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DraftKings NBA picks December 8: Can Toronto stop Embiid again?

By Mike Marteny

Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers loses the ball as Pascal Siakam #43 and Marc Gasol #33 of the Toronto Raptors defend (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers loses the ball as Pascal Siakam #43 and Marc Gasol #33 of the Toronto Raptors defend (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
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evonte’ Graham #4 of the Charlotte Hornets reacts after a play against the Golden State Warriors (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

DraftKings NBA early slate:

Point guard is where the action is on this early slate with Trae Young costing the most and Dinwiddie and Graham not far behind. Graham has the best matchup and probably the best floor, but Young easily has the most upside.

On paper, the matchup isn’t great for Dinwiddie, but he has at least 36 DraftKings points in every game with Kyrie out. Graham keeps improving, but I really want the floor of Dinwiddie in any lineup. This is a good matchup for Jamal Murray, but his stat lines are all over the place. We can get by with spending up on the guard slots. If we go with Dinwiddie and Graham, we have $5,450 per slot. We may have to get creative.

Forwards are easily the weakest positions with mostly the same pool to draw from. I don’t like the floor of Jabari Parker, nor do I trust the shooting of Joe Harris. If you want a pure shooter, Will Barton is there. You almost have to use Taurean Prince at one of the forward positions due to his recent success.

Charlotte is trying to develop the youngsters, but Miles Bridges has hit a rough patch. I like the potential of big minutes at a low price for Nicolas Batum. The good part is that we can still use Barton and Prince with Batum for value at the F slot. That still gives us $5,566 for the last three slots.

Center is an absolute mess here. Jarrett Allen has played very well, but I don’t want to use him against Denver. I also wont use Jokic because of the extreme lack of consistency. Paul Millsap was very good in the first meeting, but Denver is loaded up front. However, I think I would rather use Damian Jones. He finally seems to have wrestled the job away (again) from Alex Len and he comes at a discount. Zeller and Biyombo aren’t bad options, but with the minutes split evenly, Jones seems the best bet and highest upside right now.

That gives us $12,000 to fill the G and UTIL slots. Pairing Rozier with Graham is enticing, but it also means we only have $4,300 for the UTIL slot. Jamal Murray gives us the most flexibility, but you can also chase the upside of Cam Reddish. The rookie has been very inconsistent, but he showed just how high the ceiling was the last time out.

Early trifecta: Young, Graham, Jokic

Now, on to the main slate, and it’s a good one! There’s Luka, LeBron, Towns, the Brow, Portland, Toronto, Embiid against Toronto, and the Clippers against the Washington Generals. Wow!