The Core
Luka Doncic
Luka has been on a tear to start the year, with 4 triple doubles so far. In today’s matchup, Luka faces the Grizzlies who have been playing with a fast pace – 105.9 (6th of 30) along with giving up the leagues’ 5th worst 117 OPPG. In addition to that, KP has been ruled out as he rests on the second end of a back-to-back. Luka essentially will touch the ball every time down the floor now, and will boast a high usage rate in this game. He’s a lock in all formats.
Tyus Jones
Another player from this DAL/MEM game is Tyus Jones. Smart basketball player who will hit value especially with Ja Morant resting. Why is Morant resting? I have no clue, the kid is young and barely plays 30 minutes. But with Morant out, Jones should get a substantial amount of run and be high owned on both sites. At a cheap price point on all sites, he should be locked.
Harden/Holiday
These guys are both in the “Core” section due to their matchups and price. The whole Harden “strip club theory” will be put to the test today but I like his matchup and price point on both sites. However, I also am a big fan of Jrue Holiday with Lonzo Ball out with injury. Both guys are in fine spots and would be good to run in all formats.
Value Plays
Maxi Kleber/Powell
With KP out, Kleber will likely pick up the extra minutes, however I do not expect him to start. He mainly plays the 4/5 minutes and will see a minutes boost without Porzingis. I like the matchup especially since he won’t be seeing Clarke off the bench as he’s been ruled out for a back injury. I like his ability to space the floor and shoot the ball, and the Grizzlies front court does have some big bodies of JJJ and Valanciunas, but Kleber should have no problem hitting value. Along with Kleber is Dwight Powell who will also be getting more run with KP out- and with center being the most shallow position today, I can see Powell being the best pt/$ guy there.
Kyle Anderson/Dillon Brooks
Yeah, I’m a big fan of this DAL/MEM game. With Allen, Morant and Clarke out, there should be more minutes to go around for these guys as well. I would say Brooks is more cash and Kyle Anderson is more GPP. Both should get 25+ minutes of run tonight.
Chandler Hutchinson
Otto Porter Jr will be out tonight vs the Rockets, which is a shame because I would think he gives Chicago more of a fighting chance than Hutchinson. This game should be very fast paced with both teams near bottom in the league in defense. He has a high floor but I wouldn’t expect him to have a high ceiling with all of the usage going to Lauri and Zach, and he is on a murky minutes restriction. He is a SF value play and is cheap across all sites. Take caution with the minutes restriction.
Tournament Plays
Tomas Satoransky
“Sato” had his best game of the season and arguably his career vs the Hawks, putting up 27/7/8 in 30 minutes. With Otto Porter Jr. out again, Chicago might go back to the unit they ran last game, with Satoransky at the 3 while Dunn/White controlled the PG minutes. He’s in another very good spot and has high upside. Boom or bust here fading the Jones chalk!
Dennis Schroder
Schroder seems to thrive in fast match-ups with terrible 2nd unit defense and has a very high upside in this match-up vs the Warriors. He dropped 48.6 FP against them last time out with only 25 minutes. His recent 5 games shows that he has exceeded that minute count and there should be no reason today (besides a fat blowout) that he shouldn’t receive the same. He receives most of the workload off the bench and he can exploit that against the Warriors that are coming off a B2B traveling from Minnesota to OKC where they played an OT game in which D’Angelo had to score 50 to keep them in the game.
