Tonight brings a 10 game slate and start time is 7pm ET.
The “Droppin Dimes,” article will go over my favorite plays for the slate. It will consist of five core plays (one player at each position) with a full write-up for the core along with a few additional plays and a few value plays. These are my favorite options. You won’t always see the highest-priced players or the most obvious plays. Players listed first at each position are my favorite and a good start to build a lineup around.
Keep an eye on the injury status of players as they can be ruled out right before lock.
Dimes Play (GPP Play of the Night)
Jeremy Lamb, Indiana Pacers ($3700/3600)
Lamb is definitely not a sun 4K player. He is capable of putting up 15-20 points just about any night with minutes. A good rebounding wing that has shown double digit rebounding upside. He played 24 minutes last game and did not hit double digit fantasy points. This is an excellent matchup for the Pacers and Lamb, so I can see a ceiling of 30 plus for him tonight with the potential for 8-10 times upside. Keep and eye on his status as he is listed questionable. 7pm game, so we will get the info before lock.
NOTES:
FPPM= Fantasy Points Per Minute, FPPG= Fantasy Points Per Game, PPG=Points per Game, Value=Projected points/salary(This will differ depending on the site).
Pricing (DK/FD)
Injuries- (If/then…)
- If Joel Embiid sits out then Andre Drummond is an excellent play
- If Bradley Beal sits out then Spencer Dinwiddie and Kyle Kuzma get a nice boost. Beal is trending towards out.
- If Darius Garland sits out then Ricky Rubio becomes and excellent value.
Point Guards
Malcolm Brogdon, Indiana Pacers ($7500/$7700)
Brogdon is coming off a big game dropping 28 points and dishing out 11 assists playing 40 minutes and his price barely moved. Last year he averaged 18 shot attempts, 21.5 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists per game with a 26% usage rate. He is underpriced right now, especially in this pace up spot.
Also consider: Strongly Consider (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ), Dejounte Murray and Mike Conley(DK)
*LaMelo Ball put up over 50 FPs last game. Tonight, Terry Rozier is back in the lineup, so I do not expect Ball to have a similar game. Rozier takes a lot of shots and accounts for 25% of the teams usage.
Value: Ricky Rubio-especially if Garland sits, Tyrese Maxey Alex Caruso
SHOOTING GUARDS
Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors ($6,900/$$8,300)
VanVleet picked up a good amount of ownership on Wednesday and came up short 27 FPs. This was mainly due to his poor shooting 5-20. The good news is that he played 35 minutes in that game. Last year, he averages just shy of 20 points and 40 FPs with close to 7 assists. This was wit Kyle Lowry on the team and Pascal Siakam on the floor. Now, Lowry if gone and Siakam is out, so VanVleet is the main option for the Raptors. He gets a tougher matchup tonight against the Celtics, but I have seen him play well against them before. I am expecting him to step up tonight as he will be needed to keep this game close.
Also consider: Jaylen Brown, RJ Barrett-played 47 minutes in double overtime and averaged 35 minutes last year. Excellent matchup for him tonight.
Value: Devin Vassell, Raul Neto
SMALL FORWARDS
Josh Giddey, Oklahoma City Thunder ($4100/$5300) SF-DK, SG-FD
The rookie played 29 minutes and put up 20 FPs with only 4 points scored. He grabbed 9 rebounds and added 3 assists. This was against a tough Utah Jazz team. Tonight, the Thunder play the Rockets on a fast paced game where he should get more opportunities. The Rockets are not known for their defense either. This is more of a DrafKings play due to his 4.1K price.
Also consider: Kyle Kuzma– played 35 minutes still in play at is price- close to a lock in Beal sits out, Michael Porter Jr.
Value: Lonnie Walker IV, Scottie Barnes
POWER FORWARDS
Jason Tatum, Boston Celtics ($8800/$9800)
The Celtics are coming off a double overtime loss where Jaylen Brown went off for a career high 46 points. Brown should pick up a some ownership tonight after that performance. I do think that Brown is in play tonight as he took a big step forward last year, but I like Jason Tatum a bit more in this game. With Kemba Walker gone, these two continue to take over 20 shots a game. Tatum is coming off a poor shooting night going 7-30 and still dropped 45 FPs. This is a bounce back game for him against the Toronto Raptors where he is averaging 50 plus FPs against them over 3 games. Kyle Kuzma grabbed 15 rebounds and Montrezle Harrel had a big game against the Raptors.
Also consider: Domantas Sabonis, Julius Randle
Value: Aaron Gordon, Torrey Craig
CENTERS
Christian Wood, Houston Rockets ($7,100/$8,100)
Wood is coming off a a 34 FP performance and saw a $900 decrease on DraftKings. He is capable of 20 points and 10 rebounds most nights. This is an elite matchup against the Thunder. The only person slowing him down tonight is himself. Gobert pulled down 21 rebounds against this team last game.
Also consider: Robert Williams– high upside, especially now we saw him 45 minutes. He was limited with minutes last year, Jonas Valanciunas(Preferred play on FD only 6.5K) – put up 30 FPs on 3-19 shooting. Nikola Vucevic under 8K on DK. Highest rated player on my model.
Value: Derrick Favors, Nicolas Claxton
CORE- Other options listed can be substituted for any of these core spots.
Malcolm Brogdon
Fred VanVleet
Josh Giddey and or Kyle Kuzma(If Beal is out)
Jason Tatum
Christian Wood (DK), Jonas Valanciunas (FD)
**Options to help build lineups- Take these core plays and enter into optimizer with your favorite setting(rating, FBrating, FBprojections, FunkProjections, ownership or ratings). OR use this article to help you build a lineup with some of your favorite plays. The Dashboard is also a great tool to help build lineups- It contains a good variety of stats and projections from multiple sources.
Good Luck!