Point Guard
Darren Collison (DK $5000, FD $5500, 19.1 USG)
The Kings are going to be the most popular source of value on the night, with Rondo, Cousins, Gay and Bellineli all being ruled out so early. Whenever Rondo sits, Collison becomes near must play territory. But now with pretty much everyone sitting, he is a must play. His USG jumps up to 26.6% with everyone out, which leads the entire team. The main thought process behind fading this situation would be fear of a blowout as POR is currently a -13 favorite but with so many limited bodies to throw out there, these guys are gonna get time regardless of the situation. Also, the matchup doesn’t hurt as Portland has given up the 4th most fantasy points to opposing PG’s over the last 3 weeks.
Shooting Guard
Raymond Felton (DK $4300, FD $4100, 17.8 USG)
Before the Kings news came out, I saw no reason to fade Barea and Felton with Deron Williams being ruled out for tonight’s game against the Nuggets. Now, it’s going to be all about figuring out which value plays you love most on the night because you can’t fit them all in. With Collison, Barea and Curry all listed as PG, Felton is attractive because he’s probably alone at this position when it comes to elite value territory. I mean, you can make a case for Ben McLemore, but I never feel right going that route. Over the last two games without Williams, Felton has averaged about 37 minutes a game and 31.9 DKPTS. Now Felton gets to go up against a Nuggets team that’s allowed the second most fantasy points to SG’s over the last 3 weeks. This matchup is just too good for this Mavs backcourt, so I might just try and fit in Barea, Collison and Felton but that would just leave me only one other slot to fit in a PG (which is stacked at the top). The thing I really love about Felton is that when he gets the minutes, he has the ability to rack up a few peripherals to go along with his bump in the scoring department.
Small Forward
Maurice Harkless (DK $3500, FD $4000, 15.3 USG)
I have to apologize for the other night when I had recommended AFA based on the notion he was starting at PF now for Vonleh. I was mistaken due to mixed reports, but it’s Harkless that’s been starting at the 4. And now with everyone sitting in SAC, Harkless remains in play because the Blazers shouldn’t have to worry about Boogie and can continue to play small. It’s been 3 games now that Harkless has been inserted into the starting lineup. In those 3 games, he’s averaging 28.6 minutes and 26.83 DKPTS. Now, you have two choices here. Either Casspi or Harkless to save at the position, but Harkless is cheaper and been more reliable as of late so I’m giving the nod to him, although I think Casspi is the one with more upside.
Power Forward
Ed Davis (DK $4200, FD $4600, 12.7 USG)
Davis has been money since Myers Leonard has been ruled out for the season. He’s now scored at least 30 DKPTS in 4 out of his last 5 games, with not a game playing over 26 minutes. Scoring 1.34 DKPTS per minute, he has loads of appeal in a game that’s widely expected to be a blowout. And even if it somehow stayed close, he’s proven he doesn’t need much time to do damage anyways. Over his last 5 games, he owns a ridiculous 30.5 DRB% and with no Boogie to man the middle for SAC, that trend should continue. With a 221 total over/under, there’s so many cheap ways to attack this game so might as well talk about one more to close us out . . .
Center
Willie Cauley-Stein (DK $3700, $3900, 13.0 USG)
“Trill” has had back to back productive games with Boogie in the lineup, so now that he’s out, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t ride this wave until it crashes, especially with how thin the Kings are tonight. I’m going to have a tough time figuring out which to use tonight between Koufos and WCS because historically, Koufos has been the better play without Cousins. But we do have the option of stacking both of them together on both sites with WCS being listed as a PF on FD, which is something I’m seriously considering. The Kings are going to want to play more of their younger guys down the stretch so Cauley-Stein is more appealing to me but both are fine plays regardless. The matchup doesn’t hurt either. As we’ve mentioned before many times, we love targeting bigs against this Blazers defense. They’ve given up the 4th most fantasy points to opposing centers over their last 10 games. You’re going to want to have mini-stacks from this game in a lot of your lineups.
Featured Image Credit: By Chris Green (Chrisg21090 at en.wikipedia) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
