This article is part of our DraftKings NBA series.
Welcome to the first of many Draftkings weekend articles, which we hope will be an entertaining and useful work in progress over the first few weeks of the season. There will definitely be some tinkering with the format along the way, as I'm looking to interweave strategy discussion and specific player picks for Friday through Sunday of each week.
On that note, if there is anything that you'd like to see included in future articles, I'd love to hear some suggestions in the comments. The article should naturally evolve along with the NBA season, with a greater emphasis placed on things like pace and specific matchups as the sample sizes of results become more and more significant.
Before we get to the basketball portion of this week's article, here are some quick notes on my NBA fanhood and daily games experience. I, of course, try to keep my recommendations as unbiased as possible, but I am a person.
- I'm from Baltimore and probably won't have a true favorite NBA team until Baltimore gets one, which seemingly isn't going to happen in my lifetime. However, I'm partial to the Bucks, Wizards, Timberwolves, LeBron James, Bradley Beal, Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony.
- I'm not in any season-long NBA leagues, and probably 90 percent of the non-work time that I devote to fantasy sports is spent on daily games.
- I plan to play daily NBA games on DraftKings pretty much every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with some Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays mixed in. Once the NFL gets to conference championship week, you can add in Sundays.
- I wasn't able to play nearly that much last season, until the playoffs. Although most of my NBA daily games experience and success has been with smaller slates, I'm actually going to focus more on the busier days (i.e. Wednesday and Friday) this season.
- I tend to focus heavily on minutes in my discussion of NBA daily games, and while expected playing time is the cloud hanging over everything else, it's important to find sources of hidden value that aren't just about added minutes due to injuries or changing roles. Of course, there will probably be a section every week devoted to players getting added playing time because of injuries.
Now you know me, so let's get to the basketball.
As is the case for every other sport, the beginning of the NBA season provides no shortage of cheap daily-game options, as a lot has changed since last April/May/June. There are a bunch of players handling added minutes and/or more significant roles in comparison to how they finished last season. Of course, the flip side is that injuries haven't yet piled up the way they will in a few months, though the Thunder, Pacers, Lakers and Wizards might try to disagree. We'll start with some of the guys that aren't merely short-term replacements for injured teammates.
Expanded Roles/New Home/It's A New Season
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, DET, (Sat. vs. BKN), $4200 – KCP logged 36 and 41 minutes in his first two games, and while the absence of Jodie Meeks (back) is obviously a factor, the eighth overall pick in last year's draft would likely be getting a boost from last year's 19.8 minutes, even if the veteran were healthy. Caldwell-Pope hasn't really taken advantage of the added playing time thus far, producing just 22.25 and 25.5 points on DraftKings while struggling from the field. However, that's not a terrible return at $4200, and you can expect a bit more if he lingers north of 35 minutes.
Tony Allen, SG, MEM, (Fri. at IND, Sat. at CHA), $4000 – Allen oddly averaged just 23.2 minutes last season, after topping 26 the previous two years. He then logged 32.9 minutes in the Grizzlies' playoff series, which marked a significant increase from his postseason playing time in previous seasons. Perhaps I'm putting too much stock into one game, but with Tayshaun Prince resigned to a minimal role, I expect Allen to push for the 30-mpg threshold for the first time in his career. As much as any team hates playing a non-shooter for 30-plus minutes on the wing, the Grizzlies just don't seem to have a better option, as they realized in last year's playoffs.
Ed Davis, PF, LAL, (Fri. vs. LAC, Sun. vs. SAC), $4500 – This is kind of cheating, as Davis is an obvious playing-time beneficiary from the Julius Randle leg injury. But, with Randle in danger of missing the entire season, Davis should be a daily games option for months to come, and he may eventually even get a crack at the starting role. While Davis still figures to come off the bench behind Jordan Hill and Carlos Boozer for the time being, the former Grizzly led the Lakeshow in minutes during Wednesday's post-Randle blowout loss to the Suns. It would be foolish to expect a repeat of his 37.75 DraftKings points from Wednesday, but something in the range of 25-35 points would be useful at this price.
Others:
C.J. Miles, SF, IND, (Fri. vs. Mem, Sat. at ATL), $4000/$4100
Larry Sanders, C, MIL, (Fri. vs. PHI, Sat. at WAS), $5700/$5600
Darren Collison, PG, SAC, (Fri. vs. POR, Sun. at LAC), $6500
Kelly Olynyk, C, BOS, (Sat. at HOU), $5700
Aaron Afflalo, SG, DEN, (Sat. at OKC), $5500
Thaddeus Young, PF, MIN, (Sat. vs. CHI)
Injury Watch
Oklahoma City Thunder (Sat. vs. DEN) –Kevin Durant (foot) and Russell Westbrook (hand) are both out for a long time, while Reggie Jackson (ankle) and Jeremy Lamb (back) have yet to play this season and are looking no better than shaky for Saturday's game. That makes a slew of cheap OKC players viable as daily options, and I'm a fan of all five projected starters (not sure that will happen again this season) for Saturday's game against Denver. Those five would be PG Sebastian Telfair ($4600), SG Andre Roberson ($4400), SF Perry Jones ($5300), PF Serge Ibaka ($7300) and C Steven Adams ($3900). I'm especially fond of Telfair and Adams, both of whom could push for double-doubles.
Garrett Temple, SG, WAS, (Sat. vs. MIL), $3400 – The Wizards' first two games were rather interesting, as the team went with more of Garrett Temple and PF Drew Gooden than expected, while the likes of SG Glen Rice and PF Kris Humphries played bit roles. Having logged 31 and 34 minutes in the first two games of the season, Temple may shape up as a regular 30-mpg player until Bradley Beal (wrist) returns in late November or December. Temple hasn't done a whole lot with the added playing time yet, and while I wouldn't expect that to change too much, any warm body is worth a look when playing 30-plus minutes at $3400. Also encouraging, he's hit 4-of-9 three-point attempts through two games.
Houston Rockets point guards (Sat. vs. BOS) – Patrick Beverley suffered a hamstring injury Wednesday, possibly leaving the door open for Isaiah Canaan ($3000) or Jason Terry ($3100) to make a start at point guard. Terry played with the starters after Beverley left Wednesday's contest in the fourth quarter, but Canaan could also see added playing time, as could Troy Daniels ($3000). Canaan would be an interesting daily option if he got the start, while Terry can be used whether or not he starts, so long as Beverley doesn't play. Daniels should probably be ignored.
Marcus Morris, PF, PHO, (Fri. vs. SA, Sat. at UTA), $4200/$4000 – This actually qualifies as DUI watch, but with P.J. Tucker suspended for another two games, Morris figures to get two more starts at small forward. The former Kansas Jayhawk is an excellent rebounder for the small forward spot, and he shot 38.1 percent from beyond the arc on 3.2 attempts per game last season. Furthermore, he had an encouraging opener, posting 27.75 points over 29 minutes, despite logging just one rebound, one assist and one steal. His secret? Buckets. Morris scored 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-9 from three-point range. Expect a more balanced stat sheet this time around, but with similar results for the purposes of daily games.
Others:
Kirk Hinrich, SG, CHI, (Fri. vs. CLE, Sat. at MIN), $3600/$3500
- value depends on Jimmy Butler (DTD-thumb)
Chris Copeland, PF, IND, (Fri. vs. MEM, Sat. at ATL), $3400
Shane Larkin, PG, NYK, (Sun. at CHA)
Evan Fournier, SG, ORL, (Sat. vs. TOR), $4200
Draymond Green, SF, GSW, (Sat. vs. LAL, Sun. at POR), $5700
- value depends on David Lee (DTD-hamstring)
The Stars
Dwight Howard, C, HOU, (Sat. vs. BOS), $8500 – Howard is off to a modest fantasy start, as a blowout held him to just 21 minutes in the first game, while foul trouble limited him to 32 minutes in the second contest. He still managed double-doubles in both outings and is off to a 13-for-21 start from the field. Facing an offensive-minded Boston frontcourt at home, Howard should be in for a huge game, and may only need three quarters to pump in big stats. If the Celtics keep things close and force Howard into the 35-minute range, we could easily be looking at upwards of 50 DraftKings points.
Goran Dragic, PG, PHO, (Fri. vs. SA, Sat. at UTA), $7100 – I get that Dragic probably won't be asked to do as much this season, with Eric Bledsoe healthy and Isaiah Thomas added in the offseason. This still feels like too low of a price for such an excellent player, especially given that the Phoenix frontcourt doesn't exactly gobble up shots. Also, Dragic showed last season that he's a nightly threat to reach 30 points and/or double-digit assists, and he still figures to see upwards of 30 minutes in close games, even with Bledsoe and Thomas around.
Ty Lawson, PG, DEN, (Sat. at OKC), $6800 – Lawson got off to an awful start, but he's still Ty Lawson, and the Thunder aren't currently the Thunder. It's hard not to love the speedy point guard at this price, heading into a matchup that suddenly appears to be quite friendly.
Kevin Love, PF, CLE, (Fri. at CHI), $9100 – I don't care if he has to share shots with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson while facing the All-NBA First-Team defense. I'll take Love at $9100 any day of the week, even on a new team where he's the second fiddle, and even against the always-stingy Bulls. Even if I'm wrong, Love offers an excellent daily-games floor that should prevent him from entirely crashing your lineup.
Others:
Stephen Curry, PG, GSW, (Sat. vs. LAL, Sun. at POR), $10,200
Blake Griffin, PF, LAC, (Fri. vs. LAC, Sun. vs. SAC), $10,000
Joakim Noah, C, CLE, (Fri. vs. CLE, Sat. at MIN), $7000
Kobe Bryant, SG, LAL, (Fri. vs. LAC, Sat. at GSW), $8000
Other Players I Like
(favorites in bold)
C Anderson Varejao ($4300) Fri
PF Boris Diaw ($4500) Fri
SF Mike Dunleavy ($3500) Fri/Sat
C Lavoy Allen ($3000) Fri/Sat
PG Ronnie Price ($3500) Fri/Sat
PG Jeremy Lin ($4600) Fri/Sat
PG Brandon Knight ($7400) Fri/Sat
SF Chris Johnson ($3100) Fri/Sat
C Chris Kaman ($3400) Fri/Sun
SG Tyreke Evans ($6600) Sat
PG Elfrid Payton ($4000) Sat
PF Derrick Favors ($7300) Sat
SF Jabari Parker ($5300) Sat
SF Paul Pierce ($5900) Sat
C Al Horford ($7800) Sat
SF Mirza Teletovic ($4500) Sat
PG Devin Harris ($4400) Sat
SF Chandler Parson ($6600) Sat
C Andre Drummond ($8300) Sat
SG Lance Stephenson ($7000) Sat/Sun
SG Klay Thompson ($7100) Sat/Sun
C Chris Andersen ($3200) Sat/Sun
PG Kyle Lowry ($8200) Sat/Sun
Players To Avoid
PG Deron Williams $7400
PG Ricky Rubio $7200
PG Tony Parker $7000
SG DeMar DeRozan $7800
SG Gordon Hayward $7200
SG Manu Ginobili $5600
SG Rodney Stuckey $5500
SG Giannis Antetokoumpo $5400
SG J.J. Redick $4600
SF Josh Smith $7500
SF Ruday Gay $7100
SF Andrew Wiggins $4600
SF Wilson Chandler $4200
PF Dirk Nowitzki $7200
PF Greg Monroe $7200
PF Nerlens Noel $6500
PF Luis Scola $4900
C Nikola Vucevic $8400
C Chris Bosh $8700
C Marc Gasol $8300
C Robin Lopez $6300
C Enes Kanter $4800
