Point Guard
Shelvin Mack (DK $4300, FD $3900, 22.9 USG)
This whole Jazz team gets a pace bump tonight going up against the Warriors. I believe they’re all a bit underpriced because of this. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with FanDuel, to keep Mack’s price this low now for so long but he’s even cheap enough to exploit on Draft Kings. He’s averaging close to 30 minutes a game over his last 5 and been a reliable source of value in all but 2 games since being traded to UTAH. Now he gets a high paced matchup against the Warriors, who have given up the most fantasy points to opposing point guards over their last 10 games. I wanna believe that the Jazz have a defense capable of keeping this game close through 4 quarters but Vegas isn’t buying it, as GS is favored by 13.5. If you’re too scared of the blowout, another guy I’m considering is Jose Calderon going up against the Suns. He’s still playing major minutes in NY, gets the matchup we’ve all been attacking for the last couple months and his price is extremely depressed. Also, keep an eye out for Cavs news as their likely to sit one of their guys tonight in a back to back and there’s a good chance it’s Kyrie. If he sits, Delly becomes in play against the Kings putrid defense.
Shooting Guard
J.R. Smith (DK $4700, FD $4500, 18.3 USG)
I had a tough time choosing which guy I wanted to write up here because there’s 4 other guys in this price range that deserve serious consideration. At the end of the day, I’m likely to be going with Harden so this isn’t much a problem for me but if you wanna save, look at Redick in OKC, Bradley against MEM, KCP in DAL and Afflalo in PHO. The reason I went with Smith here is because I really believe one of the big 3 in CLE is gonna sit, and likely Irving. If that happens, J.R. Smith gets a bump in the best possible matchup for him. In the one game that CLE and SAC played earlier in the season, Smith made 6 3 pointers and scored a total of 22 points for 35 DKPTS. It’s worth noting that he’s been in a funk as of late, which is why his price keeps dropping but if there’s any team that would be the remedy for getting out of shooting slumps, it’s the Kings.
Small Forward
Tony Allen (DK $4500, FD $4500, 15.3 USG)
The Memphis guys are gonna be quite popular tonight and for good reason. They’re running out of players to play, meaning whoever is healthy should get a nice chunk of playing time. With Matt Barnes expected back tonight, it clouds the picture up a bit but Tony Allen should still play a whole lot in his return to Boston. In his first game back against Cleveland, Allen played 34 minutes and scored 26 points, taking 17 shots. 17 shots is a lot for someone like Tony Allen but this is the world the Grizzlies are living in right now. He did record 5 steals in that game so I wouldn’t expect that to happen again but 2 or 3 isn’t out of the question. I typically avoid targeting guys against this Boston backcourt but this is a situation where volume and opportunity trumps matchup.
Power Forward
JaMychal Green (DK $4500, FD $4600, 18.1 USG)
If you faded Green on Monday night, you prolly lost money like me. I wrote him up that day but pivoted off him last min because I thought that coach Joerger hated Green so much, he’d find away to take minutes from him. It didn’t happen. The Grizzlies are just too thin at the moment. As mentioned with Tony Allen, if you’re healthy enough to play, you’re gonna get decent minutes. After the first quarter against the Cavs, I knew I was drawn dead with how well Green was performing. He ended with 50.5 DKPTS in 37 minutes. With Zach Randolph doubtful tonight, expect Green to be somewhere near 90% owned in cash games. There’s no way I’m missing out on this boat, given the matchup. The Celtics are already fantasy friendly to opposing big men but they also might be without Sully and Olynyk tonight, so all that maybe left is Amir Johnson and Zeller to defend down low. I’m all in.
Center
Al Jefferson (DK $4800, FD $5400, 24.3 USG)
I wrote up AlJeff recently in the game against Philly. Well, he underperformed (18.5 DKPTS) but the reasoning and logic was there because with the exception of that game, he’s been doing AlJeff kinda things as of late. He’s recorded at least 27 DKPTS in 3 out of his last 4 and now gets to go up against a NO team that has no interior defender that can bother him (gives up 2nd most points to centers). The thing that encourages me most is that it looks like they might have upped his minutes limit. In the Hornets last game against MIN, he played 26 minutes which is the most he’s played since returning from injury. If you’re telling me he’s gonna see that many minutes against this NO defense, I see no way he doesn’t hit value at under 5K on DK. On FD, his price is a bit harder to gamble on.
Featured Image Credit: By Chris Green (Chrisg21090 at en.wikipedia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
