Knicks At Bulls
Vegas Line: Chi -8
Total- 210
New York Knicks
Projected Lineup
PG – Derrick Rose
SG – Courtney Lee
SF – Carmelo Anthony
PF – Kristaps Porzingis
C – Joakim Noah
This is a homecoming for Rose and Noah back to their former team and for Rose his hometown. The Bulls decided to go in a different direction when building their team for the future and Rose/Noah went to the Knicks in the offseason. The primary issue is that the Knicks are spreading the ball around so much that it is difficult to focus in on one player to start. Carmelo Anthony is typically the player that we look to, but he is going up against one of the best defenders in the NBA in Jimmy Butler. Courtney Lee is not fantasy viable unless you need a min salary punt play. Kristaps Porzingis is intriguing as he should match up well against Taj Gibson, but he just is not touching the ball enough to trust him at that price as his usage rate is just 19.9. This brings us back to evaluating the two former Bulls. Joakim Noah has got off to a very slow start as he is averaging just 2.0 points per game while only playing 22 minutes. It doesn’t look like Noah is completely healthy and while the upside is there as he is a very emotional player, but he is hard to trust for cash games. Derrick Rose is what we are left with, and he draws one of the toughest matchups on the team going up against Rajon Rondo who is a four-time all NBA defense. This is likely a situation where you do not want to roster anyone in cash games as there are better options in this slate.
Top Plays- None
Secondary Play- Derrick Rose (cash),Joakim Noah (GPP), Kristaps Porzingis
Chicago Bulls
Projected Lineup
PG- Rajon Rondo
SG- Dwyane Wade
SF- Jimmy Butler
PF- Taj Gibson
C- Robin Lopez
Jimmy Butler is one of the top plays of the day as he gets the very favorable matchup going up against Carmelo Anthony who has allowed the most points to opposing small forwards so far this season. This is a tremendous matchup tonight against Carmelo and while in the past the Knicks have double teamed and provided help to Butler, they’re going to be less likely to do that tonight with Dwyane Wade on the other side of the ball. If they do provide help and commit to slowing Butler down Wade makes for a great GPP play. The issue with Wade is that his minutes have been very volatile and with the Bulls being big favorites in this one has us scared off of him a little bit as his minutes have ranged from 21-32 minutes so far this season. The aging veteran is someone who is not going to play much in the fourth quarter if the team has a significant lead and therefore he can only be used in GPP’s.
Top Plays- Jimmy Butler
Secondary Options- Dwyane Wade (GPP)
Hawks at Wizards
Vegas Line: Wash -2
Total- 210
Atlanta Hawks
Projected Lineup
PG- Dennis Schroder
SG- Kyle Korver
SF- Kent Bazemore
PF- Paul Millsap
C- Dwight Howard
Is there a player who flies under the radar more than Paul Millsap in the DFS community? All the guy does is produce on a nightly basis, but since he does not have the monster points or rebounds games that people draw their eyes to he just gets overlooked. He is a consistently good cash game play that typically has a 30 point floor in every game. He will be going up against Markieff Morris who is an average defender. Dwight Howard on DraftKings at $7,700 is just too cheap considering the bonus points for double doubles. Howard has three double-doubles in four of his games so far this season including a 31 point 11 rebound game last time out. Howard is one of the top center plays of the day as he gets to go up against Marcin Gortat who has allowed the 12th most fantasy points to centers so far this year. Gortat does not have the athletic ability to keep up with Howard who should be able to exploit it for a very good game.
Top Plays- Dwight Howard, Paul Millsap
Secondary Plays- Dennis Schroder
Washington Wizards
Projected Lineup
PG- John Wall
SG- Bradley Beal
SF- Otto Porter
PF- Markieff Morris
C- Marcin Gortat
John Wall has been tremendous to start this season, and is one of the top plays tonight not named Anthony Davis. He is coming off a 33 point, 11 assists, 5 rebound game against a very talented defending team in Toronto where Lowry and Derozan might be the best defensive tandem in the NBA against guards. This matchup should be significantly easier against Dennis Schroeder and Atlanta who have allowed the 12th most points to opposing point guards to start this season. Outside of Wall, there are not a lot of great options for this Washington Wizards team. Marcin Gortat is intriguing based on the lack of mid-priced centers on this slate, but it is hard to select a center going up against Dwight Howard.
Top Plays- John Wall
Secondary Plays- Bradley Beal (GPP)
Hornets at Nets
Vegas Line: CHA -6.5
Total- 205.5
Charlotte Hornets
Projected Lineup
PG- Kemba Walker
SG- Nicolas Batum
SF- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
PF- Marvin Williams
C- Cody Zeller
This is a great matchup for Charlotte as Brooklyn so far this year has been the team that you want to pick on for DFS purposes. Brooklyn is top 10 in fantasy points allowed to all positions including the second most to point guards, fourth most to both small forwards and power forwards. With Jeremy Lin out for this game it is likely going to hurt the point guard production a little bit, but Kemba Walker so far has been a scoring machine averaging 23 points per game 5.5 assists and 2.3 rebounds. He is another candidate of someone whose price has not caught up with him just yet early on in this season. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is an excellent GPP play as so far this season he has a 13 rebound and a 14 rebound game including 23 points in that 14 rebound game. His price is likely going to keep him lower owned than he otherwise should be
Nicolas Batum is a great cash game play as he does so much more than just score which really helps out his floor for this game. So far this season Batum is averaging 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists, and has had at least 10 rebounds + assists in every game to start this season. Depending on the site, this is a free 12-15 points that you can just lock in. This matchup is a very good one going up against Rondae Hollis-Jefferson who has really struggled on both sides of the ball to start this season.
Top Plays: Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum
Secondary Plays: Marvin Williams, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Brooklyn Nets
Projected Lineup
PG- Sean Kilpatrick
SG- Bojan Bogdanovic
SF- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
PF- Trevor Booker
C- Brook Lopez
This Nets team is a tough one to figure out, as they are without question one of the worst NBA teams in the league, but even the worst team can still have fantasy value. Jeremy Lin is going to miss a few weeks with an injury which opens the door for either Sean Kilpatrick or Isaiah Whitehead. Regardless of who starts this game, Kilpatrick is the better play as he should see more minutes which was shown last game when he saw 28 minutes. Kilpatrick is an electric scorer, and really the only player on Brooklyn who can score consistently outside of Brook Lopez. He should see a high usage rate tonight which at his price of under $5k on both sites, he makes for one of the top plays of the night. Brook Lopez is the ultimate boom/bust play as we saw last game where he had 34 points, 11 rebounds. This was a great performance from Brook and he is in a good matchup today against Cody Zeller, but we can not recommend doing this for cash games as he is simply too inconsistent to predict what his next performance is going to be. He is strictly a GPP target.
Top Plays: Sean Kilpatrick
Secondary Options: Brook Lopez (GPP)
Heat at Raptors
Vegas Line: TOR -8
Total- 202
Miami Heat
Projected Lineup
PG- Goran Dragic
SG- Dion Waiters
SF- Justise Winslow
PF- Luke Babbitt
C- Hassan Whiteside
This whole slate lacks the typical firepower that you would look for from the center position without Cousins or Karl-Anthony Towns. With that said, Whiteside has taken his game to a completely different level so far this season averaging 19.8 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3 blocks per game. He goes up against Jonas Valanciunas, who is a decent center in his own right but Whiteside has a tremendous athletic advantage over Valanciunas in this matchup. Whiteside is one of the top center plays on this slate, but at his price there are better options to be able to spend up to some of the other big names.
Top Plays- Hassan Whiteside,
Secondary Plays- Goran Dragic
Toronto Raptors
Projected Lineup
PG- Kyle Lowry
SG- DeMar Derozan
SF- DeMarre Carroll
PF- Pascal Siakam
C- Jonas Valanciunas
What is there to say about DeMar Derozan besides start the hot hand. So far this season, Derozan is leading the NBA in scoring with 36.3 points per game. Recently he also has been contributing more in the assists and rebound categories which is not something that we have seen over the course of his career. The matchup is not a great one however, as Miami is a solid defensive team with Hassan Whiteside in the middle to deter too many players from driving to the basket. With that said Derozan is a great shooter and can beat you on the outside as well as the inside. Teams have tried to put everything they can on Derozan to stop him but no one has been successful so far this season, and his price has not reached a point where it is prohibitive to play him. He makes for a great play on this slate.
Top Plays- DeMar Derozan,
Secondary Play- Kyle Lowry
Clippers at Grizzlies
Vegas Line: LAC -5.5
Total- 197
Los Angeles Clippers
Projected Lineup
PG- Chris Paul
SG- J.J. Redick
SF- Luc Mbah a Moute
PF- Blake Griffin
C- DeAndre Jordan
The Grizzlies are not a team that we typically want to target, as they're a slow paced team and when Conley and Gasol are playing are a very good defensive team. The DVP looks a little bit off here as Gasol and Conley have both been rested early on in this season. If there is a weak spot in this defense it would be likely be James Ennis or JaMychal Green just due to lack of experience. This sets up well for J.J. Redick and Blake Griffin as GPP plays as both of these players will be under-owned and have the potential to have big games. Redick has struggled so far this season, but has the shooting ability to get hot quickly and pay off his supressed price. Griffin has just been a monster so far this year as he has three double-doubles in his first four games.
Top Plays: None
Secondary Options: Chris Paul, J.J. Redick (GPP), Blake Griffin
Memphis Grizzlies
Projected Lineup
PG- Mike Conley
SG- Tony Allen
SF- James Ennis
PF- JaMychal Green
C- Marc Gasol
This game is an absolutely horrible matchup for Memphis tonight. Memphis’ two best players are facing off against two of the best defenders at their position in Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan. If we had to roster either Conley or Gasol, it would be Gasol simply because as great as DeAndre Jordan is, he occasionally goes for the block too often and it can lead to some passes to the team’s center. Gasol had one big game in 2014 against Jordan where he had 30 points and 12 rebounds, but he was able to get Jordan in early foul trouble where he only played 20 minutes for the entire game. It is likely going to take a similar performance for Gasol to reach GPP value. The one benefit for Gasol is that his floor is high, and with the lack of elite options at center tonight with no screaming values out there he could be considered for cash games although he is not our top option.
JaMychal Green is really intriguing as he has stepped up so far this season. While we can not expect another 21 point performance out of Green, he is shooting the ball 9.6 times per game for 11.2 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game. His salary has not adjusted to how well he is playing, so this does make for an intriguing punt play as if he can get close to a double double against Blake Griffin he should easily exceed value.
Top Plays: None
Secondary Options: JaMychal Green, Marc Gasol
Suns At Pelicans
Vegas Line: NO -3
Total- 211
Phoenix Suns
Projected Lineup
PG- Eric Bledsoe
SG- Devin Booker
SF- T.J. Warren
PF- Jared Dudley
C- Tyson Chandler
When will T.J. Warren’s salary increase on either site? The second year player out of NC State continues his emergence as a top scorer on this Suns team. So far this season he is averaging 22.4 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. The matchup is an ideal matchup as the Pelicans have allowed the second most points to small forwards so far this season and Warren will have an athletic advantage over Solomon Hill in this one. He is one of if not the top cash game play in this slate based on his salary and his opportunity as he is shooting the ball 17.8 times per game so as long as he does not go through a cold shooting game he should easily hit cash game value.
Devin Booker is another player whose price is simply too cheap for the skill level of the player, but the issue for Booker is that he is going to be much more reliant on scoring the basketball compared to Warren who consistently has shown to get rebounds. Booker is a better GPP play than a cash game play simply because he has the ability to go out and score 25+ points every time he touches the floor, but when he has an poor shooting night he can wreck your lineup as we saw against Golden State where he had just seven points and two assists.
Top Plays: T.J. Warren
Secondary Options: Devin Booker
New Orleans Pelicans
Projected Lineup
PG- Tim Frazier
SG- E’Twaun Moore
SF- Solomon Hill
PF- Dante Cunningham
C- Anthony Davis
Everyone was burned by the Pelicans last game out which means that their ownership levels will be extremely low. The Pelicans are 0-5 and are desperate for a win after coming into the season with relatively high hopes with Anthony Davis being the star of the team. The hardest thing to do is to go back to Anthony Davis as it seems that just when we start to trust him again he burns us with another lackluster performance and Alvin Gentry impacted Tim Frazier when Gentry played his bench for most of the second half. This is a great matchup for both Frazier and Davis as the Suns are 5th in fantasy points allowed to point guards and 11th in fantasy points allowed to power forwards. So far this season Davis is 6th in the NBA in usage percentage at 35.5% when his previous career average was just 26.5% so this team is running the ball through Davis more than ever. Expect this to continue and with the price not increasing from the last time out he makes for an excellent cash game and GPP play.
Top Plays: Tim Frazier, Anthony Davis
Secondary Options: None
Trail Blazers at Mavericks
Vegas Line: CHA -6.5
Total- 205.5
Portland Trail Blazers
Projected Lineup
PG- Damian Lillard
SG- C.J. McCollum
SF- Maurice Harkless
PF- Al-Farouq Aminu
C- Mason Plumlee
The Mavericks DVP stats are a little bit strange so far this season, but a lot of it has to do with who they have faced and how players are classified. The stats say that they’ve given up the 6th most fantasy points to shooting guards when Wesley Matthews is one of the top perimeter defenders in the NBA. This data is extremely skewed as the Mavericks have played James Harden twice so far this season which is why you have to be a little bit careful with stats this early on in the season. This game sets up very well for Damian Lillard, as neither Deron Williams nor J.J. Barea can defend Lillard who has been absolutely unstoppable so far this season averaging 32.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. Expect another big game from LIllard and he is one of the top point guard options on this slate. C.J. McCollum has been up and down so far this season as he is very scoring dependent and his rebound and assists categories are extremely volatile. McCollum is a GPP option only as Matthews is a great defender as previously mentioned, which would create opportunity if Matthews defended Lillard.
Top Plays: Damian Lillard
Secondary Options: C.J. McCollum (GPP)
Dallas Mavericks
Projected Lineup
PG- Deron Williams or J.J. Barea
SG- Wesley Matthews
SF- Harrison Barnes
PF- Dirk Nowitzki
C- Andrew Bogut
It is still unclear who is going to start at the point guard position for Dallas, so keep a close eye out on this one. If it is J.J. Barea, he becomes a tremendous start going up against Damian Lillard. Barea is one of those consistent players who when he gets the minutes he produces regardless of matchup, and Lillard is a matchup that Barea could exploit rather easily as the Trail Blazers are 3rd in points allowed to point guards. If Deron Williams starts, he is a GPP play as the production has to come from somewhere, and getting 25 minutes from a point guard against Portland is a very good opportunity in a high tempo game. Harrison Barnes outside of the big game against Houston last week has really not performed up to his max contract. He just is not getting enough rebounds or assists to be consistently fantasy viable at his current price.
Top Plays: J.J. Barea (If Williams sits)
Secondary Options: Deron Williams, J.J. Barea (If Williams plays)
Spurs At Jazz
Vegas Line: SAN -4
Total- 186.5
San Antonio Spurs
Projected Lineup
PG- Patty Mills
SG- Kyle Anderson
SF- Kawhi Leonard
PF- LaMarcus Aldridge
C- Pau Gasol
Top Plays: Patty Mills
Secondary Options: Kawhi Leonard
Patty Mills is really the only option to be considered in this game and that is due to him starting over Tony Parker who is going to miss this game. This game has one of the lowest over/unders of the season at just 186.5, and at just $3.8k on DraftKings and $3.9k on FanDuel. If there is one position that is the easiest to exploit against Utah it is the guard position. We saw Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in the season opener have a terrific game against the Jazz, we also saw Austin Rivers and Chris Paul combine for 27 points last week. It is not a great matchup against the Jazz, but it is not the worst punt play on the slate as he could exceed value very easily.
Utah Jazz
Projected Lineup
PG- George Hill
SG- Rodney Hood
SF- Joe Johnson
PF- Derrick Favors
C- Rudy Gobert
This game is one that you typically would want to avoid even if it is on a 5 game slate let alone a 9 game slate. These two teams are slow methodical teams that are going to try to win this game 88-82 and be ok with it. Both have very strong inside presences but they are even better defenders making it tough to trust any of the big men on the Jazz. The one player who is intriguing is George Hill who had 22 points 7 assists and 2 rebounds in his last game against San Antonio earlier this year. Patty Mills is not a great defender and Hill will be relied upon to do the bulk of the scoring for the Jazz tonight.
Top Plays: None
Secondary Options: George Hill
Warriors at Lakers
Vegas Line: GS -11
Total- 229
Golden State Warriors
Projected Lineup
PG- Steph Curry
SG- Klay Thompson
SF- Kevin Durant
PF- Draymond Green
C- Zaza Pachulia
Top Plays: Steph Curry (GPP), Kevin Durant
Secondary Options: Klay Thompson, Draymond Green
This is a game that from a projection standpoint is very difficult to project. You have the Warriors who are very big favorites on the second half of a back to back in what should be a blowout. The Warriors spread it around so much and they’re priced so high that it’s tough to get a read on who the play is for that day. Durant is likely the guy to go with in this one as if you watched the game last night he is making all of the shots that he is taking and he is taking a lot of them. Curry is strictly a GPP play as he is not getting enough rebounds or assists to make him fantasy viable and in this blowout may rest if this lead gets out of hand. Klay Thompson like we saw yesterday will probably get the most minutes on this team even into when the game gets out of hand as they’re trying to get his shooting back on track. He is still cheap on some sites and is an interesting play.
Los Angeles Lakers
Projected Lineup
PG- D’Angelo Russell
SG- Nick Young
SF- Luol Deng
PF- Julius Randle
C- Ivica Zubac
Taking players who are projected to lose by more than 10 points in cash games is always a risky venture, as if the game is close those players will likely perform well, but if it gets out of hand your player may only see 60-70% of his projected minutes for that night. With this slate being a nine game slate, there are a lot of other options than having to pick from this Lakers team. If there is one play that is the favorite it would be Jordan Clarkson coming off the bench as he may still play through garbage time and pay off his salary there.
Top Plays: None
Secondary Options: D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson
