Point Guard
Cory Joseph ($4200, 16.3 USG) – There’s actually a few quality options tonight if you choose to go cheap at point guard. If John Wall (knee) is out, Sessions makes for a great play, Felton keeps getting playing time and T.J. McConnell has been reinserted back into the Sixers starting lineup (also, Canaan is questionable). If Sessions starts in place of an injured Wall tonight, I’ll likely go that route based on pricing alone (only $3600) but as of now, I’ll lean Cory Joseph.
[Play the NBA $250K SHARPSHOOTER tournament on DraftKings tonight! Only $3 to enter. ]
Joseph had himself a miserable game against the Warriors on Sunday, scoring only 12 DK points in 30 minutes and committing a crucial turnover to end the game sealing the victory for GS. I’m hoping that game alone drives his ownership percentages down. Recency bias can be a terrible way of going about your roster construction but the reality is, it happens frequently. If you can, try to throw that game out the window. In the 4 games before Sunday, Joseph was averaging 32.35 minutes and 23.78 DK points. He’s a big part of what the Raptors are doing since the injury to Jonas Valenciunas (Casey has been playing a lot of small ball). Let’s move forward to the matchup tonight against a Lakers team that was just murdered by Reggie Jackson and the Pistons. Lakers are ranked 30th in DvP against opposing PG’s and the Raptors are huge 13 point favorites at home. The game script should favor Joseph, who will see playing time regardless but a nice bump in minutes if this gets out of hand early. A lot of people will be on Lowry tonight so a nice way to be contrarian would be to roster his backup.
UPDATE: Kemba Walker missed shootaround (illness) this morning and is listed as doubtful against Detroit. Jeremy Lin becomes close to a must play if Walker is out
Shooting Guard
O.J. Mayo ($4900, 17.0 USG) – I love it when a player who will be playing point guard is shooting guard eligible. It’s one of the reasons I love rostering a player like Eric Bledsoe when given the opportunity.
If you’re new to DFS, I believe it’s very important to know what kind of importance certain positions are worth compared to others. More often that not . . . point guards, power forwards and centers are much more valuable than shooting guards and small forwards. Those rare exceptions would be reserved for superstars like James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and LeBron James. Those guys do everything. But most shooting guards and small forwards are sandwiched between the positions that are most likely to rack up peripheral stats like assists, blocks and rebounds. You want to have as much exposure to those kind of players as possible. It’s why I rarely ever put a shooting guard in my guard slot or a small forward into my forward slot unless the value of a certain player is worth doing so.
So with that said, let’s take a look at O.J. Mayo. The Bucks are extremely thin in their backcourt. Bayless, Vasquez and Ennis are all nursing injuries that are likely to keep them out again against Portland tonight. Mayo made his first start at PG on Saturday against NY and scored 30.3 DK points in 35 minutes. Michael Carter Williams has been coming off the bench as of late and Jason Kidd has already told the media he intends to keep him there. With a matchup against a guard friendly Portland defense, Mayo should continue to do just fine in his new and temporary role. At only $4900, Mayo will be one of my favorite values of the night if all 3 guards are ruled out.
Evan Turner is also in play tonight if Avery Bradley is out
Small Forward
Chandler Parsons ($4100, 20.9 USG) – DFS can really sting when you get news on a player being ruled out shortly after lineups lock. Yesterday though, we didn’t even get news about Parsons sitting at all. He just didn’t play and as the game had gone on, you just knew he wouldn’t play on their front end of their back-to-back. We should be using that kind of knowledge to feel safer about his chances tonight against the Knicks. I don’t like many off the cheaper options at SF for tonight’s slate so I’ll have no problem going with Parsons. He’s a great talent likely to be getting 25 to 30 minutes, priced at only $4100. The matchup against the Knicks isn’t ideal, who have played surprisingly good defense and ranked 4th in DvP against SF’s but the Mavs are so banged up (Powell is questionable, Barea and Harris are doubtful), Parsons might just have to be a little more aggressive than he’d like to.
Power Forward
Jon Leuer ($4400, 17.2 USG) – How many more Leuer/Len mentions can this column get? I feel like I’ve talked about them both every day since Chandler has been sidelined. Well, their prices aren’t scaring anyone off so let’s keep at it. Looks like Leuer is sticking around in the starting lineup with or without Markieff Morris injured. Morris didn’t play at all yesterday against the Grizzlies. Seems like he’ll be in Jeff Hornacek‘s doghouse for the near future and Leuer will continue to benefit. He played 41 min against Memphis and recorded a double-double and 3 blocks (36.3 DK points). Phoenix plays so much better when Leuer starts. The Suns have an OFFRTG of 108.3 (when Leuer and Len are on the court) compared to 102.4 (when Morris and Len are on the court) over their last 15 games. Alex Len will likely move back to the bench when Chandler returns but I think Leuer stays the starting PF moving forward.
Center
Alex Len ($4200, 17.4 USG) – I know I’m beating on a dead horse here, but this dead horse keeps bleeding out money. Sometimes things are as simple as this: You’re getting a productive starting center going up against against a Bulls team that gives up 53.3 DK points to opposing centers (3rd worst) for only $4200.
That sums it up really. Tyson Chandler will be out again tonight meaning Len and Leuer should continue to soak up as many minutes as they can handle against Chicago. He’s averaged 23.8 DK points in 27.3 minutes over his last 5 games. Maybe this could backfire but I’m going to have 100% exposure to Len tonight in my cash games.
Featured Image Credit: By photo taken by flickr user ReneS (flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
