My Core
Luka Doncic- Doncic is once again my favorite play on the slate, even though he his finally affordably priced. This is a much more efficiently priced slate which will leave everyone with some tough decisions, we won’t see huge stars and scrubs lineups tonight, as more balanced builds will be the move with a limited value pool. Luka, however, has been absolutely insane this season and the matchup against the Cavs couldn’t get much better. They rank bottom-three in defensive efficiency to his position, and they have struggled mightily to defend the pick and roll. Luka and Kristaps Porzingis’ pick and roll has been next level this season, Doncic ranks top-20 in the NBA in points per possesion as the PNR ball-handler, while the Cavs are fourth-worst in points allowed to PNR ball-handlers…the Doncic + Porzingis stack will be at the top of my wish list again on Friday night.
Spencer Dinwiddie- Dinwiddie has been in this section all week with Kyrie Irving out, and that remains the case on Friday night against the Sacramento Kings. He has posted around 1.2 fantasy points per minute with both Irving and Caris LeVert off the floor this season along with over a 30% usage rate. He also has been locked into massive minutes in competitive contests, which should remain the same tonight — the Nets are listed as just 1.5 point favorites. His price has come up, but not high enough for his current role and I will be locking him in on all sites.
Value Plays
Pistons- We have no clear value tonight, which is going to push our interest to the Pistons who will be without Tony Snell (LOL). Langston Galloway is never a high-upside fantasy players, but he can shoot pretty well and is projected for over 34 minutes tonight in the absence of Snell. Bruce Brown could also see some extra minutes/usage on the second unit, while ugly, these are guys we need to consider tonight if we want to build around Luka/Dinwiddie.
Warriors- The Dubs present us with some decent value whether Draymond Green misses tonight or not, their rotation is so thin right now that there are minutes to be had in the frontcourt for guys like Glenn Robinson and Omari Spellman. They obviously get a bump up if Dray gets ruled out, but they seem to be some of the best value we have even if he suits up. Should he miss, we can add guys like Ky Bowman (who should start) and Marquess Chriss to our pool as well.
Cody Zeller- I liked Zeller the other day, and I’m going to take a stand and go back to him tonight against the Washington Wizards. Believe it or not, this is the best game on the slate with a huge 235 O/U, and the Wizards rank dead-last in defensive efficiency to Zeller’s position. His minutes have been up and down lately based off performance and foul trouble, this is the type of matchup he should thrive in and if he is having a good game I feel like they will keep him out there for at least mid-20’s in minutes. You can also add in Steven Adams for value at Center, if we get no other value, boy are we going to see some interesting rosters tonight.
Strategy: We are awaiting news on both Bogdan Bogdanovic and Cory Joseph, as well as the Draymond injury I alluded to above. Depending on news, we could be awarded some more value but if we aren’t, balancing out your build with more mid-tier players will most likely be the route we have to take tonight.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
