Point Guard
Toney Douglas (DK $3000, FD $3500, 17.9 USG) – The final day of NBA DFS before the All Star break leaves a lot to be desired as we only have 2 games to work with. We’re going to have to scrape near the bottom of the barrel to find any value with such limited options. Bryce Dejean-Jones’ second 10-day contract has expired and apparently he’s looking for a long-term deal leaving his status in doubt for tonight’s game against the Thunder. With Tyreke Evans out for the year and BDJ’s status being closer to doubtful, Toney Douglas may be the value we’re looking for when trying to fit all these stars into our lineups. The Pelicans prefer Jrue Holiday to come off the bench, so I can definitely see a scenario where Douglas is starting next to Norris Cole. If Douglas is indeed starting, you’re going to have to play him for the cost and opportunity alone. Priced at the minimum across the industry, he’ll be playing meaningful minutes against a Thunder team that is very fantasy friendly to opposing backcourts. Douglas is certainly a player that can fill up a stat sheet. Per 36, he’s averaging 14.1 points, 4.5 assists and 2.6 steals (30.15 DKPTS, 28.11 FDPTS). 2 other things going in his favor will be Dion Waiters defense and that he should be blowout-proof.
Update: Douglas is now listed as the projected starter and instantly becomes an elite value play in all formats
Shooting Guard
Dion Waiters (DK $4600, FD $4200, 17.7 USG) – If you read this column on the regular, you know how I feel about rostering Waiters but as mentioned, value is going to be much tougher than usual to find. The minutes are definitely there for him as he’s averaging 35.5 minutes per game over his last 10, but the production is all over the place. I was on him when he had a terrific matchup against the Nets a few weeks back, playing 33 minutes and was somehow only able to score 15 DKPTS. Then when you don’t roster him in great matchups, he goes off for 28.5 DKPTS and 30.3 DKPTS against the Wizards and Suns. He’s a really frustrating player to figure out but he’s in a great spot again tonight going up against the 5th worst defense in the league and a Pelicans team that gives up the most fantasy points to opposing shooting guards.
Small Forward
JUST PAY UP (FanDuel Specific) – I’m not gonna sit here with a straight face and try selling you on anyone under the 5K range. If you wanna roster someone like Alonzo Gee, Dante Cunningham or Kyle Singler, invite me to you head to head games and we’ll go from there. All jokes aside though, this slate is forcing your move here. If you wanna save salary and avoid paying top dollar for Durant or even Antetokounmpo, I wouldn’t hate on Otto Porter for $5500 on DK and $5300 on FD. If you remember not too long ago, Porter was priced above 6K and was constantly hitting or exceeding value and playing major minutes for the Wizards due to an array of injuries. Then Porter injured his hip, missed 4 games and his production became extremely unpredictable. In a 5 game stretch from 1/28 to 2/05 he was averaging only 14.82 DKPTS. He became the new Anthony Davis, leaving games early with minor injuries, while screwing over lineups in the process. But just 2 games ago against the Hornets, he played 39 minutes, while scoring 40.5 DKPTS. Just maybe, the injuries are finally behind him and if so, he could be in line for a big game against the Bucks. We always love targeting wings against both teams playing in this game, as MIL and WAS are in the bottom 7 in defense against SF’s. If you could somehow promise me Porter plays 35 minutes in this game, I’d be very interested.
On DK, if you really want to go cheap, the only guy I’d consider is Jared Dudley. He’s reached or exceeded value in 5 of his last 7 games and has a great matchup against a Bucks team that is ranked 24th against PF’s (where he’ll be playing)
Power Forward
Jabari Parker (DK $5000, FD $4700, 18.6 USG) – We wrote up Jabari on Tue and he kind of had a bounce back game. I mean, anytime you have back to back games with a combined score of 20.3 DKPTS, you could only go up from there right? I’m not fooling anyone here, scoring 18.3 DKPTS from a $5000 player isn’t what you’re looking for and I don’t wanna try selling him to you again but this is what we’re looking at with only 2 games on the night. On FD, I would feel comfortable rostering Dudley in all honesty because he provides salary relief at a really thin position but on DK, spend an extra few hundred for let down players like Ryan Anderson or Serge Ibaka. See . . . this is the problem here. All these guys have let us down a lot recently and the most expensive guy at the position is Anthony Davis, who has let us down all season. If you can guess which one of these guys has the biggest night, you’re likely winning all the money.
This kind of advice is as cheap as it gets!
Center
Miles Plumlee (DK $3300, FD $3500, 14.1 USG) – So here’s what we know: Plumlee is drawing the start again and Monroe off the bench. Here’s what we don’t know: Jason Kidd‘s motives and how he still has a job. I really don’t want to roster a guy like Plumlee who might only see 10 min and going up against a great defender in Gortat. But he’s cheap as freak and starting, so that has value on a night that has very little. In his start against BOS on Tuesday, Plumlee played 18 minutes and scored only 13.8 DKPTS/13 FDPTS. That was a much more favorable matchup than the one he has tonight against WAS. But just a couple of weeks back against tougher matchups like MEM and MIA, he scored 21.8 and 20.8 DKPTS in 19 and 14 minutes. If we can get somewhere near that at his salary, it’s a win on a night like this.
Featured Image Credit: By Chris Green (Chrisg21090 at en.wikipedia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
