Join the Fantasy Alarm Baseball $250 Freeroll that is going down tonight (4/17) at FantasyAces.com.
The NBA playoffs are officially here with four games on Saturday. Make sure to have your lineups set early as lineups lock at 12:30 pm ET. Anthony Davis is the easily the top player across the board. Davis has actually played great vs the Warriors this season, especially since they don't have anyone that can match up with his height or versatility.
Don't over think the point guard position, so go with Michael Carter-Williams and/or Kyle Lowry. Both players have a high floor and have the ability to put up 40-plus fantasy points. Stephen Curry is way over priced, John Wall usually struggles on the road, and the Mavericks could have four healthy point guards sharing minutes (Rondo, D. Harris, R. Felton, and J.J. Barea), which hurts all of their values. Derrick Rose is the only other player I'd consider at the position because his price tag is relatively low and he does have a high ceiling, but you never know if Rose is going to play a full game. That means Rose is a better GPP option than a cash game option.
The shooting guard position has a couple of stud players at the top( Jimmy Butler and DeMar DeRozan), but both players are priced extremely high. I prefer Butler over DeRozan because Butler is going to play close to 40 minutes and can get a high number of rebounds and steals. Klay Thompson is a decent option on Fanduel. Louis Williams is the best value play at the position because of his ability to score in bunches. Bradley Beal is a boring play that will produce around 30 fantasy points.
Draymond Green is easily the best player at small forward as he averaged almost 14 points, 12 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and almost two blocks in four games vs New Orleans this season. Value plays highlight the rest of the position as Paul Pierce and Harrison Barnes are quality number two options on Fanduel.
The power forward position has a couple of nice mid-tier options in Dirk Nowitzki and Ersan Ilyasova, I favor Ilyasova because his price tag is lower, their floors are about the same, while Ilyasova has the better matchup and higher ceiling than Dirk does. Avoid the Bulls front court players because they're going to share minutes, which limits the ceiling on all of those guys. Pau Gasol is good for 40 fantasy points, but that isn't even five times his value on Fanduel or DraftKings. Amare Stoudemire and Nene Hilario are quality low-tier players to target.
The center position is tough to figure out because all of the top-tier options have question marks about them. Dwight Howard is on a minutes limit, Marcin Gortat has a tough matchup and hasn't played that much in the fourth quarter during the regular season, and Joakim Noah gets rebounds and assists, but will only play around 30 minutes. Tyson Chandler has been phenomenal recently, add that in with his nice price tag, and that makes him the top player at the position. Andrew Bogut has a great chance to finish as one of the top three fantasy point producers at the position, which makes him one of the best value options at the position.
Here is the NBA DFS Playbook for Saturday April 17th, 2015:
Point Guards
| Player | Team | Fantasy Aces | Fanduel | DraftKings | Comments |
| Michael Carter-Williams | Bucks | 5,650 | 7,400 | 7,000 | Expect stats in all cats as he does a bit of everything |
| Kyle Lowry | Raptors | 5,500 | 7,700 | 7,500 | Shows up in big games and isn't that expensive |
Shooting Guards
| Player | Team | Fantasy Aces | Fanduel | DraftKings | Comments |
| Jimmy Butler | Bulls | 6,100 | 8,300 | 7,400 | Love his price tag on DK |
| DeMar DeRozan | Raptors | 5,800 | 8,600 | 7,800 | Good GPP option because of his high ceiling. Prefer K. Thompson on FD |
| Louis Williams | Raptors | 4,450 | 5,200 | 5,300 | Averaged 30 FP on DK in 3 games vs WSH this season |
| O.J. Mayo | Bucks | 4,300 | 4,600 | 4,000 | Nice boom/bust player that will see plenty of FGA |
Small Forwards
| Player | Team | Fantasy Aces | Fanduel | DraftKings | Comments |
| Draymond Green | Warriors | 5,500 | 7,500 | 7,200 | Best player at the position and doesn't cost that much |
| Paul Pierce | Wizards | 4,500 | 4,200 | 4,500 | The veteran SF shows up for the playoffs |
| Harrison Barnes | Warriors | 4,300 | 4,100 | 4,700 | Great value for a player that is going to start and play 30-plus minutes |
| Al-Farouq Aminu | Mavericks | 3,850 | 4,500 | 4,200 | Love as punt play ONLY if Parsons is out |
Power Forwards
| Player | Team | Fantasy Aces | Fanduel | DraftKings | Comments |
| Anthony Davis | Pelicans | 7,900 | 11,800 | 11,000 | Averaged 29.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, & 2 steals in 2 games vs GSW this season |
| Ersan Ilyasova | Bucks | 4,200 | 5,200 | 5,700 | Put up almost a FP per minute vs CHI. Expect him to play 30-plus minutes this series |
| Amare Stoudemire | Mavericks | 3,800 | 4,100 | 3,600 | Superb low-tier option. |
| Nene Hilario | Wizards | 4,250 | 4,300 | 4,200 | Risky GPP option that will start for the Wizards |
Centers
| Player | Team | Fantasy Aces | Fanduel | DraftKings | Comments |
| Tyson Chandler | Mavericks | 4,750 | 6,000 | 6,000 | Will produce a double-double |
| Andrew Bogut | Warriors | 4,950 | 5,400 | 5,000 | Good value on DK/FD. Does a bit of everything |
| Dwight Howard | Rockets | 5,800 | 7,400 | 6,800 | Risky option b/c of his minutes limit, but does have the highest ceiling at the position |
| Omer Asik | Pelicans | 4,400 | 5,000 | 4,300 | Best low-tier option at the position |