NBA Rundown: Wednesday 03/04
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
Recap
I hope you followed along yesterday, as I mentioned we would make up for the terrible effort on Tuesday and we did just that. Having Anthony Davis at 1% ownership with no big on the sixers to possibly handle him. AD saw Mike Scott for majority of the night and coasted to 37 points, 13 rebounds and 6 combined blocks and steals. We have seen a trend since the all star break of success every other night. Today we break that trend.
Today’s Slate
9 games with enough injuries to roster a full team of $5,000 or less players. A slate like this is difficult because of so many options, but you hit on the right value plays while paying up for the right guys and you’ll see a nice pay day. Let’s dive in!
Top Plays
Jayson Tatum- I think the place to start on this slate is the Celtics/Cavaliers game. Both teams are extremely short handed and you’ll see a lot on my lists today. For the Celtics, Kemba, Jaylen Brown, and Gordon Hayward are already ruled out. Tatum is considered probable at the time I’m writing this so keep an eye on this. I don’t love the price for Tatum at $9,900 on DK but neither will other people and that’s why I’m obsessed with him. He already leads his team in usage when they are healthy, what’s it going to be like when he’s one of only two regular starters that are in the lineup? Did I mention, the other regular starter is Daniel Theis who is last on the team in usage for players averaging 15+ minutes a game. The cavaliers are also pathetic defensively, specially against versatile forwards where they rank bottom 5 in the league. I consider this a lock for 50+ FP tonight if Tatum is healthy and in the lineup.
Kevin Porter jr- Let’s stay with this game. We mentioned the injuries on the Boston side, yet Cleveland is dealing with the same. Darius Garland, Andre Drummond, and Tristan Thompson are all ruled out. With Garland out the other night they gave Porter the starting nod and since he’s already ruled out today I expect that to be the same case. KPJ takes a lot of shots, he’s going to play 33+ minutes with the lack of depth for the Cavs, and he’s a true superstar in the making. My love for Porter in fantasy is because he contributes with all statistics across the board. He doesn’t need scoring to hit value at only $5,300. At that price we need 27 points to see him hit value and with 33+ minutes he should see that. The matchup with Boston would normally be scary, but they aren’t facing off against the Boston team we are used to. Fire up KPJ today.
Juan Hernangomez- This is one place I’m going to be different than the rest. This Celtics/Cavs game should be popular and rightfully so. With all the bigs being hurt for Cleveland I expect ownership to be sky high on Larry Nance Jr. my problem lies in the fact that his price is all the way up to $6,500. He has to score 35 to be valuable on this slate and the truth is he’s going to be popular with the short handed Cavaliers. It’s not that I can’t see him scoring 35, it’s that I think 40 is his ceiling, while I see his floor being around 22. I’ll take the cheaper option who I see with an equal floor and maybe even a higher ceiling in Juan Hernangomez. Juan has scored 30+ in his last 3 games and his price sits pretty at $5,600 on DK. He will also see a fresh from injury, yet terrible defender in Lauri Markannan. I think he’s a safe bet and he is always low owned. Love me some Juan Hernangomez!
Position Plays
PG
Luka Doncic (top spend up with Tatum)
Coby White
Chris Chiozza (def a tournament dart but I like this kid on a 10 day contract, risky)
SG
Caris LeVert
Marcus Smart
CJ McCollum
SF
Kevin Porter jr
TJ Warren (No Oladipo)
Cedi Osman
PF
Jayson Tatum
Juan Hernangomez
Larry Nance jr
C
Hassan Whiteside
Myles Turner
Jonas Valanciunas
