Hey Guys! I will be writing my NBA Building Blocks, similar to what I did with MLB and NBA last year, daily Monday-Saturday this season.
For the first night, however, I’m going to give out some of my favorite targets since it’s just a small two game slate.
With that being said, let’s get to it!
Guard
Stephen Curry- This is obviously the prime game to target much a 220+ O/U in Vegas. I won’t call Curry a must-play, but he is probably my favorite overall stud. He will be popular given some of the cheaper options that have and can open up.
Dennis Schroder- This should end up being a chalky play with Westbrook looking out, despite the ownership it would be hard for me to envision not playing him. He has show he has point-per-minute ability over the last two seasons in Atlanta, and he will move into the starting lineup for Westbrook in the most attractive game of the night.
Ben Simmons- He makes for a great tournament play, as he will be lower owned than Curry but is the closest to him at this position in terms of raw point ability.
Klay Thompson- He seems too cheap to me across the industry, obviously he takes the back seat to guys like Curry and Durant, but the Thunder were horrible against the Shooting Guard position last season and are without Andre Roberson to start this year.
Markelle Fultz- I love this play, especially on DraftKings where he is just $5,000. Fultz impressed me in the preseason, and he impressed Brett Brown enough to bump him into the starting lineup over JJ Redick. He shot surprisingly well in the preseason and I prefer him to the similarly-priced Terry Rozier.
Raymond Felton- This is the preferred PG punt on FanDuel, which will be a hot topic this season given their new scoring.
Forward
Kevin Durant- Obviously the highest raw point projection at SF, he’s easier to fit in on FanDuel but is playable in all formats, everywhere.
Paul George– This is the play I, and everyone, will love with Westbrook sitting out. PG tallied over a 36.0% usage rate last season without Westy in the lineup last season and he is a near-lock for me.
Robert Covington- Not a great matchup with the Celtics, but they were surprisingly bad in terms of defensive efficiency to Small Forwards last season, and he’s way too cheap on DraftKings.
Dario Saric- Saric is the better play to me than Covington, but it’s about whether or not you can find the money to get up to him. He can stuff the stat sheet and his minutes should be secure with both Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala out for the 76ers tonight.
Jerami Grant- He would get a huge bump if Steven Adams was ruled out, but even if we don’t know that news at lock (FanDuel) he’s going to be in play. He’s athletic and the Thunder are going to need him against this Warriors team, and I think he is severely under-priced for what his role on this Thunder team will be especially if Adams misses.
Jayson Tatum- Similar to Dario Saric, he’s in play for GPPs but his price puts him in a weird position.
Gordon Hayward- Similar to Tatum, he’s probably going to top out at 25 minutes which is fine in tourneys, but far from a must-play.
Kevon Looney- This is the Raymond Felton (FanDuel) of the forwards. He is in a three-headed Center rotation for the Warriors and he is will see around 15 minutes at min-price at PF on a site that drops your lowest score.
Center
Joel Embiid- Weirdly enough, I like him a lot more on DraftKings than I do FanDuel tonight. He is under-priced on DK at $8,800 and are still able to get Noel/Grant value given the UTIL spot and MPE.
Al Horford- This is the mid-tier Center play with Steven Adams questionable, and he sneakily played 35 minutes per game against the Celtics in 2017. They’re going to need his size tonight and I like him in all formats.
Nerlens Noel– Ahhh, the question of the entire slate. He has shown FPPM ability in the past, and he would be thrust into a pretty big role if Adams happens to miss. The Thunder are already pretty thin in the frontcourt as it is, and I think I’m comfortable with him even if we are uncertain about Adams after lock.
