First thing I want to talk about is site player pricing. I get aggravated when sites tighten player salaries and then they loosen them up. Just pick one way or the other. I think being consistent is important and that goes for all the sports that the site offers. If a site wants to be the next Draft Street and have sharp player salaries, that’s fine. For example, if the guy doing or looking over the player salaries might be a basketball guy and the salaries are sharper for basketball than other sports. That’s not the way it should be. Sites that have consistent player salaries will only help grow the DFS industry moving forward.
We have a 7 game slate on tap for Saturday night. Couple things I want to bring to your attention. Atlanta plays Philly after a tough game against Cleveland on Friday night. Wouldn’t surprise me to see Mike Budenholzer sit some players. The Heat have some major injury issues. Be sure to check if Dragic, Chalmers, Deng and Wade are playing. If any of them sit it could really open up some value.
Disclaimer: James Harden, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Demarcus Cousins should always be considered.
Point Guards
Ricky Rubio has been playing major minutes and minutes equal production. Rubio has only had 2 games out of the last 8 games under 40 Draft Kings points. Portland is the 6th worst team the past 3 weeks against PGs.
Goran Dragic faces a Kings team on a road B2B and there 4th road game in 5 nights. If Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng sit out again Dragic becomes that much better of an option.
George Hill has be on a roll since they lifted the minutes restriction. He gets to face the same crappy Knicks team that he torched on Wednesday. Hill only had to play 27 mins and finished with 36.75 Draft Kings points. Thats 1.4 points per minute.
Shabazz Napier faces a Kings team on a road B2B and there 4th road game in 5 nights. If Dwyane Wade, Mario Chalmers, and Goran Dragic sit out Napier becomes that much better of a value option.
Shooting Guards
At SG on Saturday night I think you either pay up for James Harden or go down for one of the value players. There are some players in between, but I think there isn’t much value compared to their price points.
Arron Afflalo should start for Wesley Matthews who is out for the year. Now I don’t expect Afflalo to have the same production as Matthews. He does get a plus matchup against a Timberwolves team that gives the 4th most fantasy points to SG’s the last three weeks.
If you need a couple of punt options to fit in some high priced studs Tyler Johnson and Henry Walker got starts for an injured Heat team on Friday night. Both played over 30 minutes and the Kings are the best team to play SGs against.
Jason Richardson gets to face a Atlanta team that hasn’t defended SGs well at all lately. On Friday Richardson had a horrible shooting night (0-10) against a good Utah defense, but the good sign was he did play 27 minutes. He makes for a good GPP play since not many people will be rostering him after the egg he laid.
Small Forwards
Andrew Wiggins doesn’t have the best matchup on paper. His minutes are locked in and with that comes steady production.
Nicolas Batum will need to pick up some slack for injured Wesley Matthews. His production has been up recently with B2B games over 40 Draft Kings points.
Danilo Gallinari gets an average matchup on paper at home against the Rockets. He is still a little under priced for the minutes and production right now.
Power Forwards
LaMarcus Aldridge is rarely a bad play. He gets the 5th worst team against PF’s on Saturday night in Minnesota.
The Denver Nuggets have had a hard time with opposing PFs all year. It’s time for Terrence Jones to light them up.
Kenneth Faried is playing inspired basketball again. He is a player that needs to be motivated. Well, Brian Shaw got shit canned, he’s playing steady minutes again, and is at home against a Houston team without Dwight Howard in the middle.
Centers
Hassan Whiteside is a better play on Fan Duel than Draft Kings. He is a $100 cheaper on FD. Boogie Cousins doesn’t really like to play defense either.
Marc Gasol is a plug and play for me on Draft Kings for under 8k. He’s only $100 cheaper than his Fan Duel price. When you see something like that just play him.
Robin Lopez is another price I like on Draft Kings for only 4k. The matchup isn’t bad vs. Minn. You can do a whole lot worse than Lopez on Saturday night.
Also consider Brandan Wright after Alex Len turned his ankle last night.
Don’t forget to check twitter for any late scratches and player news. As always you can catch me on twitter @realdaddybigs or leave a comment below. Good luck this weekend in your games.
