We have what has turned into one of the chalkiest slates of all time on Monday night, which is why I’m switching up my format and I’m juts going to talk game theory and how I’m building my lineups tonight.
Guard
Obviously when we have three usage monsters in Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard all out, things are going to get pretty dicey and ultimately concentrated in terms of ownership. Kyle Lowry, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe and Jrue Holiday are going to dominate ownership and all of their numbers get better substantially with those guys off the floor. It’s relatively easy to fit them all in with some of the other value, so for cash games I’m going to lock them in. In tournaments, this gives guys like Victor Oladipo and Jimmy Butler the opportunity to be way lower owned and are arguably higher ceiling options that those guys.
- Khris Middleton
- Jimmy Butler
- Jrue Holiday
- Kyle Lowry
- Victor Oladipo
- Eric Bledsoe
For value, you can look at someone like De’Aaron Fox in tournaments as well, who I’ve been on all season, but he falls behind those six for me tonight.
Forward/Center
I think the value is much stronger at the F/C spot, which is what makes it so easy to fit in the foursome of Lowry/Bledsoe/Middleton/Holiday in cash, Nikola Mirotic is around a 1.5 FPPM player with AD off the floor, so we can elevate him to a must play as well. Julius Randle may be a tad under-owned relative to what he should be coming off his dud against the Jazz, but it’s worth noting that he excels playing at a fast-pace. He’s hyper-athletic and he will benefit from a matchup with the Nuggets rather than the Jazz, and he’s going to need to play given how big the Nuggets play with Joker/Lyles/Plumlee. After those two, this is where we get to the value. Certainly you can play a LeBron James or a Kevin Durant or a Nikola Jokic in tournaments, but the “optimal” roster build for me tonight is balanced and that’s why I will be jamming in this mid tier guys in cash games and then going more stars and scrubs in tourneys. Ersan Ilyasova sticks out as the top overall value play with no ABC and Paskal Siakam, who played 30 minutes in their last game, is in play for the Raptors as well.
Overall Thoughts
I think I’ve highlighted to you exactly how I’m playing tonight. In cash games I’m gong balanced with a Lowry, Bledsoe, Mirotic, Holiday, Middleton core and then in tournaments I’m making an effort to fit in some Curry/Durant/Lebron/Joker. Below I will list my top value plays for cash games and GPPs, good luck tonight!
Cash Game Value- Ersan Ilyasova, Harrison Barnes (FanDuel), Paskal Siakam
GPP Value- Monte Morris, Mitchell Robinson
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
