Monday, March 10, 2014

Daily Fantasy Basketball: DraftKings Values for March 10th

If you play daily fantasy sports (and who isn't these days?!), you know that one of the keys to success is uncovering undervalued players to allow you to load up on studs elsewhere.

In case you've never played daily fantasy basketball, you select your team based on a player's salary and your team's salary cannot exceed the game salary-cap maximum.

For DraftKings leagues, rosters consist of eight players and the salary cap is $50,000, which averages to roughly $6,250 per player. To give you an idea of the range for Monday's games, Heat SF/PF LeBron James ($10,600) has the contest's highest salary while many are tied for the lowest at the game-minimum salary ($3,000).

There are a number of benefits compared to traditional full-season re-draft leagues, such as:
  • you don't have to worry about being saddled by players sidelined by injury;
  • having a late pick doesn't rule out owning studs like Kevin Durant or LeBron James;
  • you get the instant gratification of winning your league(s) that night.
And you know that enthusiasm you have after drafting your fantasy team(s)? Well, you get to experience that feeling on a nightly basis with daily fantasy basketball.

OK, with the preliminary stuff out of the way, here are some value plays to consider for Monday (March 10th) DraftKings leagues:

PG/SG - Raymond Felton, New York Knicks (vs. PHI), $5,600: Felton's fantasy production has varied wildly with 43.75, 12.0 and 30.25 fantasy points in his past three games. With the Sixers coming to MSG, however, it's certainly possible that Felton has one of his better games. No team has allowed more fantasy points to opposing point guards this season than the Sixers.

SG - Marcus Thornton, Brooklyn Nets (vs. TOR), $3,700: If you have started Thornton in your DraftKings leagues, it's been a hit-or-miss proposition. Here are his last five point totals: 29.0, 4.0, 31.0, 16.0 and 38.25, respectively. Coming off his best fantasy outing, Thornton scored 27 points and added three rebounds, two steals and an assist. Hopefully, he finally puts together solid back-to-back games tonight.

SG/SF - Joe Johnson, Brooklyn Nets (vs. TOR), $5,300: Nearly $1,000 cheaper than the average of a DraftKings starter, Johnson has been on a roll recently with three consecutive games of 32.5-plus fantasy points. During that three-game stretch, Johnson has averaged 20.0 points, 3.67 rebounds, 3.67 assists and 1.33 steals per game.

SG/SF - P.J. Tucker, Phoenix Suns (at LAC), $4,500: Tucker has scored at least 23.5 fantasy points in four consecutive games. Against the Clippers last Tuesday, Tucker had 18 points, 10 rebounds and two steals and scored 39.0 fantasy points.

SF - Matt Barnes, Los Angeles Clippers (vs. PHO), $5,400: Barnes is averaging nearly twice as many fantasy points per game in March (38.75) than his season average (19.817). Based on salary cost per average fantasy point produced this month, no player has a lower cost than Barnes (139.35) among active players tonight. In his four games this month, Barnes has averaged 19.0 poins, 3.5 treys, 7.0 rebounds, 3.25 assists and 1.75 steals per game.

SF - Maurice Harkless, Orlando Magic (at MIL), $4,600: Harkless has scored a minimum of 23.75 fantasy points in six consecutive games and he has at least 30.5 fantasy points in each of his past three games. Over his past six games, Harkless has averaged 14.33 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.83 steals and 1.16 blocks in 36.17 minutes per game.

SF/PF - Ersan Ilyasova, Milwaukee Bucks (vs. ORL), $5,200: Ilyasova was 13-for-14 from the field on March 3rd for 31 points, but he is a combined 10-for-27 for 33 points in his other three games played this month. That said, he has scored at least 26.5 fantasy points in three of the four games he has played this month. Among active PF-eligible players tonight with salaries below $7,000, only Tobias Harris (34.00 PPG, $6,700) has averaged more fantasy points per game this month than Ilyasova (29.06).

SF/PF - Jeff Adrien, Milwaukee Bucks (vs. ORL), $4,000: Based on his salary of $4,000 and average fantasy points (27.1) this month, Adrien's salary per average fantasy point produced is 147.6, which ranks second among all PF-eligible players tonight. (The next guy is first in that category among PF-eligible players.)

PF/C - Kyle O'Quinn, Orlando Magic (at MIL), $4,100: Even though he has played less than 20 minutes in three consecutive games, O'Quinn has scored 20-plus fantasy points in four consecutive games. Only two players active tonight have a lower salary cost per average fantasy point produced in March than O'Quinn. In his last game against the Bucks (Feb. 18th), O'Quinn didn't score in the game, but still managed to finish with 25.25 fantasy points in 21 minutes. The Bucks have allowed the third-most fantasy points to opposing centers.

C - Tyson Chandler, New York Knicks (vs. PHI), $6,500: While the Bucks have allowed the third-most fantasy points to opposing centers, the Sixers have allowed the second-most. Over his past 10 games, Chandler has scored a minimum of 31.25 fantasy points in his past five games. An absolute beast on the boards, Chandler has averaged 15.0 rebounds, 12.3 points and 1.1 blocks during that stretch.

[Update: Chandler will miss tonight's game due to personal reasons.  Amar'e Stoudemire is an excellent value at $4,500.]

C - Enes Kanter, Utah Jazz (vs. ATL), $5,600: With at least 23 minutes in five consecutive games, Kanter has four consecutive games with at least 21 fantasy points. The Hawks have allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to opposing centers this season. Over his past four games, Kanter is averaging 15.0 points and 10.25 rebounds per game.

* Sign up with DraftKings and double your money: Get a 100-percent bonus (up to $600) on your initial deposit with DraftKings.

For those interested in FanDuel leagues, I posted some FanDuel values earlier this morning here.

If you play in full-season leagues, check out my rest-of-season Fantasy NBA rankings.

Keep track of our Fantasy NBA updates by following us on Twitter, "liking" us on Facebook and/or adding us to your Google+ circle.

No comments:

Post a Comment