Fantasy Alarm Daily Fantasy Basketball Du-Rant
Daily Dandies for Wednesday November 6th
by Michael Pichan (@FantasyNomad)
Fantasy Basketball Du-Rant
The Du-Rant title derives from a play on "Double Ups" in DFS lingo, which will be the backbone of my recommendations for you each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The Rant part will vary with each article. Sometimes I'll just go off on an opinionated Rant that hopefully will be entertaining and at times helpful, other times I'll rant about some statistical nuances that standout that could hopefully help you make a daily lineup decision. Today's Du-Rant we tip-off with a look at the “Stars and Scrubs” method for drafting your roster.
The “Stars and Scrubs” strategy is pretty self explanatory in that you base your daily drafting on stocking up on as many “Stars” that you can while throwing in some so-called “Scrubs.” What is meant by scrubs is not some 12th man on the bench, rather some of the lowest priced players possible, whom could possibly return some increased value for the evening. There are a couple key factors in determining if this strategy is a good one to employ on a certain day.
First, it is best to implement this strategy on a night that has a fuller slate of games, usually 10 or more as we have tonight, so the pool of “scrubs” is deeper.
Second, do the “Stars,”have good matchups as they do tonight with the top four priced players all having favorable matchups at DraftStreet. Granted it would be near implausible to roster all four of them, but you get the point.
Third, and this is something we saw Tuesday night, are there a few players who are relatively cheap who will see extended minutes due to a starter being unavailable for the night, for whatever reason. For example, on Tuesday, Suns Gerald Green, Pacers C.J. Watson, and the Heat’s Shane Battier all presented increased earning potential at a discounted price because the Suns Goran Dragic, Pacers George Hill, and Chris Bosh for the Heat were all ruled out for Tuesday’s games. The more type of players like this that you can find on a given evening make the “Stars and Scrubs” strategy even more plausible.
I will expand on this strategy as the season goes on, but for now this should be a good primer to get you started, combined with the recommendations in today’s “Daily Dandies.”
Daily Dandies
For those of you checking out my recommendations for the first time, I group the players in A,B,C,D Tiers as a play on the old A,B,C,D basketball camps and as an easy way to distinguish player tiers. (All prices are according to Draft Street). If you have any specific questions post them in the comments section and I will answer them asap or send me a tweet by clicking on my twitter handle at the top of this article. To see who is starting each night visit our NBA Lineups Page
A-All Star priced players that should put up All Star stats today (target 35+ FP, $15,000-on up).
* As mentioned above, all four of the top priced players today at DraftStreet, Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry, all have favorable matchups and are worth spending on today if you choose the “Stars and Scrubs” method. If not pick either one, but maybe put Durant as the fourth option as that seems like the biggest chance for a blowout, thus there is the possibility, as we saw in two previous Warriors game, that some of the starters see less minutes in the fourth quarter.
B-rated Ballers: Big name players with big games, but not as high of a price tag as the top five or so priced players at each position (around 30 FP, $12,000-$15,000).
* G Eric Bledsoe (14.8%), is averaging the third most Fantasy Points among tonight’s active guards, yet is only the 7th most expensive guard.
* F Thaddeus Young (13.1%) disappointed owners in his last contest, so look for a bounceback game versus a Wizards team that is one of the worst in defending his position. Also consider Jeff Green if Gerald Wallace misses tonight’s game.
* C Spencer Hawes (14.0%) should get back to his double-double ways tonight for the same reason Thaddeus Young should do well.
C-as in players that COULD be in line to provide you with good to great value in the mid-tier price range (target 25+ FP, $8,000-$12,000).
* G O.J. Mayo (11.7%) will be leaned on to score with Ilyasova and Sanders questionable and Knight and Ridnour ruled out for tonight’s game. Also consider Clippers J.J. Redick (9.4%) who is coming off a 26 point performance and that was with just two 3-pointers made.
* F Corey Brewer (8.4%) and the TWolves will get in an up and down race with the Warriors, which benefits Brewer’s game.
* C Jonas Valanciunas (11.1%) asserted himself nicely againt a Bosh-less Miami Heat team last night, so his confidence should high and is facing a Bobcats team that is one of the worst in terms of limiting opposing team’s big men from getting rebounds. Also consider Anderson Varejao whether Larry Sanders plays or not as the Bucks are the worst rebounding team in the league.
D-Discounted Dandies: Players on the cheap whose production may exceed what their discounted price tag suggests. (Double Digit Fantasy Production, $3,500-$8,000).
* G Gerald Green (6.0%) has played over 30 minutes the last two games averaging 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field and had three blocks in Tuesday’s game.
* G Jordan Crawford (7.2%) is starting at point guard tonight for the C's.
* G C.J. Watson (5.5%) as seen 30 or more minutes the last two games while George Hill has been out, (Hill will miss tonight’s game as well) thus Watson is in play again. Bucks guards Gary Neal and Nate Wolters are also worth considering with Brandon Knight and Luke Ridnour ruled out for tonight’s game.
* F DeJuan Blair (7.3%), I own Blair in some deeper leagues and he has been a pleasent surprise averaging about double-digit points and eight rebounds over his last three games with a total of 11, yes 11, steals in those three games combined with three blocks.
* F Jared Dudley (7.4%) Matt Barnes is out with a calf injury
* C ZaZa Pachulia (8.1%) has averaged almost 27 Fantasy Points with a healthy Larry Sanders, who is questionable for tonight’s game.
Michael Pichan is a co-host of the Fantasy Alarm podcast, frequent guest on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports channel, contributor of written Fantasy advice and insight for FantasyAlarm.com, and an FSWA member. If you have any questions or comments feel free to post in comment section below, e-mail him to thefantasynomad@gmail.com and or send him a tweet @FantasyNomad