Daily Fantasy Basketball Picks for Draftstreet and FanDuel 1/28/14

Last night featured a predictable Clips blowout and an unpredictable Hawks team staying in the game against OKC. But it's on to another night. We've got a medium sized slate of games tonight, but the DFSR crew has you hooked up.

Quick reminder about these picks. At DFSR we employ a system that seeks to gain the most points-per-dollar. When we give a recommendation, it’s because we believe that player has the best chance to meet or exceed his price. On any given the night the highest dollar player can be expected to score the most points, but that doesn’t always make him the best play for the money. Want an in-depth look at how we set our lineups each night? Sign up for our email list and get a free eBook on the 6 steps every pro takes before setting his lineup, either by clicking that link or signing up through the sidebar. On to the picks.

 

 

Point Guard

Read the whole section, as there are some across the board values, but also some site specific plays you'll want to hone in on.

Jameer Nelson - FD $6,500 DS $12,746-
Never that popular a play, but he should be. Nelson has been so solid of late and is the top point guard in our system today for the money. Frankly, I thinks its amazing considering the names, but the value is real. Nelson has been averaging 16 points 8 assists over his last six games. He gets his minutes every night, oh and Detroit has been among the worst teams in the league defending point guards over the last half month or so. It all makes for Nelson as a great play today.

George Hill FD $5,500 DS 10,333-
Is the lucky point guard who plays the Lakers today.

Kyrie Irving FD $8,100 DS 15,933-
Has been the Kyrie of old over his last few games and runs up against New Orleans who've really taken a hit defensively against point guards since Holiday went down. Basically, they are getting torched by scoring PGs. Have you read Kyrie's resume?

DraftStreet Value

Brandon Jennings DS 13,879-
Jennings seems to play about one half of every game like a Hall of Famer and the other half like a D-leaguer. It's pretty amazing really. Orlando is fine against PGs but this price has so much built-in upside. Doesn't touch a cash game for me I don't think, but is in play for tournaments.

FanDuel Value

Stephen Curry FD $10,100-
Newsflash: he's fucking awesome. This game against Washington, if it can remain close, will be a great one to watch as Wall and Curry do battle. Their games are very different and both squads are about league average against point guards. Curry's upside is right about where this price is, but he still makes a strong play.

John Wall FD $8,800-
As is his counterpart in Wall. Our system has them just about even, favoring Curry a bit for recent performance and Wall for his season output. I don't think you can go wrong with either at these prices.

 

 

Shooting Guard

Lance Stephenson FD $7,800 DS $15,229-
While the price has gone up, it's more than warranted. Stephenson has been doing everything for the Pacers. He can put up numbers across the stat line and our system gives him a monster boost because of the opponent.

Rodney Stuckey FD $4500 DS $10,011-
The Sheriff has been playing more than thirty minutes a night of late and that's the perfect scenario for this price tag, especially on. But really he's a value o both sites. Stuckey is a scorer plain and simple, he doesn't do too much else. But he can score a ton. And when he does this price can have you at the top of the leader board. It helps that Orland is awful against shooting guards.

Tyreke Evans $6,900 DS $12,602-
Back from injury and back to crushing like he was only a few weeks ago. Evans can come in off the bench and provide instant offense. Cleveland has a deficiency in allowing the opposing SGs to score. This works well with Evans' skill set and he add the other pieces of the game to round out the price.

DraftStreet Value

Eric Gordon - DS $10,071 -
I like this price here because it provides a little upside on nights when Gordon goes off. I wouldn't play him in any cash games, but he has paid this 3X before.

 

 

Small Forwards

For once this position isn't a complete wasteland.

Paul George - FD $9,100 DS $17,295-
One of the better big money plays on the board tonight, George has the upside here tonight because of the opponent. His floor is super high because he does just about everything there is to do on the basketball court. And on those nights when he pours on the scoring, well watch out because he can help you win a tournament. Oh and the Lakers suck.

JR Smith - FD $5,100 DS $9,894-
Still my least favorite player in the NBA (maybe ever). But there's no denying he's been on a roll of late. He's almost a lock to jack up 12-15 ill-advised, midrange jumpers a night, and sometimes they go in. This pick is more about price than opponent.

Trevor Ariza FD $6,900 DS $13,240-
Essentially a copy and paste job as we seem to like Ariza every night. One of the reasons is he just ships 33-35 minutes every single game. That kind of volume makes him so safe in cash games as inevitably things will just happen that allow him to pad his stats. It helps that he's also solid in multiple aspects of the game. His price is up a bit, making him not the completely solid value play he'd been, but he's still in range.

Gerald Wallace FD $4,100 DS $8,607-
Keep an eye on this situation. He drew the start last game with Bradley and Bayless out. If Bayless comes back, that could push Wallace back to the bench. But if Gerald's starting, these are great punt prices.

DraftStreet Value

Josh Smith DS $13,575
I think he'll be a high percentage play on DS tonight at this price. Smoove hasn't had an epic stinker in about five games so we're nearing his collapse. (Kidding: I don't believe in that gambler's fallacy bullshit) Smith is a fantastic value here today with significant upside. I like him for every style of game.

FanDuel Value

James Johnson FD $5,200-
Officially out of the punt range, but the system still likes him. Strictly a tournament play because his minutes fluctuate (and he benefited from extended run in a blowout the other night). But Johnson can still pay this off.

Al-Farouq Aminu FD $4,500
Not a bad cash game option if you are wiggling money around.

 

Power Forward

Tim Duncan - FD $8,200 DS $15,630-
A cash game play for the books. Duncan is so consistent with such a high floor, but very low ceiling. You can set you watch to this guy's 30FPP a night and when he catches the right matchup you want him in your double up lineups. The Rockets are that team. They are about 5-10% worse that league average against power forwards scoring and rebounding. That's great news for Duncan. I wouldn't play him in a tournament, but man get him in your cash games.

David West - FD $6,300 DS $11,742
Against the Lakers? Yes please. I like West at these prices in every format. The fact that its in LA could help to keep the game closer than the talent differences between these two teams would imply. West is fairly consistent and has some nice upside at these prices. The Lakers stink at defense. I'm running out of ways to say it.

Tristan Thompson - FD $6,100 DS $12,310-
Thompson was a DFSR pick the other night against the Suns and he paid the day. We like him again today against the Pelicans who have some size issues as well. Outside of Anthony Davis, New Orleans lacks any solid interior presence. I like Thompson getting to glass and scoring. New Orleans is below average defending both of those pieces from power forwards.

Nene Hilario - FD $6,400 DS $12,614-
Continuing the midrange value theme, here comes Nene. Forgetting for a second what Golden State did to LaMarcus Aldridge the other night, the Warriors are just about league average against the position. Nene's been crushing this price since his return to steady minutes in the starting lineup.

Tobias Harris - FD $6,400 DS $12,955-
While I'm sure Tobias doesn't like the fact that Nikola Vucevic can't recover from a concussion, Harris has been a direct beneficiary of the Magic center's absence. When accounting for recent performance and changes in rotations, Harris is one of the best values out there. His price hasb't caught up to his upside. And while I don't think we'll see another 28/20 performance any time soon, he is facing a below average interior in Detroit.

FanDuel Value

Boris Diaw FD $3,900-
Everything about Diaw is on the way up except the price. Minutes and production have all been there lately and this is still a near minimum price.

Anthony Davis FD $9,700-
Basically FanDuel is tempting me to play him every night.

 

Center

Center is a bit of an issue today as two of the stronger plays have some question marks attached to their XXXXL jerseys.

Roy Hibbert FD $6,000 DS $11,595-
If you can figure this guy out give me a buzz and we can talk because I have no idea what to expect. One game he's a beast, the next he sucks. Rinse and repeat. His last game, on a back-to-back, up in the Denver altitude may have been the issue. Except that he did something similar two games before that. Tonight he gets the Lakers who get steamrolled by big men. I have a very hard time seeing Hibbert not paying this off, but he's proven me wrong before.

Andre Drummond FD $7,700 DS $15,419 -
Another guy who seemed so safe and now isn't. He was pulled a few times in the second half of last game. At the time it made me die a little inside, as I had him as a heavy play. When I learned it was because he was missing assignments on the court and Cheeks was annoyed, well, that didn't help matters. I'm putting him out there again tonight because he gets the no-size Magic and I think the upside is still there. But Drummond is a bit scarier now.

FanDuel Value

Tyson Chandler FD $5,100-
Still has 6x upside at this price which is trickling upward, but far slower than the expectation. This is a great play.