Point Guard
Ray McCallum (DK $3200, FD $3700, 19.9 USG)
I’m not going to be one of the Jeremy Lin point chasers tonight, even though he is a fine punt by all means, but I prefer a starting point guard going up against the Lakers for the same price any day of the week. You’re going to have skeptics tell you that the signing of Jordan Farmar kills McCallum’s value and although it hurts it, it definitely doesn’t kill it. If last night was any indication of what to expect moving forward, it’s that these two will likely be splitting time pretty evenly, slightest edge going to the hotter hand. Farmar isn’t in the player pool yet so it’s not as if you’re going to have to choose between them, but it shouldn’t matter. Both would be near minimum and both would get to see close to 25 minutes against the second friendliest team to opposing point guards. In just 25 minutes last night against the Suns (a very similar matchup), McCallum recorded 24.8 DPTS on 9 points, 7 assists and 2 steals. I’d expect similar production tonight, which would give us close to 8 X’s value.
Shooting Guard
Josh Richardson (DK $4300, FD $4400, 13.7 USG)
As expected, value is a little harder to come by on smaller slates like these but Richardson has come close to cash game consideration as of late. I don’t like the price tag, as I used to roster him when he was closer to $3500 but if you look at his production, it’s totally justified. He’s reached at least 27 DKPTS in 5 outta his last 6 games with pure efficiency. He’s shooting 64.85% from the field in that span, 68.9% from 3! You would think this kid plays for the Spurs with numbers like this. And yes, regression is inevitable as these kind of numbers are very difficult to sustain but why would he suddenly fall flat on his face against the Pelicans, the 5th worst defensive team in the league? New Orleans’ opponents shoot 36.7% from three, which ranks them 24th in the league and the 6th most fantasy points overall to SG’s. Lastly, the Heat are double-digit favorites in this game, meaning there’s a decent chance Richardson gets some serious garbage time run in such a favorable matchup. He’s already getting solid playing time, averaging 28.7 minutes over his last 6.
Small Forward
Michael Beasley (DK $4900, FD $4800, 32.4 USG)
Yup, this is the third time this week that Beasley is the write up boy at SF. And this should be my last time I get to write him up because I can almost guarantee you his price will jump over the 5K line after tonight. His USG% is still where is began but the minutes are trending up, and why not? He’s playing at a pretty high level. He hasn’t shot under 50% over his last 5 games, which is great for a guy with as much volume as he currently has. He’s played at least 26 minutes in 3 out of his last 4 games, averaging about 32 DKPTS in that span. This game against the Thunder easily owns the highest over/under on the night at 224 and Beasley is a nice cheap way to get some exposure, with huge upside. I can’t believe it’s come to this to be quite honest because this guy was as volatile as it gets throughout his career and that ‘WTF moment’ is still right around the corner but for now, just go with it.
Power Forward
Donatas Motiejunas (DK $3200, FD $3900, 20.7 USG)
This PF position is extremely ugly tonight but Motiejunas gives us another cheap value play in that OKC/HOU game. I personally would recommend just using Randolph or Thad on sites you don’t have to roster 2 PF’s but if you want to punt, Donatas has played at least 21 min in 3 out of his last 4. In those 3 games, he’s averaging 30.26 DKPTS. Not too shabby but sandwiched in between, is a game where he played only 8 minutes (1.5 DKPTS) against the Clippers, a game HOU ambushed from the get go. So there’s that outlier but if Houston keeps this one close (OKC 9.5 favorites), he should see his usual 20+ minutes. What worries me is that his fantasy production strictly comes from rebounds and shooting. OKC allows the least amount of rebounds to PF’s on the season so scoring is likely the only way he’ll contribute tonight. The Thunder are right in the middle of the pack (15th) in points allowed to PF’s.
Center
Omer Asik (DK $3500, FD $3800, 10.7 USG)
The Pelicans have no other options. They’ve lost The Brow for the season and will be without Ryan Anderson for the second consecutive game against the Miami Heat. It’s come to the point where Dante Cunningham is playing the 4 (not a bad punt, by the way). But yeah, Asik is going to have to play nearly 30 minutes by default because Alexis Ajinca just barely returned to the team after suffering a fractured sternum (think about how that sounds for a second) and played just 2 minutes in their last game and Perkins gave them 16 minutes. Just know this going into it, anything Asik gives you on the offensive end is a huge bonus whether it’s a point or an assist because the main categories he’s going to contribute in are rebounds and blocks. So when you see those 15 points Asik got against the Clippers on Sunday, just know that was only the 3rd time he’s scored in double digits all season. The matchup against Miami isn’t ideal but if anything, they’re going to need him to matchup with Whiteside.
Featured Image Credit: by flickr user ReneS (flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
