NBA DFS: Jimmy Butler and best/worst DraftKings daily fantasy basketball plays for Thursday, Oct. 31st

Welcome to your daily NBA DFS digest at FakeTeams, gents. Every day I’m here with a handful of pro-tips to roster a winning team just a few hours from now.

You might be new to fantasy hoops, so let me tell you this: the world doesn’t end in LeBron James. Each night gives us a pretty good batch of surprising performances and leaves us in the dust with more than a few upsetting outings by those we played. First world problems, carry on. That’s the beauty of this game. There are so many matches going on every single day and such a big roster available that you can’t fixate yourself in the very same player on and on but instead you need to keep things fluid.

So read on, take note, play cool, and win the day. (Player salaries pulled from DraftKings.)

Love: (PG) Jamal Murray, DEN ($6600, at NO)

Another day, another love letter to Jamal. Murray has played no fewer than 31 minutes in any game this season and has fallen short of 15 points just once with a season-best 27 points against Phoenix four games ago. That was his best game and it showed what he’s capable of to the tune of 43.75 DKFP. Murray is holding a 22.9 usage in Denver while averaging 18.8-5.5-3.3 per game to go with 1.1 stocks a night. He’s gotta raise his shooting percentages but against a Pels D potentially missing Jrue Holiday and featuring Ball as his minion he’s in for a great night.

Hate: (PG) Jrue Holiday, NO ($8800, vs DEN)

I love Holiday, I just don’t today. He’s banged up and although he’s expected to play he might be limited in minutes and see his body dragged down by injury ailments. Not that he’s been that good to start the season, either. His 0.78 DKFP per game doesn’t merit the salary he’s priced at by any means and although he’s logging 37.2 minutes per game so far he’s only scoring 10.5 points on horrid percentages (30.8/11.1/66.7), plus Denver is the seventh-best team in DKFP per game allowed.

Love: (SG) Jimmy Butler, MIA ($8200, at ATL)

I don’t give a damn about his price, nor his lone game this season, nor whatever. Butler looked like he hadn’t skip a beat in his season debut racking up 34.75 DKFP in 31 minutes. How did he reach them? Well, he lit up the very own Hawks to the tune of 21 points, five boards, two dimes, and three steals. He shot 11 times scoring at a 45.5 clip from the field and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe (with a massive 15 attempts!). And tonight he’s going against Atlanta again in which knowing Jimmy Buckets can only be a game he takes as an opportunity to best himself on back to back contests against the same team. Explosion coming.

Hate: (SG) DeMar DeRozan, SAS ($7100, at LAC)

It is hard to believe, but the Clippers are 3-2 and have lost games against the Suns and the Jazz to start their season. DeRozan, though, has elevated his Spurs to a clean 3-0 start in which he’s averaging 22 points on 33.8 minutes of play. Other than that, not much, and you know where his points are coming from: everywhere but beyond the arc. I’m not saying DeRozan is a bad player, in fact I’ve always defended his style of play, but it’s all about buckets in bunches or nothing with him and with Kawhi back in the Clippers lineup and covering DeRozan at times tonight he won’t have it easy.

Love: (SF) DeAndre’ Bembry, ATL ($4700, vs MIA)

Fire your Bembry guns, folks! Trae Young is injured—damn—, Evan Turner is banged up—meh—, and DeAndre is in line to get the sweet start tonight against Miami. He’s already putting on 24.1 minutes per game while scoring 8.3 points a night, so this can only boost his line. Careful what you expect from Bembry, though, as he might upset you if you’re looking for a 50-DKFP game or something. That is probably out of his reach, but he could put up 30 DKFP today if he keeps his 55.6% from the field while pumping up his volume a bit.

Hate: (SF) Brandon Ingram, NO ($7900, vs DEN)

The biggest of hits Ingram will get won’t arrive until Zion is back, but Denver can give him one equally great just with their stout defense. No Mav topped 14 points against the Nuggets, so forget about Ingram scoring his average 27 today. Skinny B could still produce on the boards with his current 9.5 per and is also dishing out 4.8 dimes per contest, though again this matchup doesn’t look any good for him and paying so much for him doesn’t look like the best plan to me.

Love: (PF) Paul Millsap, DEN ($5300, at NO)

Never bet against a veteran, that I learned. You have to love Millsap today going against a softie Pelicans defense (worst in the league in DKFP per game allowed to the opposition), even more, when he comes averaging 12.8 points per on shooting percentages of 47.5/46.7/85.7. Millsap is getting 4.5 rebounds per night and turning the ball less than once each match so he’s limiting errors and keeping his game solid so far this season.

Love: (C) Bam Adebayo, MIA ($7600, at ATL)

BAM! Shut up and take my money! I’ve been an Adebayo believer since he was 14 years old and was playing in high school, but no one trusted my opinion. Shaking my head at them now... Adebayo looks like a DPOY in Miami this season. In four games he’s keeping up a double-double of 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds. He’s sharing 4.8 assists a night, stealing 1.3 balls and blocking 1.8 rocks per contests! Yes, yes, you won’t see him shooting treys, but hi’s hitting two-pointers at a 54.5 clip so far on 8.3 attempts per game. Watch him eat tonight.