The crowd cheers after Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) scored during the first half of Game 2 in a second-round NBA playoff basketball series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Tuesday, May 5, 2015, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Welcome to the daily updates and injury news article. We'll try and update it right up to line-up locks with as much information as comes across our desks. Let's get to it!
Last night's picks can be found here, so you can wrap your mind around what you need to be looking at before lineups lock tonight.
By the way - we keep our projection system updated with all of the changes as they occur throughout the day right up until lineup lock. Every day. If you want access to that system so you can cut out a lot of the research element, click the button below!
Special Note: Our new optimizer is available! Click the button below to check it out and see if it's right for you.
Now let’s look at some news that’s come in throughout the day to see if anything’s changed in our minds or in the NBA landscape. It's a shorter slate and a light news day, but we'll be updating as stuff rolls in. Also throw out some ideas in the comments and we can take it from there.
GSW-OKC Will be a lot more fun if Steph plays
Does this headline act as sort of a cop out on relevant news? Sure. But most of the important info we is in the "Waiting to Know" category. Otherwise there's only a few bits of injury pieces we are waiting to suss out. What we do know is that Curry playing will at minimum make the game more exciting. After the historical performance on Saturday night that lit the social media world (rightfully so) on fire, I'm dying to see a repeat performance. It was such a big stage game and Curry delivered. Not like he hasn't already, but it's just fun to see.
Couple this with the collapse OKC pulled out last night, snatching defeat from the near-guaranteed jaws of victory against the Clips and you have a lot of narrative heading into this game.
This is by far the biggest piece of news on the night. It monumentally shifts just about every piece of lineup building. With Curry out last game you saw Shaun Livingston come in and play 34 minutes. If Curry sat again Livingston instantly becomes a must start at rock bottom prices. Plus, it gives guys like Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and really just about every other Warrior a bump in projected shot attempts. The worry here is that we won't know. It's the last game on the slate, three hours after lineups lock. This will be the biggest point of frustration leading into lineup lock unless there's definitive news either way (which I'm kind of doubting).
While not as important as the Steph news, this one matters as well. When Iggy sat last game Harrison Barnes played a crushing 41 minutes. The latter is the kind of guy who needs every bit of run to sniff value so the prospect of him playing sans-Iggy (and maybe Steph as well) makes him a guy who offers a ton of salary relief in a big upside game.
He sat out on Wednesday and was called from the game pretty early. Not exactly sure where that puts his status right now. Omri Casspi drew the start, but only played 26 minutes. That just isn't enough to make him safe in cash games as a low-cost option were Gay to sit again. One potentially intriguing punt-type play if Gay were to sit again is Quincy Acy who's seen run in the mid 20's over the last two games with Rudy out. Acy's min-price is what puts him on the radar for a night with a ton of big money options.
Opponent - GSW
FD Proj. Pts - 53.56 DK Proj. Pts - 55.46
He's showing up in every lineup, both sites even with the assumption that Curry plays. Our system just prefers Westbrook's floor and fantasy range when it comes to scoring. If you factor the Curry injury piece even a little as well (which we really didn't unless he were to sit out) then I think Russ is the cash game play. It's close of course, but this is the way I'd go.
Opponent - MIA
FD Proj. Pts - 29.91 DK Proj. Pts - 30.44
The coach came out and said he'd give Len big minutes really no matter the situation and backed it up over the last two games. The big man played 34 in both while averaging 20/14. He has a tough defensive matchup against the Heat and the Suns are big underdogs. But if the staff in Phoenix is committed to getting this guy work then his minutes projection crushes him salaries on both sites. Must start for me.
These are guys that seem to show up in all of the top lineups in our lineup optimizer. Enjoy!
Good luck out there today! If you want access to all of our numbers, get started with a free trial below - on us! You can also get started with DFSR pro - our brand new lineup optimizer!
image sources
Get a free trial to DFSR NFL DFS projections for DraftKings and FanDuel.
Get a free trial to DFSR NBA DFS projections for DraftKings and FanDuel.
A packed slate of late-season NBA DFS action on DraftKings and FanDuel
We've got a ton of games going with picks and plays for DFS NBA games…
A packed Tuesday of NBA DFS action on FanDuel and DraftKings
We've got an interesting slate of NBA DFS action on DraftKings and FanDuel.
View Comments
Question for you all since I am still a bit confused (and definitely a bit slow)--a 20 team league qualifies as a GPP and not a cash game, right?
GPP means Guaranteed Prize Pool. Example: Draftkings has the NBA Sharpshooter with a GPP of 200k with 76666 potential entries. Whether the entry limit is reached or not the entire 200k is paid out (payout is extremely top heavy) but 20 percent of the entrants get something. Cash games refer to playing a single opponent with winner take all less house rake.
Thanks, Paco--I get that. I see and understand the difference between constructing a GPP lineup and a cash game lineup (for H2H, 50/50, and maybe a double-up)...but I'm still wondering what experts and great players consider a strategy for winning 20 team leagues on a given night. Do those relate more to a GPP where you're looking for upside (only 3 players usually in the money), or are you trying to balance GPP type risks with some high-floor safety players like you do in a cash game? I ask because I generally enter the same lineups in GPP and leagues, and I don't play 50/50s, multipliers, or H2H.
I just got the new optimizer tool. Wow does this ever make life easier. So this will be available for baseball also right guys? And will NHL ever be done beta testing?
I signed up for monthly service. But when I try to use the optimizer I can't get the total wen I click optimize it won't ever load! Just sits there frozen? I feel ripped off? Any idea why this is Happening?
Hey Nick. Thanks for signing up. What site are you running optimizations for? I just did one on DK and it worked in about 4 seconds. Want to help.
I was going to comment on how Branes needs about 40mins to even touch value on his salary but you nailed that fact here.
I also signed up for the optimizer tool and have a couple questions. Will this be available for baseball? Also, are there going to be additional options added to the optimizer? For instance, what if I wanted to assign certain exposures %'s for each player? What if I want 20 lineups but don't want Westbrook and Len in 19 of them? I understand I can we can lock and take out players but it would be nice to have the results spit out lineups approximating the exposures I want to have of each player. Thanks.
Thanks for signing up! It will definitely be available for baseball. We are actively updating our baseball model now. I am passing on the exposure filter to devs to see what we can come up with. Thanks!
Hi Doug, I have been using the optimizer for a few months and about 3 weeks ago the line up load facility for DK stopped working. I have had to manually add my team since. I assume this had something to do with the update made to the extension? I am using the most current version of Chrome. Any ideas?
Yes, we had to disable the current form of the DK Chrome upload extension because DK changes it's terms regarding importing lineups.
Here's the rundown:
Rondo and gay questionable that makes collison and cousins must plays
Curry might miss again klay is the ultimate play I'm sick of seeing Draymonds price increase even tho his game wasn't that incredible. Probably still taking wade instead of klay
I have a lineup with both KD and Boogie but if I don't take KD in a few lineups I'm sticking to Kawhi. There's news that Cunningham is out so Ryan Anderson may start
I'm confident in Joe Johsnon Acy and Len or Adams
I generally agree with most of this. I don't think Boogie is a must simply because Len is such a great value. If Anderson was starting for Cunningham (which I don't think will happen because Gentry seems clueless on his rotations) then he'd be about a must start.