets. Maybe he feels sorry for them. KAT did destroy the Kings in the fist meeting. He went for 66.75 DraftKings points in that one. The Kings have no one that can stop him. It’s another monster in the making for Towns.

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Honorable Mention:

Andre Drummond ($8,700): Drummond looks insanely cheap here. He destroyed Charlotte, racking up 65.5 DraftKings points in the first meeting. I tend to think that Blake’s pedestrian outing was because of Drummond’s dominance, not the other way around. Drummond should control this game as well, and looks like a 60 waiting to happen at a very reasonable price.

DeAndre Jordan ($7,300): Jordan has been relatively quiet in Dallas, but he did put up 39 DraftKings points in the first game against Atlanta. If you are fading all of the top plays, which I don’t recommend, Jordan is a strong midrange option. For me, he works best as a UTIL with one of the top three at C.

Bam Adebayo ($6,100): At what point do the Heat just tell Whiteside not to bother coming back? Bam is wrecking people on this road trip with 116.5 DraftKings points in the three games. Once again, he is a great bargain play since Gobert hasn’t been much of a force defensively this season. Add Bam to a long list of good frontcourt options.

Dark Horses:

Willie Cauley-Stein ($5,900): As per usual, Towns was abused by Nurkic on Monday. It’s a thing. Trust me. Towns does most of his work on offense and often can’t be bothered by defense. That puts WCS firmly in as a value play if you want to pair him with Towns.

Jarrett Allen ($5,800): Allen is a solid offensive player, but the defense is sorely lacking. Embiid is not a great defender. Allen picked up 64.5 DraftKings points in two games against Philly so far this year, so he remains a strong value play. We may need it tonight!

Larry Nance ($5,700): Nance stands to see a big uptick in minutes here with Tristan Thompson out for at least two weeks. Nance has 68.5 DraftKings points over the last two games in just 52 minutes. That said, Nance is never a sure thing for fantasy output. He is going to be really chalky tonight, and could have problems with Kanter if the Knicks throw him out there like they should. I understand a fade here.

My pick: Embiid(C), Towns(UTIL); Drummond(C), Adebayo(F)

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