This article is part of our DFS Basketball 101 series.
Although daily fantasy basketball is renowned for abundant scoring overall when compared to the raw fantasy numbers generated in other sports, there are still differences between ideal cash game and tournament strategies. As with other DFS sports, there are certain players who may not have a sky-high ceiling of potential production but offer the safety of a very dependable floor.
Cash Game Types
As a refresher to our quick introduction to cash games in our Beginner's Guide to NBA DFS article, the following is a list of the most common cash game contests:
50/50s: As the name implies, these contests pay out exactly half the field. Payout is the same for all players finishing in cashing positions and typically includes a 20 percent "rake" (percentage of each entry fee taken by the site), so winners are paid slightly less than twice their entry fee.
Head-to-Heads: You do battle with only one opponent and the lineup with the most points wins. Of course, in DFS, the entire player pool is available to both participants, so you and your opponent are likely to have some overlap in your lineups.
Multipliers (Double-Ups, Triple-Ups, Quadruple-Ups, etc.): Similar to 50/50s, except those finishing in cashing positions double (or triple or whatever other increment may apply) their money. Another key difference is that unlike 50/50s, less than half the field gets paid.
Three Keys to Cash Game Success
Daily fantasy basketball allows players the opportunity to rack up points in a wide variety of ways, even when they don't necessarily have the ball in their hands. These multiple pathways to fantasy output essentially guarantee a return of some kind from any player who accrues at least a decent number of minutes, but there are a variety of other factors to consider when trying to ensure you accumulate enough scoring to win.
As with cash games in any sport, you are seeking a safe floor along with a solid enough ceiling that will allow for you to get a solid 4x-5x return on the players' prices, on average. As such, when setting lineups for cash games in daily fantasy basketball, it's particularly important to focus on players who have an ideal combination of opportunity, role within their team's offense and ability to fill up the stat sheet.
Minutes = Money
The adage of "minutes equals money," or similar variations thereof, is largely true in DFS NBA. Naturally, the more curtailed a player's floor time is, the fewer opportunities for fantasy production. In cash games, always stick to rostering players whose playing time has proven stable over a large sample. While there are certainly no-brainers in this regard, i.e. your top-shelf superstars, there are also plenty of solid mid-tier options for which this holds true as well.
As a general rule, focus on players who consistently play 30-32 minutes per game at a minimum. Playing time patterns can easily be tracked through the game logs on each individual player's page on RotoWire.
Also keep in mind that daily fantasy basketball often offers opportunity for value plays stemming from a reserve having a stretch of games when he earns starter's minutes due to an injury to the player in front of him on the depth chart. Keep up on the news around the league through RotoWire to have an opportunity to exploit such situations. Often, a player's price won't catch up to his new role for at least a couple of games, providing you with an opportunity to get a potentially handsome return at a cost savings, affording you the extra cap room to make the rest of your cash lineup even stronger.
The Importance of Individual Roles
Having emphasized the importance of minutes, it's nearly as important to familiarize yourself with a player's customary role on their team. While it's true that the multiple opportunities for scoring in daily fantasy basketball can help almost any player stumble into some production if they spend enough time on the court, you're certainly looking for that 4x-5x return we mentioned earlier to get into the green. Even if a player is slated for minutes that fall into your desired range, he won't maximize the opportunity if, for example, he is typically prone to only putting up 5-6 shots per game.
The Safety of Multi-Category Production
Even Michael Jordan had nights when he couldn't find the net on a consistent basis. Since any player's shot can go cold regardless of pedigree, in your quest for cash game safety, it's always good to hone in on those who have proven regularly capable of filling out multiple columns of the stat sheet. That way, even in games when their scoring output is less than optimal, you still have a strong chance of getting the type of return you need.
The good news is that you can find players capable of offering production in those non-scoring categories at every position. Point guards can help with assists; shooting guards tend to be the most scoring-dependent overall, but some are able to offer decent production with assists and rebounds; small forwards, power forwards and centers can all contribute significantly on the boards, with the latter two also capable of offering some supplemental fantasy production with blocked shots. And players at all five positions are always capable of contributing the occasional steal.
Beware of Foul Trouble
One additional caveat that is prudent to keep in mind when rounding out your DFS NBA cash game rosters is foul trouble. While there are always occasional outliers when a trigger-happy ref's whistle will get even the most dependable guys in some early foul trouble, there are certain players who have a track record of frequently having their minutes reduced due to early infractions. Therefore, be mindful of a player's propensity to get whistled when considering them for your daily fantasy basketball cash lineup, as every minute they spend on the bench can cost you money.
