Daily Fantasy Basketball is back, which means each day XN Sports will have a column detailing advised plays and lineups for the remainder of the NBA season. For those familiar with DraftKings, their daily fantasy basketball is formatted differently this season. There is no multi-position eligibility, which makes it a bit harder to set your lineup.
For those unfamiliar with DraftKings, you are given $50,000 in cap space to select a point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center, a guard, a forward, and a utility player. There are no points deducted for missed shots, which changes the strategy from other sites. To read the full scoring, click here. Keep in mind that a double-double awards a bonus, which can be the difference between cashing in and winning nothing.
Generally, the goal for value is at five times a players salary. That brings a lineup to 250 fantasy points, which will cash on most days.
Give DraftKings a shot, as there will be a few free roll opportunities each night in Daily Fantasy Basketball. Click here to play.
Without further ado, the value plays and lineups for October 31st:
Value Plays
Guard
Courtney Lee, Shooting Guard, Memphis Grizzlies $4,400
Lee is one of the only cheaper values at guard in tonight’s six-game slate, as DraftKings has fixed the prices for most players. At $4,400, great value can be reached with 22 fantasy points. In the first game of the season, Lee was able to score 25.25 points on DraftKings and played 36 minutes while taking 11 shots from the floor, second among all Grizzlies. Tonight, Memphis takes on the Indiana Pacers, who are nowhere close to the defensive prowess they were last year. In their first game, the Pacers gave up just over 50 points to opposing guards (mostly Tony Wroten) and with Lee seeing the majority of the allotted minutes at shooting guard, he’ll have ample opportunity to reach value at only $4,400.
Other values at guard: Tony Allen, MEM $4,000
Forward
Ed Davis, Power Forward, Los Angeles Lakers $4,500
With Julius Randle going down with a season-ending injury, Davis was first in leg to step up as a big man in Los Angeles. So far he has proven his worth. In two games, Davis has logged 55 minutes and has scored 62.25 fantasy points on DraftKings. Davis is averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and has four blocks and three steals in two games so far this season. The one negative for the former North Carolina star is foul trouble, where he has 11 in two games, fouling out of his last contest.
At $4,500, great value can be had with 22.5 fantasy points, and considering he is slated to play around 30 minutes and is averaging over a fantasy point per minute, he is a value in this small slate of games. Davis and the Lakers will take on the Clippers, who are playing in their second game of a back-to-back, and were out-rebounded by the Thunder 47-33 last night. Despite a small sample size, Davis’ usage rate is currently at just over 16 percent, which is excellent for a big man who comes off the bench. Davis played 33 minutes in the Lakers first game without Randle, and a similar workload is expected tonight. Get him into your lineups as the value at forward.
Other values at forward: Chris Johnson, PHI $3,100 and Doug McDermott, CHI $3,400
Center
Anderson Varejao, Center, Cleveland Cavaliers $4,300
It has been an eventful few days for the Cavs’ center, as he was named a starter (somewhat unexpectedly) for the season opener and he is reportedly close to signing a three-year extension. Is he worth adding to your lineup tonight?
Center is a thin position on full slates, let alone a small slate like tonight. With only two centers that are offensive threats (Cousins and Gasol) in the slate tonight, a value at center can be had with Varejao. At his price, great value can be reached with anything over 20 fantasy points. In the Cavs’ first game, Varejao tallied 19.5 fantasy points in 27 minutes of work against the Knicks. He was only able to grab four rebounds, but that is an anomaly for a player who has averaged over 10 rebounds per game since the start of the 2010-11 season. Rebounds will be harder to come by with Kevin Love and LeBron James on the floor, but to add a starting center likely to play close to 30 minutes to your lineup for $4,300 is a bargain. Varejao has a tough matchup against the Bulls, who have one of the better rim defenders in the game in Joakim Noah, but surprisingly the Bulls allowed the Knicks to grab 14 offensive rebounds in their first game. If you decide to go cheap at center, Varejao is the play.
Other values at center: In a small slate, there are no other cheap values at center.
Play of the Day
Brandon Knight, MIL $7,400 against the Sixers
Knight scored 22 points, had eight rebounds and accrued 13 assists in first game, and will face the Sixers tonight. Philadelphia allowed Donald Sloan to score 39.5 fantasy points on opening night, and were the worst in the NBA in allowing fantasy points to point guards last season. Knight has the third-highest usage rate among point guards in this young season, behind only Kemba Walker and Russell Westbrook. It’s evident that the offense will run through him, and that presents a dream matchup against the Sixers.
Knight will be a premier play all across the daily fantasy industry tonight, but is almost a must in cash games.
Lineup
PG – Brandon Knight $7,400
SG – Courtney Lee $4,400
SF – Rudy Gay $7,100
PF – Ed Davis $4,500
C – Marc Gasol $8,300
G – Derrick Rose $7,100
F – Khris Middleton $4,400
UTIL – Darren Collison $6,500
