NBA RUNDOWN: SATURDAY 02/22
By Ethan Tabor
What to expect
We will provide a basic rundown of the slate each day rather it’s in article, podcast or video form. The rundown will include games and spreads that day with correlated matchups, We will have a write up for specific players that we see advantages or disadvantages to having in your lineup, and we will then finish the rundown by giving you the top options at each position. The goal here is to not just give the best plays to win money but to teach you how to construct winning lineups on your own to make DFS a profitable game rather than a gamble. This article will be posted each day, at least an hour and a half before lineup lock. If the days slate starts at 7pm EST then you can expect the rundown posted no later than 5:30pm. Follow us on twitter to keep updated on the inevitable injury updates and how that will effect your lineups after this article is posted. https://twitter.com/Money_LineDFS
Today’s Slate
We have a weird slate with a lot of injuries factoring in. It is however 6 games which is right in my sweet spot again. For clarification, 2-4 games just doesn’t leave much to desire. You need to differentiate in those slates with a limited player pool. 5-8 games is ideal, you have enough teams going that you can differentiate and find ownership sweet spots. 9+ can get a little crazy because there’s so many people that can go off for big games and wreck the entire slate. Don’t get me wrong, I play every day... but I certainly prefer the 5-8 game slates far and above! Now let’s dive in.
Top Plays
Goran Dragic- Jimmy Butler has been ruled out for personal reasons today against the Cavs. The personal reason could just be that the Cavs fucking stink and they don’t need him. Regardless, the number one beneficiary of the Heat being without Jimmy is the fantasy production of Goran Dragic. His usage and minutes both see a major increase and the matchup against Cleveland is a top 5 matchup for scoring guards. Both Collin Sexton and Darius Garland have defensive ratings in the negatives and Goran should capitalize. One last positive here is that with Jimmy ruled out, the line moved instantly from Heat -14.5 to Heat -12.5. Not as big of a move as I expected but nonetheless I expect this game to stay closer than that line implies so I like key guys like Dragic to get plenty run today.
Maxi Kleber- Very classic move of Rick Carlisle to rest Luka and Porzingis today in their game against the Hawks. This without a doubt opens a ton of value on the Dallas side of the ball and I think with Willie Caulie-Stein being ruled out as well that Kleber is the first place to look. Atlanta is one of the worst defensive teams in the league and that will continue even with the scrubs that Dallas will be throwing out there. I normally target point guards against the Hawks and Luka would have been my #1 today but I like the minutes we will see out of Kleber at the price of $3,800 on fanduel.
Rudy Gobert- Rudy is an animal and I love watching him play. Today he has a matchup against the Rockets who will be defending Gobert with a 6’4” center. The rockets small ball technique is certainly different but they have yet to face an elite center like Gobert with this approach. Rudy could have a million rebounds in this game and I’ll be all over it. There is some risk that the Jazz decide to play along and go small ball as well but I really don’t see them doing so as Gobert has been seeing nearly 40 minutes a game. I think he’s the safest play on both sites tonight.
Position plays
PG
Goran Dragic
Spencer Dinwiddie
Thomas satoransky
SG
Caris LeVert
James Harden
Zach LaVine
SF-
Greek Freak
Jae Crowder
Kelly Oubre jr
PF
Maxi Kleber
Larry Nance jr
Bam Adebayo
C
Rudy Gobert
Andre Drummond
DeAndre Ayton
