My Core
Kemba Walker- This slate was turned on its head on Wednesday afternoon when Gordon Hayward was ruled out, pushing tons of attention to this Celtics team which will also be without Marcus Smart. Take a look at how this affects Walker’s numbers below:
with everyone healthy–29% usage rate + 1.25 fantasy points per minute
with Smart/Hayward OFF the floor– 36% usage rate + 1.65 fantasy points per minute
This is a pretty sizable bump, and one that elevates Walker to one of my favorite plays on the slate at his price point. He’s dropped below 38 DraftKings points just twice in last eight games, the outliers being 33 and 32 DK point performances. He’s a solid bet for value at his price, but presents us with a reasonably high ceiling with the role he should play sans Hayward.
To continue reading this article, please login, or create a FREE account here! [restrict]
Davis Bertans + Brad Beal- Okay so I want to start out by saying that I expect both of these players to be really high-owned tonight given the Wizards injury situation, but I am not in love with this matchup and will most likely be fading them in tournaments. The Chicago Bulls rank ninth-overall in defensive rating as a team, they’re top-three in defensive efficiency to opposing guards (which hurts Beal) and they allow the third-lowest three point percentage to opposing players (which hurts Bertans). So, why exactly are we targeting these guys? It’s because the Wizards have no players again! On top of John Wall, Jordan McRae and Moe Wagner, they will now be without rookie Rui Hachimura. This is cause Bertans to play all the minutes he can handle — he’s topped 30 in two of the last three with Hachimura logging over 30 minutes, and nobody is going to take any shots away from Beal on offense. These guys are the right cash game plays given the thin rotation, but I see no reason why you can’t get off them in GPPs at elevated ownership.
One guy I like as a pivot off of Beal is Nikola Jokic, who will be virtually un-owned in a matchup with Nikola Vucevic and the Orlando Magic. Joker has gotten a lot of slander this season, but nobody seems to mention that he’s posted DK point totals of 44, 70 and 50 over his last three games. He’s actually cheaper than Beal, and I’m not worried about the pace of the game seeing as he actually does better in slower-paced environments, and I could see him outscoring our friend from the Wizards are 30%+ less ownership.
Injury News Note: We have some big pieces to this slate listed as questionable for tonight in Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Karl-Anthony Towns. I personally think all three of them will play, but if one or more was ruled out that would change the entire slate…be sure to check Final Thoughts for updates. In the meantime, I also am considering guys like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis to round out my cash game builds on both sites.
Value Plays
Josh Okogie- This isn’t a play that I’m truly in love with, but outside of Okogie and Troy Brown from the Wizards we are limited in terms of true “value” on this slate. He’s not a big per minute producer, but he has eclipsed 29 minutes in each of his last three games and gets one of the best matchups in the NBA against the Pelicans. If Towns happens to miss the game, he would get an even bigger bump up.
CLE/CHA Big Men- I love all of the big men in this game with two poor defensive teams squaring off — namely Cody Zeller, Bismack Biyombo and Tristan Thompson. Zeller and Biyombo have both been extremely productive in fantasy over the last few games starting next to each other with PJ Washington sidelined — who is out again tonight. Thompson is priced below $6,000, though I think I prefer Zeller and Biyombo both to him…and both are projected for lower ownership.
Note: We have another piece of news to watch with Derrick Jones Jr questionable for the Miami Heat, if he was out, we could add Tyler Herro to the cash game value pool.
[/restrict]
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
