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. On top of that, I’ll bring you some news, statsitcal trends from the past few days, some studs/duds from the last slate of games, and much more!
Hoop Land Times: News and notes from around the Association
- Interesting news coming out of Chicago. Zach LaVine will be in the All-Star Weekend! Yay! As a three-point shooter! Wait, what!? Yep, that’s correct. No Slam Dunk Contest appearance for ZLV this season, who will instead take part in the three-point contest... Lame, but at least something.
- Trade rumors are ramping up all around the league. The Pistons are about to send Kennard to Phoenix in what is believed to be the first of many other moves which would see both Rose and Drummond depart too... As the whispers go, Capela looks done in Houston... It looks like everybody is after D’Angelo Russell and the Wolves seem to be so desperate than I’m not ruling out a silly move from Minny or New York knowing they’re are a walking train-wreck... The Cavs are selling the damn house but no one is willing to buy. Cold world, Tristan and Kev... Iggy is willing to sit out the year if Memphis doesn’t trade nor buy him out. LOL.
Duds and Studs: Last night slate roundup
- Although only Kevin Love (wtf) went for more than 60 DKFP by reaching 63.25, there were a lot of players in the 50s in which overall was a pretty nice slate of games. Love got to that mark to the tune of 33 points, 13 rebounds, 6 dimes, and a block while shooting 60% from the floor... only that it took him 41 (!) minutes of playing time.
- Those in the 50s: Valanciunas, Elfrid Payton, Porzingis, Beal, Ayton, Sabonis, Jimmy Butler, Dre Drummond, KAT, and LaMarcus Aldridge. Somehow Elfreaking Payton logged a trip-dub with the Knicks (against Cleveland, though) registering a 17-11-15-1 line. Nice to see someone do something while donning New York’s threads...
- Special mention to Cody Martin for being the only player out there giving his bettors a 10+ ROI yesterday after getting to 34 DKFP while priced at just $3.1K. Stuffed 13-8-3-3 line hitting all his six field-goal attempts but missing his lone free throw.
- Other great values of the night: Dennis Smith Jr. (15-3-6-4 for 35 DKFP at $3.6K), Brad Wanamaker (16-3-5-4 for 35 DKFP at $3.6K), Caris LeVert (29-3-7-2 for 46 DKFP at $4.7K), and Jeff Teague (18-1-6-4 for 35 DKFP at $3.9K).
- Horrific performance by Devin Booker. Even playing all of 31 minutes he could only score 11 points and combine those with 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. Incredible 20% shooting from the floor... that finished with Book getting 22.5 DKFP while entering the slate priced at a massive $8.6K.
- Other duds of the night: Spencer Dinwiddie (25 DKFP at $8K), Devonte’ Graham (26 DKFP at $7.5K), and Tobias Harris (15 DKFP at $6.9K).
- A grand total of 14 double-doubles on the night via rebounds, with Dewayne Dedmon missing on it after scoring only four points while grabbing 12 boards... Only one dub-dub via dimes tonight, and from Bam Adebayo. LOL. Payton was the only man able to get that sweet triple-double, while Adebayo missed on it by two rebounds, Sabonis by one assist, Paul George by two, and Draymond Green by three.
What’s cooking? Statistical trends from the past seven days
- Worth tracking these days: Chandler Hutchinson. Not that he’s playing a lot (25 minutes in his last three) but the returns for his price/availability ($3.4K on DK) have been great this past week. He’s at 15.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1 apg, and 1.3 spg while shooting over 50% and finishing 24.3% of the offensive possessions. Not bad.
- Dewayne Dedmon (7-10-1-2-3 in 29 minutes) might be moved before the deadline, and he’s averaging a 7.5 ROI during his past three. Other great value-returners: Elfrid Payton (14-9-11-1 in 33 minutes), Cody Martin (8-5-3-1 in 24 minutes), Pat Connaughton (7-8-1-0-1 in 22 minutes), and P.J. Dozier (7-3-3-1-1 in 15 minutes).
- Jerami Grant keeps playing TONS of minutes (37 mpg in his last four) and is still providing some great value even with those extended runs. He’s averaged a 15-4-2-2-3 line in his last four so if you can get him cheap then do it, and if you can sell him high then do so too.
- Dejounte Murray is one of those totally frustrating players hard to assess because you never know what he will do, on how many minutes, etc... but he’s putting up numbers in every cat. He’s played an average of 27 minutes in his last three games with a line of 9-6-2-3 for a return of 26 DKFP per game. Not a lot, but stats all across the board.
- Not killing him because it’s only been three games, but it’s taking a little bit for Vic Oladipo to heat up. In those three he’s averaging just 15 DKPF in his 22 mpg with a line of 8-1-2 that is still too low for his average $6K price.
- Kill them with fire, though: Eric Gordon (11-1-3-2-1 in 31 minutes), Tobias Harris (13-7-3 in 32 minutes), and Nemanja Bjelica (8-4-3 in 27 minutes).
Gotta Win The Day: Best/Worst DraftKings plays for tonight’s slate
- Love: (PF/C) Anthony Davis, LAL ($9300, vs SAS): Shout-out to the algorithm for being dumb! We love it! AD under $10K is heaven on Earth, folks, so you know what to do. Sure, he’s got a “probable” tag attached to his forehead and comes with health concerns, but even with that (and those issues have been there all season without much impact) you have to go for him here—and if he doesn’t play then go with BronBron, who isn’t super-expensive at $10.3K today. Anyways, not a lot I can tell you about The Brow you don’t already know. Top-15 player in his slates, average of 54 DKFP in the 34 games he’s played 30+ minutes, 29-10-3-2-3 line in that split, 30% usage rate... The Spurs will throw some combination of Aldridge and Poeltl his way, but what’s that for someone averaging a freaking 1.48 DKFP per minute on the court!? That, my friends, is insane, with only LeBron, Giannis, and Harden having better marks.
- Hate: (PF/C) Jerami Grant, DEN ($5700, vs POR): I have talked about Jerami extensively during the past few columns and even in this one, but consider this a warning. Jerami has been great but on the season he’s averaging 11.2 ppg and 3.6 rpg. His DKFP per minute on the court are super low at 0.8 so he’s needing a lot of playing time to provide some resounding total DKFP tallies. He’s moved from averaging 18 DKFP during the first three months of the season to 34 during the past two weeks, sure, but are you happy with that number? If he fits your plans, cool, but I’m not so sure he does. His three last games have seen him cool down a bit with an average line of 13-4-1 and fantasy scores boosted by completely unsustainable blocking numbers (3.3 bpg) and triples (2 per game in his last three, while his season average is at less than 1.3 per).
- Love: (SF/PF) Brandon Ingram, NO ($7000, vs MIL): Another very cheap guy for what he provides, Bones Ingram is worth paying for. For the first three games since Zion debuted with the Pels Ingram suffered his impact a bit falling short of more than 30 DKFP each time, but in the last three they’ve shared the court BI has reached at least 37 DKFP in each game. In the past week (three games played) Ingram is at a 24-7-4-1 while only playing 31 minutes per, which is a great return (1.34 DKFP per minute on the court). Milwaukee has some stout defense in both Giannis and K-Midd, sure, but Ingram has been pretty much matchup-proof all year long and there is no reason to think he won’t keep it up. The points are always on the 20s and the boards-dimes combo tends to be on the 10+ side with ease.
- Hate: (PG) Eric Bledsoe, MIL ($6600, at NO): New Orleans should be quite a cupcake for these Bucks tonight but I’m not entirely sure Bledsoe will be the one cooking it. Eric had the night a few games ago but since then he’s on the 30-DKFP average and in his last two hasn’t topped 15 points nor 7 rebounds/assists. That’s far from a slate winner, truth be told. Giannis and Khris are the ones eating big time nightly, with Eric-B getting the crumbs they leave on the table. You’d be paying for what he could do depending on what two other guys do or don’t. Not the most intelligent play there.
If you have any comment or question about the daily column, tonight’s games, players involved in them, or even season-long fantasy NBA topics, just drop it below or reach out to me on Twitter at @chapulana and I’ll get back to you as soon as I grab a keyboard!